Operation Paperclip- Rethinking von Braun's Legacy

In the recent book "Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America" Annie Jacobsen looks at the U.S. program that was designed to deny the Soviet Union the ability to bring Nazi scientists into the service of

In the recent book "Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America" Annie Jacobsen looks at the U.S. program that was designed to deny the Soviet Union the ability to bring Nazi scientists into the service of the Kremlin. The specifics of Operation Paperclip aren't well known, other than the U.S. brought over thousands of Nazi scientists, a wealth of technical documents, and a large supply of V-2 rockets and parts. The combination of men and materiel brought to the U.S. formed the core of the U.S. space program; a derivative of the Atlas rocket, the Atlas V, is still in use today.

From a five-year experimental program conducted at WSMR (White Sands Missile Range) under the supervision of Dr. Wernher von Braun and the group of german scientists brought to the states in late 1945 and 1946, emerged America's large missiles including the Corporal, Redstone, Nikes, Aerobees and Atlas.- Marshall Space Flight Center History Office http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/german/v-2_whitesands.html

The sign in the picture reads: "Tragic Fact: More than 10,000 forced laborers died building the V-2 rockets... twice as many people than were killed being hit by it."

The question that Annie Jacobsen raises is whether or not Operation Paperclip can be viewed as a necessary action in winning the Cold War. The morality of bringing avowed Nazi's into the United States, thereby allowing them to avoid war crimes charges, is one of the big themes of her book. Of specific interest to space history is the role that von Braun played in the creation of the V-2 and his active role in the Nazi party during WWII. Was one of the most important figures in space history guilty of more than just following the orders of his superiors?

The anecdote discussing the role that Albert Einstein played in the war effort Jacobsen shows that:

when Hitler came to power, Einstein immediately renounced his citizenship in defiance of the Nazi Party and immigrated to the United States. Dr. Robertson shared Einstein's core view. It had been the duty of German scientists to protest Hitler's racist policies, beginning in 1933.- "Operation Paperclip" p.92 (Kindle Edition)

This passage is enlightening because it seems that Annie Jacobsen is arguing, much in the same way Einstein argued, that the scientists brought to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip shouldn't have been trusted since they did not take immediate action after Hitler's rise to power. Should the U.S. have trusted these individuals and helped them escape war crimes convictions? In the case of von Braun it seems that some of the actions he took, specifically the use of slave labor in constructing the V-2, suggest we should not have used his technical knowledge. But looking at these actions through the lens of the Cold War it becomes apparent what might have happened to the U.S. missile program had Nazi technology and scientists not been used.

If the U.S. had decided to only liberate completed rockets and parts, and had not captured Nazi personnel due to a moral revulsion at their actions during the war, the results of the Cold War could have been markedly different.