To Marie Strakhow [Letter 309]

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10,000 Tampa Avenue
Chatsworth, California
August 22, 1947 

Dear “Missis”: 

I was terribly sorry to hear that your visa had been refused and that you have to wait longer. I have asked my attorney to see whether we could do anything in Washington to help you obtain a visa sooner, but he wrote to me that we can do nothing at present and have to wait until Congress passes legislation to enlarge the admission quota. 

I had stopped sending you the Care packages because I thought that you would be able to come here by now, but I placed an order with them as soon as I heard that you could not come. On July 25 I sent you three Care packages of three different kinds: food, wool, and blanket. I hope it will not take them too long to reach you. I will continue sending you a food package every month and I hope that it will help you and that you will not be too uncomfortable while waiting for your visa. I will also cable you some money to the Julius Meinl store, whose application blank you sent me, and I hope this will help you until the Care packages start to arrive. 

I have tried to send you some cigarettes as you requested, but was told at the post office here that we are not permitted to send cigarettes to Europe. 

In regard to the documents I sent you, you mentioned that you have received two copies of all the documents except the letter from the Bank of America and the letter from my literary agent, of which you received only one copy. I do not know how to explain this, because I enclosed two copies of everything including these two letters. I am afraid that they were lost on the way in some manner. When the time comes for you to obtain your visa, if you need extra copies of the documents, please let me know as far in advance as possible and I will send them to you. I

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suppose that you might need a new set of documents entirely, if the ones I sent you are considered dated by the time you need them.

I was very happy to hear that you obtained a copy of THE FOUNTAINHEAD and that you liked it. Thank you for the nice things you said about it. Now that you have read it, you can probably see that I hesitated about sending it to you.because of Mr. Toohey. 

I think it might be helpful if the American lady who gave you the book would find out for me the name of some person in the American Consulate in Salzburg or in the American Embassy in Vienna who has read THE FOUNTAINHEAD and likes it as much as she does. I could then write to that person, telling him of my interest in you and asking him to assist you in any way that may be possible. I think my literary name would be of help with a person who liked the book, but could be a handicap with someone who is opposed to it. 

You asked me whether I had read EUROPE AND THE SOUL OF THE EAST. No, I have not read it and I don’t think it has been published in America. 

You asked my advice on whether you should attempt to apply for a visa to South America. I do not know what to advise you about that, as I know nothing at all about that situation or the living conditions in South America. If you find that getting your visa to come here appears to be too uncertain and the conditions of waiting in Europe are too uncomfortable or dangerous, then I would suggest that it might be wise to take a chance on South America. However, I hope very much that you will be able to come here and that you will not be kept waiting too long.  

With best regards from my husband and myself, 

Sincerely,