ALS, three pages, lightly-lined, 8 x 12.25, August 1, 1960. Letter to Mr. Smith. In part: “I returned last night to find your letter. On Friday Ralph Johnson telephoned me [Friday July 29th]. John had cheated in an examination. There were no circumstances. Later that afternoon the governing body voted to expel him. They were sad about it but they had no choice. This was apparent even to one so partisan as a father. I drove in through Bertha and met him on Saturday night [July 30th]. He was controlled but deeply shocked, perhaps for the first time. I took him to my closed house and we spent a good part of the night talking. He was quite open–said he knew it was wrong, knew it when he did it and had no excuses. He said he found his whole conduct childish and stupid…It did seem to me deeply meant. I did not rail at him nor accuse him. What need. He stood accused. But he had finally hit bottom. I told him that a lost good name was the hardest thing in the world to regain but that it could be done by a long hard effort. I truly believe that guilt can be corrosive and failure without hope destructive. I told him that without forgetting one thing nor glossing it over, we must begin to rebuild at once.
On Tuesday [August 2nd], with his complete cooperation, he is going for a series of tests to an expert to determine whether he has a psychotic block or whether it is only a stepped up teen-age laziness. On Wednesday he will come here to me. For about six weeks, he will have intensive tutoring in French and math. He must also have a job. On the basis of his performance, I will know what to do next. I will not make the path easy but I must keep it open and with a light at the end of it. I think this shock has jarred him into reality perhaps for the first time. He knows he has let the side down. He is not getting ‘another disease’ but he is getting a disease. I don’t think it ever got through to him before that his actions injured other people. That of course is one of the prime symptoms of infantilism. Beginning with this shock we may change but that we will have to see.” In fine condition, with Steinbeck switching from blue ballpoint to black ink after the first few sentences of letter. A poignant letter in which Steinbeck both holds his son responsible for his actions, and uses the incident as a teaching lesson. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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