x x v i i i I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E 1 2
I
Following his lively involvement in Jewish affairs in late 1919 and early 1920,
Einstein’s renewed activities on behalf of Zionist causes in early 1921 led him to
venture for the first time across the Atlantic. In studies of Einstein, the trip has been
described as springing directly from his interest in the establishment of the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem and is thought to have shaped, to some extent, Einstein’s
ties with the American scientific
community.[1]
Historians of Zionism view his
participation as a small, albeit interesting footnote to the U.S. campaign of Chaim
Weizmann, the London-based president of the Zionist Organisation (ZO) and a
distinguished
chemist.[2]
There are only few documents in Einstein’s hand for the long periods of travel
in 1921. But a wealth of hitherto unexamined sources reveals new insights into the
American and English tour. We learn that, for Einstein, the trip entailed much per-
sonal initiative, and that he mastered a steep learning curve on the politics of Zion-
ism and on Jewish life in the United States. He met many representative figures of
a growing and increasingly vibrant American scientific community and had to con-
front, on an almost daily basis, numerous members of the ever inquisitive interna-
tional press. His presence no longer can be seen as a mere adornment to a Zionist
mission, nor simply as his own impulsive leap for the fulfillment of a pet project.
Einstein had his own agenda, which emerged during the tour, namely, to put in
place university aid committees in the U.S. and the U.K. that would further the goal
of establishing the Hebrew University.
Einstein’s voyage was not entirely a surprise. He had earlier explored the possi-
bility of an extended scientific lecture tour. When invited in October 1920 by Prin-
ceton University and other prospective academic
hosts,[3]
and encouraged by Paul
Ehrenfest, Einstein had requested the exorbitant fee of $15,000 from each institu-
tion. He jokingly speculated that this request would most likely “frighten” off
American universities, since in any case he apparently preferred to stay at
home.[4]
Yet Einstein also had reason to propose such daring terms: he wished to secure the
future needs of his two sons and former wife in Zurich by achieving “financial free-
dom,” and was persuaded, as Ehrenfest had argued, that the prestige and status of
German science would also be advanced if Einstein were invited by the “2–3 elite
universities in
America.”[5]
In late December 1920, Princeton’s president informed Einstein that his univer-
sity could not afford the
honorarium.[6]
Wisconsin’s dean found the fee “preposter-
ous,” and informed both the president of the University of California, Berkeley, and
Paul M. Warburg, who was representing Einstein in his negotiations, that “the
finances involved are quite beyond the ability of our American institutions to
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