Letter

Date

1958 = 1959

Description

Title “From: the Earl Russell, O.M.F.R.S.” (Order of Merit, Fellow of the Royal Society). Letter of 20th November 1962, from Earl Russell to Mr A.E.Smith, honorary secretary of Bradford CND, thanking him for his good wishes during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Bertrand Russell was born in 1872, the grandson of former Prime Minister Lord John Russell. He attended the University of Cambridge, gaining a first class degree in Mathematics and Moral Sciences. He held strong pacifist beliefs and in 1916 was convicted of anti-war activities, fined and dismissed from his post as lecturer at Cambridge. He was convicted again in 1918 and spent six months in prison. In 1939 the rise of facism led him to renounce pacifism, but during the 1950s he became involved in the anti-nuclear movement. An author of many books, such as the History of Western Philosophy, he used his acceptance speech of the 1950 Nobel Prize for Literature to warn against the dangers of nuclear weapons. He was a founder member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and was arrested in 1961 for taking part in a protest. He was sentenced to two months in prison but this was reduced to one week in prison hospital, as at the time he was 89 years old. Throughout his life he corresponded with many world figures, notably President Kennedy and Premier Kruschev. During the Cuban Missile Crisis he sent telegrams asking them both to seek a peaceful solution. This letter dates from that time and clearly illustrates both his relief at the outcome of the crisis and his commitment to peace. Bertrand Russell died in 1970 at the age of 97.

Image

IMG006.tif

IMG005.tif

Item type: Letter
Date:1958 = 1959

Description: Title “From: the Earl Russell, O.M.F.R.S.” (Order of Merit, Fellow of the Royal Society). Letter of 20th November 1962, from Earl Russell to Mr A.E.Smith, honorary secretary of Bradford CND, thanking him for his good wishes during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Bertrand Russell was born in 1872, the grandson of former Prime Minister Lord John Russell. He attended the University of Cambridge, gaining a first class degree in Mathematics and Moral Sciences. He held strong pacifist beliefs and in 1916 was convicted of anti-war activities, fined and dismissed from his post as lecturer at Cambridge. He was convicted again in 1918 and spent six months in prison.

In 1939 the rise of fascism led him to renounce pacifism, but during the 1950s he became involved in the anti-nuclear movement. An author of many books, such as the History of Western Philosophy, he used his acceptance speech of the 1950 Nobel Prize for Literature to warn against the dangers of nuclear weapons.

He was a founder member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and was arrested in 1961 for taking part in a protest. He was sentenced to two months in prison but this was reduced to one week in prison hospital, as at the time he was 89 years old.

Throughout his life he corresponded with many world figures, notably President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev. During the Cuban Missile Crisis he sent telegrams asking them both to seek a peaceful solution. This letter dates from that time and clearly illustrates both his relief at the outcome of the crisis and his commitment to peace. Bertrand Russell died in 1970 at the age of 97.