Soviet takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1968 witnessed by John McCarthy;

Letter to Les Earnest dated Nov. 1, 1968

While looking through my vast paper files for things to throw away, I happened upon the

attached letter from John McCarthy, which I believe marked a turning point in his life.

He had been raised as a Communist and learned to speak Russian, then made trips to the

Soviet Union where he made friends with Russian scientists. However he got a different

perspective when he was visiting Czechoslovakia in October 1968 and witnessed the

Soviet Army’s takeover and repression of the uprising there. After that he began to move

toward the political right and eventually became a conservative Republican.

Note that the last paragraph says “You can show this letter to people but don’t post it on a

bulletin board or allow any part of it to be quoted in print.” However it seems to me that

enough time has passed that this admonition can be relaxed a bit. Though I’m posting it

on a bulletin board, I’m showing it to people in his original handwriting rather than in

print.

Les Earnest

Former chief bureaucrat of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory