Document BZ2orrqE0xvzMvOn10q4E584

April 22, 1970 Mr. Bruce C. Gottwald, President Ethyl Corporation 100 Park Avenue New York, New York 10017 Dear Mr. Gottwald: I'm not quite certain where I should address you, but X am confident that this missive will reach you, and since there is no emergency which calls for its ultra prompt delivery, the New York address should be satisfactory at this time. Ny purpose in writing is to establish contact. This, obviously, is not, in a sense, up to me, but X am aware of the fact that my responsibility within Ethyl Corporation may not have been clearly defined, and that there may be, especially at the present time, some reason for clarifying the relationship. Since my retirement from the direction of the medical activities of the Corporation, X have been answerable as a consultant to the President. Because X have known others in the Corporation very well over the years, I have dealt with them directly at times in matters for which I knew they were responsible. However, X have always been careful to make no assumptions in this matter, and have acted directly only when I was fully aware of the relationships of the people concerned. As it happens, you and I have never spoken together of these matters, and it seems unlikely that X should proceed in matters involving basic policies of Ethyl Corporation without knowing what such policies are. As it happens, the Issues faced by Ethyl Corporation at present, in dealing with some of its principal customers, are, or tend to be, fairly complex. I am fairly well aware that some of the controversies about motors and fuels, and the advantages and disadvantages associated therewith, are of a rather complex character, and I am quite sure that Ethyl Corporation could easily be thrown to the wolves if that would be beneficial, even momentarily, to some of those who are anxious to clear their own skirts of any blame. In such a situation, I have been attending to my own scientific affairs and keeping out of the battle. There are, however, some indications that the issues involved are not the important considerations of the moment, and that the controversies are not being decided on their merits but rather on false assumptions and spurious beliefs. X doubt very much that some of these matters can be dealt with on the basis of hopes, or in K* 0006219 m 7529 Mr. Bruce C. Gottwald Page 2 April 22, 1970 the expectation of fair play. I strongly suspect that certain of the issues need to be faced boldly and dealt with realistically before it is too late to do so. I shall continue to make ay own observations, and I shall not, individually, take to the warpath. X wish, however, to make it clear to you that X do not consider the position of Ethyl Corporation to be hopeless, nor do X think that position should be settled either by the automobile industry nor by the petroleum industry, but rather by the consensus of fully informed opinion of unbiased investigators. Sincerely yours, Robert A. Kehoe, M.D