by Jeffrey Kegler The story of Gödel's citizenship hearing has been much repeated over the years. What is known was that on 5 December 1947, Kurt Gödel went to his citizenship hearing in Trenton, New Jersey. The examiner was Judge Philip Forman. As his witnesses, Gödel brought his two closest friends, Oskar Morgenstern and Albert Einstein. Gödel was granted citizenship, and took his oath on 2 April 1948. Afterwards, Morgenstern told many people that he and Einstein had had their hands full preventing Gödel from derailing his citizenship chances. Gödel, in his usual manner, had read extensively in preparing for the hearing and had discovered a contradiction in the U.S. Constitution, one which would allow the U.S. to be turned into a dictatorship. Gödel, in fact, claimed a proof of this and despite his friend's warnings brought this up at the hearing. Fortunately, Judge Forman knew Einstein -- when Einstein became a citizen, Forman had administered the oath. Forman cut Gödel off and forced the hearing to a normal conclusion. The History, and the LegendNobody seems to know what Gödel's proof was. The story of the hearing has circulated in many forms, with the dialogue invented. This is the case, for example, in the version given in the Gödel's Collected Works, Vol. I, p. 12. There a footnote acknowledges that the account was hearsay. I've learned to distrust such sources. I was in graduate school, studying Theory of Computation, while Gödel was still alive. I heard many tales of Gödel's eccentric behavior from mathematicians. Gödel certainly was eccentric, and first-hand tales of this abound, but I later discovered that every single anecdote I'd gotten second- or third-hand was almost certainly false.1997 marked a turning point in Gödel biography, with the publication of John Dawson's careful and reliable biography of Gödel: Logical Dilemmas. When Dawson wrote, all four participants in the hearing were dead. Morgenstern refers, briefly and cryptically, to the hearing in his diary, but does not say enough to fully support the story. Dawson in general, and quite correctly, rejected the use of hearsay. But this story is the most well-known story about Gödel, and nobody doubts that it had a basis in truth. Dawson apparently decided that some reference to it must be made. Hearsay had to be used, so Dawson used the best hearsay -- Morgenstern's widow. He interviewed her on 17 October 1983 and the account in Logical Dilemmas (pp. 179-180) is based on that interview and Morgenstern's diary entry. The Lost DocumentAccording to Dawson (p. 300), Morgenstern had written up an account of this matter for publication, but Dawson was unable to locate it. That Dorothy Morgenstern could not remember where Morgenstern's write-up was, wasn't promising for her retelling, but best evidence is best evidence, and you take it how it comes. As a Wikipedia editor, I took the position that Dawson's account of this hearing was the final word, and the other versions were retellings of Dawson, hearsay from less reliable sources or simple speculation. As a novelist, I took the position that this story had become as much a legend as any tale of an 11th century saint, and that I was free to invent any incident or dialog I thought to be in the spirit of the thing.But now the "lost" Morgenstern document has reappeared. Apparently the IAS has had it all these years. PDF of original Morgenstern document on the Gödel citizenship hearing: Morgenstern says that he did not check dates, and that corrected ones would be needed. The dates are, indeed, wrong. The ones above are from Dawson and presumably correct. The "Examinor" referred to is Judge Forman. Morgenstern was not a native English speaker, and this often shows in his wording and spelling. The Institute for Advanced Studies Web page on which I first saw an edited version the Lost Morgenstern Document The IAS "Letter" for Spring 2006, in which the Lost Morgenstern Document first reappeared My personal website with more about me (Jeffrey Kegler), my Gödel novel, and my other interests. The first article in my blog series on the finding of the Lost Morgenstern Document, and what I think it reveals. |