His mood was marred, however, soon after the announcement, when he read in the local newspaper the reaction of the President of Caltech, Lee DuBridge. "The Nobel Peace Prize is a spectacular recognition of Dr. Pauling’s long and strenuous efforts," DuBridge said. "Though many people have disapproved of some of his methods and activities, he has, nevertheless, made a substantial impact on world opinion, as this award clearly proves." Pauling was angered by the statement. It appeared that the great honor he had brought to his school was being greeted with lukewarm praise and a reminder about his questionable "methods and activities." He received no word of personal congratulations from DuBridge, no indication of institutional pride. Ava Helen was furious.

Pauling had been increasingly unhappy at Caltech ever since his resignation as chemistry division chair, and DuBridge’s statement -- along with the substantial prize money that accompanied the Nobel -- helped him make up his mind about something he had been considering for years. On October 18, one week after learning he had won the Prize, Pauling called a press conference at his Pasadena home, announcing that he was resigning his professorship at Caltech and taking a position at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, a liberal California think-tank. The decision to move on after forty-one years at the school reflected, he said, a change in his personal priorities. It also signaled another step away from science and toward full-time political work.