This was during the early Cold War, not long after the American Castle Bravo and Soviet RDS-37 tests. Feynman was, I believe, known as one of the more important

This was during the early Cold War, not long after the American Castle Bravo and Soviet RDS-37 tests. Feynman was, I believe, known as one of the more important figures in the Manhattan Project and theoretical physicists in general were vital to national security. Given the background, eccentric behavior and ugly personal events were probably pretty newsworthy.