Edward Teller (1908-2003), the “Father of the Hydrogen Bomb,” made important contributions to quantum mechanics and physical chemistry, and was among the scientists who, on the eve of World War II, foresaw the vast possibilities of nuclear power.
Originally recruited as a member of the famous Manhattan Project working on atomic fission at Los Alamos, he emerged as the champion of the vastly more potent thermonuclear hydrogen bomb. Due in large part to his hatred of communism and intense distrust of the Soviets, he was an unwavering advocate for American atomic and military strength who played a singular role in promoting and advancing American nuclear research and development.
In particular, Teller played a seminal role in shaping the nuclear views of American presidents and the pro-nuclear policies of their administrations. For example, he convinced President Truman to order the Atomic Energy Commission to continue working on the hydrogen bomb, and he urged President Reagan to develop the famous Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).
Shown here is a photograph signed by Teller of his meeting with Reagan to discuss support for the “Star Wars” program.
Teller’s controversial positions on nuclear energy – including his strong support for increased federal funding on nuclear research and development, his encouragement of the development of safe nuclear power plants and an unassailable nuclear arsenal, and his public and vociferous opposition to nuclear test bans, such as the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty – generated veneration from his supporters and fierce loathing from his opponents.
He frequently and fearlessly risked his scientific career to defend the United States and the free world during World War II and the Cold War, and his single-minded dedication was such that many credit him with serving as the model for the lead character played by Peter Sellers in the classic Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
Although Teller’s family was assimilated, his parents did observe certain Jewish traditions, including fasting on Yom Kippur. Raised Jewish, Edward himself later became an agnostic: “The idea of God that I absorbed was that it would be wonderful if He existed: We needed Him desperately, but had not seen Him in many thousands of years.”
He married a Jew, but she was an avowed Calvinist, and Teller himself rejected any kind of religious ceremony. Nonetheless, it is interesting that in his later years he taught Hebrew school at a local synagogue. Moreover, in a fascinating article, Marcus Schwartz demonstrates that Teller’s design of “Iron Mike,” the first full-scale thermonuclear device, very closely follows the design of the Mishkan erected by Moses and Bezalel in the desert, as described in great detail by the Bible.
The descendent of a wealthy Hungarian family, his father was an in-demand lawyer whose aspirations for a judgeship were denied because of his Judaism. Hungary’s defeat in WWI was followed by the Hungarian revolution and the communist dictatorship of Nicholas Horthy which, among other things, limited the number of Jewish students permitted to pursue higher education. Teller never forgot what it meant to live as a Jew, albeit an entirely secular one, under a communist regime.
Later, when the Nazis came to power in 1933, Teller left Germany with the help of the International Rescue Committee and a “Jewish Rescue Fund” scholarship for Jewish scientists exiled from Germany, which gave him the opportunity to work in Copenhagen near the Jewish Nobel Prize-winning atomic scientist Niels Bohr.
Thus, his lifelong hatred of both communism and fascism was due, at least in part, to his becoming what one commentator pithily characterized as a “psychological casualty” of communist and fascist rule.
Teller was also a fierce Israel supporter. A member of the board of governors of Tel Aviv University and a member of PEACE (Preventing the Emergence of Another Arab Country in Judea, Samaria and Gaza), a group supporting Israeli settlements on the West Bank and Gaza, he was honored by the Technion with the Harvey Prize in 1975 and the Albert Einstein Award in 1977. But perhaps most importantly, he was an important advisor to Israel on nuclear matters in general and on the building of a hydrogen bomb in particular.
Teller’s support for Israel’s nuclear effort began with a 1952 meeting with Ben-Gurion, in which he and Robert Oppenheimer advised the Israeli Prime Minister regarding the best way to build up plutonium reserves. A few years later, he began a close relationship with Yuval Ne’eman, a theoretical physicist and military scientist who shared Teller’s pro-nuclear views (and who later served as Chair of Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission and as Israel’s Minister of Science and Development).
Teller frequently visited Israel, where he lectured at Tel Aviv University. During the three-year ramp-up to the 1967 Six-Day War, Teller visited Israel six times, and it is widely believed that he not only advised Israel’s political and scientific leaders on developing Israel’s nuclear military capabilities, but also helped Israel design nuclear weapons. Consistent with his strong pro-nuclear views, he made Israeli authorities pledge never to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty – which, in fact, Israel has never done, even to date.
Starting with President Johnson, America’s approach with respect to Israel’s nuclear capability was to adopt an unofficial policy of “purposeful ambiguity.” Most authorities agree that it was Teller who first informed the American government that he believed Israel had developed a nuclear capability.
He first advised Ne’eman of his plans to notify the CIA’s Office of Science and Technology that Israel’s development of nuclear weapons had been amply justified by the existential threat it faced leading up to the Six-Day War, and Ne’eman in turn cleared the notification with Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. Reporting up through CIA Director Richard Helms and ultimately to the president, Teller also convinced the Americans to halt all attempts to inspect the Negev Nuclear Research Center in Dimona.
Today, Israel’s possession of thermo-nuclear weapons and hydrogen bombs is broadly recognized, particularly after Shimon Peres publicly confirmed Israel’s nuclear capacity in a 2001 television documentary, The Bomb in the Basement.
In this November 19, 1986 correspondence on his Hoover Institution letterhead, Teller writes to Gerard L. Granat, president of the Philmore Manufacturing Company:
Thank you for your inquiry about the Einstein letter. I am enclosing a copy of an article published in Los Alamos Science magazine that correctly reports my role–I was a chauffeur for Leo Szilard. (Richard Rhodes in his new book, Ultimate Powers, reports that I took the letter down in longhand, but this is not correct. The letter was already typed, Einstein read, signed, and returned it to Szilard. I was not shown the contents of the letter at any time.) It did not seem to me that Einstein was in any way unhappy with the letter. As I report in the article, his only comment was to muse: “this will be the first time.” We were served tea and cookies, and there was no sense of unhappiness connected with the occasion, only a sense of concern that the Nazis might be the sole possessors of an atomic bomb.
The lower portion of this letter is also signed in green felt tip by Thomas Ferebee, the bombardier aboard the B-29 Superfortress, Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb, “Little Boy,” on Hiroshima in 1945.
The “Einstein letter” to which Teller refers is undoubtedly one of the most important and consequential letters in human history. Written by Jewish physicist Leó Szilárd, signed by Einstein, and sent to President Roosevelt on August 2, 1939, it warned that Germany might develop nuclear bombs and urged FDR to initiate an American nuclear program. The letter is credited with prompting Roosevelt to launch the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bombs, led to the successful end of WWII, and launched the Nuclear Age.
Seeking American government support for uranium research, Szilárd decided that the best way to grab FDR’s attention was through Einstein, who was broadly admired by the public and respected by the president. He enlisted Teller to drive up to Long island with him to meet with Einstein (Szilárd did not know how to drive), who dictated the letter in German, which Szilárd in turn dictated in English to a stenographer, Janet Coatesworth.
Thus, though many people credit Teller with playing an important role in Einstein’s letter, he was, as he says in our correspondence here, essentially only along for the ride. He did not help compose the letter, nor was he the one who transcribed it; in fact, as Teller explains here, he did not even read it until after Einstein signed it.
In 1986, publisher/entrepreneur Malcolm Forbes purchased the Einstein letter for $220,000, the most ever paid for a 20th century letter.
Before an appointment could be scheduled with FDR to discuss the letter, Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, launching WWII. However, induced to action by Einstein’s letters (he subsequently sent two additional letters to FDR on March 7, 1940 and April 25, 1940 calling for action on nuclear research), the president authorized the creation of the Advisory Committee on Uranium, on which Teller served with distinction, marking the beginning of the American effort to develop a nuclear bomb.
The work of fission research was ultimately taken over by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Manhattan District in June 1942, which directed the Manhattan Project, an all-out nuclear bomb development program.
Ironically, Einstein was denied work clearance to work on the Manhattan Project as he was a German national and a pacifist and thus considered a security risk. Einstein later reportedly said he regretted signing the letter and that he did so only because he feared that the Nazis would develop nuclear weapons first.
Teller, who was among the first to arrive at Los Alamos in April 1943, helped Robert Oppenheimer recruit and organize the Manhattan Project, and he went on to make important contributions to nuclear research, including particularly proposing the design of the implosion mechanism.
