Family Relations Quotes
His wife also had a Doctorate in Chemistry—the 2nd woman to achieve that in Germany—and she was distraught that he had been the leading scientist developing not only the poison gas which the Germans introduced in WWI, but he also developed the tactics of use and personally went to the battlefield and supervised the first major gas attacks. This was much against the ethical value of most scientists and Jewish ethics in particular. Haber had been a close colleague of Albert Einstein and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, and while Einstein was trying to get scientists to sign a petition against the war, Haber was developing the first weapon of mass destruction. After Haber gave this response to his wife, we left to go to the front to supervise another major gas attack. His wife committed suicide. Haber, while a German national hero to militaristic Germany, never again had the kind of pre-war relationship that existed with Einstein and many other fellow scientists.
The Mormon Church at that time allowed plural marriage. Men could have many wives. The Mormons—especially those who had moved to Utah—had organized many civic functions and performed much of the role that local and State governments did elsewhere in the country. The discrimination that Mormons faced in much of the nation was extreme including lynching and other physical attacks. So Mormons banded together in communities and their church became their local government. This together with the plural marriage offended many other Americans. The wall of separation of church and state was collapsing on many fronts with the Mormon Church assuming many governmental functions in Mormon areas and the Federal, State and local governments interfering with the personal and religious activities of the Mormons. This is one of the few occasions in American history where a President publicly criticized a religion in an official function. It took time and patience, but the issues were finally resolved, and discrimination against Mormons is rare, unusual and condemned by all levels of government and most Americans.
