Several years ago Pound was nominated to the Writers Corner of the Cathedral
of St. John the Divine in New York.  His nomination was subsequently
rescinded when a member of the congregation circulated a petition noting
intention to demonstrate.  She was a converted Jew and several of her family
members had perished in the Holocaust.  Because the Cathedral considers
itself a national ecumenical institution, church leaders determined in
conference with others in the community that a reversal was in the best
interest of the church.
       Although the Writers Corner is a program of rather recent vintage, the
reversal of a nomination was and is unprecedented.  Perhaps in a gesture of
protest, E. L. Doctorow made note in his induction of F. Scott Fitzgerald the
evening that Pound would have been inducted, that Fitzgerald was
anti-Semitic.
       In response to the rescission, Donald Hall, the Elector who nominated
Pound, resigned in protest.  I have a letter from him describing the events.
A recent phone conversation with Elector Carolyn Kizer generated her comment:
"Disgraceful."  I have also visited with Lynn Chase, who endowed the Writers
Corner, and Daniel Hoffman, who chaired the nomination committee.  At the
time Hoffman noted that he would maintain the blank stone for Pound's
eventual inclusion, but in our recent phone conversation he didn't sound
optimistic.
       I would be most grateful for any information you may be able to offer
on this nouveau Bolingen.

Jennifer Wilson