June 21, 1965
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
454 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, Alabama
Dear Dr. King:
In April I sent you the draft of a petition, which I hoped would be signed by most
of the living recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In consultation with The Rt. Hon. Phillip J. Noel-Baker, M.P., I have now revised
this petition. I enclose two copies of it, with the title An Appeal By Recipients
of The Nobel Peace Prize.
Noel-Baker and I hope to announce, in a short while, that it has been signed by eight
of the ten living recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize – Lester Pearson feels that
as head of the Canadian government, it would not be proper for him to sign it, although
there is the possibility that he will reconsider this decision. Ralph Bunche feels
that he, as an official of the United Nations Secretariat, is precluded from signing
petitions to any government.
You, of course, are not restricted in this way, and Noel-Baker and I hope very much
that you will sign the appeal. Please return the signed copy to me, by airmail, as
soon as possible.
I send my best wishes to you and Mrs. King.
Sincerely yours,
Linus Pauling
mjh
Enc.
PS: I do not remember whether or not I had asked you if you noticed our son, Dr. Linus
Pauling, Jr., at the time of the 4-day march to Montgomery? He was present during
the whole time, and was one of the five people from Hawaii who held up the large banner
reading “Hawaii Knows Integration Works”. He told me that he spend most of his time
during the four days giving medical treatment to marchers who were suffering from
cold, exhaustion, sore feet, and other ailments – he is a practicing physician. I
saw that there was a photograph of him, giving medical treatment to a patient in the
article in Newsweek on the Selma-Montgomery march.
