August 26, 1940
Professor and Mrs. A.V. Hill
16 Bishopswood Road
Highgate, London, N. 6
England
Dear Professor and Mrs. Hill:
Two days ago I sent you the following cable: "Pasadena Committee offers homes
maintenance forty children parents paying ocean passage. Can you cable names necessary
visa information fathers occupation" , and I am writing now to explain our situation
here. We have in Pasadean a local branch of the Committee for the Care of European
Children, which has been active for the last two months. Mrs. Schuyler Doane is the
chairman of the Committee, and my wife and Dr. Theodore Dunham, Jr. of the Mount Wilson
Observatory are members of its Executive Board, Professor Millikan and I being members
of the Advisory Board. The Committee has so far found homes and sponsors in Pasadena
for forty British children. The sponsors would take care of all expenses of the children
after they are landed in New York, and would take responsibility of the children for
their indefinite sojourn in the United States. All of the sponsors are certified by
official agencies to be in good financial circumstances and to be able to provide
good homes for the children.
So far only a few children have reached Pasadena. Dr. and Mrs. Dunham have in
their home the two daughters of Professor and Mrs. Milne. the Committee has made several
efforts to obtain names and information about specific children who might be brought
to Pasadena, but so far with little success, and my wife and I finally decided that
the best course would be to write to you. We were helped in reaching this decision
through having read the letter which you sent on July 5 to Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Ferry
of Cambridge.
At present the arrangements must be made for specific children to be brought
in by individual sponsors. We need the name of each child, his birthday date and birthplace,
and his parents' names and nationalities. In order to assist in assignment of the
children to sponsors we would like to know the father's profession and any other pertinent
information that can be easily sent. Our plan is to arrange for children to be taken
into the most suitable homes.
I trust that you will pardon me for troubling you about this matter. Please let
me know whether the situation is such that you feel it is not wise to continue with
our planned arrangements, or whether there is some other way for us to obtain the
information that we want. We all feel that by bringing some British children here
we would be doing a bit to help, and we have been troubled by the delay in getting
our local organization into effective contact with Britain.
[2]
My wife and I have been working on the Union Now plan for combining with the
British democracies and on the Committee for the Defense of America by Aiding the
Allies. There is quite a bit of defense work under way at the Institute, but in the
main the scientific activities of the Institute are proceeding undisturbed.
With the best of personal wishes, I am
Sincerely yours,
Linus Pauling
LP:jr
cc sent with regular mail
