Alan Cranston
Sen. Alan Cranston certainly possessed a fierce determination against nuclear weapons (obituary, Jan. 1). He evidenced this to me beginning at a dinner party given by one of his staff aides. As soon as he was introduced to me (a professor specializing in the World War II era), he ignored all the others for over half an hour. Closely he questioned me about books and articles concerning America’s dropping atomic bombs on Japan. Afterward, for over a year, we carried on a correspondence about the morality of atomic weaponry, with Cranston asking for more and more historiography.
Cranston fervently believed that the United States did not have to drop the atomic bombs--and should not have. This fueled his passion, this helped spark his crusade: that America had a moral responsibility to control and eliminate nuclear weapons, and that they should never, never again be fired.
I must say that I never met a public servant like Alan Cranston. Uniquely he combined thoroughness, resoluteness and morality.
HARRY P. JEFFREY
Professor of History
Cal State Fullerton
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