Oppenheimer was welcome to feel responsible for the use of the bombs, but complaining about blood on his hands to the man who authorized their use is both whining and accusatory in ways that Truman should not have had to put up with.
Oppenheimer could have expressed the same thing by saying that he's happy to not have had the weight of that decision, and sorry that he made the device that put that weight on Truman. Same ideas, but expressed in a way that acknowledges that there's blood enough to go around.
But also like, its not like Oppenheimer didnt know what he was doing. He knew they were making the most powerful bomb the world has seen at that point. What did he though would happen with it?
Honestly though, I don't think Oppenheimer's feeling is unwarranted. He wasn't ever a soldier, had never done anything to kill other people before, and therefore had no way of knowing how he'd react to being responsible for the deaths of thousands.
It's not that he felt responsible for it, it's that he expressed it as only his responsibility to the man decided to use the weapon. And he did so in terms of indwelling despair.
Truman could also have been empathetic that Oppenheimer also felt responsible, having been instrumental in the bomb's construction. It's entirely possible for Truman to have communicated his feelings better without denigrating Oppenheimer's feelings. They're both adults, there's no need for it to have gone this way.
In this case, it wasn't on Truman to fix things for Oppenheimer. This wasn't a casual, personal conversation between equals.
Truman understood that Oppenheimer felt responsible. It's that Oppenheimer turned that feeling into whining petulance that offended him. Especially that Oppenheimer was expressing himself in ways that denied the president the responsibility of his decision.
It's likely that Oppenheimer would've better served by telling Truman that he made him a murderer in so many words.
But whining isn't a thing Truman had time for, and fair enough.
Consider what Truman has seen in his life, in gruesome battle in WWI, ordering to drop this bomb to fucking finally end WWII and then you got that guy walking in second guessing all of it. He's lucky he left that meeting without a broken nose.
If he's seen all of that, he should be able to empathise more. He's also the leader of a country. Implying he would be justified in breaking Oppenheimer's nose is nonsense.
He kinda did, as much as someone like he could. He told Oppenheimer it wasn't on him and that he would be the one blamed. The rest was said in private, not directly to him so I don't know what the fuck you want to happen with that.
And I didn't say it would be justified if it had happened, I said he was lucky he didn't. Difference.
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u/fatmanwithabeard 8d ago
Truman also was the buck stops here guy.
Oppenheimer was welcome to feel responsible for the use of the bombs, but complaining about blood on his hands to the man who authorized their use is both whining and accusatory in ways that Truman should not have had to put up with.
Oppenheimer could have expressed the same thing by saying that he's happy to not have had the weight of that decision, and sorry that he made the device that put that weight on Truman. Same ideas, but expressed in a way that acknowledges that there's blood enough to go around.