A. R. Fisher to J. E. Begert on Answering the Manville Board of Health (1941)

A confidential memo of May 16, 1941, from A. R. Fisher, a Johns-Manville vice-president, to J. E. Begert, manager of the Manville, New Jersey, factory, headed "Complaint by Manville Board of Health." Fisher enclosed a draft answer to the Board's letter of April 19, adding that he and Vandiver Brown believed it "should be acknowledged but we should be careful not to make any admissions." The draft, to John T. Petras, the Board's secretary, says only that the matter of "local atmospheric conditions" was receiving J-M's attention, and that "We are as anxious as you to avoid a situation which might necessitate the removal from Manville of any of our manufacturing operations."

What it shows

The Board of Health's own letter is not in the file, so its complaint is known only from the phrase "local atmospheric conditions." The memo shows a J-M vice-president and the company's attorney shaping a reply to the town's health authority so as to make no admissions, and the draft's one substantive point is that both sides wished to avoid any move of manufacturing out of Manville.

About this copy

The enclosed draft reply is unsigned and undated, and the file does not say who drafted it. J-M's description gives the memo's writer as "A.R. Fiske"; the memo is signed A. R. Fisher.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

Johns-Manville's own chronology of what the company knew describes this document as follows:

A.R. Fisher writes to J.E. Begert, 5/16/41 re Complaint by Manville Board of Health. A.R. Fiske requests a review of a letter to the Board of Health regarding the "local atmospheric conditions." The letter to the Board of Health states: "We are anxious as you to avoid a situation which might necessitate the removal from Manville of any of our manufacturing operations."

Editor's note: J-M's description gives the writer as "A.R. Fiske" in its second sentence; the memo is signed A. R. Fisher.