Document Lg1z12zxrnyVnyXDxkOXkwV3z

October 17, 1968 Kelvin R. Plancey, M.D., Medical Director Corporate Employer Relations Division Atlantic-Richfield Company 717 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10022 PERSONAL ilND CONFIDENTIAL Dear Mel: X have done my best to get this "progress report" to you by the time of your meeting on Friday. The urgency of the matter from my viewpoint (to which I was aroused by your letter of September 12) comes from the fact that I have just found out that the A.?.I. had announced its intention to discontinue its support for this project as of the end of this year. I have thought I should do my best to clarify the status of the work, beyond any possible misinter pretation of its significance at this (to me and, I believe, to the industry) crucial time. I am not registering a complaint with you for this action, since I can appreciate some, at least, of the reasons for it. X cannot doubt, however, that there is a misunderstanding within the organisation of the essential character of these experiments. The nature of the experiments is such, and the results are of such crucial importance at this time, in the USA and abroad, as to be the most important of all the work now in progress on this subject. (I say this because of my knowledge of the situation here and abroad, and because of my experience in such matters. X do not claim credit for myself. That has nothing to do with the matter. These experiments came out of years of investigations as the only way by which to obtain information for purposes of prediction.) This is indeed, with the end in sight, an extremely bad time for the Institute to withdraw its support. The solidarity of the industries here involved is an important feature of the situation. Even if the financial support were reduced to the level of a token, for reasons of economy (pardon me, if I smile at this suggested necessity), the latter would be desirable. Let me conclude this by saying that the money to continue the work into the coming year is assured, so that I am not indulging in a begging gesture. My professional pride, on the basis of my long-continued relationships with the petroleum industry in the U.S.A. and throughout most of the world, is somewhat involved, of course. But my principal motive for writing this to you (which you can deal with as you like, or not at all) is my concern for the petroleum industry in this country. It hardly seems possible that it is willing to back out after having put its shoulder to the wheel. Sincerely yours. RuC: wp N13361 Robert A. Kehoe, M.D# Professor Emeritus of Occupational Medicine October X, 19Q3 '*. /*>u1i*t;-i-mb Melvin R. Plancey, M.D., radical Director Corporate Employer Relations Division Atlantic-Richfield Company 717 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10022 Dear Mel: I have delayed responding to your letter of September 12, only because I wished to give you the last word on our experimental work. I now find that I have delayed almost too long, but I hasten to put the information together and to get it to you post-haste. The past few days have been very busy ones and they have slipped by me almost unnoticed, so far as the precise date is concerned. I trust that my brief report will serve your purposes. Sincerely yours. RAK:wp enclosure Robert A. Kehoe, M.D. Professor Emeritus of Occupa tiona1 Medicine P.S. It may be that I shall be in New York on or about the 13th of October, and if there should be any advantage in my attending your meeting, I could arrange it, I believe. RAX kF N13361.01 o -> ' `l J J i. *. T