The Most Important Letter in History

In this year's September issue, The Atlantic wrote about the response to this question: "What Was the Most Important Letter in History?" Now, why they didn't ask me for this article, I couldn't say, but I did enjoy the breadth of responses they collected. When I read the question, I immediately thought of the same letter that is the only duplicate in the list, Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. It is certainly the most important to me and the most important right now.

This post is headed by Albert Einstein's letter to FDR on the possibility of the atomic bomb being created by Germany, which also made the list. I pose the same question to you, L.W.A. blog readers. What do you think is the Most Important Letter in History?

Comments

[CMN]

WOW. That Einstein letter is... breathtaking in scope, moreso when we look back at it from today's vantage point. Maybe not the most important letter in history, but seriously impressive and thought-provoking.

[Karen B]

I don't know that I can answer this "off the top of my head...." but a favourite one of mine that should be in a top 20 list would be Sherman's response letter to the city of Atlanta just before burning it, where he says that the Civil War "began in error and is perpetuated in pride."

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~josephkennedy/Sherman_1864.htm

[Limner]

To me, the most important letter in history is the one I'm reading or answering. Every letter becomes a part of history.