August 24, 1964

Dr. Ralph E. Lapp

1315 Park Terrace Drive

Alexandria, Virginia

Dear Ralph:

I am pleased to have received your letter of 13 August and the copy of Chapter 5 of your book.

First, I shall answer some of your questions about signers of the bomb-test petition.

There were 2875 United States signers. Of these I estimate that about 2500 were scientists in the universities, colleges, hospitals, and research laboratories (other than industrial laboratories --that is, Rockefeller Institute, and so on). About 100 are in the miscellaneous category -- MD's, people like yourself who are writers or consultants, etc. About 200 were scientists in the National institutes of Health, Bethesda. About 20 were in the Bureau of Standards, USGS, etc. About 12 were in AEC labs — Argonne, Los Alamos, Brookhaven, Oakridge. There was one signer from the Department of Defense - - R. H. Kent. About 20 were in industrial labs; an example is J. R. Pierce of Bell labs.

I estimate that 65% of the signers had PhD degrees or MD degrees.

I made an analysis of 103 letters that I received explaining why the writer had not signed the petition. (These 103 letters from non-signers include a few from England and other countries, but almost all are from Americans.) They fall in the following categories: 19 approved the petition in general, but objected to some aspect of the wording. 19 were sympathetic, but said that they could not sign because of not being specialists in the fields concerned. 18 gave no reason. 15 said that we can't trust the Russians. 15 approved the petition, but would not sign because of official connection with the government. 6 wrote that things of this sort should be left to the politicians. 6 wrote about having a policy not to sign any petitions. 4 wrote that they wouldn't sign because Libby had said that the biological effects of fallout were exaggerated. One said that he would not sign because this petition was initiated by me, in the United States, and he had been refused a United States visa at some earlier time. (This last fellow is a foreign Nobel Laureate. In your discussion of United States signers you could leave him out, and discuss the other 102 — the numbers would not be changed significantly by my lopping out the few foreigners involved.)

You may be interested in the following letters:

Dear Pauling: Thanks for your letter of November 6. I do not know enough about this subject to have an opinion. Yours very truly, Ket (C. F. Kettering).

Dear Linus: In reference to your letter of November 6, and to the enclosed petition, as you probably imagine I couldn't disagree with you more heartily. I therefore, have high hopes that you will fail completely in your undertaking!!! Best wishes, as ever, Jim (James B. Conant).

I think that there are many more biological scientists than physical scientists among the signers. I estimate 40% physical scientists (including organic chemists) and 60% biological scientists (including biochemists and biophysicists).

I must point out that the analysis of the signers of the petition would not do justice to the scientists of the United States. The petition was distributed among the people whom I happen to know and my friends happen to know, almost entirely in universities. After sending out letters in May 1957 I noticed that no letters had gone to any people in several states, and later I wrote to a few people in the states that had been overlooked. I do not think that a proper effort was made to get industrial scientists to sign.

On page 5-9 you say that while talking with Dr. Barry Commoner I got the idea of circulating a petition among scientists urging that bomb tests be banned. Probably you should mention also Professor E. U. Condon, Professor of Physics in Washington University, who was with Commoner and me and participating in the discussion.

Your paragraph on page 5-9, bottom, suggests that this was the start of my activity for a bomb-test treaty. In fact, I had been working at this for about a year, as I remember. I had given a number of talks on the subject in 1956 and 1957. The nature of these talks is indicated by the statement that I made on 2 May 1957, which is enclosed. You will note the similarities in wording to the bomb-test petition.

I think that this Chapter of your book is excellent. In accordance with your letter, I have read it carefully, looking for even minor points where there is the possibility of improvement. Comments on some minor points are given on the attached sheet.

If my memory is right, when I saw you last you were finishing a novel. I have asked my bookseller to get it for me, and he has not been able to find it. Has it been published yet?

With best regards, I am,

Sincerely yours,

LP:mjh Linus Pauling

Enc.