BERTRAND RUSSELL - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 04/27/1963 - HFSID 148701

BERTRAND RUSSELL THANKS A FAN FOR NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS


BERTRAND RUSSELL. Typed Letter Signed: "Bertrand Russell". 1p, 7½x9. Penrhyndeudraeth (Wales, United Kingdom), 1963 April 27. To Jack Benjamin, Brooklyn, New York. In full: "Thank you for all your recent newspaper cuttings, which are of great value to me in my work. If I have failed for some time to acknowledge your great assistance I assure you it is not for want of gratitude, but merely through pressure of events. As you know, I have recently written several articles for American publications, and I am most interested to see repercussions to these in editorial and letters columns. With warm good wishes, Yours Sincerely," Bertrand Russell signed this letter of April 27, 1963 thanking one of his many supporters for clippings sent to him of recent articles Russell had published in the New York Times and the fierce reaction they generated. Russell had written these articles denouncing the hard-line, anti-communist stance of the United States government and its role in the Vietnam War. His articles, specifically "Is Communism a Menace?" (April 7), received hostile public response from most quarters; however, they did help to inspire the burgeoning American peace movement. Russell was a Nobel Prize winning author (1950) who had been monitoring world events and had taken an active interest in international politics. Six months earlier, the 90-year-old acted as an internationally in two major international conflicts. In the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962), American aircraft had discovered the recent build-up of Russian nuclear-missile base in Cuba. This led to an immediate U.S. naval blockade off the shores of Cuba and a showdown between the superpowers. On October 22, the day of the announced blockade, Russell intervened with telegrams urging a peaceful resolution to the crisis to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, United States President John F. Kennedy and Secretary General of the United Nations U Thant. Two days later, Moscow Radio broadcasted Khrushchev's reply to his telegram, making Russell an international figure in the conflict. With the possibility of a nuclear confrontation at hand, Russell continued his correspondence with these leaders on a daily basis, including an appeal to Cuban President Fidel Castro, as well as Khrushchev, to "make a great gesture for humanity ...and dismantle the bases." The world drama faded on October 28, when Khrushchev publicly agreed to remove the missile bases. Russell played a similar role the following month in the on-going Sino-Indian dispute. This border conflict between China and India resulted in a month-long war ending with a cease-fire on November 21st. His actions in these world events inspired the creation, by Russell and several of his associates on September 29, 1963, of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and the Atlantic Peace Foundation. These organizations which opposed violence and promoted world peace were designed as an international communication and education network to develop public awareness. Lightly creased from folding. Otherwise, fine condition. Framed to an overall size of 32¼x24¼.