22 September 1961

Dear Mrs. Alloy:

We returned from our European trip last night and your letter came today - your letter of the 20th of September. Your plans are going very well certainly and I think that we should have a good meeting. Certainly something needs to be done by everyone if we are to reverse this dreadful trend of just letting the world glide into a dreadful war.

You will be interested to know that we went to Trafalgar Square on the 12th of September to watch the demonstration which had been instigated by the Earl Russell. I must say that I have never seen such a huge crowd of people packed in such a small place. Some people estimated the crowd to be 50,000. Of course, it is impossible for that number to have been in the Square itself, but surely people were packed solidly on all of the streets and the police soon gave up trying to keep them in any one place. One of the best things of all was the fact that we spent some time with Russell and his wife after their release from prison. He is such a remarkable man and so full of the zest for living that it heartened us much to see him again.

I have many interesting things to tell you about the meeting in London which was called by Canon Collins and which we attended for only the last afternoon since we were busy with our talks in Germany until that time, I want to tell you about the effort to set up a non-Communist World Council of Peace and how the countries other than the United States opposed this. It was quite interesting and Homer Jack was, I think, quite impressed by the resistance to his scheme. I am interested in your flyer, which looks very good. It is, of course, easy to understand why you have had to add these phrases and probably they don't do too much damage. I don't know that our right of access is really legitimate, but then, of course, there is no reason why one should say anything about such a small matter as that, and, of course, continued freedom of West Berliners is about like the freedom of the Negroes in Mississippi. But these are not the most important matters and it is necessary for everyone to do what he can to save this world.

We have felt and still feel that the Berlin crisis was a cooked up affair for a definite purpose, so that no one need to be worried about peoples going to war over Berlin, but the question of Germany and the future of West Germany is a real problem and we must go about working out its solution as soon as possible. I leave tomorrow for San Francisco and I shall give this letter of yours to my husband and perhaps he can answer it, too. Do you still want us to come to supper on the 8th of November? It is possible that we can come on the 7th, for I shall be in the East and perhaps my husband will by that time be wanting to see me again, but we can arrange that later.

Best wishes to you and it was good to see you for a few minutes at the peace fair. Did everyone consider the peace fair to be a success? We shall have many things to tell you when we see you on the 8th of November. My good wishes to your son.

Best wishes,

Ava Helen Pauling

22 September 1961

Dear Peter,

Your letter of the 5th of September didn't reach me until I arrived home last night, after a very fine trip, albeit a bit bumpy over the northern portion of Canada. I am sorry that I didn't realize that you really wanted a camera and am sorry that I didn't have the information which is contained in your letter. Perhaps we can write around to someone in Germany who will be coming home soon or who would no doubt be coming to England, if you feel that you want one in the near future. There is a good chance that we ourselves shall be going back to Germany next year in case you aren't in any hurry for the camera. It was fine to see you and your family again and good to see the children growing so nicely and progressing so well. I hope that you earnestly work to get a larger place to live. I believe that you would have many fewer difficulties if you had a little bit more space to move about it. Perhaps if Julia were reasonably good about taking the children out to the park occasionally it would be better to give up the garden and have more house space. Of course, these are all matters that you must decide for yourself. The Daddy and I are thinking very seriously about moving out of our house here and I suppose we shall do so if Barclay and Linda decide not to go to Chicago. It will be hard to give up this place where I have put so much of myself, but on the other hand I am so busy with my public work now that I no longer have the time to really take care of the house and the grounds properly. I want also to go back to my music if I ever get any time because I should like very much to play again. We are sorry that Simon didn't come up a moment sooner and we could have introduced you to him again. He, I think, doesn't remember you. He came home with us - he and his third wife, who is a sweet girl and they seem terribly happy together. We brought them home in our cab. You know we have this arrangement with Mr. and Mrs. Gonzalez in Sierra Madre to come and get us when no one else is here to come, so they took the Feinmans along as well. The Feinmans thought that they had come to get us and didn't realize that we paid them to do it. It was a lot of fun to see you and to go out with you and I hope that we can do it again before very long.

I hope, too, that Julia's eyes are all right now and that the children are over their colds. I hope that the next time I come I shall have some time beforehand to get some things for them. I want to get some things for you, too. It makes me feel bad to see you disliking yourself to such an extent that you no longer have any interest in what you look like. Is your shirt size 16-32 still? No, I believe your sleeve length was 33. Please write and give me some idea as to your size.

Elfrieda had taken very good care of everything and we are glad to be at home again. Last night it was very cold and I really didn't get warm all night, but I shall put on an extra blanket tonight. The Daddy is busy as can be with the huge pile of mail. You will be interested to know that I have now many more invitations to speak than I can fit in. I think it is funny that I should have a reasonable success at this speaking business.

Love to you,

[Ava Helen Pauling]