R. B. McClellan to Vandiver Brown on the X-Rays of Jack Leahy and Sterling Reynolds (1942)

A two-page "Personal & Confidential" memo of November 2, 1942, from R. B. McClellan, industrial relations manager at Johns-Manville's Lompoc, California, factory, to Vandiver Brown, the company's attorney. Two employees from the Redwood City plant, Jack Leahy and Sterling Reynolds, had asked what their recent chest X-rays showed; McClellan writes that he "did not give Mr. Leahy a definite answer other than that we would have the plates checked." He sets out the outside doctors' readings from 1935 and 1942, sends the plates so that Dr. Leroy Gardner can review them, and asks for Brown's comments on "our discussion of these cases with the men involved."

What it shows

The 1942 re-examinations described changes "consistent with asbestosis" in Leahy and "the possibility of some early changes due to asbestosis" in Reynolds, while Dr. Anderson at Lompoc read the same films as an infection in one man and no asbestosis in the other. The memo shows that by 1942 these men had been X-rayed for years, that they were asking for their results, and that the question of what to tell them went to the company's lawyer. J-M's West Coast X-rays had been sent to outside experts before; see Dr. Lanza's 1937 letter on the Lompoc X-rays.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

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

11/2/42. R.B. McClellan writes to V. Brown regarding an employee, Jack Leahy, and requests that Dr. Gardner review and interpret Mr. Leahy's x-rays. McClellan also asks for Brown's recommendations regarding the company's discussion of his condition with Leahy. Leahy has been asking McClellan about his medical condition since he has been experiencing some chest problems. McClellan says he did not give Leahy a definite answer other than that he would have his plates checked.