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ALLISON NELSON FINAL.pdf (1.31 MB)

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Veil of Protection: Operation Paperclip and the Contrasting Fates of Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph

Eldridge-Nelson, Allison
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1510914308951993

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, History.
Toward the end of World War II, the United States government initiated Operation Paperclip which set out to secretly secure the top rocket scientists from Nazi Germany. To accomplish this, officials manipulated policy procedures, covered their tracks, and years later misrepresented their knowledge of the project’s details. The resulting problematic immigration policy enabled the government to allow former Nazi scientists to travel to the U.S. and be employed by the military well ahead of executive approval, and amidst strong dissent. This thesis will take these arguments a step further by contextualizing it within two personal narratives of participants of Operation Paperclip. The two examined scientists, Wernher von Braun and his colleague Arthur L. Rudolph, became highly regarded in their field and were bestowed with public praise, titles, and awards, yet their fates were drastically different. As this thesis tracks the constantly shifting immigration policy that was shaped by America’s national interests in the immediate post-WWII era, it will explain the unchecked and unstable procedures that resulted in skewed perceptions of von Braun and Rudolph. Although von Braun worked alongside Rudolph, and held powerful positions of authority, his prominence and importance to the U.S. space program allowed for his Nazi past to be rehabilitated. Moreover, while he remained alive this protection also extended to those close to him, including Rudolph. When he passed, however, this veil of protection was lifted, exposing his colleagues to a different fate. This thesis does not question the contributions that von Braun and Rudolph made to the U.S. space program and development of NASA. Instead, it calls to question how much officials manipulated policy to grant von Braun, and subsequently Rudolph and his team, wide ranging liberties after escorting them out of Nazi Germany. This immigration policy is what first began the crafting of von Braun’s “veil of protection,” and the mindset to let it continue. The disjointed immigration policy, formed by the circumstances and without a timely evaluation, set the guidelines for future congruent policy procedures until a monumental shift in the sociopolitical environment made it possible to revisit this structure.
Walter Grunden, Ph. D. (Advisor)
Benjamin Greene, Ph. D. (Committee Member)
118 p.
American History; Ethics; History; International Relations; Military History; Public Policy; World History
Operation Paperclip; NASA; World War II; Cold War; Soviet Union; Germany; slave labor; Nazi; Wernher von Braun; Arthur Rudolph; space race; rocketry; V-2; immigration policy; State Department; Justice Department; intelligence

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Eldridge-Nelson, A. (2017). Veil of Protection: Operation Paperclip and the Contrasting Fates of Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1510914308951993

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Eldridge-Nelson, Allison. Veil of Protection: Operation Paperclip and the Contrasting Fates of Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph. 2017. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1510914308951993.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Eldridge-Nelson, Allison. "Veil of Protection: Operation Paperclip and the Contrasting Fates of Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1510914308951993

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.