NATURE VS. HUMANITY
"Rachel Carson testifying before the Senate Government Operations subcommittee studying pesticide spraying on 4 June 1963." Courtesy of The Environment & Society Portal
On June 16, 1962, the first chapters of the book were published in The New Yorker. The outrage that followed the publication could have been expected. It was published during a time of ignorance which led to an immediate backlash. She was a woman in the male-dominated field of science. On top of that, she was not a biochemist. Many people belittled her research and disregarded Silent Spring as a work of fiction.
“Having a woman at this particular moment being the lead spokesperson of that kind of idea really chafed and made the chemical scientists really angry." - David Kinklea
"Rachel Carson’s name appearing in a Peanuts comic strip. Illustration by Charles Schulz." Courtesy of Environment & Society Portal
"Rachel Carson portrayed as a role model in Peanuts. Illustration by Charles Schulz." Courtesy of Environment & Society Portal
On September 27, 1962, Houghton Mifflin published Silent Spring in book form, and it immediately reached the bestseller list.
"The great editorial cartoonist Bill Mauldin of the Chicago Sun-Times illustrates the gender dimension of the controversy over Carson and Silent Spring." Courtesy of Environment and Society Portal
Courtesy of the Rachel Carson Council
The book was well-known and even President John F. Kennedy mentioned it in an address. Thanks to the notoriety caused by the controversy, Carson was invited to Senate meetings to petition against the use of DDT. Silent Spring made its way around the world and left behind a trail of laws and petitions against the use of pesticides.
QUESTION: "Mr. President, there appears to be a growing concern among scientists as to the possibility of dangerous long-range side effects from the widespread use of DDT and other pesticides. Have you considered asking the Department of Agriculture or the Public Health Service to take a closer look at this?"
THE PRESIDENT: "Yes, and I know that they already are. I think particularly, of course, since Miss Carson's book, but they are examining the matter."
Courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
