February 25, 1946

Dr. Paul H. Emmett

115 Yorkshire Road

Pittsburgh

Dear Paul:

I was pleased to receive your letter, which came while I was on my trip East. I did not plan to stop in Pittsburgh, and, now that my work with the Explosives Division of the NDRC is over, and that they have closed up the Central Explosives laboratory at Bruceton, it is unlikely that I shall be stopping there in the near future. I was sorry to find you away from town the only times when I came through and tried to get in touch with you.

I am very glad that your work is getting along well. I hope that you will be making a western trip some time, and will stop in to see us.

We are all well. Young Linus is still in the Army - he is on a transport, going back and forth across the Atlantic, and he has even made one trip to India. He should be out of the Army before very long. Peter is in the junior year of high school, and is getting along well - he is the President of his class at Pasadena Junior College.

I was, as you might suspect, misquoted on the atomic bomb matter - some rough estimates that I was making got misinterpreted by the press representative, and spread all over the country. The General didn't think that it was very funny. You probably know that I have never had any connection with the atomic bomb project - I am just an outsider, relatively free to make guesses.

With best regards, I am

Sincerely yours,

Linus Pauling

LP:gw

25 February 1946

Dear Mom

Today the bubble is punctured the Fort Hamilton processing section refused to let me go through because I have only 29 month one less than required. Fort Ham will keep me until March 27^th when I become eligible or until the service time requirements go down. So now I have a 15 day furlough in any pocket which puts me in the quandary or I can hang around Indiana or any other place for that matter, I think I'll try ATC if my attempts at discharge fail. The advantage of that is that I spend less money. I'm actually afraid to walk around N.Y. because I can't keel the shekel from flowing out of my pocket.

I think the best place for write one is care of Reba Mirsky, 1 W. 68^th St. N.Y. I'll keep in communication with her more after than I'll be of deciding where to go. This afternoon I discovered one thing more Brooklyn Army Base is processing men with only 29 moths. Therefore tomorrow morning I head for Brooklyn to see if I can't work some deal. I'm pretty disappointed.

One thing I want to do is spend a weekend in Indiana with Reba II, that leaves a week or more free I can forge a priority form and try to make it to California via ATC or I can hang around N.Y. at the fort. But don't say anything personal in the letter. I may ask her to read it to me over the phone.

Another factor of my depression is the cold that I caught the night of leaving the ship, and which keeps me form feeling energetic. Bad luck is dogging me.

I'll write tomorrow to inform you of any doings.

All my love,

Linus