Letters: Nov. 3, 1967

Remonstrations and Demonstrations

Sir: As a traditional bearded intellectual, I see mobs of scraggly creatures obscenely protesting an obscene war [Oct. 27]. Has war become the only indecency left to protest? Do they keep any of the other nine commandments? When adultery and sacrilege have become public pastimes, who can say “Thou shalt not kill”? We are thoroughly damned by our neglect of the other nine; keeping the one cannot save us.

MARK OFFENBACH
Honolulu

Sir: The demonstration fulfilled its announced goal perfectly: to symbolize the transformation of a major portion of the peace movement from a role of advocacy to one of resistance. This was driven home by the bare fact that American troops in time of war were forced to protect the nerve center of our “defense establishment” from American people.

EDWARD WEBSTER
Roxbury, Mass.

Sir: Those fools that made a mess of our monument grounds are the rakes of the earth, and can only enjoy the freedom of dissent as long as there are other Americans willing to go anywhere in the world to defend that privilege.

RICHARD OWEN UPTON
Fort Worth

Sir: I am going to Viet Nam soon. It is the American people as a whole who are sending me there. Am I to believe that the American people—friends and neighbors—do not truly believe in what they are asking me to do? I may one day be faced with men of another ideology and be forced to kill them so that my society’s beliefs may flourish. In light of recent demonstrations and an erratic Congress, what action do these friends and neighbors require? I cannot march to the Capitol; I can only march to war. While the enemy’s blood may be spilled on the American conscience, it is going to spill on my hands. Why do they ask of me what they seem unwilling to do?

RICHARD P. SMITH PFC, U.S.A.
Fort Sill, Okla.

Slates and Slogans

Sir: The cover depicting Governors Rockefeller and Reagan as running mates [Oct. 20] has perhaps influenced public opinion, if not fused the two Governors together permanently as the Republican candidates in 1968. The question is raised, is this a true reflection of the public pulse, or has media created their image?

NATHAN O. WEEKS
Sanbornville, N.H.

Sir: Your Rockefeller-Reagan ticket is a good one, but Nixon-Almost Anyone would be better.

L. H. WIEST
Stamford, Conn.

Sir: There are, I imagine, people like myself who supported the Kennedy-Johnson ticket of 1960 on the smug assumption that Mr. Johnson couldn’t do too much damage as Vice President. Illumination from the harsh light of history would now cause us to take a long, hard look at a Rockefeller-Reagan offering.

KIP CHASE
Santa Barbara, Calif.

Sir: Your article reveals the thinking of candidate makers, which is as frivolous as the times are grave. They think only of vote appeal, with not so much as a murmur about fitness or stature. They forget, as they have in the past, that when it comes to the election itself, the public will take the issues of the day more seriously than they. It ceases to be a game—between human justice, the fate of nations and mankind, on the one hand, and on the other, a few slick party deals.

ERNST BACON
Orinda, Calif.

Sir: My father told me that in Viet Nam, R & R means “rest and rehabilitation.” Rockefeller and Reagan would give this country neither.

NOBLE L. BECK JR.
Alexandria, Va.

Sir: If Rockefeller is a Republican, then Benedict Arnold was no traitor!

MARY A. KNAUF
Chilton, Wis.

Sir: The G.O.P. ticket on your cover is just great. These divorced men could use as their campaign slogan, “RENOvate in ’68.” This combination would be a boon to millions—the Democrats!

RUTH BIDWELL
Sun City, Calif.

Changing of the Guard

Sir: The Essay “It’s Time to Change the Guard” [Oct. 20] was most thought provoking. However, it should be noted that the manning of 43% of the Nike Hercules missile sites deployed throughout the U.S. is by Army National Guardsmen and not by Air National Guardsmen as your article states.

All of these Army National Guardsmen, like the selected Air Guard units, are in a 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year condition of operational readiness. Army National Guard units are an integral part of the U.S. Army Air Defense Command; we are extremely proud of their readiness and capability in the defense of this nation against air attack.

LIEUT. GENERAL ROBERT HACKETT
Commanding General
Army Air Defense Command
Colorado Springs, Colo.

Sir: This weekend while I train with my platoon, I will think of your Essay. Then I will look at their faces; not the faces of draft dodgers or trophy polishers, but the faces of soldiers. They do not pretend to be professionals, and theirs is not a very high price to pay compared with their active-duty buddies in Viet Nam. Yet their faces will tell me something that makes me quite proud to be with them and a member of the Guard: that they are ready to pay that price if they are needed.

LIEUT. PETER K. VAN WINKLE
69th Infantry N.Y.A.N.G.
Manhattan

Sir: In my opinion, the only accomplishment the United States Army Reserve program served during my tenure was the quickness with which I could be located in the event of a national emergency. This could have been accomplished by a semiannual questionnaire. I studied outdated manuals, and trained with obsolete weapons. For at least a year I was assigned to a detail assembling wall lockers. Upon completion of my six-year obligation, I felt I would have been as well prepared to defend my country not having attended a single weekday drill.

J. CLARK LOGAN
West Hartford, Conn.

Problems of Policy

Sir: Americans are urged to unite [Oct. 20]. Unite behind what? Behind a President who responds to protest by intensifying his rhetoric of war? Behind a Government that can countenance an absurdity like McNamara’s wall? Behind a war effort that is compromising all positive humanitarian ventures, both domestic and international, and that may cancel the very future of man himself? Behind a war that is destroying the very people we are “saving from Communism”?

HERBERT R. COURSEN JR.
Brunswick, Me.

Sir: The Johnson line expects round-table talks with Viet Nam. Forget it. The only way out of Viet Nam for you is the way you went in. Without declaring war and without a peace conference. The longer you stay in Viet Nam, the better it suits Communism. In ten to 15 years time, China may be ready to take you on in any kind of war, and by that time your internal situation will have weakened your will to resist to such an extent that the war with China may turn out to be not half as long or as bloody as the “little war” in Viet Nam.

MARQUARD DE VILLIERS, M.D.
Pretoria, South Africa

Sudden Thoughts

Sir: If aborticide is strictly an individual or family matter [Oct. 13], then why not matricide, patricide, sororicide, fratricide, infanticide or suicide, so long, of course, as they are kept in the home?

PHILIP HALL
Houston

Sir: If only there were a fifty-fifty chance of the man bearing a child after sexual intercourse, there wouldn’t be any more controversy about the subject. Abortion would not be a crime anywhere. A sudden thought has just struck me though: under such conditions there might not be any more sexual intercourse. The practice might just fade away.

MRS. JOYCE TAMBURI
Geneva, Switzerland

Who Gets the Credit?

Sir: As a humble screenwriter, I must take exception to your charge of plagiarism. The “run of dialogue” stolen from Jack Benny’s mouth did not appear in the original screenplay of Waterhole #3 [Oct. 20]; it oppressed my shell-like ears for the first time at the press preview at Paramount Studios. Now I’m sure you must realize that an original screenplay goes through any number of “improvements” at the hands of its producers (three in this case), directors (I counted at least five the time I sneaked on the set), and stars. Therefore, I pass the mantle of plagiarism on to far worthier “heads” than mine.

R. R. YOUNG
Claremont, Calif.

Sir: As the original co-author of “Jack Benny’s most famous joke” (with Collaborator Jack Tackaberry), I must tell you that I don’t resent them stealing the joke so much as doing it badly.

MILT JOSEFSBERG
Head Writer & Script Consultant for the Lucille Ball Show
Hollywood

Bad Breath

Sir: While the government is patting its own back, while comedians think it the greatest subject for laughs since mothers-in-law, and while the British public soak in the propaganda about it being “for the good of our society”—surely people can see that the Breathalyser test [Oct. 20] is no different than being forced to take a lie detector test for a suspected crime, and making the results admissible evidence in court. So much for democracy.

TREVOR MARTINM
Camborne-Redruth, England

A Modest Proposal

Sir: If TV lectures [Oct. 20] are such a boon, I suggest that the lectures of the top three professors in each field be televised every year and sold to all U.S. colleges. Not only would this modest proposal enable St. Cunegunda’s to become a Harvard, it would also allow administrations to dispense with their faculties at a cheap price. So that there would not be too sharp a rise in unskilled unemployment, the majority of former professors could be retained as assistants at $2,000 a year salary. The problem of choosing the top three professors in each field might simply be solved by a lottery.

JOHN D. RYAN
Milwaukee

Lynda Bird in Bed

Sir: Being a loyal and true American, I was very pleased to note that Lynda Bird Johnson is not yet too sophisticated to creep into bed with her parents to inform them of her impending marriage [Oct. 20]. It’s comforting to know that the First Family maintains such a warm, loving relationship; I’m sure that knowledge will warm the heart of America.

WENDY KAMINER
Northampton, Mass.

A Question of Control

Sir: In an article headed “The Sanctions Busters” [Sept. 8] you made erroneous statements about this company. Since Rhodesia’s independence, Turner & Newall has complied fully with the law of the United Kingdom concerning sanctions. Neither before nor after the imposition of sanctions did Turner & Newall make any plan to circumvent their operation. We have been cut off from our Rhodesian subsidiaries, and we have no power to control their actions. The company, Southern Asbestos Sales, in South Africa was not set up by, and is not part of, the Turner & Newall group. We were not aware of any intention to form this company.

A.D.N. JONES
Secretary
Turner & Newall Limited
Manchester, England

>TIME regrets the erroneous implication that Turner & Newall was involved in sanctions busting. Southern Asbestos Sales Co. was formed not by Turner & Newall Ltd. but by three directors of its Rhodesian subsidiary.