BR writes, "I think perhaps something ought to be done in the way of preparing participants [for my absence] and suggesting the need of a chairman. I have always thought it probable, as you and Rotblat and Powell have known, that I should not be able to go and now, for reasons of health, this is quite definite. I have an affliction of the throat which makes me unable to swallow many ordinary kinds of food and which gets worse if I am exposed to fatigue."

[This letter makes it clear that BR decided not to attend Pugwash before Edith's heart attack, which took place on June 6.]