"Dr. Alice Hamilton (1869–1970) was a legendary figure in occupational medicine in the United States (US), author of many articles and texts, and the first woman on the Harvard faculty (1919). Her friend from the days with social reformer Jane Addams at Hull House in Chicago (1897), Gerard Swope, became President of General Electric (GE) (1922), whereupon he hired Dr. Hamilton to investigate and report to him over the next 12 years on numerous health and safety hazards in GE plants.
One of the hazards discussed in this correspondence was asbestos.1 The letters and reports were found in the Alice Hamilton archives at Harvard and the General Electric archives. GE has been sued over the past 25 years for failing to better warn and protect workers from asbestos hazards in power plants and ships where GE steam turbines were installed and maintained in the preceding decades.
GE disclosed Dr. Hamilton's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) file in legal discovery calling for all materials reviewed by GE expert witnesses. Perhaps, defense counsel suspected something in the FBI file might be of use to discredit Dr. Hamilton. ..."

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