Unwanted Change Quotes
The Scientific Project that developed the Atomic Bomb. After the development of the atomic bomb there were great pressures on the involved scientists to downplay the dangers of nuclear weapons development. The weapons developer arm of the government was anxious not to frighten the public which might call for more oversight or even limitation of development and testing. Equally important was the scientists themselves who understood the forces that they had unleashed and were worried that if the public realized the worst of the possibilities, science and scientific research itself might be in jeopardy from a new Luddite reaction. Oppenheimer urged candor with the public. Most scientists took his advice but the Atomic Energy Commission had become politicized and when Oppenheimer went public with his and others scientific concerns they punished him by calling him a security risk and withdrawing his clearance thus cutting him off from new developments and discrediting him and his views at the same time.
He made this statement a few days after Donald Trump had won the Presidency and one of his slogans was “Drain the Swamp of Washington DC. While there was almost universal support for “Draining the Swamp” among Trump’s supporters, the President Elect had never specified exactly what specific changes should be made. Almost all Americans at that time were in favor of reform of the political system, but there was very little concordance on which areas are most important to reform and on the details of the changes that should be made.
