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P.O. Box 1418 Atlanta, Georgia

Nov. 8, 1946

Dear Mr. Lilienthal:

Please add this letter to those of other persons who feel impelled to write you at this turning point in our nation's history.

Upon your assumption of duties as chairman of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, the usual expressions of congratulations fall short of the mark. Men in the coterie of Conant, Compton, Urey and Bacher know indeed what to wish you. Others can only stand aside and reassure themselves in the thought that your career in our atomic power can be no less distinctive than that in hydro-electric fields.

Not long ago, the amount of energy necessary to split an atom appeared far in excess of the amount of energy to be derived; that notion yielded swiftly to the tremendous amount of energy released by Actino-Uranium when bombarded by a neutron carrying so little energy.

But now the issue has shifted from one of disproportionate ratios of energy to one of questionable human capacity to control what has been wrought (Lilienthal-Acheson-Baruch Reports).

Accept, sir, my fervent wishes for continued courage in your search for that capacity.

May I look forward to the opportunity someday of discussing with you the suggestion incorporated in the attached letter to Mr. Johnston. Any endeavor which shortens the path between the findings of the laboratory and the public's enlightenment in them may, in our times, prove quite significant.

Yours very truly, Sidney Q. Janus

Att. 1

Mr. David E. Lilienthal, Chairman United States Atomic Energy Commission Washinton, D.C