Gödel and the American Constitution

Kurt Gödel an Austrian-born mathematician (1906-1978) is best known for his Incompleteness Theorems. He showed that in any axiomatic mathematical system there are propositions that cannot be proved or disproved within the axioms of the system. In particular the consistency of the axioms cannot be proved. This ended a hundred years of attempts to establish axioms to put the whole of mathematics on an axiomatic basis.
Gödel's results were a landmark in 20th-century mathematics, showing that mathematics is not a finished object, as had been believed. It also implies that a computer can never be programmed to answer all mathematical questions.

After many years of residence in the United States, the time came for Kurt Gödel to take on American citizenship. This required him to answer a number of simple questions about the American Constitution in order to demonstrate his general knowledge and appreciation of it. Moreover, he needed two nominees to vouch for his character and accompany him to this oral examination before a local judge. Gödel's sponsors were impressive - Albert Einstein and Oskar Morgenstern, co-inventor with John von Neumann of "game theory". Einstein tells the story about Gödel's instability and lack of common sense in the run-up to this simple citizenship interview.

Apparently, Gödel called Morgenstern on the eve of interview to tell him that he had discovered a logical loophole in the framing of the Constitution which would enable a dictatorship to be created. Morgenstern told him that this was absurdly unlikely and under no circumstance should he even mention the possibility at his interview the following day. When the day of interview came, Einstein and Morgenstern tried to distract Gödel from thinking too much about flaw in the constitution by generating a steady stream of jokes and stories.
At the interview itself the judge was suitably impressed by the sterling character and public persona of Gödel's witnesses, and broke with tradition by inviting them to sit in during the exam. The judge began by saying to Gödel, "Up to now you have held German citizenship." Gödel corrected this slight affront, noting that he was Austrian. Unfazed, the judge continued, "Anyhow, it was under an evil dictatorship . . . but fortunately that's not possible in America." With the magic word dictatorship out of the bag, Gödel was not to be denied. "On the contrary, I know how that can happen. And I can prove it!" By all accounts, it took efforts of not only Einstein and Morgenstern but also the judge to calm Gödel down and prevent him from going into a detailed and lenghty discourse about his "discovery."
(J. Barrow, Pi in the Sky, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1992, p.118)

The Death of Gödel and of other Great Scientists