Haakon Maurice Chevalier (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 ''trans ...

, and professor of

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

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

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 (born Julius Robert Oppenheimer ; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World ...

, 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 Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

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 auditory sci ...

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 At that hearing, Oppenheimer's security clearance was revoked.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 Lakewood Township, New Jersey to Emile and Therese Chevalier (née Roggen), who were of French and Norwegian ancestry, respectively. When he was in his twenties Chevalier felt attracted by the romantic aspects of seafaring. He embarked as a deckhand on one of the last commercial sailing ships, the four-masted U.S. schooner ''Rosamond'', for a voyage to the southern ocean and

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

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

Translation work

In 1945, Chevalier served as a translator for the

Nuremberg Trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...

. He translated works by

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

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

, 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 Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...

Frantz Fanon Frantz Omar Fanon (, ; ; 20 July 1925 – 6 December 1961) was a French West Indian psychiatrist, political philosopher, and Marxist from the French colony of Martinique (today a French department). His works have become influential in the ...

and Victor Vasarely into English.

Relationship with Oppenheimer

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

Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...

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

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ...

. That short conversation, 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 1954 security hearing in front of the Atomic Energy Commission, which resulted in the revocation of his security clearance. Chevalier was interviewed in '' The Day After Trinity'' (1981), an Oscar-nominated documentary about Oppenheimer and the

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear expl ...

. He was played by Jefferson Hall in

Christopher Nolan Sir Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British and American filmmaker. Known for his Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters with complex storytelling, he is considered a leading filmma ...

's 2023 film '' Oppenheimer''.

Personal life

Chevalier had four children from three marriages. From 1922 to 1931 he was married to Ruth Bosley, from 1931 to 1950 to Barbara Lansburgh, and finally to Carol Lansburgh in 1952.

Later life and death

After the House Subcommittee on Un-American Activities hearing, Chevalier lost his job at Berkeley in 1950. Unable to find another professorship in the United States, he moved to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, 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, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. Chevalier died in 1985 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

at the age of 83. The cause of death was not reported.

Works

*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 *1937. '' The Bells of Basel.'' London: Peter Davies & Lovat Dickson. *1949. ''For Us The Living''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. *1959. ''The Man Who Would Be God''. 1st American ed. Putnam. ASIN B0006AW3DG *1965. ''Oppenheimer: The Story of a Friendship''. New York: George Braziller. ASIN B0006BN686 *1970. ''The Last Voyage of the Schooner Rosamond''. Deutsch.

Translations

* Pozner, Vladimir. 1942. ''The Edge of the Sword'' (''Deuil en 24 heures''). Modern Age Books. * Pozner, Vladimir. 1943. ''First Harvest'' (''Les Gens du pays''). * Dalí, Salvador. 1944. ''Hidden Faces''. Dial. * 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 () commemorates the seven days leading up to Easter. It begins with the commemoration of Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, marks the betrayal of Jesus on Spy Wednesday (Holy Wednes ...

'' (''La Semaine Sainte''). Putnam. ASIN B000EWMJ3A * Dalí, Salvador. 1986. ''The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí''. Dasa Edicions * Maurois, André, 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. 1965. ''A Dying Colonialism''.

References

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 Translators from French French–English translators University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty J. Robert Oppenheimer 20th-century American translators American expatriates in France Academics from New Jersey Writers from Ocean County, New Jersey