Charles Oppenheimer wants to replenish his family’s legacy.
Japan celebrates 80 years since the Nagasaki atomic bomb
Japan celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Nagasaki atomic bomb as the country’s prime minister, Prime Minister Isbauba, reaffirmed its commitment to a world without nuclear weapons.
Charles Oppenheimer knows that his last name is heavily responsible.
He was the grandson of J. Robert Oppenheimer, a physicist who led the Manhattan Project, and became the father of the atomic bomb. The 50-year-old tech investor was walking to the weapons control arena a few years ago when the 2023 film “Oppenheimer” reverted his grandfather’s name and legacy to American popularity.
This is the 80th anniversary of the atomic bomb and the end of World War II, a young Oppenheimer, who lives in San Francisco, wants to see through his grandfather’s unrealized (and unfamiliar) vision to steal the weapons his family has brought to the world. Oppenheimer spoke with USA Today before the August 15th summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Both leaders suggested that nuclear weapons control was on their agenda, but the Anchorage, Alaska conference did not bring publicly recognized advances in that respect.
The new opening treaty, the last remaining arms control agreement between the US and Russia, expires in February 2026. The agreement is ready to fire strategic (or long-range) nuclear warheads with two powers below 1,550 at any time, excluding verification measures such as inspections.
Advocates for nuclear risk reduction (and some lawmakers) fear that the end of a new start will mark a new three-way arms race for Russia, the US and China.
| country | Nuclear warhead |
|---|---|
| Russia | 4309 |
| US | 3700 |
| China | 600 |
Paul Dean, a former U.S. Arms Control Officer who served as the US Commissioner for the New Start Watchdog, told USA Today that the treaty is important to help them understand each other’s nuclear power arrangements. Losing that “daily photograph” would raise the possibility of “catastrophic” nuclear misunderstandings or miscalculations between the US and Russia.
“All necessary international arrangements”
“As Oppenheimer, I am often asked about those iconic dates on August 6th and August 9th,” said the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II. He said the day he was focused on is August 17, 1945.
That day, Oppenheimer’s grandfather wrote a finest letter to Chief Secretary Henry Stimson as part of his mission to the Committee of Civilian Scientists, tasked with writing a report on the future of nuclear weapons.
The letter came less than two weeks after the US dropped atomic bombs on Japanese cities in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since then, no country has used nuclear weapons in combat.
Manhattan Project Committee physicists – Oppenheimer and Nobel laureates Arthur Compton, Ernest Lawrence and Enrico Fermi – explained in a letter that “effective military measures for atomic weapons” and that nuclear weapons will only become stronger with the development of hydrogen bombs. (The United States said in November 1952 that it exploded the world’s first hydrogen bomb, evaporating the coral atolls of the Marshall Islands.
Physicists also argued in their letter that the United States cannot maintain its monopoly on nuclear weapons.
“We believe that the security of this country is based solely on making future wars impossible,” writes Elder Oppenheimer. “It is our unanimous and urgent recommendation that all measures be taken for this purpose and all necessary international arrangements.”
Oppenheimer’s grandson praised the letter’s “incredible foresight,” characterised his ancestors and his colleagues as “understanding what is at risk, what is happening, how to prevent it.”
Trump as a nuclear passbreaker?
Eighty years later, there are thousands of nuclear weapons in the world, and if a new start expires without a successor’s trade or enforcement contract, for the first time since 1972 there will be an uncontrolled relationship between the first nuclear weapons in which the original strategic arms restriction treaty between the US and the Soviet Union was in effect.
Oppenheimer sees Trump as a potential game-changer amid declining nuclear relations between the US and Russia. He believes that even if tensions remain between the US and Russia, or between the US and China, there is a possibility that nuclear weapons dialogue could occur.
“It doesn’t matter how much we hate each other (or) the number of wars and skirmishes we are in. Whatever the situation, we have to talk about the (nuclear) weapons issue,” he said. “And that offers an unusual possibility because Trump says we should negotiate with China and Russia.”
Trump’s “highest quality as a leader” is his well-documented “real belief” that nuclear weapons are dangerous to the world.
The Obama administration negotiated a fresh start and the Biden administration expanded the deal, but Trump’s personal sentiment about nuclear, coupled with his reputation as a deal maker and his enthusiasm for winning the Nobel Peace Prize, made many arms-controlled supporters, such as Oppenheimer, cautiously optimistic about their cause.
Oppenheimer said the paradox of Trump’s benefits is that the agreement between heads of state is easy to reach and only a long lasting political administration. Formal treaties ratified by national legislative bodies are necessary to make such agreements permanent.
Full negotiations for a new treaty may be unlikely before the end of a new start, but Oppenheimer will not be stopped. He sees this moment as the opening for Trump, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping to make the world a safer place.
“Let’s at least have a debate” among the leaders, he insisted. “Let’s at least gather at dinner or at a summit, and at least have a personal human connection between our leaders and see if there is anything they can come up with.”
High-tech investors – with laughter – also provided to the host.
“I don’t have the right to invite world leaders to dinner, but I’m doing that anyway… I’m trying to support the idea that there should be a trilateral debate on reducing the nuclear threat,” Oppenheimer said.
Davis Winkie’s role in covering nuclear threats and national security at USA Today is supported by partnership with Autorider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partner. Funders do not provide editor input.
