Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is published - September 27th, 1962

On this day, Rachel Carson in 1962, a science writer and former marine biologist, published her landmark book, Silent Spring.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that flips through the pages of history to
deliver old news in a new way. I'm Gabe Louizier,
and today we're talking about Silent Spring, an environmental science

(00:23):
book that literally changed the world. The day was September two.
Rachel Carson, a science writer and former marine biologist, published

(00:43):
her landmark book, Silent Spring, the results of several years
of painstaking research. The book revealed the dangers of the
pesticide d d T and paved the way for the
modern environmentalist movement. Rachel Carson was born in nineteen oh
seven in the rural town of Springdale, Pennsylvania. As a

(01:05):
young girl, she cultivated two great passions that would stay
with her all her life, in appreciation for nature and
a love of writing. In nineteen thirty two, Carson graduated
from Johns Hopkins University with a master's degree in zoology.
Now a marine biologist, she got a job with the

(01:25):
US Fish and Wildlife Service, or f WS, and spent
the next few decades researching the ecosystems of the American
East Coast. She used her findings to write educational brochures
for the f w S, as well as her own
scientific articles and books, including her nineteen fifty one bestseller,

(01:46):
The Sea Around Us. In the late nineteen fifties, Carson
was approached by the Audubon Society, a nonprofit dedicated to
the conservation of birds and their habitat. The organisation was
worried that new insecticides were having negative effects on other wildlife,
including birds, and they wanted Carson to write a book

(02:09):
about it. The author shared Audubon's concern, particularly for the
effects of d d T, which distinguished itself from other
pesticides with its ability to kill hundreds of different insects
species rather than just one or two. The synthetic chemical
known as d d T had been developed in nineteen

(02:30):
thirty nine and came to prominence during World War Two.
In Europe, US troops used it as a d lousing powder,
and in the islands of the South Pacific they used
it to wipe out mosquitoes that were known to carry malaria.
The poison was widely praised for its versatility and effectiveness.

(02:50):
In nineteen forty five, it became available for civilian use,
and in nineteen forty eight, the inventor of d d
T was awarded a Nobel Prize in Metison for his discovery.
Despite this rampant enthusiasm, a few people like Carson and
those at Audubon, were forward thinking enough to question what

(03:10):
these poisons might be doing to humans, other animals, and
the ecosystems we share. Carson agreed to partner with Audubon
and spent the next few years talking to other scientists
and experts about the potential adverse effects of d d
T and other similar pesticides. During that time, she was

(03:31):
diagnosed with breast cancer, which delayed the book's publication until
the fall of nineteen sixty two. Carson knew from the
start that Silent Spring would be controversial. Her book didn't
argue that d d T should be outlawed completely, but
it did make the case that an unchecked use of
pesticides would gradually poison all life on the planet. The

(03:55):
basis for this claim was the insolubility of d DT.
This means the chemical cannot be dissolved in water, which
makes it nearly impossible to remove from the environment or
from the tissues of living organisms. A claim like that
was bound to draw criticism from those in the chemical industry,

(04:16):
but Carson made it anyway. She knew her claims were
scientifically sound, and she was determined to tell the public
the truth about what humans were doing to the natural world.
But Carson was right to expect controversy, and boy did
she get it. Before the book was even published, the
makers of pesticides spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on

(04:38):
attempts to discredit her, both professionally and personally. In addition
to that old chestnut of being labeled a hysterical woman,
Carson was mockingly called everything from a fanatic to a
priestess of nature and quote probably a communist. The chemical
giant Monsanto when a step further misrepresenting her work in

(05:01):
a parody brochure they distributed called the Desolate Year. It
described a ruined world plagued by famine and disease because
all chemical pesticides had been banned, even though again Silent
Spring did not advocate for pesticides to be banned, just
to be used with more caution. But as the saying goes,

(05:24):
any publicity is good publicity. All the attention from chemical
companies and their associated scientists sparked a national debate about
the problems raised in Silent Spring, just as Carson had wanted.
Although she was quite ill by the time of the
book's release, Carson made every media appearance she could to

(05:45):
promote and defend her message. The country was so shaken
by Carson's findings that President Kennedy ordered a scientific investigation
on d d T. Carson testified before this Science Advise
SURI Committee, asserting that an American citizen should have the
right quote to be secure in his own home against

(06:08):
the intrusions of poisons applied by other persons. Rachel Carson
passed away just two years after Silent Springs publication. By then,
her book had already bolstered public awareness of the vulnerability
of nature and the need to regulate human industry as
a way to protect it. In the decade that followed

(06:30):
Carson's death, her successors would push that cause even further.
In seventy the Environmental Protection Agency was founded, thanks in
part to the hard work and persistence of the environmentalists
she inspired. Two years later, the movement claimed another victory
when the United States began a nationwide phase out of

(06:53):
d d T. By now, you may be wondering about
the meaning of the title Silent Spring. It was inspired
by a line from a John Keats poem in which
he describes a ruined landscape where the sedge is withered
from the lake and no birds sing. Carson uses similar

(07:13):
imagery in her books, opening section a Fable for Tomorrow.
Here she describes an eerie vision of springtime in a
desolate town where there are no birds or fish or bees,
where the grass is brown year round and all the
live stock is sickly. The culprit behind this decay is

(07:35):
revealed to be a pesticide, one that was used recklessly
and did its job too well, rendering the once bustling
landscape devoid of life and sound. Carson ends her fable
with this warning, this imagined tragedy may become a stark reality.
We all shall know. Carson's work helped make that grim

(07:59):
future a little less likely, but the fight to prevent
it entirely goes on. I'm Gabe Louzier, and hopefully you
now know a little more about environmental history today than
you did yesterday. If you enjoyed the show, consider following
us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d I

(08:20):
HC show, and if you have any comments or suggestions,
you can send them to This Day at i heart
media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show,
and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here
again tomorrow for another day in History class. For more

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