Operation Paper Trap Pros And Cons

Operation Paperclip, originally called Operation Overcast, was a secret program where the U.S. scooped up Nazi scientists from Germany and brought them to the United States to work and expand the current knowledge. The goal of this project was to prevent the Soviet Union from getting knowledge and technology that these scientists had been working on (“Welcome To Operation Paperclip”). The United States wanted the valuable knowledge because it gave them a better chance of winning the Cold War (Zimmerman, Defense Media Network). This heavily debated topic has been questioned about its morality since many of the scientists were previously committed Nazis and had been involved in behavior that was considered a war crime. For most people, Operation

Paperclip goes against all of their morals since the recruited scientists were a hefty part of why 17 million murders happened in the Holocaust with Jews as the main victims. Although the work that the scientists did to assist America was very important and helpful, the act of recruiting and using the German scientists to work in the United States was immoral.

Before 1945, the start of Operation Paperclip, there was a race in Germany to gather all the men with PhDs that were fighting in the war. They wanted them to begin work that would help them win the war and surpass their enemies with better technology (Jewish Virtual Library). This work could have ranged from designing new weaponry or experimenting with diseases on human subjects. This produced a plethora of intelligence and technology that was available to other countries after the war. Naturally, the United States and the Soviet Union both wanted to get as much of it as possible in order to one-up the other (US Military). The Soviet Union took a more direct approach to gain the knowledge and forcefully took scientists, many against their will. The U.S. on the other hand, created Operation Paperclip to pick out and gather the scientists that they wanted. The Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency was responsible for creating and running the entire operation (Jewish Virtual Library). The list of scientists originally contained few engineers but eventually grew to all types of scientists. Along with the shift of scientists, they also changed the name of the Operation Overcast to Operation Paperclip because Camp Overcast, where the

scientists stayed, was being used in everyday conversations and the secrecy of the operation was in danger of exposure. Despite the efforts to keep this operation quiet, it was exposed to the public in 1958 after the press interviewed some of the scientists (Jewish Virtual Library). Operation Paperclip got its name from the practice that happened during the selection process that would decide on if a scientist was fit for the project. Once a scientist was officially chosen to become part of the project, a paperclip was placed on their file, marking them to officially say that they were on the list (Zimmerman, Defense Media Network). Once the scientists were snuck into the United States they were split up and placed in projects like working at the U.S. Department of Energy, Edgewood Arsenal, U.S. Army (Wright Field), or working on projects like the Saturn V launch vehicle, conducting experiments for the CIA, developing synthetic rubber, etc. (CIA). The scientists helped with many projects and because of this, they and their families were allowed to stay in the United States for the remainder of their lives. Before coming to the United States, many but not all of the scientists were under the command of Adolf Hitler. They did research for Nazi Germany and some even participated in dehumanizing the undesirables. “Almost all were tainted with Nazi party association.” (Zimmerman, Defense Media Network). The Nuremberg Trials that were held in Nuremberg, Germany, were trying to find and punish the Nazis who had helped in actively killing the Jews and other citizens. To escape their problems, they agreed to work with the United States only if America agreed to protect them from their crimes (Albarelli Jr., Voltaire).
Although started with good intentions, the morality of the project falls apart the moment it begins. To start, the included scientists were not good people. Many of the scientists were convicted of war crimes which prevented them from obtaining visas. The entrance of the scientists and their families was not allowed and should have never happened due to the fact that they were security threats. Despite this, the safety of U.S. citizens was undermined and the scientists and their families were brought to America illegally (Lichtblau, New York Times). One specific person interesting person involved in Operation Paperclip was Fritz Hoffmann who arrived in 1947. Before his work in the United States, he worked as an organic chemist at the University of Würzburg where he did chemical experiments for the Third Reich. Once in the U.S., he worked at Edgewood Arsenal where he did experiments with Sarin and Tabun gases on live Army men. Some of these men died after Hoffmann’s experiments (Jacobsen, 450), (Albarelli Jr., Voltaire). This is a great example of how Operation Paperclip was not following a moral code. They not only employed a former Nazi, but they allowed him to continue his awful research in the United States, all while using U.S. citizens as his test subjects. This presents evidence of the government’s poor protection to the citizens and proves that the government was not concerned about its citizens well being. Wernher Von Braun was an interesting example because he was arguably the biggest asset to Operation Paperclip. “[Wernher Von Braun] knew that no matter what atrocities were eventually discovered, no major world power would refuse the technological advances made by the Nazis.” (Callahan, New York Post). He arrived in the U.S. after spending time under Nazi direction developing V-weapons and using slave labor to build the weapons (Feigin, 331). Once in the United States, he worked in the U.S. Army and was the director at the Marshall Space Flight Center where he helped develop and create the Saturn V launch vehicle which ultimately lead the U.S. to the moon landing (Jacobsen, 456). Although von Braun was helpful to the U.S. and used his freedom to help instead of hurt, he was still a criminal. He still used slaves to develop deadly weaponry that was to be used against the United States and its allies. He was still a bad person even though he chose to do good when given the opportunity. Both of these men and many more should not have had the opportunity to lead “good” lives in the United States especially since many continued their harmful work in the U.S. after they were given a second chance. Operation Paperclip was a sad excuse for helping the United States because it did not bring enough positive outcomes to cancel out all the bad things that it endorsed and continued by saving the scientists from the consequences of their actions during World War Two.
The argument that counteracted Operation Paperclip’s immorality would have been that shortly after its start, the U.S.

was still learning about the horrific tragedies that the Nazi scientists helped create. They were still learning about to what extent murdering and torturing had happened to the Jews. They were still discovering the extent of experimentation the Jews and other “undesirables” had experienced. They were still learning just how awful the Nazis really were. (Callahan, New York Post). It is understandable that the government took a risk when they were going to be helping their country in the short term, but what kind of message does it send to keep the exterminators of World War Two on your team long after you know everything about them and what they did? It sends a message directly to the American people that says, “If you are smart, go ahead and do anything you want because we can still employ you even if you helped kill millions of people.” Letting the Nazi scientists continue working and thriving in the U.S. even after their true faults had been exposed, it absolutely insane. Regardless of the fact that the government did not know the full extent of the Nazis actions, it would have been a moral choice to get rid of the scientists as soon as they found out about their pasts. They should have informed the people of America that that awful, appalling behavior is not acceptable under any

circumstances.
Operation Paperclip was a remarkable feat, was also a huge disappointment. The idea of bringing any type of Nazis willingly into America is disgusting and wrong. Anyone convicted of directly or indirectly abusing and/or murdering innocent people should never be allowed or accepted into any country. They have no right to be a part of any productive society if they have stooped low enough to dehumanize fellow citizens. Operation Paperclip may have been a plan that was put in place to protect the American population, but you cannot protect anything with more danger. The work that all of the scientists did was very helpful and much appreciated by everyone but the end result is never the most important thing. The focus point every journey should be the path that is taken to get to the destination. Since the road to get to this mediocre achievement of an incomplete win of the Cold War and some new rubber that the scientists invented along the way was pretty rough and very questionable, the whole mission was not very productive. So why did the U.S. take the easy route and employ the bad guys instead of just using its own brain power? They did this because they thought that fighting the Soviets with their own weapons, was going to get the job done and they thought that they would have been able to cancel out the unacceptable details with the satisfactory results, which did not happen.