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Jean Frances Tatlock (February 21, 1914 – January 4, 1944) was an American psychiatrist and
physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
. She was a member of the
Communist Party of the United States of America The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
and was a reporter and writer for the party's publication ''Western Worker''. She is also known for her romantic relationship with
J. Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is oft ...
, the director of the
Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
's
Los Alamos Laboratory The Los Alamos Laboratory, also known as Project Y, was a secret laboratory established by the Manhattan Project and operated by the University of California during World War II. Its mission was to design and build the first atomic bombs. Ro ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The daughter of
John Strong Perry Tatlock John Strong Perry Tatlock (February 24, 1876 – June 24, 1948) – known as J. S. P. Tatlock – was an American literary scholar and medievalist. Biography Tatlock was born in Stamford, Connecticut, in February 1876, the son of Florence (Perry) ...
, a prominent Old English
philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
and an expert on Geoffrey Chaucer, Tatlock was a graduate of
Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...
and the
Stanford Medical School Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Francisco in 1858. This ...
, where she studied to become a psychiatrist. Tatlock began seeing Oppenheimer in 1936, when she was a graduate student at Stanford and Oppenheimer was a professor of
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
. As a result of their relationship and her membership of the Communist Party, she was placed under surveillance by the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
and her phone was tapped. She suffered from
clinical depression Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Intro ...
and died by suicide on January 4, 1944.


Early life

Jean Frances Tatlock was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on February 21, 1914, the second child of
John Strong Perry Tatlock John Strong Perry Tatlock (February 24, 1876 – June 24, 1948) – known as J. S. P. Tatlock – was an American literary scholar and medievalist. Biography Tatlock was born in Stamford, Connecticut, in February 1876, the son of Florence (Perry) ...
and his wife Marjorie Fenton. She had an older brother named Hugh, who became a
physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
.Streshinsky and Klaus, ''An Atomic Love Story'', p. 7. Her father, who had a PhD from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, was a noted and acclaimed professor of English at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
; an Old English
philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
; an expert on Geoffrey Chaucer and English plays, poems, and Elizabethan era literature; and author of approximately 60 books on those subjects, including ''The Complete Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer'' (1912) and ''The Mind and Art of Chaucer'' (1950).Kashner and MacNair, ''The Bad & the Beautiful'', p. 65. John Tatlock was a professor of English at Stanford from 1915 to 1925, and Harvard from 1925 to 1929, before returning to the Bay Area as a professor of English at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
. Tatlock attended
Cambridge Rindge and Latin School The Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, also known as CRLS or "Rindge," is a public high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. It is a part of the Cambridge Public School District. In 1977, two separate schools, the Rindge Technical ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
, and Williams College in Berkeley. In 1930, she entered
Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...
. She graduated in 1935, and returned to Berkeley, where she took courses to complete the prerequisites for
Stanford Medical School Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Francisco in 1858. This ...
, and was a reporter and writer for the ''Western Worker'', the
Communist Party of America The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
's organ on the
West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...
. She was accepted into Stanford Medical School (then located in San Francisco), where she studied to become a psychiatrist. She graduated from Stanford with the class of 1941, and completed her
internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...
at St. Elizabeths Hospital in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, and
residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgra ...
at the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Zion Hospital (now the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center) in San Francisco.


Romance with Oppenheimer

Tatlock struggled with her sexuality, at one point writing to a friend that "there was a period when I thought I was homosexual. I still am, in a way, forced to believe it, but really, logically, I am sure that I can't be because of my un-masculinity." She began seeing
Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is often ...
in 1936, when she was a graduate student there and Oppenheimer was a professor of
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
at Berkeley. They met through his landlady, Mary Ellen Washburn, who was also a member of the Communist Party, when Washburn held a fund raiser for communist-backed
Spanish Republicans Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
. The couple started dating and had a passionate relationship; he proposed to her twice, but she refused.Herken, ''Brotherhood of the Bomb'', p. 29. She is credited with introducing Oppenheimer to radical politics during the late 1930s, and to people involved with, or sympathetic to the
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
or related groups, such as Rudy Lambert and
Thomas Addis Thomas Addis Jr. (July 27, 1881 – June 4, 1949) was a Scottish physician-scientist from Edinburgh who made important contributions to the understanding of how blood clots work. He was a pioneer in the field of nephrology, the branch of inter ...
. They continued seeing each other after he became involved with Kitty Harrison, whom he married on November 1, 1940. Oppenheimer and Tatlock spent the New Year together in 1941, and once met at Mark Hopkins hotel in San Francisco. Oppenheimer's association with her friends was used as evidence against him during his 1954 security hearing.Smyth, Henry D
"Decision and Opinions of the United States Atomic Energy Commission in the Matter of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer"
(c/o Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law Library, Yale Law School). June 29, 1954.
In a letter to Major General Kenneth D. Nichols, General Manager,
United States Atomic Energy Commission The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President ...
, dated March 4, 1954, Oppenheimer described their association as follows: While some historians believe that Oppenheimer had an extramarital affair with Tatlock while he was working on the
Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
, others assert he met with Tatlock only once after he was picked to head the
Los Alamos Laboratory The Los Alamos Laboratory, also known as Project Y, was a secret laboratory established by the Manhattan Project and operated by the University of California during World War II. Its mission was to design and build the first atomic bombs. Ro ...
in mid-June 1943.Herken, ''Brotherhood of the Bomb'', pp. 101–102. On June 14, 1943, Oppenheimer was in Berkeley to recruit David Hawkins as an administrative assistant. They went to a Mexican restaurant in her green 1935 Plymouth coupe, and spent the night together at her San Francisco apartment at 1405 Montgomery Street. All the while, U.S. Army agents, waiting in the street outside, had them under surveillance. At that meeting she told him that she still loved him and wanted to be with him. He never saw her again. Despite her relationship with Oppenheimer, in Edith Arnstein Jenkins' memoir, she recalls a conversation with Mason Robertson, a good friend of Tatlock, in which he claims Tatlock told him she was lesbian. In fact, it is plausible that Tatlock had a relationship with Mary Ellen Washburn. As a psychoanalyst in the 1940s, she saw her homosexuality as a pathological condition to be overcome, which may have led to her eventual suicide.


Death

Tatlock suffered from severe
clinical depression Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Intro ...
, and was being treated at Mount Zion. At around 1 pm on January 5, 1944, her father arrived at her apartment at 1405 Montgomery Street. When there was no response to his ringing the doorbell, he climbed in through a window.Bird and Sherwin, ''American Prometheus'', p. 250. He found her dead, lying on a pile of cushions in the bathroom, with her head submerged in the partly-filled bathtub.Serber and Crease, ''Peace & War'', p. 86.Pais and Crease, ''J. Robert Oppenheimer: A Life'', p. 36.Thorpe, ''Oppenheimer: The Tragic Intellect'', p. 55. There was an unsigned
suicide note A suicide note or death note is a message left behind by a person who dies or intends to die by suicide. A study examining Japanese suicide notes estimated that 25–30% of suicides are accompanied by a note. However, incidence rates may depen ...
, which read: Her father found her correspondence and sifted through it, burning letters and photographs in the fireplace. At 5:10 pm he called the Halstead Funeral Home, who contacted the police. The police arrived at 5:30 pm, accompanied by the deputy coroner. At the time of her death she was under surveillance by the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
, and her phone had been tapped, so one of the first people informed about it was FBI director
J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 â€“ May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation â ...
, via a
teletype A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations. Init ...
link. The news of her death was reported in Bay Area newspapers.Bird and Sherwin, ''American Prometheus'', p. 252. Washburn cabled
Charlotte Serber Charlotte Serber ( Leof; July 26, 1911 – May 22, 1967) was an American journalist, statistician and librarian. She was the librarian of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II, and the laboratory's only female group ...
at Los Alamos. As the librarian, she had access to the Technical Area, and told her husband, physicist
Robert Serber Robert Serber (March 14, 1909 – June 1, 1997) was an American physicist who participated in the Manhattan Project. Serber's lectures explaining the basic principles and goals of the project were printed and supplied to all incoming scientific st ...
, who then went to inform Oppenheimer. When he reached his office, he found that Oppenheimer already knew. The security chief at Los Alamos, Captain Peer de Silva, had received the news through the wiretap and Army Intelligence, and had broken it to Oppenheimer. Tatlock had introduced Oppenheimer to the poetry of John Donne, and it is widely believed he named the first test of a nuclear weapon "
Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...
" in reference to one of Donne's poems, as a tribute to her.Herken, ''Brotherhood of the Bomb'', p. 129. In 1962,
Leslie Groves Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves Jr. (17 August 1896 – 13 July 1970) was a United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project, a top secret research project ...
wrote to Oppenheimer about the origin of the name, and elicited this reply: A formal inquest in February 1944 returned a verdict of "Suicide, motive unknown".Bird and Sherwin, ''American Prometheus'', p. 251. In his report, the coroner found that Tatlock had eaten a full meal shortly before her death. She had taken some barbiturates, but not a fatal dose. Traces of
chloral hydrate Chloral hydrate is a geminal diol with the formula . It is a colorless solid. It has limited use as a sedative and hypnotic pharmaceutical drug. It is also a useful laboratory chemical reagent and precursor. It is derived from chloral (trichl ...
were found, a drug normally associated with a " Mickey Finn" when combined with alcohol, but there was no alcohol in her blood, despite damage to her
pancreas The pancreas is an organ of the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdomen behind the stomach and functions as a gland. The pancreas is a mixed or heterocrine gland, i.e. it has both an en ...
that indicated she was a heavy drinker. As a psychiatrist working in a hospital, she had access to sedatives such as chloral hydrate. The coroner found that she had died at around 4:30 pm on January 4. The cause of death was recorded as "acute edema of the lungs with pulmonary congestion" — drowning in the bathtub. It seems likely that she knelt over the bathtub, took chloral hydrate, and plunged her head into the water.Bird and Sherwin, ''American Prometheus'', p. 253. There has been, at times, speculation by historians and her brother Hugh as to whether her death was truly a suicide, as there were some suspicious circumstances. The conspiracy theory that she was murdered by intelligence agents working for the Manhattan Project was bolstered by the 1975 Church Committee, which revealed details of assassinations carried out by American intelligence agencies, and was depicted in the fictional TV series ''
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
''. One doctor observed that: "If you were clever and wanted to kill someone, this is the way to do it." Her father had her remains cremated.


Legacy


In media

Florence Pugh Florence Pugh ( ; born 3 January 1996) is an English actress. She made her acting debut in 2014 in the drama film '' The Falling''. Pugh gained recognition in 2016 for her leading role as a young bride in the independent drama ''Lady Macbeth' ...
is set to depict Jean in the upcoming 2023 biopic film '' Oppenheimer'' by
Christopher Nolan Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. His films have grossed $5&nb ...
.
Natasha Richardson Natasha Jane Richardson (11 May 1963 – 18 March 2009) was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, Richardson was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaug ...
portrayed Jean in the 1989 film ''
Fat Man and Little Boy ''Fat Man and Little Boy'' (released in the United Kingdom as ''Shadow Makers'') is a 1989 epic historical war film directed by Roland Joffé who co-wrote the script with Bruce Robinson. The story follows the Manhattan Project, the secret All ...
'' by
Roland Joffé Roland Joffé (born 17 November 1945) is a British director and producer of film and television, known for the Academy Award-winning films ''The Killing Fields'' and '' The Mission''. He began his career in television, his early credits inclu ...


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tatlock, Jean 1914 births 1944 suicides People from Ann Arbor, Michigan Vassar College alumni Stanford University alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Physicians from California American women psychiatrists American psychiatrists Stanford University School of Medicine alumni American communists Suicides by drowning in the United States Cambridge Rindge and Latin School alumni Bisexual women J. Robert Oppenheimer Members of the Communist Party USA Communist women writers LGBT people from Michigan