French physicist and Nobel laureate (1900–1958) and son-in-law to Pierre and Marie Curie. TLS in French, signed “F. Joliot-Curie,” two pages, 8.25 x 10.5, October 28, 1952. Joliot-Curie writes W. Appleton Lawrence in Springfield, Massachusetts. In part (translated): “I am sure that you feel, as I do, a deep concern in the face of the present international tension. Men of all nations, of all tendencies feel that it is impossible for the various countries to go on living forever in fear of the calamities which tomorrow may bring, and to bear the economic hardships which are a result of preparations for war. To date negotiations on the governmental level have not brought about relief from tension. It is therefore all the more necessary to find a possibility for meeting and discussion on the level of non governmental organizations and public opinion. In order to offer such a possibility, the World Peace Council, over which I am president, has taken a new kind of initiative: a Peoples Congress for Peace…We consider that agreement, even on one point, will facilitate agreement on others, and will contribute to the reopening of negotiations on a governmental level on one or several of the questions which are now deadlocked.” Moderate central vertical and horizontal fold, a paperclip impression at the top left of each page with a mirrored imprint with rust staining at the bottom, and a couple office notations and stamp, otherwise fine condition.
War was raging in Korea as the United States and Soviet Union were jockeying for nuclear supremacy in 1952—some of the “international tension”Joliot-Curie references to Lawrence, a Massachusetts minister serving as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts. During this period, Joliot-Curie was presiding over the World Peace Council, an organization that promoted peaceful coexistence and nuclear disarmament. Despite his contention that it was impossible to “go on living forever in fear of the calamities which tomorrow may bring, and to bear the economic hardships which are a result of preparations for war,” Joliot-Curie himself played a small role in that build-up. A devout Communist, he had notified Soviet associates near the end of World War II of the progress of the American nuclear weapon program, in 1948 oversaw the construction of the first French atomic reactor, and in 1951 was awarded the Stalin's Peace Prize by Soviet officials. RRAuction COA.
