Amid Israel-Iran conflict, FBI's secret file on Albert Einstein's anti-nuclear fears resurfaces

As
Israel
's strikes on Iran and counterstrikes continue to rattle global nerves—targeting top nuclear scientists and key infrastructure—an eerie echo from the past is capturing public imagination: the FBI's massive, once-secret 1,400-page file on Albert Einstein. On Reddit and social media, many are stunned to learn that America's most celebrated physicist spent over two decades under government surveillance—not for his science, but for his politics, pacifism, and powerful opposition to nuclear warfare.
The Guardian recently reported that Israel's attacks, though tactically impactful, have not critically derailed Iran's nuclear program. Experts warn that this military gamble could, paradoxically, hasten Iran's nuclear ambitions if no diplomatic resolution follows. Amid this volatile context, Einstein's historic warning about unchecked
nuclear proliferation
is more relevant than ever.
Why Einstein Alarmed the FBI
Albert Einstein, whose 1939 letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped catalyze the U.S. atomic program, would later become one of its fiercest moral critics. Yet, what truly irked J. Edgar Hoover's FBI wasn't just Einstein's views on war—it was his unwavering activism.
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According to the FBI file, which ballooned to 1,427 pages by the time of Einstein's death in 1955, Hoover branded him 'an extreme radical.' The file details years of spying on the Nobel laureate for opposing segregation, speaking out against capitalism, and maintaining friendships across racial and ideological lines. It also flagged his association with civil rights icons, like African-American singer Marian Anderson, who once stayed at his home after being denied hotel entry in segregated New Jersey.
In a quote cited from Einstein's 1931 writing, he stated, 'I regard class differences as contrary to justice and, in the last resort, based on force.' This, during the Great Depression and amidst the rise of communism, was enough to draw the ire of Hoover's Red Scare-fueled regime.
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Living Nostradamus had warned of Iran-Israel conflict escalation last year. What are his predictions for rest of 2025?
— IntlSpyMuseum (@IntlSpyMuseum)
A Complicated Bond With the Bomb
Einstein's involvement in the creation of nuclear weapons was reluctant but prescient. Though a committed pacifist, he warned in his 1939 letter that Nazi Germany might be developing atomic bombs, pushing the U.S. to act. But after
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
, Einstein was filled with regret. He championed global
nuclear disarmament
, describing modern warfare as 'a form of insanity,' and insisted that the future of nuclear technology be governed by international cooperation.
According to a report in
The Guardian
, Israel's military efforts have only bought 'a few months' of delay in Iran's nuclear breakout capability—if that. Some U.S. intelligence assessments, as cited by
CNN
, even suggest Iran is not actively pursuing a bomb at this moment. Yet, the stakes remain sky-high, with tensions in the Middle East feeding global anxieties over a potential nuclear escalation.
— phalpern (@phalpern)
Einstein's Prophetic Warnings in a Nuclear World
In the same week that Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported on the growing stockpiles of nuclear weapons across nine countries, Einstein's warnings are ringing louder. His call for a world where war was obsolete and nuclear arms were tightly controlled was not naïve—it was urgent.
As his biographer Walter Isaacson noted, Einstein loved America not for its power, but for its 'tolerance of free thought, free speech, and nonconformist beliefs.' But this same nation kept him under surveillance for decades, fearful that his ideas might challenge the status quo.
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One viral Reddit comment sums up public reaction to the resurfaced file: 'Anyone that can 'change the world with ideas' is a threat to those in power.' Another adds, 'I didn't know this was a thing… damn.'
The Cycle of Nuclear Fear
Nearly seventy years after Einstein's death, his fears are once again being played out on the global stage. Nuclear capability remains a bargaining chip and a threat. Iran says its enrichment is peaceful; Israel fears otherwise. Meanwhile, the U.S., China, Russia, and other
nuclear powers
continue to expand their arsenals while urging restraint in others.
Einstein once warned, 'The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking—and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.' That drift now seems less hypothetical and more real.

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