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Prof. Albert Einstein, Chairman, Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists, Room 28,  

90 Nassau St., Princeton, N. J.  

   Your letter reached me during the Christmas season.   I want to thank you for offering me the privilege and opportunity of contributing toward the fund to be used by the Emergency Committee.  

   The million dollars you seek will surely be oversubscribed, but when I think of the sleepless nights and pain and anguish of heart suffered by me, since that dark day the first atomic bomb fell on Nagasaki, I sincerely hope the first million will come from the rank and file of the citizenry of this country.   People, who like myself, have no great wealth, but who give from their hearts, rather than from their abundance.   To whom even a small gift means sacrificing certain material comforts.   After all it is an aroused citizenry which will bring results.   The gravity of the situation must be brought home to every individual, who , as an individual can do little, but united much may be accomplished.  

   Until this terrible instrument of destruction is made to minister to the greater good of all mankind,   none of us can look forward to the future with faith and courage to take up life again.   We cannot build with confidence over a volcano that may erupt at any time.  

   I have had many letters the past year asking for contributions toward various organizations working toward the establishment of peace and understanding among nations and men.   The educational work proposed by the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists it seems to me is the one important thing to be done at the present time.   Until this FEAR which hangs over us all is removed, little progress can be made along any line.   God help us all to awaken to the urgency of the hour.   It may even now be later that we think.