calling for an interdiction of atomic weapons, now and forever. The circulation of this petition began last May, and has recently been concluded, with more than two million signatures claimed by the sponsors. The Justice Department informs me that, and I quote now, âthe number of students and faculty members of Clemington University who affixed their names to this petition cannot be precisely determined. You will understand that the facilities available to us for the correlation of such information are still limited, but we have reason to believe the total number is in excess of what we are able to supply you. In spite of the fact that the State Department considers and has publicly stated that the aforementioned petition is contrary to and destructive of the best interests of the United States, and in spite of the fact that the Justice Department considers the said petition to be communist inspired and circulated, no measures are, for the time being, planned to be taken against the signers. At the same time, we feel it is in your best interests and in the best interests of the university and the country as a whole, that these names should be made available to you.â The names follow,â Cabot said, looking up at Silas now, the large, handsome face serene and thoughtful, the high brow marked by only one horizontal crease.
Again he was waiting, and Silas, somewhat amazed, thought to himself, âI had forgotten all about that.â His anger had passed, and he was not yet afraid; but he could recognize, almost objectively, that here were elements to make a normal person afraid. Here was something building and shaping itself very slowlyâso slowly that nothing at all would come of it just now; of that he was certain; but a process was in motion. Was he really discovering it only now, he wondered? If so, he was obtuseâobtuse enough to sit through this entire fantastic inquisition, as if it were all happening apart from him and also as if it could not possibly contain any unpleasant consequences for him.
Later, much later, this attitude on his part would be recalled by him, re-examined and re-appraised, and he would come to the conclusion that before this particular day, Wednesday, October 25, 1950, a certain kind of fear did not exist in his psychological makeup; the patterns of this fear had not yet been formed. Other fears were normal to him and of vivid and constant acquaintance, the fear of being unemployed, the fear of danger to his children, the fear of the loss of Myraâs affections, the fear of his own inadequacy being publicly displayed, the fear of death, of sicknessâa whole index of fears with which he lived in fairly decent companionship; but this particular and singular fear of speaking his own mind and of obeying the moral dictates of his own conscience, this was too new, too unspecific, too amorphous as yet to ring any strident bells of alarm or anxiety within him.
But this realization would come only later. For the time being, he was curiously undisturbed, wondering only to what end Cabot was constructing this sequence of unorthodoxy.
âThe names,â Cabot continued. âI thought I would read them to you, Professor Timberman. While I do not propose to make them public, neither do I intend to have them secret. To a large degree, I am responsible for the vast and complex organization which a modern university has become. Part of that responsibility is a need to understand every phase of life on this campus. I must confess that this part is difficult to understand.â He smiled. âI am not threatening, believe me. Here are the faculty members. We start with Edna Crawford, in the Department of Domestic Science. Do you know her?â Silas nodded. âThen you understand my bewilderment. This is a woman of sixty, the author of a nationally known home manual, and a member of a very good Massachusetts family. Leon Federmen, in the Science Department. I must say the
Again he was waiting, and Silas, somewhat amazed, thought to himself, âI had forgotten all about that.â His anger had passed, and he was not yet afraid; but he could recognize, almost objectively, that here were elements to make a normal person afraid. Here was something building and shaping itself very slowlyâso slowly that nothing at all would come of it just now; of that he was certain; but a process was in motion. Was he really discovering it only now, he wondered? If so, he was obtuseâobtuse enough to sit through this entire fantastic inquisition, as if it were all happening apart from him and also as if it could not possibly contain any unpleasant consequences for him.
Later, much later, this attitude on his part would be recalled by him, re-examined and re-appraised, and he would come to the conclusion that before this particular day, Wednesday, October 25, 1950, a certain kind of fear did not exist in his psychological makeup; the patterns of this fear had not yet been formed. Other fears were normal to him and of vivid and constant acquaintance, the fear of being unemployed, the fear of danger to his children, the fear of the loss of Myraâs affections, the fear of his own inadequacy being publicly displayed, the fear of death, of sicknessâa whole index of fears with which he lived in fairly decent companionship; but this particular and singular fear of speaking his own mind and of obeying the moral dictates of his own conscience, this was too new, too unspecific, too amorphous as yet to ring any strident bells of alarm or anxiety within him.
But this realization would come only later. For the time being, he was curiously undisturbed, wondering only to what end Cabot was constructing this sequence of unorthodoxy.
âThe names,â Cabot continued. âI thought I would read them to you, Professor Timberman. While I do not propose to make them public, neither do I intend to have them secret. To a large degree, I am responsible for the vast and complex organization which a modern university has become. Part of that responsibility is a need to understand every phase of life on this campus. I must confess that this part is difficult to understand.â He smiled. âI am not threatening, believe me. Here are the faculty members. We start with Edna Crawford, in the Department of Domestic Science. Do you know her?â Silas nodded. âThen you understand my bewilderment. This is a woman of sixty, the author of a nationally known home manual, and a member of a very good Massachusetts family. Leon Federmen, in the Science Department. I must say the
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