Letter from Linus Pauling to Vickrey Dougherty. October 16, 1961. Page 1  Larger Images / More Information. 2 pp.  View Transcript

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Activity Listings

• Article: “If Bombs Do Fall–Who’ll Run Things,” U.S. News and World Reports. [Filed under LP Peace:  Assorted Non-Pauling Peace Materials:  Articles, Typescripts, Pamphlets, Booklets, Sc-Zi: Box #8.006, Folder #6.30]
• Letter from AHP to Anne Eaton, RE: Thanks Eaton for her letter and statements and suggests considering a petition just by women for disarmament and the control of nuclear weapons.  Also requests that Eaton take her place at the American Soviet Congress and will await her approval. [Letter from Eaton to AHP September 25, 1961]  [Filed under AHP Correspondence: Eaton, Anne, 1961, Box#1.005, Folder#5.16]
• Letter from AHP to Carmelita Hinton, RE: Apologizes for not answering Hinton’s letter, but inquires as to if she would be able to stay with Hinton upon her visit to Philadelphia.  Informs her that she and LP have accepted an invitation to celebrate Lomonosov’s 250th Anniversary in Russia, and will therefore be unable to attend the American Soviet Congress. [AHP Correspondence: (Hinton, Carmelita, 1961-1980) Box #1.006, Folder 6.1]
• Letter from AHP to George Earl Miller, RE: Inquires about Miller’s hospital stay and speaks of her upcoming lecture tour.  Also mentions Linda and her boys and wishes that Miller could see the ranch now.  [Filed under AHP Biographical: (George Earl Miller: Correspondence 1958-1971), Box#3.024, Folder# 24.2]
• Letter from AHP to Helen Tucker, RE: Says she believes Tucker’s plans for the Voice of Women to be excellent, and also suggests having another petition as it would be a good way to develop a chapter of the VOW in the U.S. [Filed under AHP Correspondence: (Tucker, Helen, 1961-1963, 1973, 1980-1981) Box#1.006, Folder#6.20] 
• Letter from AHP to Mildred Olmsted, RE: Wonders if Olmsted would consider inviting Mrs. Eaton to replace AHP at the conference.  Notes that she did not understand Olmsted’s statement about AHP’s understanding of the point of view of Russian women; however she has had much experience in meetings where they have been present. Explains that they are good, intelligent women. [Filed under AHP Correspondence: (Olmsted, Mildred, 1961-1963), Box#1.006, Folder#6.7]
• Letter from AHP to Olive Mayer, RE: Apologizes for not visiting while in the San Jose area as their schedule did not permit them the time.  Says she is interested in the idea of a petition of women for disarmament and international cooperation.  Thinks that the national office seemed rather disturbed at AHP’s absence at the American Soviet Women’s conference. [Filed under AHP materials re: Women and Peace: (Correspondence: Women International Strike for Peace, 1962-1975), Box#4.004, Folder#4.1]
• Letter from Albert Szent-Györgyi to LP. [Filed under LP Correspondence: (Szent-Györgyi, Albert, 1939-1989), #371.1]

  October 16, 1961

  Dear Linus:

  I am disturbed by the repetitive pattern in which the Press tells about new atomic tests, adding that the thousand-fold increase in fallout is not dangerous yet. This must give the impression that high-energy radiation below a certain limit is not harmful. As far as I know, there is no harmless radiation. Don't you think that something could, and should be done about this?

  With the best of regards, as always

  Yours,

  Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

• Letter from Ben Sheiner, Department of Anesthesiology, Pascack Valley Hospital, to LP. RE: Makes observations based on LP’s theory. Asks him to comment on them. [Letter from LP October 26, 1961] [Filed under LP Correspondence (S: Correspondence, 1961): Box #381 Folder #381.2] 
• Letter from Dr. C.D. Graber, Usareur Medical Laboratory, Landstuhl Army Medical Center, to LP, RE: Requests a copy of LP’s paper “The Nature of the Antigen-Antibody Complex” presented at the Kaiser Foundation Symposium on Immunology and Disease.  [Letter from LP to Dr. Graber, October 30, 1961] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (G: Correspondence, 1957-1961), #141.5]
• Letter from LP to Clifford H. Keene, Kaiser Foundation Medical Care. RE: Happy to have received his letter. Thanks him for having invited him to participate in the symposium on immunology and disease. Found it very interesting. [Filed under LP Speeches: (Speeches by LP, 1961) Box # 1961s3 Folder #1961s3.6] 
• Letter from LP to Dr. John H. Northrop, Department of Bacteriology, University of California Berkeley, RE: LP is sorry to say that his reprints on the structure of antibodies and the nature of serological reactions are exhausted.  Under separate cover he is sending a reprint of one paper and a list of publications, telling him which ones might be useful. [Letters from Northrop to LP, October 11, 1961 and October 25, 1961] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (N: Individual Correspondence. (Newman - Nowacki)), #277.14]
• Letter from LP to Edith Morris RE: Tells her that there is some work being done on inborn errors of metabolism in relation to mental disease, but there is not a clinic at Cal Tech and they have no means of examining patients. [Letter from Morris to Cal Tech October 5, 1961] [Letter from Morris to LP October 23, 1961] [Filed under LP Correspondence, M: Correspondence 1962-1964 Box 259, Folder 259.1] 
• Letter from LP to Evelyn Berk, RE: Sends a reprint of a paper on the structure of the nitrogen bases present in DNA. [Letter from Evelyn Berk to LP, October 2, 1961] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (B: Correspondence, 1958-1961), #39.4] 
• Letter from LP to Gordon N. Ray RE: Apologizes because he will not be able to meet with Ray since he and his wife will be in Amherst while Ray is in California. [Letter from Ray to LP October 6, 1961] [Filed under LP Science: (John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, 1953-1975). Box #14.015, Folder #15.8] 
• Letter from LP to Julian M. Sturtevant, Yale University. RE: Gives his positive opinion of Dr. Oktay Sinanoglu. [Letter from Sturtevant October 4, 1961] [Filed under LP Correspondence (S: Individual Correspondence): Box #370 Folder #370.5] 
• Letter from LP to Professor V. N. Njegovan, RE: LP was interested to read the manuscript and the reprints, and returns them.  He doesn’t understand the arguments, but also hasn’t devoted much time to them. [Letter from Njegovan to LP, September 20, 1961] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (N: Correspondence, 1957-1964), #288.5]
• Letter from LP to Richard Sasuly, World Wide Medical News Service. RE: Points out a possible misunderstanding in his article concerning sickle cell anemia. [Letter from Sasuly October 12, 1961] [Filed under LP Correspondence (S: Correspondence, 1961): Box #381 Folder #381.2] 
• Letter from LP to Robert R. Smith. RE: Informs him that he has not worked on Mongolism, but that there have been some interested discoveries in the last 3 or 4 years. Is not aware of any progress in the development of a more effective treatment for the disease. [Letter from Smith October 10, 1961] [Filed under LP Correspondence (S: Correspondence, 1961): Box #381 Folder #381.2] 
• Letter from LP to Sharon Jones RE: LP encloses some press releases on the subject of fallout shelters.  [Letter from Jones to LP August 15, 1961] [Filed under LP Peace: Materials re: Fallout and Radiation Shelters, and Civil Defense, 1954-1961: Box #7.007, Folder #7.22]
• Letter from LP to Vickrey Dougherty.   [Filed under LP Peace: Materials re: Fallout and Radiation Shelters, and Civil Defense, 1954-1961: Box #7.007, Folder #7.22]

  16 October 1961

  Dear Mr. Dougherty:

  I am pleased to have received your letter, and I shall try to give you some information about local radioactive fallout and protection against it.

  I enclose a press release containing some information. Also, I may say that I have written several articles about fallout shelters. One of them probably will appear in Frontier in about a month.

  The statements about half-time quoted in your letter do not have much meaning. The half life is a useful quantity for a pure radioactive substance, such as strontium 90, which has half life of 30 years. At the end of 30 years one half of the amount of the original strontium 90 still remains, and after 60 years one quarter remains undecomposed. The amount of radioactivity is proportional to the amount of the radioactive substance that remains undecomposed.

  The fission products produced by explosion of a nuclear weapon and brought to earth within a few hours as local fallout, in case of a ground burst, consist of a great number of different radioactive nuclides. About 5 percent of the total is strontium 90 and another 5 percent is cesium 137, which also has half life about 30 years. The remainder consists of a complex mixture of nuclides, some with extremely short half lives. The nature of this mixture is such that the high-energy radiation produced by the local fallout decreases rapidly in intensity.

  For example, let us assume that atomic bombs totalling 10,000 megatons had exploded over the United States, with two thirds of the explosive energy due to fission. Let us also assume that the local fallout is distributed uniformly over the whole country. Also, we can assume that 80 percent of the fission products constitute the local fallout.

  At the time three and one half hours after the explosion, when the fallout has for the most part come to earth, the intensity is 15,400 roentgens per day. This is the intensity of high-energy radiation three feet above the surface of the ground, 0.1 the average for the whole country. A dose of radiation of about 500 roentgens causes people to die in a few days of acute radiation sickness. This means that at that time people have about three quarters of an hour to find shelter. At two hours after the bomb burst they have only about fifteen minutes.

  At the end of one day the intensity is 1,540 roentgens per day. At the end of one week it is 154 roentgens per day. At the end of seven weeks it is down to 15 per day.

  What this means is that people would have to find shelter fast, and stay in the shelter, on the average, for about two weeks.

  However, the fallout is not uniformly distributed. In a region where the amount of fallout was ten times the average, people would have to stay in their shelters for two months.

  The attack that I have discussed above, with 10,000 megatons, is, I think, about what might be expected if war were to occur in the near future.

  I think that a principal argument against fallout shelters is that the protection provided by them would be nullified by increasing the scale of attack by the factor 4.

  After a 10,000 megaton attack or a 40,000 megaton attack all of the plants growing in the country would be highly radioactive, and practically all animals would be dead. A great difficulty, for which I see no solution, is to find food for the people that would not be so contaminated with radioactivity as to kill them, even if they had survived the initial dangerous period and had remained in the shelters long enough so as not to be killed by the radioactivity after they came out.

  Sincerely yours,

  [Linus Pauling]

• Letter from McGeorge Bundy, The White House, to LP, RE: The President has asked Mr. Bundy to thank LP for the letter, and to remind him that not all of the statements made in LIFE Magazine were endorsed by the President. [Letter from LP to President Kennedy, October 4, 1961] [Letter from LP to President Kennedy, December 21, 1961] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (K: Individual Correspondence. (Kennedy-Klein, Morton)), #198.3]
• Letter from Professor Julius B. Kahn, Pharmacology, Northwestern University Medical School, to LP, RE: Invites LP to take part in a lecture series put on by the Medical School of Northwestern University on the biomedical sciences.  Any third Thursday of the month from February to May would work. Attachment: Mimeo by Kahn outlining the lecture series. [Letter from LP to Kahn, October 19, 1961] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (N: Correspondence, 1957-1964), #288.5]
• Letter from Rudy Houben and Pierre Candendries, La Conference des Sommets, to LP, RE: Written in French.  Thanks LP for agreeing to join their committee; it is now a guaranteed success. [Filed under LP Correspondence: (H: Correspondence, 1961-1962), #168.1]
• Letter from The Head of Bulgarian Radio and Television to LP RE: Requests that LP participate in their poll about the present-day international political situation. Asks what he thinks about the resurgence of militarism and fascism in West Germany and about a peace treaty between the two German states. Also asks what role he thinks the world public opinion can play in the peaceful settlement of the questions. Explains that his answers, as well as other people’s will be broadcast in the foreign language transmission of Radio Sofia and in the transmissions of their Home Service. [Letter from LP to Head of Bulgarian Radio and Television October 30, 1961] [Filed under LP Biographical: (Interviews with and about Linus Pauling, 1960-1964), Box #5.020, Folder #20.3] 
• Memorandum from LP to AHP, RE: Information about the National Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy. [Filed under LP Peace: (SANE, 1958-1966, 1982), Box #4.003, Folder #3.10] [Also filed under LP Peace: (SANE: Materials regarding Dodd Committee Investigation and Subsequent Controversy Over Membership of Communists in SANE, 1960-1962), Box #4.004, Folder #4.2] 
• Memorandum from LP to AHP, RE: Information about the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, Inc. [Filed under AHP materials re: Peace and Women: Box#4.006, Folder#6.2] 
• Memorandum from LP to Alfred Stern. RE: Asks him to suggest a word to be used in place of the expression ‘fundamental particles’. [Memo from Stern October 21, 1961] [Filed under LP Correspondence (S: Individual Correspondence): Box #367 Folder #367.6] 
• Newspaper Clipping, “Open Letter to the Russian People,” National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy. [Filed under LP Peace: (Typescripts and Offprints related to SANE, 1960-1963), Box #4.006, Folder #6.4] 
• Newspaper clipping, “The Pauling Case: End of An Inquiry?” New York Times. [Filed under LP Biographical: (Correspondence re: Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, 1960-1981), Box #2.017, Folder #17.1] 
• Note from Professor George Glockler, Department of Chemistry, Duke University, to LP, RE: Professor Glockler read LP’s statement concerning the end of nuclear tests with great interests, and thinks that anyone, even if they don’t have any scientific knowledge, should agree with him.  However, he also thinks that neither the US or the Russians will back down from their preparations for war; both sides distrust and misunderstand the other, and both would like to convert the other to their political and economic beliefs.  Capitalists want to keep their wealth and status.  Fight to maintain the status quo can be seen in the situation in the Congo.   He also read about the Pugwash Conference, and believes that a similar one should take place for the fields of economics and social science.  He would also very much like LP’s reprints. [Letter from LP to Professor Glockler, October 4, 1961] [Letter from LP to Professor Glockler, October 26, 1961] [Filed under LP Correspondence: (G: Individual Correspondence. (Gajdusek-Goodell)), #136.15]
• Note to self RE: Conversation with Charlie Huggins. LP writes that Huggins says a seminoma around the thymus is extremely rare and to have Friedman send sections to Huggins. Huggins said he would make recommendations after seeing the sections. LP says that he has spoken to Professor Davidson about it and Davidson has said he will ask Dr. Boyd to have sections sent. [Filed under LP Safe: Drawer #2, Folder #2.039] 
• Notes on Radio Liberty broadcast of Dr. Sosin, written by LP, RE: Hopes that the Soviet government will revoke its decision to resume nuclear testing.  By his estimates, the fallout would cause 40,000 defective children in the next few generations.  Also, bomb tests are a form of militarism, and could lead to a war.  Instead, we should work towards peace and disarmament. [Filed under LP Correspondence: (K: Individual Correspondence. (Kennedy-Klein, Morton)), #198.8]
• Typescript: Proposal for “Hydrogen Isotope Variations in Sedimentary Materials and their Relationships to Carbon and Oxygen Isotopes”, submitted by S. Epstein, approved and returned October 16, 1961. [Filed under LP Biographical: (California Institute of Technology: Committee on Sponsored Research, 1960-1961), Box #1.026, Folder #26.8]