Comment by cperciva
12 years ago
My first thought when I saw this letter was that it was Richard Feynman himself, perhaps appropriating the name of someone he knew had been interviewed. It would be entirely consistent with his character to smear himself in order to convince the government that they didn't want him -- just like the letter he wrote to the draft board proclaiming that he was not truly crazy, but was instead precisely crazy enough to not want them to think he was crazy.
Accusing someone of communism in those witch-hunting days was a dangerous thing to do. It seems a bit improbable that Feynman would have done that to himself, knowing that it could jeopardise his participation in other committees/projects/areas that were of interest to him. He wasn't 'forced' to be on the PSAC, it's not like he was trying to get away from jury-duty. He could just as well have said he wasn't interested/able do participate when asked to join.
To me, it would also have seemed a bit out of character, Feynman has demonstrated that he had no big problem speaking his mind, so stealing someone's identity, with the legal risks that represents, especially if it was his estranged wife's, doesn't sound very probable.
But hey, I don't know, I guess I see it as improbable but it's always possible.
I did say that was my first thought -- the article makes a good case and I'm mostly convinced by it.
Considering what happened with Robert Oppenheimer[1], I doubt Feynman would smear himself.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppenheimer_security_hearing
Considering that Feynman neither needed nor wanted any role which would require him to hold a security clearance, I think the case of Robert Oppenheimer would, if anything, have encouraged Feynman to thumb his nose at the establishment. He was always one for doing what he thought was right and ignoring the potential fallout -- witness his willingness to testify to spending time in a strip club.
Hmm, that's a good point. Oppenheimer had much more to lose with his clearance/position and far more baggage they eventually used against him than Feynman (aside from some extremely personal vendettas against Oppenheimer). Maybe it was plausible after all, since Oppenheimer was known to encourage his colleagues to do what they thought was right.
Guessing if comparing the two, it would hurt Oppenheimer's rep more than someone like Feynman, since they blamed Oppenheimer more than anyone when many of the Manhattan Project scientists refused to work on the H-Bomb project with Edward Teller.