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| For distribution to | DIV PROF ED |
| residents and other | Winter VA Hospital |
| staff members | February 20, 1951 |
As an eloquent and courageous exemplification of the concept of responsibility—of teacher to students—I here commend to the staff and Fellows the following statement of position, made by (Ex-Professor) Erik H. Erikson to the Committee on Privilege and Tenure of the University of California.
Karl A. Menninger, M.D.
Dear Sirs:
I deeply appreciate the privilege of a free hearing before a committee of colleagues. With you I shall not play hide-and-seek regarding a question which must be implicit in what you wish to ask me and which must be explicit in what I shall have to say: I am not and have never been a Communist, inside “the party” or outside, in this country or abroad.
Because of my sincere appreciation of the position which I now hold, I shall state (as freely and as briefly as I can) what considerations and feelings have made it impossible for me in good conscience to acquiesce in the latest form of “alternative affirmation” which has been demanded.