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Oral History Interview with Dr. Timothy E. O’Connor (NCI, retired) Conducted on August 30, 2005
Dr. Lisa K. Walker

National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

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TEO: Right. Essentially, he got a thing going for him: he assumed that you’re a traveler, and
you’re going to go to a place, and what are the things you should know that you don’t upset your
hosts. What are the things you should, that you must express to the host, and how can you get
-- etcetera, etcetera. That was useful. The other thing was: I'd studied the White Wars vs. the
Red Wars, 1918...[1] I’d studied the Revolution, the October 17th, or 11th, I’m not sure which,
Revolution of 1917 I believe it was. I'd studied that. So, history and biography are one of my
main hobbies, and so, frankly, I read everything I could before I left, and that was very useful.

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TEO: Right, it would be listed. Viktor[2]Blokhin had two roles. Number one, he was head of the
Academy of Sciences.

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TEO: And Blokhin is one of the, if not the top guy of the medical sciences.[3]

LKW: This was the Medical Sciences.

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TEO: It was a fun experience. I had an experience down in South America, attending an
International an International Congress on Hematology, where I had a private conversation with a lady who filled me
in on the conditions in Brazil. I didn’t know I was being eavesdropped by a newspaper reporter,
  and the next day I picked up the Sao Paolo paper, and there it was in the headline: "American
Scientist Says Brazil Would Choke in its Own Poisons," or some equivalent to that -- wild, wild
wild  speculation.

LKW: Strange.

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