During World War II, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer directed the building of the atom bomb; soon afterwards he became the U.S. government's top adviser on nuclear policy. Yet in December 1953 he was suspended as a security risk by President Eisenhower. The charges: close association with Communists and obstructing development on the hydrogen bomb. Was Oppenheimer unfit to be trusted by the country he had served with such distinction? Or was he a victim of Senator Joe McCarthy's infamous anti-communist witch-hunt and of the many enemies he had made in political, scientific and military circles? After a lengthy and detailed enquiry into Oppenheimer's past, the charges against him were upheld by the Atomic Energy Commission. But the verdict only intensified public misgivings about the secret hearing. The author, former Prime Minster of England John Major, made an exhaustive examination of all the sources and has produced a penetrating analysis of one of the most disturbing events in recent American history.