3 4 4 D O C U M E N T 2 4 8 D E C E M B E R 1 9 2 0
seriously taken note of and that we cannot release your from it so easily without
completely compelling reasons. How you will wheedle yourself out of this
one[5]
is not clear to me yet, for I know my wife’s pigheadedness; she never gives
in.[6]
And the sailboat or ship stands ready in the summer.
You see, here she is already. So please submit right away; it’s much simpler.
Most cordially yours,
Anschütz.
Note by Reta Anschütz: “That’s right!!! Your surrogate mother!”
248. From Carl Beck[1]
Chicago, 28 December 1920
My dear Professor Einstein,
I regretted very much during my visit in Berlin, I did not have the chance to see
you. I telephoned to your home to make an appointment; but was told that you had
left for Holland.
Professor Lecher of
Vienna,[2]
who is a friend of mine—and particularly Profes-
sor
Ehrenfest,[3]
another friend, promised to arrange with you a meeting; but unfor-
tunately I had to return to the States. It was not the idle curiosity of many people
who seek to make your acquaintance; but other motives which prompted me to
want to see you. You, of course, are a persona grata with certain scientific circles,
and also here in America, there is a great interest for you personally, and for your
work.
I have no doubt that you are invited to this country by scientific bodies and men.
Knowing American conditions as I do know them, and knowing European condi-
tions as I do, and I do know them, I think, however, that such a visit while it offers
on one side a great many possibilities—is also possibly fraught with certain dan-
gers—not only for yourself but for your country, and I would very much like to dis-
cuss conditions with you on such a visit. America is not yet ready for experiments,
and I think too highly of you and your country to make any experiments.
When I returned a couple of weeks ago from the other side, I had a long confer-
ence with Professor Vincent of the Rockefeller
Foundation,[4]
and with a number
of others interested in Germany and German Science. I think I have accomplished
a great deal by interesting the Rockefeller Foundation favorably, before I left for
Europe through Professor Welch of John Hopkins
University[5]
and Professor Vin-
cent, and I believe that my report coming from abroad, has clinched the argument
in favor of appropriating $100,000 by the Rockefeller people for the aid of German
and Austrian
Universities.[6]
Although my propositions as Professor Vincent writes