April
11, 1951
Letter from Linus Pauling to J. Frank McLaughlin. April 9, 1951Pauling writes to dispute McLaughlin's three rationales for advocating against the re-issue of an invitation to Pauling to speak at a University of Hawaii chemistry building dedication. He first states that he wishes that McLaughlin would reconsider the matter after gaining all of the facts and to use those facts when voting on the matter at the meeting of the Board of the Regents. His first reason for believing that he should be re-invited is that regents of any university should not use their official positions in "this political way." Second, he admits to refusing to answer a question from the California State Senate Investigating Committee on Education but stresses that he was neither cited nor accused of any illegal action. He also states that the Appellate Court of the State of California unanimously found the loyalty affirmation that was forced on University of California faculty by the Regents of the University of California to be unconstitutional and ordered all faculty to be restored to their former positions. Third, he says that he might not be a great citizen but he tries to follow in the footsteps of past great citizens by standing by his beliefs and Democracy. He says that even ordinary citizens should be allowed to speak at university functions. He ends the letter by saying that he read Dean Bachman's essay, "World Revolution: Marx to Stalin," and that both he and Bachman should be allowed to express their political opinions. View Transcript
Associated: Joseph Stalin, Karl Marx, Paul S. Bachman, University of California, Berkeley, University of Hawaii at Manoa ID: bio2.005.2-lp-mclaughlin-19510409 |
