Levittown High School Was Almost Named After Robert Oppenheimer

Harry S. Truman High School, which was formerly Woodrow Wilson High School, could have carried the name of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Nick Field, a politics contributor and correspondent for LevittownNow.com, Decision Desk, and the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, who is from Lower Bucks County, recently noted to Twitter the brief bit of history that connects the father of the nation’s atomic weapons program to the area.

In 1959, what would one day become my high school was nearly named after J. Robert Oppenheimer until complaints from the American Legion and VFW led them to name it for Woodrow Wilson instead. In 1981 the name was changed again to….Harry S Truman High School @Kaibird123 pic.twitter.com/KDwNLbsoSr

— Nick Field (@nick_field90) July 23, 2023

According to reporting from the Levittown Times and Associated Press, the new community of Levittown learned in 1958 that the Bristol Township School Board was planning to name the new Green Lane high school after Oppenheimer, who was dubbed the “father of the nuclear bomb” and lived in nearby Princeton.

However, some community members, the American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars protested the proposed name after the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission turned down Oppenheimer’s security clearance over concerns of his past connections to the Communist Party in America.

The Bristol Township School Board ended up voting 4-2 to name the high school after Wilson, a former president of the U.S. and Princeton University.

At the March 1958 meeting when the name decision was affirmed, the school board heard from two members of the audience in the packed meeting room. One resident spoke against the name change and the other, Neils Haugaard, favored the Oppenheimer name, as reported by Levittown Times reporter Gordon Parker at the time.

“I felt proud last year when we named the school. We honored one of the greatest living Americans – a scientist and philosopher. Politicians have enough honors. I feel ashamed of the board’s action tonight,” Haugaard said.

The school board’s 4-2 decision to name the high school after Wilson made national headlines.

Oppenheimer was reached by the Levittown Times for comment in the wake of the decision.

“No comment, no comment at all. Thank you,” he told the reporter.

Also at the meeting, the Bristol Township School Board voted against creating a kindergarten program after some community members complained it would be a babysitting service wanted by mothers who needed a break.

While Oppenheimer, who died of cancer in 1967, never saw his security clearance returned, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm vacated the 1954 revocation in 2022.

She said in a statement: “In 1954, the Atomic Energy Commission revoked Dr. Oppenheimer’s security clearance through a flawed process that violated the Commission’s own regulations. As time has passed, more evidence has come to light of the bias and unfairness of the process that Dr. Oppenheimer was subjected to while the evidence of his loyalty and love of country have only been further affirmed.”

Oppenheimer, according to researchers and recent reporting, attended communist events and associated with members of the communist party in the 1930s, but he never was involved in espionage for the Soviet Union. In fact, the theoretical physicist had several Manhattan Project staffers kicked off due to their ties to communism.

Writer and director Christopher Nolan’s film “Oppenheimer” is presently in theaters and has gone on to become a commercial success and also one with critics.

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