To view the latest data regarding Israel's coordination of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, click HERE. ++++ This has nothing to do about politics. It's about what was one of the most interesting things that happened to me as a U.S. Senator. It involves Edward Teller the noted Physicist - father of the Hydrogen Bomb - and the letter that Albert Einstein sent to President FDR to warn him that the Germans were possibly/probably making an effort to create atomic weapons and that we Americans better beat them to the punch. The letter led to the Manhattan Project. In yesterday's WSJournal, an article appeared that the letter to FDR was being auctioned (the headline in the WSJ was a bit misleading - there were 2 such letters - one sent the other not - it is the one not sent that is being auctioned) I sent the letter below to the Wall Street Journal - it's a highly unusual one - we'll see what they want to print.
Being a Senator (1978-1991) brings many interesting people to your door. Because I was was born in Germany (in 1930) and am Jewish (my family arrived in the U.S. in 1935), a number of scientists from the World War II era with similar backgrounds came to my office. My most frequent such visitor was the physicist Edward Teller, often with his friend Eugene Wigner (Nobel in Physics -1963) and also with Lowell Wood of the Lawrence Livermore Institute located in California. Teller at that time was the Dean of Livermore as well as a member of the Hoover Institute. Teller and Wood wanted to visit with Senators to alert their interest and get their support for "Brilliant Pebbles" an early effort in what became Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) - popularly known as Star Wars. Teller and Wood briefed me about "Brilliant Pebbles" which were small satellites that would be stationed over Russia. These small satellites contained heat seeking capabilities that would detect the heat emitted by launched Russian ICBM's capable of carrying nuclear weapons and they would collide with the Russian ICBM's and destroy them over Russian territory. But Teller's office at Livermore was not effective in getting meetings with Senators and so they asked my help in making such appointments. Senators in my time respected such requests made by other Senators. But with meetings of such scope, courtesy required me to be along with Edward and Lowell. We made quite a number of visits with Senators of both parties most of whom were members of the Senate's Armed Services Committees. An interesting side note is that Edward (surely together with Lowell) briefed Governor Ronald Reagan in the 70's about such missile defense long before Reagan gave his SDI speech to the American people early in 1983. I had become Edward's driver after such meetings taking him to the club where he stayed. On other occasions my teen aged son Tom became Edward's favorite driver. He loved being with young people particularly on the longer trips to Dulles Airport. I told Edward what an honor it was to be his driver. Being a driver was a most important job, he said. If he was remembered for nothing else, he would be remembered for being a driver, said Edward.
Whereupon he told me about Leo Szilard, who Edward described as "being smarter than any of us." Leo composed the August 2, 1939, letter to Roosevelt about the possibility of nuclear weapons and that Germany may well be pursuing such weapons. It was the letter that led to the Manhattan Project recently depicted in the movie "Oppenheimer." But now Leo had to get it signed by Einstein who was at his summer house on Long Island.
But Leo did not know how to drive! So he enlisted Eugene Wigner who had a car (and who also may have helped compose the letter) to drive him out to Einstein's summer home. A that meeting, Einstein asked for a number of changes and sent Leo back to the Manhattan to redraft the letter. Having done that, Leo asked Wigner to drive him again. But Eugene was driving to the west and suggested Leo call Teller who also had a car. Teller was available and agreed to take Szilard back to Einstein. In Teller's auto-biography "Memoirs" he describes the trip (p. 146): "So one day in early August (1939), we set out for Long Island. Unfortunately Szilard knew only Einstein's general whereabouts, not his address. Once we were in the right neighborhood, we began inquiring about the famous professor, with no result. Finally, we asked a little girl with long braids, about 8 years old. She had never heard of Professor Einstein, but she knew a nice old man with long white hair. We were, she told us, almost in front of his "Einstein invited us in for tea, and afterwards, Szilard produced a typewritten letter from his pocket." The letter Szilard gave Einstein on his second visit is reprinted by Teller in "Memoirs" (p. 146). It was the letter that Roosevelt received. As the Journal pointed out, the letter they printed in today's issue, June 26th, was not the letter Roosevelt received. It must be the letter that Einstein sent back with Szilard after his first visit to Einstein out on Long Island.
The Journal said that Einstein was "holed up in a cabin on Long Island's North Shore with fellow scientist, Leo Szilard, who helped him write a letter" to Roosevelt. That's not what Teller told me or wrote in "Memiors." Edward said Szilard wrote the initial letter and he redid it to comply with Einstein's changes which Einstein accepted and signed on the second visit. If Szilard did not have Einstein's address and didn't recognize Einstein's house where he was days before and now on the second visit was "almost in front" of it," it seems unlikely that he had been "holed up" there with Einstein. On the other hand there is some confusion about details. But Edward expressed no doubt about these facts as I drove him to his Club. In the Einstein biography by Ron Clark (pages 553-555) other facts are presented some attributed to Szilard as found in his papers. But Clark apparently did not have the opportunity to interview either Einstein or Szilard both of whom died years before the Clark biography So many people unexpectedly knock on a Senator's doors. Edward Teller was an exceptional one who became a treasured friend for the rest of his life. Edward Teller was born and got his early education in Budapest, Hungary. He dedicated his "Memoirs" to "four of my Hungarian-American friends, all of whom have passed away: Theodore von Karman, Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner and John von Neuman." In jest they were called the Men from Mars. "No accolade," wrote Edward, "gives me so great a pleasure as that I was counted one of them." And what a privilege it was for me to know two of them. Rudy Boschwitz U.S. Senator (R-MN, 1978-1991) ++++ Dear Dick, Today, an advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader warned that Iran would use "all means" to back Hezbollah if Israel launches an offensive against the terror group in Lebanon. The comments come on the same day that Hezbollah launched 15 more rockets at Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel. Israel's aerial defense systems intercepted 10 of the rockets, while the other five impacted without causing injuries. In a separate threat, another Iranian official promised a second missile attack like the one Iran carried out on April 13 with 350 drones and missiles. Thanks to key AIPAC-backed U.S.-Israel defense initiatives, Israel and its allies intercepted 99% of the weapons launched on that day, saving countless lives. But Iran is determined to overwhelm these defenses in a future assault. Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said, "We are hopeful of the arrival of the opportunity for [conducting] Operation True Promise 2,” referencing the name of the April attack. Hajizadeh made clear that Iran is supplying its terror proxies with the weapons being used to attack Israel. "It is obvious from the weapons of our dear ones in Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere, it has now become clear that they are in fact being helped and supplied by Iran," he said. The Iranian general also boasted about attacking U.S. bases in Iraq. Iran is the principal obstacle to peace and stability in the Middle East. America must continue to stand with Israel as it fights to protect its families and deter Iranian terror.
Alishia Tischier AIPAC ++++ |
Report: Date set for invasion of LebanonWestern diplomats claim that Israel may launch a ground offensive in southern Lebanon in about two weeks, in the second half of July.
Israel is expected to begin a ground offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah in the second half of July. According to the German publication Bild, Western diplomats estimated in a conversation with the newspaper that if Hezbollah does not stop shelling Israeli territory, the ground operation in Lebanon will begin in the third or fourth week of July. The newspaper also reported that Hezbollah does not intend to stop shelling Israel and insists on the demand to stop the war in Gaza first. Earlier today, fighter jets attacked two military structures where terrorists operated in the areas of Aitron and Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, along with military structures and terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Marjaba, Hula, and Qlayaa in southern Lebanon. Last night, Hezbollah launched several UAVs towards the northern Golan Heights. One UAV exploded, injuring 18 soldiers - one seriously and the rest slightly. The soldiers were evacuated to receive medical treatment at a hospital, and their families were notified. A preliminary investigation revealed that the defense systems detected the UAV, but the Iron Dome system failed to intercept it. ++++ What Kennedy accomplished regarding Russia, is being restored by China. Biden is failing to protect our vulnerability by allowing Russia and China to militarize Cuba again. They are able to monitor us from Cuba. +++
1 day ago · Satellite imagery shows China expanding spy bases in Cuba. FILE - A satellite image shows Russian vessels and downtown Havana, Cuba, on June 13, 2024. New satellite images ++++ Sent to me by a dear friend and fellow memo reader. +++ For those of you who live in Atlanta area, please see this message from Sandy Springs mayor about his recent trip to Israel: “On July 8 at 7 pm in the City Springs Studio Theater, I will report on my recent trip to Israel with 12 other US mayors. I will show pictures I took myself at massacre sites such as Kibbutz Be’eri and the Novo concert site as well as underreported terrorist incidents at Sderot and Ofakim. I had conversations with hostage families and was in Tel Aviv when the 4 hostages were rescued, heard the roar on the beaches when it was announced. We met with the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv along with several other mayors, so I can report their thoughts. We talked with Arab families and learned of the nuances of thought within that community. Had dinner with the former mayor of Kfar Vrdem , one of our sister cities in Galilee, and heard the challenges in the north and was briefed by an independent defense analyst about the situation there also. I will give my personal assessment of what I saw and heard on my trip. The presentation is open to the public and will include a discussion afterward.” Mayor Rusty Paul ++++ As if Biden cared?
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