Zachary Murphy
During World War II, German scientists unleashed a duo of devasting weapons known as the V1 and V2 rockets. The technology behind these weapons was revolutionary, so both the U.S. and the Soviet Union wanted to procure that technology for themselves.
In a covert operation known as Operation Overcast, later renamed Operation Paperclip, approximately 1,600 German scientists (and their families) were brought to the United States. Their job was to help lead the development of new technology. The military did their best to justify the pasts of these scientists but some of them certainly were involved in the atrocities committed during the war. President Truman, who approved the project, had actually stood against any Nazi members or active Nazi supporters coming into the country. However, Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency and Office of Strategic Services sidestepped this order.
The project was still kept secret, for the government was hesitant in making it known that the masterminds behind the weapons that killed many were now working for the U.S. Perhaps the most controversial of them all was Wernher von Braun, a member of the S.S. He was the head of development behind the sophisticated V2 rocket, the first long-range ballistic missile ever created, and was instrumental in developing the Jupiter C rocket, the very rocket used to launch America's first satellite.
Many of these scientists ended up becoming the directors of various departments at NASA. Though controversial, these men were undoubtedly valuable in the progression of the American space program.
Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/nazi-scientists-space-program-2014-2
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-us-government-brought-nazi-scientists-america-after-world-war-ii-180961110/
http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/what-was-operation-paperclip
Great blog post Zach. This is especially a controversial topic because it pits two different ideas against each other: justice versus innovation. One of the scientists you mentioned, Wernher von Braun, was known for the torture he inflicted on prisoners in concentration camps such as flogging and hanging, but also the fact that slave labor in these cambs originated from him. Obviously, Truman believed that his lack of humanity was more important of factor than his brilliant mind, but those who side-stepped his orders believed otherwise and his innovations have been the basis of modern-day aerospace technology. What do you think is more important?
ReplyDeleteJavin, that's an interesting question - and one that depends quite a bit on the role of the individuals we talk about. Would it be wise to, for example, bring in a former German or Soviet government operative, especially one previously observed to have perpetuated awful treatment of prisoners in camps, in order to develop government policy or devise Cold War military or negotiation strategy? It's unlikely due to the nature of the task; it would be difficult to make decisions based on Braun or a Soviet's advice because the ability to verify such information is imperfect (I hope that makes sense after I explain my next point.) In the case of scientists who develop rockets, the claims made by any of these scientists would have been scientifically verifiable and their predictions calculable by NASA's computing staff. If the scientists stopped giving up secrets or seemed deliberately inefficient, they could be warned off from such behavior by new consequences, incentivizing them to perform well. Having written all of this I see that your question is more with regards to what we think is more morally correct, but the only thing I'd like to point out in terms of that is that I don't think that Truman's concerns were necessarily moral ones and I think that, having made executive decisions regarding the atomic bomb, it seems unlikely that he was not a pragmatist by this point to whom such questions had more to do with security considerations.
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