Haakon Maurice Chevalier (

Lakewood Township, New Jersey Lakewood Township is the most populous township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A rapidly growing community as of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 135,158 representing an increase of 41,415 (+45.5 ...

, September 10, 1901 – July 4, 1985) was an American writer,

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

, and professor of

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than F ...

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 un ...

best known for his friendship with

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

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 ...

, whom he met at

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

in 1937. Oppenheimer's relationship with Chevalier, and Chevalier's relationship with a possible recruiter for Soviet intelligence, figured prominently in a 1954

hearing Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sounds through an organ, such as an ear, by detecting vibrations as periodic changes in the pressure of a surrounding medium. The academic field concerned with hearing is audit ...

of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission on Oppenheimer's security clearance. At that hearing, Oppenheimer's security clearance was revoked.

Early life

Chevalier was born September 10, 1901 in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and Norwegian parents. When he was in his twenties he felt attracted by the romantic aspects of seafaring and embarked as a deckhand on one of the last commercial sailing ships, the four-masted US schooner ''Rosamond'' for a voyage to the southern ocean and

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. He left a vivid and nostalgic testimony of this very end of the age of sail in his book ''The Last Voyage of the Schooner Rosamond''.

Work

In 1945, Chevalier served as a translator for the

Nuremberg Trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...

. He translated many works by

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( , ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and Minister of Culture (France), minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (Man's Fate) (1933) won the Prix Go ...

, Vladimir Pozner,

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He ...

Frantz Fanon Frantz Omar Fanon (, ; ; 20 July 1925 – 6 December 1961), also known as Ibrahim Frantz Fanon, was a French West Indian psychiatrist, and political philosopher from the French colony of Martinique (today a French department). His works have b ...

and

Victor Vasarely Victor Vasarely (; born Győző Vásárhelyi, ; 9 April 1906 – 15 March 1997) was a Hungarian-French artist, who is widely accepted as a "grandfather" and leader of the Op art movement. His work entitled ''Zebra'', created in 1937, is consid ...

into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

Relationship with Oppenheimer

Chevalier met Oppenheimer in 1937 at Berkeley while he was an associate professor of

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...

. Together, Chevalier and Oppenheimer would found the Berkeley branch of a teachers' union, which sponsored benefits for leftist causes. Chevalier informed Oppenheimer in 1942 of a discussion he had with George Eltenton which disturbed him considerably and thought Oppenheimer ought to know about, regarding Soviet attempts through Eltenton to penetrate 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 ...

. That short conversation, and Oppenheimer's belated reporting of it and attempts to obscure the identity of Chevalier, would later become one of the key issues in Oppenheimer's security hearings in front of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1954 which resulted in the revocation of his security clearance. Chevalier is interviewed in ''

The Day After Trinity ''The Day After Trinity'' (a.k.a. ''The Day After Trinity: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb'') is a 1980 documentary film directed and produced by Jon H. Else in association with KTEH public television in San Jose, California. The film ...

'' (1981), an Oscar-nominated documentary about Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb.

Later life and death

After the House Subcommittee on Un-American Activities hearing, Chevalier lost his job at Berkeley in 1950 and was unable to find another professorship in the United States and thus moved to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, where he continued to work as a translator. Chevalier returned to the United States briefly in July 1965 to attend his daughter's wedding in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. Chevalier died in 1985 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

at the age of 83. The cause of death was not reported.Washington Post. July 11, 1985.

Bibliography

*1932. ''The ironic temper: Anatole France and his time''. Oxford University Press. ASIN B00085MTLU *1934. ''André Malraux and "Man's fate": An essay''. H. Smith and R. Haas. ASIN B00089VCSC *1949. ''For Us The Living''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. *1959. ''The Man Who Would Be God''. Putnam; st American ed. ASIN B0006AW3DG *1965. ''Oppenheimer: The Story of a Friendship''. New York: George Braziller, Inc. ASIN B0006BN686 *1970. ''The Last Voyage of the Schooner Rosamond''. Deutsch.

Translations

* Vladimir Pozner. 1942. ''The Edge of the Sword'' (''Deuil en 24 heures''). Modern Age Books. * Vladimir Pozner. 1943. ''First Harvest'' (''Les Gens du pays''). * Kessel, Joseph. 1944. ''Army of Shadows'' (''L'Armée des ombres''). Alfred A. Knopf * Malraux, André. 1961. ''Man's Fate''. Random House Modern Library. ASIN B000BI694M * Aragon, Louis. 1961. ''

Holy Week Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...

''. G. P. Putnam's Sons. ASIN B000EWMJ3A * Dalí, Salvador. 1986. ''The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí''. Dasa Edicions, S.A. *Maurois, Andrei. 1962. ''Seven faces of love''. Doubleday. ASIN B0007H6IX4 * Michaux, Henri. 1963. ''Light Through Darkness''. Orion Press. ASIN B0007E4GJ0 * Vasarely, Victor. 1965. ''Plastic Arts of the Twentieth Century, Volume 1''. Editions du Griffon. ASIN B000FH4NZG * Fanon, Frantz, ''A Dying Colonialism'' 1965

References

*Broad, William J. September 8, 2002. ''Father of A-bomb was Communist, book claims''. ''New York Times''. A7. *Gray, Gordon. 1954. In the matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer: transcript of hearing before Personnel Security Board. U.S. Govt. Print. Off. p. 4-6. *Herken, Gregg. 2002. ''Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller''. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC. *New York Times. July 11, 1985. ''Haakon Chevalier, 83, Author and Translator''. Section B; Page 6, Column 4; National Desk. *Washington Post. July 11, 1985. Metro; Deaths Elsewhere''. C7.

Notes

External links

1982 Audio Interview with Haakon Chevalier by Martin Sherwin
Voices of the Manhattan Project

* ttp://alsos.wlu.edu/qsearch.aspx?browse=people/Chevalier,+Haakon Annotated bibliography for Haakon Chevalier from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issuesbr>''Vladimir Pozner se souvient''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chevalier, Haakon 1901 births 1985 deaths People from Lakewood Township, New Jersey American people of French descent American people of Norwegian descent Members of the Communist Party USA American translators Translators from French Translators to English University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty J. Robert Oppenheimer 20th-century translators American expatriates in France