G=F6del and the Constitution of the United States
http://www.sm.luth.se/~torkel/eget/godel/constitution.html
In connection with the interview for his US citizenship, he once told
me that for this occasion he had studied how the Indians had come to
America. Einstein and O.Morgenstern were his witnesses, and Morgenstern
has told different people about aspects of the event. The following
account is given by H-Zemanek and E.K=F6hler (see Zemanek's report,
Elektronische Rechenanlagen, vol. 5, 1978, pp. 209-211). Even though
the routine examination G was to take was an easy matter, G prepared
seriously for it and studied the US Constitution carefully. On the day
before the interview G told Morgenstern that he had discovered a
logical-legal possibility of transforming the United States into a
dictatorship. Morgenstern saw that the hypothetical possibility and its
likely remedy involved a complex chain of reasoning and was clearly not
suitable for consideration at the interview. He urged G to keep quiet
about his discovery.
The next morning Morgenstern drove Einstein and G from Princeton to
Trenton. Einstein was informed; on the way he told one tale after
another, to divert G from his Constitution-theoretical explanations,
apparently with success. At the office in Trenton, the official in
charge was Judge Philip Forman, who had inducted Einstein in 1940 and
struck up a friendship with him. He greeted them warmly and invited all
three to attend the (normally private) examination of G.
The judge began, 'You have German citizenship up to now.' G interrupted
him, 'Excuse me sir, Austrian.' 'Anyhow, the wicked dictator! but
fortunately that is not possible in America.' 'On the contrary,' G
interjected, 'I know how that can happen.' All three joined forces to
restrain G so as to turn to the routine examination.
Kurt G=F6del
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.atheism/msg/c2c63f04ea262c7d
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