Letters, Jun. 16, 1952

Witness

Sir:

As an American people and nation we should thank God for Whittaker Chambers’ book Witness [TIME, May 26]. There are so many Americans sunk in the depths of lethargy and indifference that a great number of our youth will probably never know who Chambers is or what Communism is, until it is too late. Witness should be used as a textbook in every one of our nation’s high schools and junior colleges . . .

(MRS.) CASPER BRENDEN

Scobey, Mont.

Sir:

Is Whittaker Chambers’ concept of God becoming a new criterion for good Americanism ? God forbid! There’s a peculiar tide running here. It includes such divergent figures as Niebuhr, Buckley (of Yale) and Billy Graham. It puts the Spirit of God and the mind of man in opposing camps. It implies that any effort to think through a man’s problems on a rational basis is somehow ungodly, and very likely Red as well.

Isn’t it time for someone to speak up for those whose concept of God is not based on a deprecation of man’s scientific and intellectual possibilities ? . . . Plenty of good Americans can oppose Communism without embracing mysticism, even if Whittaker Chambers can’t . . .

E. SCOTT PATTISON

White Plains, N.Y.

Sir:

Your analogy concerning Whittaker Chambers and the publican is not only inconsistent but ludicrous. This “humble” publican has performed no ablution, but rather has come out of the temple to sell his sins. Whittaker Chambers is an emotional, not a rational man. This is shown from his grasp of “faiths,” each diametrically opposed. He has substituted one faith for the other and in his processing has disregarded rationality.

CHARLES REIS Webster Groves, Mo.

I have just finished your expert review of Witness with the same lump in my throat that arose after reading the installments in the Saturday Evening Post.

Coming as and when it did, Whittaker Chambers’ sacrifice had an incalculable value —if only to set the record straight for some of our “highschool liberals” that have been rampant since 1932. Never did any man write with such righteous lucidity. Fie on those who would measure his abasement in dollars & cents.

PERRY CARRIEL

Lookout Mt., Tenn.

Sir:

. . . No sane American can approve or tolerate Communism, the diabolical philosophy of our time. But just because an ex-Communist bares his so-called soul in public is no excuse for a critic to start jumping hoops in applauding him. If your assessment of Chambers’ book is correct, then Tolstoy was a pulp writer….

VERNON CARTER Lafayette, Calif.

A thousand bravos to you for an absorbing review … As I am a young man just turned 30 and one who has encountered even occasionally in my own circle of friends so-called “liberals,” ultra-left-wingers, apologists and the like; let me say that the young men & women of America should well take note not only of the content of Chambers’ expose, but rather initiate something concrete in ridding our government, and the present Administration’s crumbling bureaucracy of Communists who are trying to destroy us from within . . .

JOHN DRYER New York City

Magic Carpet

Sir:

. . . Regarding your May 26 statement: “For the first time in 100 years it looked as if U.S. shipbuilders might recapture the transatlantic speed record for ocean liners.”

It is correct, if your limitation as to ocean liners is interpreted to mean only those vessels designed and built for passenger carrying . . . but U.S.S. Lake Champlain during Operation Magic Carpet, with her crew reduced to 2,000 to make room for 5,000 G.I.s as passengers, crossed the Atlantic from Gibraltar to Norfolk at an average speed of 32.048 knots, despite the fact that she was once forced to slow to 20 for a period of eight hours, because of rough seas.

LOGAN RAMSEY Rear Admiral, U.S.N. (ret.) Philadelphia

¶ If aircraft carriers were eligible to compete with ocean liners for the Atlantic blue ribbon, U.S.S. Lake Champlain would own it, to hang in her wardroom.—ED.

Just Girls

Sir:

I was surprised when I read that article about the girls’ geometry class in Los Angeles and how they weren’t able to figure that problem [which Albert Einstein solved—TIME, May 26]. Anyone in my geometry class (I’m a schoolboy in Tucson Senior High) would have been able to figure it out in half an hour at least.

‘ Oh well, I guess it was because they were girls.

GUY R. BATEMAN Tucson, Ariz.

Bright Young Men

Sir:

With amused interest I read in your May 26 Personality sketch of Walter Lippmann that he was one of the “bright young men called to Washington” during the Wilson Administration. Reflecting on the change of times, it would be almost impossible today to “call” young brain power into governmental service. To be sure, there are those who may “apply” for a job, fill out wordy dossiers on themselves, wait months for Civil Service classification (a process which insures mediocrity), and then undergo the humiliating “402, FBI-security” snoop.

If any young Walter Lippmanns want to donate their services to the Government, they should be prepared to give up six to eight months of their time for such ponderous bureaucratic processing. Unfortunately, with any sort of “socialist and argumentative” background like Mr. Lippmann’s, a candidate need not even apply, much less be called . . .

J. WINCHESTER FRASER Washington

Doug In the Manger?

Sir:

Congratulations on your May 26 reporting of MacArthur’s slur at generals in the White House … I never cease to marvel at the many facets of the MacArthur personality, but this one really takes the cake. What makes Mac think he is an exception to the old political axiom—that generals make poor presidents? It smacks of an inflated ego, plus a childish fit of pique, i.e., “if I can’t have it, neither can Ike . . .”

HENRY S. KIRCHNER Englewood, N.J.

Sir:

I wonder if it is as clear to General MacArthur, as it must be to most American voters, that his notion that no general is qualified for the presidency places him in a Doug in the manger attitude.

ARTHUR L. H. STREET Minneapolis

Ike v. Montaigne

Sir:

. . . TIME’S May 26 report states “Ike’s mission in the period between his return and the convention is to corral a few score delegates, not to impress millions of voters . . .” It is unfortunate that Ike does not seek to impress the voters. . .

Montaigne was in Italy when notified he had been elected mayor of Bordeaux, but feeling neither eager nor fitted for the job, he declined. King Henry of Navarre sent him a polite but insistent note that he accept, and he was mayor. Montaigne subsequently fulfilled his office rather independently of the Jurats, the governing council. He would lend himself, not give himself, to his office. I would feel more charitable and hopeful if I didn’t have the conviction that Ike’s whole campaign up till now has been built on a slogan of “A Brighter Tomorrow.” We surely rate more than that! Delegates are reminded that Montaigne did a creditable job, but no one really knew where he stood either.

A. J. BEIRING Newtonville, Mass.