Linus Pauling and the International Peace Movement Narrative  
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A Final Cause: The Gulf War
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Pauling’s health remained robust into his late eighties -- an effect he credited to large doses of Vitamin C. Even at ninety years of age, his hair white and wispy under his trademark beret, his walk slowed, his energy beginning to wane, he still spoke vehemently against the madness of war. US activities in the Middle East, including George H. W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, now became a target of Pauling’s antiwar ire. "WAR IS IMMORAL" he wrote at the top of a draft letter to the first President Bush in 1989. "As human beings, we have the duty to strive to decrease the amount of human suffering. . . . WAR CAUSES HUMAN SUFFERING!" Whether the cause of war was oil or politics, anti-Communism or pro-democracy, did not make much of a difference. He felt at the end of his life the same way he felt in the middle: life is sacred, suffering is avoidable, and war is immoral. He would never fall silent, never be intimidated, never stop speaking, teaching, and working for what he believed to be right.

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See Also: Letter from Colin Powell to Nobel Laureates for Mideast Peace. October 27, 1988. 
See Also: Open Letter from Linus Pauling to President George H.W. Bush. January 18, 1991. 
See Also: "An Urgent Message to President Bush -- Bring the Troops Home." 1991. 

Click images to enlarge 

Picture
Linus Pauling speaking at Oregon State University with the United Nations Bomb Test petition. 1986.


Page 1
"Reflections on the Persian Gulf 'War.'" April 6, 1991.

"An absolutely smashing advertisement, exactly on target! Everyone once again is in your debt, dear friend!"

W.H. Ferry
January 9, 1991
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