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World War II-dated TLS signed “A. Einstein,” one page, 8.5 x 11, embossed personal letterhead, June 8, 1940. Letter to prominent New York City lawyer Charles Culp Burlingham, in full: “I was very astonished about the kind letter I received through you. I have never delivered any lecture of spiritual contents. It seems to me admirable that in all those terrible hardships of our day there is a person who was able to conserve so completely kindness and superiority. The evil is that the hysteria Miss Stillman writes about in her letter is associated with so many guns, airplanes, tanks, and industrial productive power. But the real mystery for me is that intelligent and responsible people could be so blind for this danger for a number of years. In the hope that this letter will find you in good health.” In fine condition, with slight creasing and the signature a shade light.
When Einstein wrote this letter, the war in Europe had just turned decisively against the Allies. The evacuation of British and French troops from Dunkirk had ended on June 4, four days earlier, and German forces would enter Paris on June 14. Einstein, who had left Germany in 1933 for the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, was then in the process of becoming an American citizen, a step he completed on October 1, 1940. He had already lent his name to warnings about Germany’s potential military strength: in August 1939 he signed the letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt alerting the president to the possibility of an atomic bomb, and in the spring of 1940 he wrote follow-up letters to Alexander Sachs and Lyman Briggs intended to keep the matter before the administration.
His correspondent, Charles Culp Burlingham (1858–1959), was a noted NYC lawyer, legal reformer, and former president of the New York City Bar Association, known as the ‘first citizen of New York.’ After gaining fame defending the White Star Line following the sinking of the Titanic, he devoted himself to civic causes, and though he held no elected office, he had influence with many who did, including Fiorello La Guardia and Franklin Roosevelt.
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