To Gouverneur Morris [Letter 26]

66 Park Avenue
New York, N. Y.

April 14, 1936

Dear Mr. Morris,

I do not know how to express my gratitude to you for the telegram you sent me and for your interest in my book.[*] But I would like you to know how much I appreciate the wonderful things you have said about me. Your kindness and praise have given me the greatest encouragement and I hope that my future will not disappoint you. I shall do my best to live up to your prediction.

I was very happy to know that you liked my book and its appearance in a printed form. The book is released now and I can only hope for the best. However, I expect plenty of hell from our good Red reviewers. The question in my mind is only whether they will succeed in keeping the book from the public. If they don’t, if the book reaches America and makes at least a few pause and question their Communist theories, I shall be satisfied, no matter what they say about me. If the book turns a few potential Reds away from the Cause—I will know that I have accomplished something worthwhile. How tragically the book is needed here I am realizing more and more every day. New York is full of people sold bodies and souls to the Soviets. The extent of it almost frightens me. But I’ve done all I could. The future will tell the rest.

And—no matter what happens now—my deepest gratitude to one great man who understood me.

Sincerely,

*In a March 27, 1936, telegram, Morris wrote that AR’s inscription in his copy of We the Living “filled his eyes with tears” and that the book “is a splendid performance.” AR’s inscription read: “to the first great writer who had faith in me.”