EDITORIAL

The first announcements that there was to be a publication called ONE were mailed in the fall of 1952. The first check from out-side Los Angeles for a subscription came from a man whose achievements, sympathies and support have endeared him to us permanently. The check was signed: Alfred C. Kinsey.

Our last of numerous meetings with Dr. Kinsey was in the spring when he invited the staff to meet with him. to discuss the lawsuit of ONE vs. the Postmaster of Los Angeles. For several hours, during a leisurely breakfast and numberless cups of coffee, he gave us counsel, encouragement, and conclusions drawn from his own long-standing difficulties with the U.S. Customs officials, who were preventing material being sent from other countries to his research institute. You have read something about this in the press, but the stories have been incomplete, even misleading.

As a scientist whose work was purposed to benefit all mankind, he was deeply concerned. He seemed to regard it with the deepest gravity as a threat against freedom of inquiry, hence a threat to freedom of thought. He told us he was quite prepared to close the Institute for a period, if necessary, in order to devote all time and money to winning this battle for scientific freedom. "This issue," he declared, "is the big issue of the twentieth century; the freedom of scientific investigation must be won once and for all. "

Dr. Kinsey talked with us at length about ONE; he expressed his wish to visit our library on his next trip West; he spoke of our obligations to the homophile, and to society as a whole, explaining how he had carefully watched ONE's growth since its beginning. By implication he paid us the compliment of indicating that by ONE's courage in resisting postal interference we were winning our spurs and the right to stand side by side as brothers with those fighting the same cause for truth, for honesty, for simple justice.

We shall always be grateful for the legacy that he left to us and to all who insist upon sexual freedom. Each of us is richer for having seen and known a truly great man.

one

ONE, Incorporated Board of Directors

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