einstein

Nassau Inn refused her a room. So Einstein invited her to stay at his house on Mercer Street, in what was a deeply personal as well as a publicly
symbolic gesture. Two years later, when she was barred from performing in Washington’s Constitution Hall, she gave what became a historic free
concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Whenever she returned to Princeton, she stayed with Einstein, her last visit coming just two months
before he died. 63
One problem with Einstein’s willingness to sign on to various and sundry movements, appeals, and honorary chairmanships was that, as before,
it opened him to charges that he was a dupe for those that were fronts for communists or other subversives. This purported sin was compounded,
in the eyes of those who were suspicious about his loyalty, when he declined to sign on to some crusades that attacked Stalin or the Soviets.
For example, when his friend Isaac Don Levine, whose anticommunist writings Einstein had previously endorsed, asked him to sign a petition in
1934 condemning Stalin’s murder of political prisoners, this time Einstein balked. “I, too, regret immensely that the Russian political leaders let
themselves be carried away,” Einstein wrote. “In spite of this, I cannot associate myself with your action. It will have no impact in Russia. The
Russians have proved that their only aim is really the improvement of the lot of the Russian people.” 64
It was a gauzy view of the Russians and of Stalin’s murderous regime, one that history would prove wrong. Einstein was so intent on fighting the
Nazis, and so annoyed that Levine had shifted so radically from left to right, that he reacted strongly against those who would equate the Russian
purges with the Nazi holocaust.
An even larger set of trials in Moscow began in 1936, involving supporters of the exiled Leon Trotsky, and again Einstein rebuffed some of his
former friends from the left who had now swung to become ardently anticommunist. The philosopher Sidney Hook, a recovering Marxist, wrote
Einstein, asking him to speak out in favor of the creation of an international public commission to assure that Trotsky and his supporters would get
a fair hearing rather than merely a show trial. “There is no doubt that every accused person should be given an opportunity to establish his
innocence,” Einstein replied. “This certainly holds true for Trotsky.” But how should this be accomplished? Einstein suggested it would best be done
privately, without a public commission. 65
In a very long letter, Hook tried to rebut each of Einstein’s concerns, but Einstein lost interest in arguing with Hook and did not respond. So Hook
phoned him in Princeton. He reached Helen Dukas, and somehow was able to make it through her defensive shield to set up an appointment.
Einstein received Hook cordially, brought him up to his study lair, smoked his pipe, and spoke in English. After listening to Hook again make his
case, Einstein expressed sympathy but said he thought the whole enterprise was unlikely to succeed. “From my point of view,” he proclaimed, “both
Stalin and Trotsky are political gangsters.” Hook later said that even though he disagreed with Einstein, “I could appreciate his reasons,” especially
because Einstein emphasized that he was “aware of what communists were capable of doing.”
Wearing an old sweatshirt and no socks, Einstein walked Hook back to the train station. Along the way, he explained his anger at the Germans.
They had raided his house in Caputh searching for communist weapons, he said, and found only a bread knife to confiscate. One remark he made
turned out to be very prescient. “If and when war comes,” he said, “Hitler will realize the harm he has done Germany by driving out the Jewish
scientists.” 66