Topics include: growing up in Oklahoma and receiving his bachelor's degree from the University of Oklahoma in the spring of 1940; enrollment in the University of California, Berkeley in 1940 to pursue a PhD in theoretical physics under the direction of J. Robert Oppenheimer; working at the Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley on topics related to the production of atomic weapons; activity in trying to organize a union in the workplace; drafted into the Army in 1943 despite the concern of men such as Ernest Lawrence and Oppenheimer who tried to get him a deferment to work on war projects; his appearance before the House Committee on Un-American Activities regarding his activities at the Radiation Laboratory; his indictment for contempt of Congress in 1950 (later found not guilty), his black listing from academic work. The interview focuses primarily on the period of 1940 through the mid-1950s when he faced many problems that resulted from his political views and his appearance before the HUAC.