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Davis, Stanley G., June 29, 1947.
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Revision as of Sep 14, 2014 6:51:09 PM, created by 128.193.164.34
5735 Woodlawn Ave. Chicago 37, Ill. June 29, 1947
Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists Room 28, 90 Nassau Street Princeton, New Jersey
Dear Sirs: Enclosed is my small and belated contribution to your educational fund. I hope you have all possible success in making more people realize the dangers of the situation created by the bomb. The line between "fact" and "opinion" is somewhat difficult to draw rigorously, and what one person may call opinion, another with a different background may call fact. However, I think you are somewhat open to criticism, especially by fault-finders and other hostile elements, in calling all of the six points of your statement "facts". Numbers four and five especially, which contain rather vague phrases and are predictions, can surely hardly be called facts. They are opinion; it may be expert opinion, and ninety per cent right, but it is still opinion; and the vague phrases are subject to somewhat diverse interpretations. I prefer to reserve the word "fact" to things like the socking of Joe Doakes by John Jones on the jaw, admitted by both and observed and confirmed by five reliable witnesses.
Sincerely yours, Stanley G. Davis