Lot 52E email save

EINSTEIN. Orig. 1953 tape recording re: mccarthism

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Princeton: April 1953. 1 reel of Scotch Brand "Soundcraft" audio tape (diameter: 175 mm). In original printed box. Reel contains about 8 minutes of interview. Condition: reel in apparantly good condition with no striations or discolor, just few folds at the beginning of the reel as usual; box strengthened with tape. Provenance: by descent from the original owners. einstein speaks of the loss of american and russian sense of humor and the threat to the 'un-critical' and 'intimidated citizen.' In April of 1953, Albert Einstein was chosen as the recipient of the "Non-Conformist Thinker in Conformist Times Award." The award, usually offered by the New York City department store as the "Lord & Taylor Award " for excellence in any field, was re-named in reaction to the tenor of the times. Einstein was too ill to travel to New York to accept the award in person at the Waldorf-Astoria, but volunteered to give a tape recorded acceptance speech which was broadcast on May 4th, 1953. This recording, a casual and charming preamble, in which Einstein both answers questions from the sound technicians and recites lines from the speech, is rich in content. Alluding to the methods of McCarthyism, Einstein says "I am quite anxious ... something must be said ... My state of fear must be accentuated!" He continues "our time has lost its sense of humor. This is everywhere. Not only here in this country. It is most conspiculously in Russia. They were formerly very humor-ready and they have lost it completely ... But in this country it is the same thing ... the public has lost its sense of humor." The first lines of Einstein's acceptance speech is also captured on this reel: "It gives me great pleasure indeed to see the stubborness of an incorrigible non-conformist warmly acclaimed. To be sure, we are concerned here with non-conformism in a remote field of endeavor (meaning physics) and no senatorial committee has yet impelled to tackle the important task of combating also in this field the dangers which threaten the inner security of the uncritical or intimidated citizen." Despite the heavy tone of Einstein's words, his mood was cheerful on this day and his sentiments are presented with a charming, professorial demeanor. A significant piece of history from latter years of the great scientist's life, the reel captures Einstein personality, with several moments of laughter caught between significant statements of the utmost importance. See Walter Isaacson. Einstein: His Life and Universe. Simon & Schuster, 2007. p. 527.

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