An Open Letter to the American People
June 21, 2004
Presidential elections present us with choices about our nation's future. We support John Kerry for President and urge you to join us.
The prosperity, health, environment, and security of Americans depend on Presidential leadership to sustain our vibrant science and technology; to encourage education at home and attract talented scientists and engineers from abroad; and to nurture a business environment that transforms new knowledge into new opportunities for creating quality jobs and reaching shared goals.
President Bush and his administration are compromising our future on each of these counts. By reducing funding for scientific research, they are undermining the foundation of America's future. By setting unwarranted restrictions on stem cell research, they are impeding medical advances. By employing inappropriate immigration practices, they are turning critical scientific talent away from our shores. And by ignoring scientific consensus on critical issues such as global warming, they are threatening the earth's future. Unlike previous administrations, Republican and Democratic alike, the Bush administration has ignored unbiased scientific advice in the policy-making that is so important to our collective welfare.
John Kerry will change all this. He will support strong investments in science and technology as he restores fiscal responsibility. He will stimulate the development and deployment of technologies to meet our economic, energy, environmental, health, and security needs. He will recreate an America that provides opportunity to all at home or abroad who can help us make progress together.
John Kerry will restore science to its appropriate place in government and bring it back into the White House. He is the clear choice for America's next President.
Signed,
| Peter Agre | Chemistry | 2003 | David H. Hubel | Medicine | 1981 | |
| Sidney Altman | Chemistry | 1989 | Louis Ignarro | Medicine | 1998 | |
| Philip W. Anderson | Physics | 1977 | Eric R. Kandel | Medicine | 2000 | |
| David Baltimore | Medicine | 1975 | Walter Kohn | Chemistry | 1998 | |
| Baruj Benacerraf | Medicine | 1980 | Arthur Kornberg | Medicine | 1959 | |
| Paul Berg | Chemistry | 1980 | Leon M. Lederman | Physics | 1988 | |
| Hans A. Bethe | Physics | 1967 | Tsung-Dao Lee | Physics | 1957 | |
| Michael Bishop | Medicine | 1989 | David M. Lee | Physics | 1996 | |
| Gunter Blobel | Medicine | 1999 | William N. Lipscomb | Chemistry | 1976 | |
| N. Bloembergen | Physics | 1981 | Roderick MacKinnon | Chemistry | 2003 | |
| James W. Cronin | Physics | 1980 | Mario J. Molina | Chemistry | 1995 | |
| Johann Diesenhofer | Chemistry | 1988 | Joseph E. Murray | Medicine | 1990 | |
| John B. Fenn | Chemistry | 2002 | Douglas D. Osheroff | Physics | 1996 | |
| Val Fitch | Physics | 1980 | George Palade | Medicine | 1974 | |
| Jerome I. Friedman | Physics | 1990 | Arno Penzias | Physics | 1978 | |
| Walter Gilbert | Chemistry | 1980 | Martin L. Perl | Physics | 1995 | |
| Alfred G. Gilman | Medicine | 1994 | Norman F. Ramsey | Physics | 1989 | |
| Donald A. Glaser | Physics | 1960 | Burton Richter | Physics | 1976 | |
| Sheldon L. Glashow | Physics | 1979 | Joseph H. Taylor Jr. | Physics | 1993 | |
| Joseph Goldstein | Medicine | 1985 | E. Donnall Thomas | Medicine | 1990 | |
| Roger Guillemin | Medicine | 1977 | Charles H. Townes | Physics | 1964 | |
| Dudley Herschbach | Chemistry | 1986 | Harold Varmus | Medicine | 1989 | |
| Roald Hoffmann | Chemistry | 1981 | Eric Wieschaus | Medicine | 1995 | |
| H. Robert Horvitz | Medicine | 2002 | Robert W. Wilson | Physics | 1978 |
The views expressed in this letter represent those of the signers acting as individual citizens. They do not necessarily represent the views of the institutions with which they are affiliated. The Medicine award is for "Physiology or Medicine."
