Leo Szilard

Hotel Dupont Plaza

Washington 6, D. C.

Telephone: HUdson 3-6000 February 28, 1962

Dear Colleague:
Enclosed you will find a memo on the "Responses To Date."

If we just sit back at this point we will probably gradually accumulate
2 percent pledges of between 1,000 and 2,000. The question is, could we at
this point go further and identify perhaps 25,000 virtual members of the Move-
ment, pledging 2 percent of their incomes for campaign contributions. If that
is done, we would be in business and we would then have to set up the Lobby to
give guidance and counsel to the members of the Movement.

How do we bridge the gap between 1,000 and 25,000 pledges?

In order to do this we must be in a position to disclose the identity
of the Council and its Political Advisors, and we must have some "seed money"
to get started. My own guess is that we might have to spend $2.00 per pledge,
which means we ought to have at the outset about $50,000 "seed money" and
preferably more,

We could presumably raise this amount by going back to those whose
pledges we have and ask them to give us this year perhaps 1 percent of their
income to get the Council started. We could also try to raise the "seed money"
through small dinners, at $300 a plate, in New York and perhaps also in Beverly
Hills.

In either case it would be necessary to disclose the identity of the
Council and its Political Advisors. The Council need not go into operation,
however, until we have actually collected an adequate amount of "seed money."

With the above aim in view I am now grappling with the problem of guess-
ing who the Council and its Political Advisors might be. The problem is some-
what similar to the problem of "the hen or the egg," because I cannot ask
anybody to serve without telling them who the others may be who have agreed to
serve. Also, both the Board of Directors of the Council and the Panel of
Advisors of the Council would have to be formally elected by the Fellows of the
Council, and while I may make suggestions to the Fellows I can neither make
the decision for them nor predict with assurance what their decision would be.

The attached memorandum entitled "The Next Step" is an attempt to solve
this insoluble problem, and my request to you is that you read it and return
it to me with your comment. I particularly need to have your comment as far as
it relates to your own role. I need to know whether you would be willing to
be part of this operation, and want to play the role which I tentatively have
assigned to you in the attached "Next Step'' or some other role, and if so,
which one.

If you are willing to be part of this operation, will you please send
me a very short statement about yourself to be included in a "Who's Who" to
be improvised and to be used in raising the "seed money" either from those
who pledged 2 percent of their income, or from those who may attend $300-a-
plate dinners.

It is important that the operation of the Council be successful from
the outset and we would need an Executive Officer to take over from me very
soon, probably even before the Council is incorporated. Until such time as
the Council assumes responsibility, such a man could operate in my name, but
it is important that there should be no discontinuity and that he be able to
carry on at least for a few months, on a temporary basis, after the Council
takes over. I am looking around for someone who could fill this job,

Sincerely,

x

/ oo
YT .

Leo Szilard

Enclosures:
"The Next Step"
"Responses To Date"
Leo Szilard
Hotel Dupont Plaza

Washington 6, D. C. February 28, 1962
THE NEXT STEP

There seems to be a consensus among those with whom I have discussed
the matter on the East Coast that the time has come for us to take the next
step and to identify those who would form the Council.

The Council would, in close consultation with its Panel of Political
Advisers, determine from time to time the political objectives which it re-
gards as attainable and which it proposes to advocate,

At the outset the Council would try to identify, say, 25,000 people
who would want to be members of the Movement and would want to spend 2 per
cent of their income on campaign contributions. If the Council succeeds in
finding a sufficiently large number of such potential members of the Move-
ment it would proceed to set up the "Lobby," which would give guidance and
advice to the members of the Movement as to how to put their campaign con-
tributions to good use,

The Board of Directors of the Council would have five to seven mem-
bers who would be elected by the Fellows, The Fellows would also choose
the Panel of Political Advisers. Later on, the Fellows would elect the
Board of Directors of the Lobby -- even though the Lobby may be a separate
corporate entity. |

The relationship between the Fellows and the Board of Directors would
be similar to the relationship of the shareholders of a corporation and the
Loard of directors of the corporation, The shareholders elect the directors
of the corporation, but they are not otherwise responsible for the operations
of the corporation and the officers of the corporation are appointed by the
Board. Nevertheless, one may say in our case that the moral responsibility
lies ultimately with the Fellows and that they assume the responsibility to
see to it that what needs to get done gets done.

I propose that the Fellows be drawn from a larger group of distin-
guished scientisis to whom I shall refer as the Associates. The Associates
would all be members of the overall committee to which I shall refer as the
Committee for a Livable World, The Committee, as such, would have no juris-
diction over anything in particular, but it would meet once a year to talk
things over and the Council would draw on its members for help in perforniag
the tasks with which the Council and the Lobby may be faced.
At a later stage, after the Lobby is established, the Associates could
fulfill an important function in their home communities, by helping to find
good men who may be persuaded to seek the nomination and to stand for elec-
tion -- with the backing of the Lobby,

k*e#*

During the past four months I had conversations with a number of col-
leagues concerning the speech, "Are We On The Road To War?" which I presented
at various colleges and universities. The attached list contains the names
of those who gave me reason to believe that they may be in sympathy with what
I am trying to do, and I assume that they would want to lend their support to
the Council, Their names are marked with a star. The attached list contains
also the names of other colleagues with whom I had no personal contact lately,
but to whom I have recently sent a copy of my speech and from whom I expect
to have a response in the course of the next two weeks.

I propose that those whose names are contained in the attached list form
the initial set of "Associates,"

eke

All Associates would be part of a panel of "Visiting Scholars and
Scientists" who on occasional visits to Washington would be at the disposal
of the Council and may discuss with members of the Administration, and cer-
tain key members of Congress, the political issues which are of concern to
the Council, This need not involve any "extra" trips to Washington.

An Associate might serve as Fellow of the Council and might then have
to attend perhaps three meetings in Washington each year.

An Associate might serve on the Board of Directors of the Council and
may then have to meet with the Panel of Political Advisers in Washington, D. C..,
for several days -- six to ten times a year, Presumably the meetings of the
Fellows would always be scheduled to coincide with the meetings of the Board
of Directors, for the convenience of those Fellows who serve on the Board of
Directors.

An Associate might serve on the Panel of Political Advisers and may
then have to meet with the Board of Directors in Washington, D. C., for sev-
eral days, six to ten times a year.

wok oe
I propose to try to fix, by correspondence, the identity of the
Associates and also the identity of the Fellows. It should be possible to
do this because the by-laws may provide that the initial set of Associates
and the initial set of Fellows be designated by the three "incorporators"
of the Council,

The incorporators would name as Associates all those whose names are
listed in the attachment, provided that their acceptance is received before
the relevant document is executed by the incorporators, After that date the
election of Associates will rest with the Fellows.

IT am mindful of the need to keep the burden carried by scientists who
are active in their own field of specialization at a minimum, by keeping the
number of Fellows low and by having the Associates take turns in serving as
Fellows, so that no one need to carry the burden of serving as Fellow for
very long. However, to my mind, it is indispensable that scientists who
are at the peak of their activity in their own field of specialization, do
serve as Fellows.

I have somewhat arbitrarily drafted the list of Fellows which is en-
closed in the hope that most of those listed would be both able and willing
“oOo serve as Fellows at the outset and to continue to serve in that capacity
for a least one year. Upon receiving the responses of those listed, I would
try to cut down the final list even further, if that seems advisable, to what
would appear to be the practically indispensable minimum. The names of those
whose response is not received by the time the relevant document is executed
by the incorporators, must, of course, be deleted from the list. After that
date, the election of Fellows will rest with the Fellows. I very much hope,
nowever, that all responses will be in within two weeks.

In contrast to the Associates and Fellows, the identity of the Board
of Directors and of the members of the Panel of Political Advisers cannot
be settled by correspondence, because they have to be elected by the Fellows
and it is preferable that the Fellows should meet for this purpose rather

than be polled by mail.

wwe

As far as the Board of Directors and the Panel of Political Advisers
are concerned, all I can do for the moment is to prepare the ground for the

Fellows and to try to find out who would seem to be desirable as well as
available,

i& would seem advisable to have some non-scientists on the Board of
Directors, but we siould preferably choose from among those who have for a
i -4-

number of years worked closely with scientists and who may be regarded both
as safe and likely to be productive. My own preferences would be:

Mrs. Ruth Adams, Associate Editor of the Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientists, who attended most of the Pugwash meetings, and

Professor Morton Grodzins, Chairman of the Political Science
Department of the University of Chicago, who also attended
many of the Pugwash meetings.

I am reasonably certain that both could be persuaded to serve.

The remaining three to five members of the Board of Directors probably
ought to be drawn from among the Associates (the Fellows are, of course, all
Associates and eligible to serve on the Board of Directors). In order to
facilitate matters I am asking all those who may serve as Associates to write
me if, because of their preoccupation with other matters or for any other
‘reason, they would rather not serve on the Board of Directors in 1962-63, and
I shall transmit the names of those who disqualify themselves in this fashion
to the Fellows prior to the election of the Board of Directors.

From the point of view of economizing with the time of the scientists
involved, an argument could be made in favor of drawing those members of the
Board who are Associates from among the Fellows. This would cut down on the
total number of extra trips to Washington that the Associates would have to
make. One might, however, argue that from the point of view of spreading
the responsibility among the Associates it would be better to adopt just
the opposite principle. I presume the Fellows would like to be guided on
this point by the views held in general by the Associates, and views communi-
cated to me, prior to the election of the Board of Directors, would be trans-
mitted to the Fellows.

k* &

The Panel of Political Advisers ought to consist mostly of people who
ace staying in Washington at present or who have earlier spent some time in
Washington during the Kennedy Administration.

Gilbert Harrison, publisher of the New Republic, is a keen observer of
what is going on at present and would be in a position to give good advice,
I am inclined to think that he could be persuaded to serve as a member of the
Panel of Advisors.

Lester Van Atta, Director of Research of Hughes Aircraft, Malibu,
Ca“ifornia, has spert about a year in the Department of Defense as an advise
to York on disarmament, and I propose to find out whether he would be willing
to be on the Panel of Advisers,

I had hoped that the two highly regarded legislative aides and admini-
strative aides, respectively, on the Senate side, who are very much interested
in what I am trying to do, would be free to serve on the Panel of Advisers,
but it turns out that they would not be free to do so.

Either Roger Fisher or David Cavers, or both, of the Harvard Law School,
would be valuable on the Panel of Advisers, and judging from their present in-
terest in what Iam trying to do I would assume that they would be willing to
serve,

We ought to have two or three further names available in readiness by
the time the Board is incorporated, and I shall try to do my best to find the».

kK *

I have tried to draft a political platform for the Council, in order
to characterize its initial direction. It goes under the heading "The
Premises," and you will find it attached,

The End.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
*Schiff£, Leonard I,
*Horness, David S.
*Kaiser, A. Dale
*Bers, Paul
*Kretchmer, Norman
*Holman, Halsted R,
*Kornberg, Arthur
*Finn, Robert
*Pairbank, Wm, Martin

“Lederberg, Joshua

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

 

*Goldberger, M. L.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
*Meselson, Matthew
Watson, James
Edsall, John

*Shurcliff, Wm. A,

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

Marshak, Robert

February 28, 1962

List of Potential "Associates"!

Department of Physics
Department of Biochemistry
Department of Biochemistry
Department of Biochemistry
Professor of Pediatrics
Professor of Medicine
Department of Biochemistry
Department of Mathematics
Department of Physics

Professor of Genetics and Biology

Department of Physics

Department of Biology
Department of Biology
Department of Biology

Harvard Electron Accelerator

Department of Physics
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
*Gomer, Robert Institute of Metals

*Szilard, Leo Institute for Huclear Studies

YALE UNIVERSITY

Doering, William Department of Chemistry

UNIVERSITY OF INDIANA

Muller, H. J. Department of Zoology

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Salpeter, Edward Department of Physics

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - Berkeley

*Chamberlain, O. Il, Department of Physics
*Chew, Jeffrey Department of Physics
*Rosenfeld, Arthur Department of Physics
*Glaser, Donald Department of Physics

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

*Feld, Bernard Department of Physics

TIE WORCESTER FOUNDATION

“Hoagland, Hudson President of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences
THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE

*Fox, Maurice Associate Member

IME UNIVERSITY OF OREGOI

*ovick, Aaron Institute for Molecular Biology
*Streisinger, George Institute for Molecular Biology
*Stahl, Frank Institute for Molecular Biology

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTG

*Livingston, Robert B. Department of Neurobiology
February 28, 1962

Proposed List of Fellows

Hogness, David S,.
Fairbank, Wm, Martin
Meselson, Matthew
Doering, William
Chamberlain, 0. N.
Chew, Jeffrey
Glaser, Donald

Feld, Bernard

Fox, Maurice

Stahl, Frank

Livingston, Robert B.
Leo Szilard
Dupont Plaza Hotel
Washington 6, D. C. February 24, 1962

RESPONSES TO DATE

Between November 17 of last year and February 12 of this year, the
speech "Are We On The Road To War?" was delivered at the following universities
or colleges: Harvard, Western Reserve, Swarthmore College, The University of
Chicago, The University of California in Berkeley, Stanford, Reed College, The
University of Oregon in Eugene, and Sarah Lawrence College.

In most cases I stayed over another day to be available to interested
students for further discussion. The audience turnout and response were very
good with the possible exception of Western Reserve. I spoke there before a
mixed audience of students and adults of about 1,800, and the student response
was rather mediocre.

I expected a good response at Reed College but not at the University
of Oregon; yet 1,200 people turned out there to hear the talk at 3 o'clock in
the afternoon, and 200 students returned the next day to continue the discussion.

The speech was first given under the auspices of the Harvard Law
School Forum, After the lecture, a copy of the speech was sent to those who
asked for it and gave their name and address. We ran out of copies, and a
graduate student, Mr. Michael Brower (at 3 Dana Street, Cambridge 38, Mass.)
volunteered that he would mimeograph additional copies and mail them out on
request (at 15¢ to 25¢ each, depending on size of order).

By January 1 he had distributed 2,300 copies, by January 15 another
3,500, by February 1 another 2,000, and by February 15 another 3,500.

Each campus mimeographed its own copies of the speech for distribu-
tion. Chicago distributed 2,500 copies to date.

The press comments were uniformly favorable. A set of press clippings
is available in the office of Professor Bernard Feld in the Physics Department
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the office of Professor David
Hogness in the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford University, and at the
office of Professor Owen Chamberlain in the Physics Department at the Univer-
sity of California in Berkeley. It can be also obtained from me.

A few days after I delivered the speech in Chicago, ABC's 6 o'clock
Television News -~- a coast-to-coast broadcast originating from New York --
devoted a few minutes to describe what I am trying to do, and ended up by say-
ing, "We wish him good luck."
I am overwhelmed by the mail that pours in. Mrs. Ruth Adams, who
recently looked through my accumulated mail, estimates that we have about 400
hard-and-fast pledges of 2 percent so far, and indications of many more.

A sample of the more interesting letters is available at the offices
of Feld, Hogness and Owen Chamberlain. It can also be obtained from me.

The present disorderly procedures might yield us 1,000 or perhaps
2,000 pledges, and the interest manifested so far is sufficient to set up the
Council. I presume, however, that the Council would want to identify perhaps
25,000 people by name who would pledge 2 percent of their income, before setting
up the political organization that would give advice and guidance to those who
pledge 2 percent of their income. For this purpose the Council might need
$25,000 to $50,000 "seed money,"

Groups have sprung up spontaneously in support of the "Movement"
around the Austen-Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Mass., as well as around the
University of Connecticut at Storrs, Conn., and I have met with some members
of these groups in New York at the apartment of Arthur Penn, a Broadway director.
We discussed the possibility of obtaining ''seed money" for the Council by hold-
ing in New York and perhaps in Hollywood $300-a-plate dinners for 12 to 15
guests each. Mr. Arthur Penn, who would be in charge of this operation in
New York, has the names of 8 persons who have volunteered to act as hosts for
one dinner each.

I am being approached by representatives of the Methodist Church and
the Society of Friends, and I shall discuss with them how to reach those of
their members who are interested and who might want to pledge 2 percent of their
income,