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Date: November 18, 1976

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Joshua Lederberg
Avram Goldstein concerning E.L. Tatum

Avram returned my phone call with a keen interest in the general situation
and lively commentary. But he said he has almost certainly destroyed most
of the relevant correspondence because he was the central figure in a very
unpleasant situation which was hard to talk about.

(I do not know why it should be so difficult now, but I am sure he is still
reliving a very difficult time).

Evidently the question of a biochemistry department was the central issue

in a conflict that eventuated in Cutting's resignation. (I should have some
recall about that myself since my first visit to Stanford I talked to Cutting
and got such a discouraging reply that it was part of my lack of interest in
the school at that time. Perhaps I should send Avram a copy of his correspondence
with me which had much to do with my coming to Stanford). Evidently it was
Avram and Henry Kaplan who put on all the pressure to build a major department
and Ed Tatum was a major supporter of that initiative. The best that Avram
recalls now, Sterling asked Ed Tatum to chair a committee to define the role

of biochemistry and Ed was on their side. Avram then recalled that he was also
perhaps the chairman of the department, and I asked him whether Tatum himself
was inclined to be the long-term designee for its major growth. The alternative,
according to Cutting's view, would have fashioned a very small department from
existing resources, namely Tatum, Loring and Luck.

His present recollection is that Ed was named the chairman of the new
department in a purely caretaker role and did not intend to hold that as a
permanent position. (However, it is just possible that there is some
conflation of that with the later history after Ed left Stanford).

Avram will look through his papers more carefully and will let me know shortly
if he can find anything else. He recommended that I talk to Henry Kaplan
who might be more likely to have kept the records of those circumstances.

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