From the archives: Robert Oppenheimer in 1965 on if the bomb was necessary

The care he takes to answer the questions is one of the most valuable lessons that we could take.

You can just feel the weight of the burden that he carried for the rest of his life. He was truly a brilliant, complicated, and tortured man.

I love this. No interrupting like modern interviewers...

Cillian murphy did a phenomenal job matching oppenheimers vocals and facial movements

This is truly fascinating video. Not a man who is evil. Not a serial killer. Just a genius, who unfortunately for him, created the deadliest thing ever made.

I think the interviewer is very good here. Letting him complete each point without interruption, even with pauses.

"I don't want to speak for others... because we're all different" Wow 🙏

Let's be real. If not Oppenheimer, it would be another mastermind. Maybe the creation of an atomic bomb wasn't necessary. But it was inevitable.

Incredible to hear him talk about how the violence in WW2 "had no place in the 20th century". Words of someone who grew up learning of the brutality of the past century and probably thought, before the 1930s, "we as a modern society should be above that". Most of us probably feel like this today....

It's important to keep in mind that Oppenheimer, knowing just how devastating the atomic bomb would be, genuinely believed that once mankind had seen just how horrific the results were, no one would ever want to build another weapon like it. That the bombs dropped on Japan would be the cautionary warning to humanity that no one else would follow in his footsteps. Of course, he misjudged the US, Soviet, & Chinese desires simply to acquire, and accelerate development of bigger, more powerful weaponry into the Arms Race we know today. He was persecuted by the government, accused of being a spy, a Communist and worse, stripped of his security clearance and publicly humiliated, simply for speaking out against the acceleration of nuclear weapons development. If anything, Oppenheimer is only guilty of giving Mankind the benefit of the doubt.

You see it in his eyes & hear it in his voice. This man carried an unfathomable load until the end of his life.

"When you think about bringing about the death of over a 100,000 people, you naturally don't think about that with ease"

This is the way to do an interview. The current day journalists should learn from this.

Honestly, straightforwardness and incredible articulation. No sugarcoating as well. Wish all interviews were more akin to this one.

Back when we had real journalists and actual news. I love watching interviews from this era. People had interesting things to say and the interviewers asked thoughtful questions.

He was in pain. It clearly shows in his eyes.

You can see a thoughtfulness and honesty in his eyes, an actualized man. He is vulnerable in his discourse and willing to say something without spinning his own thoughts to a narrative.

Great detail to note here is how deeply introspective he is. So many people attempt to create an illusion of intelligence through the use of big words and rapid speech, hoping to trick you with word salad. Not Oppenheimer. He's constantly looking inward, constantly thinking about each and every word before he says it. His pauses speak more to his intelligence than any one of the descriptive terms he uses.

It’s always enjoyable to see someone highly intelligent speak. You can see them weaving through their thoughts to articulate themselves exactly as they mean to. Not a word misspoken.

He is clearly not proud, guy has a soul