June 5, 1954 - Linus Pauling Day-by-Day

AHP writes cheque to: Walter Fritts amount $31.88 [Filed under LP Biographical: Box #4.022, Folder #2]

Bulletin: "Excerpts From Majority and Minority Reports", Federation of American Scientists, June 5, 1954. [LP Biographical: Box 2.037, Folder 37.7]

Bulletin: "Reaction to Security Board's Recommendation on Oppenheimer Case", Federation of American Scientists, June 5, 1954. [LP Biographical: Box 2.037, Folder 37.5]

Bulletin: "Summary of Editorial Comment", Federation of American Scientists, June 5, 1954. [LP Biographical: Box 2.037, Folder 37.4]

Bulletin: "Text of Statement by F.A.S. Executive Committee on Oppenheimer Report", Federation of American Scientists, June 5, 1954. [LP Biographical: Box 2.037, Folder 37.6]

Letter from Beatrice Wulf, Executive secretary to LP, to Dr. Garnet T. Page, The Chemical Institute of Canada, RE: Asks to be notified of the time of LP's talk and what kind of dinner clothes will be required. [Telegram from Page to Wulf June 7, 1954] [ Filed under LP Speeches: 1954s.11]

Letter from Harry G. Day, Indiana University to LP RE: Thanking LP for his letter concerning Dr. Hedberg and his recommendations for Martin Karplus and Gary Felsenfeld. They will not hire Hedberg, but he would like more information on Karplus and Felsenfeld [Filed under D: Correspondence 1954, Box #98.19]

Letter from LP to Duncan S. Ballantine, President, Reed College, RE: Sends copies of the Commencement address he will give the following week. [Letter from Ballantine to LP June 8, 1954] [Filed under LP Speeches: 1954s.10]

Letter from LP to the U.S. Secretary of State. [LP Biographical: Box 2.003, Folder 3.4]

Copy

5 June 1954

The Secretary of State

Washington 25, D. C. Ref: 130-Pauling, Linus Carl

Dear Sir:

I am sending this letter to you in order that your records about my application in 1953 for passport facilities for travel to India may be set straight.

There are a number of incorrect statements or implications in the letter of 22 January 1954 to me from R. B. Shipley, Director, Passport Office. This letter consists of three paragraphs, as follows:

"Reference is made to your letters of December 30 and 31, 1953, other correspondence and to your calls at the Department regarding your request for passport facilities for travel to India.

"Inasmuch as you were unable to answer the allegations which were outlined to you upon your calls at the Department before the date of your proposed sailing since you did not have your records in Washington with you, the Department was not in a position to act upon your case at the time and in accordance with your request in the letter of December 31, 1953 your application for the amendment of your passport for your proposed trip to India is considered as having been withdrawn.

"If in the future you should desire passport facilities for travel to any country, you should well in advance of your proposed sailing furnish in detail answers to the allegations which are referred to above."

The first sentence of the second paragraph refers to "the allegations which were outlined to you upon your calls at the Department before the date of your proposed sailing." I wish to correct this statement. The date of my proposed sailing was 16 December 1953, as stated in my letters to you of 11 September and 16 November 1953 and my telegram to Mrs. Shipley of 14 December 1953. Despite my efforts to obtain action from your Department, no allegations whatever were given me until 29 December 1953, thirteen days after the date of my proposed sailing.

The same sentence includes the words "Inasmuch as you were unable to answer the allegations … since you did not have your records in Washington with you, the Department was not in a position to act upon your case at the time." This suggests that I was at fault in not having my records

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with me. In fact, it is clear that the fault was not mine, but that of your Department. My letter to you of 11 September 1953, requesting validation of my passport for the trip to India and other countries, contained the sentence "I shall be glad to provide any additional information that you may desire." In my letter to you of 19 September 1953 there was the sentence "Please let me know if there is any additional information that you wish to have." In my letter to you of 16 November 1953 there is the sentence "I shall be glad to provide any additional information that you may desire." I did not receive any answer to any of these letters; in particular, I did not receive any request for additional information. On 2 December 1953 I wrote to Dr. Detlev W. Bronk, President of the National Academy of Sciences, asking him to check with your Department about my passport. On 4 December he informed me that the action by the Passport Division was expected on Tuesday 8 December. On 14 December, one day before my wife and I were scheduled to leave Pasadena, I telephoned Dr. Bronk, who said that a decision had not yet been made. On 15 December 1953 I telephoned Mrs. Shipley, telling her that my wife and I had a plane reservation to leave Los Angeles that evening, and that I hoped that the decision would be made that day and communicated to me. She did not ask me to provide her with any additional information. Later the same day I received a telephone call from Washington; a woman said "Mrs. Shipley has asked me to call you, to say that the State Department will not be able to make a decision on your application for a passport in time for your sailing today." Nothing more was said - there was no request for information. On the evening of Tuesday 15 December 1953 I sent a telegram to you, as follows: "If you need more information in connection with my passport application please telegraph me Wednesday and I shall come to Washington and be available Thursday." I received no answer to this telegram.

The foregoing account of my many offers to provide your Department with any additional information that they might desire and the failure of your Department to make any allegations or to ask me for any additional information during this entire period shows that it was not my fault that I did not have my records with me in Washington on 29 December, but rather the fault of your Department.

On 14 December 1953 I had sent a telegram to Mrs. Shipley reading as follows: "I hope that passport decision can be made Tuesday permitting me to leave Los Angeles 7 P.M. Tuesday and New York 2 P.M. Wednesday. Otherwise my announced scientific lectures Friday at University of Athens and Saturday at Technical University of Athens would be cancelled with unfavorable publicity." On 16 December 1953 I was forced to cancel my lectures in Athens, and I changed our airplane reservations.

On 17 December 1953 I sent a telegram to you, as follows: "I respectfully request that decision on my passport application be made this week in order to permit delivery of my scheduled and announced scientific addresses in Hebrew University Jerusalem." I received no answer to this telegram. On 19 December 1953 I sent you a telegram, as follows: "I request the courtesy of a decision on my passport application. My wife and

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I shall fly to New York Monday 21 December. Biltmore Hotel. In order to give announced scientific lectures in Jerusalem must emplane 2 P.M. Tuesday. I shall inquire at New York office Passport Division 9 A.M. Tuesday 22 December."

My wife and I flew to New York on 21 December 1953. At 9 A.M. 22 December 1953 I called at the New York office of the Passport Division, and was told that there was no information for me. At 2 P.M. on the same day an official in the New York office of the Passport Division said to me "I have been ordered to tell you that your passport has been refused, and that you may appeal by writing a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Board of Passport Appeals." I immediately wrote down his statement, the foregoing sentence, and sent a cable cancelling my scheduled lectures in Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

On 24 December 1953 my lawyer, Mr. James R. Murphy, told me that the State Department had told him that the passport had been only tentatively refused, that an appeal could not be made, and that, instead, an informal conference would be held at 10 A.M. on 29 December.

At the conference on 29 December Mr. Nicholas of the Passport Division made brief oral reference to a large number of items in my record. I prepared an affidavit about these items, and submitted it to the Passport Division on 30 December 1953, together with a letter requesting that the passport be validated in time to permit my departure not later than 2 January 1954, inasmuch as the primary purpose of my trip to India was to attend the Indian Science Congress, 2 to 8 January. On 31 December 1953 I was informed by the Department of State that no action would be taken before 4 January 1954, too late to permit me to fulfill my obligations to the Government of India and the Indian Science Congress Association, and I withdrew the application for validation of my passport.

The final paragraph of Mrs. Shipley's letter intimates that I should have applied earlier, in order that I might have furnished in detail answers to the allegations of the Passport Division. It is my understanding that I could not apply for validation of my passport for the trip to India until after my return to the United States from the earlier trip, during July and August, when I visited Germany, Sweden, and Denmark, for scientific purposes. I applied for validation of the passport for the trip to India and other countries immediately after my return from Europe. At that time, over three months before the date of our proposed sailing, I offered to provide any additional information that you might desire, and I repeated the offer several times; it was not until thirteen days after the date of our proposed sailing that your Department asked me for any additional information.

Yours truly,

Linus Pauling:W

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