Letters: Mar. 31, 1961

Conservatism Defined

Sir:

I am glad that TIME is recognizing America’s conservative leader, Barry Goldwater. Young people like myself and people of all ages will and must work for Senator Goldwater’s nomination as the Republican presidential candidate in 1964. The “new frontier” of liberalism is pretty old; it is the new frontier of conservatism that will rise and crush the forces of socialism and liberalism.

MARTS CIRULIS Dayton

Sir: May I object solemnly, and doubtless fruitlessly, to the widespread assumption that the principles and proposals of Barry Goldwater are the essence of American conservatism.

His refusal to accept social and economic changes that have been firmly established in the American way of life, his announced intention of rolling back the course of history to (at the very latest) 1930, his weakness for arguments that unravel the bonds of social unity—these, surely, are the marks of a reactionary, not of a conservative.

While I use that word reactionary in a nonpejorative sense, I realize that it may irritate supporters of Senator Goldwater; and I would therefore suggest respectfully that he henceforth be known as a “restorationist.” In any case, to cede him all rights to the proud citadel of conservatism is to banish Dwight D.

Eisenhower to the camp of liberalism, and that, it seems to me, is about the last thing the conservatives of TIME would want to do.

And if Eisenhower is a liberal, which Senator Goldwater seems to think he is, what then is John F. Kennedy—and those of us who voted for him?

CLINTON ROSSITER

Cambridge, England

¶ Cornell Historian Clinton Rossiter, now serving as Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions at Selwyn College, Cambridge University, is author of Conservatism in America and The American Presidency.—ED.

Federal Aid to Schools

Sir:

The issue in the parochial-public school controversy is being very much obscured.

There is only one reason for the existence of the Roman Catholic parochial schools, and that is to teach the Roman Catholic religion, which is unacceptable to me, a Presbyterian. I hold no resentment toward the members of that church. Nevertheless, I do not want one cent of my tax money to be used for the teaching or advancement of their religion. By the same token, I do not expect them to pay one cent of tax money toward the support of, or the teaching by, my church.

ROBERT J. POORMAN

Bloomington, Ill.

Sir:

The Catholic bishops that have asked for aid to private schools are doing so because they feel it is right. This is not the first time they have made such requests, nor will it be the last. As a Catholic, I feel that I have the right and the duty to express my position. I know my feelings coincide with many others of my faith. We feel that the aid to education should go to everyone, in both public and private schools, or to no one.

AMELIA HEISKELL Newton, Mass.

Sir:

Congratulations to President Kennedy for not allowing the Catholic hierarchy to pressure him into betraying the Constitution of the U.S. and the people who elected him.

The public school is a public responsibility and must be supported by public funds. The private school is a private responsibility and must draw its support from private funds.

(MRS.) ALMENA RUSSELL Freehold, N.J.

Sir:

As a Catholic, I am justly proud of Kennedy’s firm stand on separation of church and state, and appalled by the constant whining of a great number of our coreligionists. It seems to me that they are doing their utmost to assure that they shall never again see a Catholic in the White House.

ARLINE KURIE Alden, N.Y.

Sir:

I learn about my particular brand of religion by attending my church, and my children do the same.

If Cardinal Spellman feels that Catholic children should have their religion taught to them six days a week, that is his problem. CHARLES LAW Poland, Ohio

Sir:

It has been proved in the South that public funds cannot support two separate but equal school systems. Both systems suffer.

We are just ending segregation according to race, and now the Catholic hierarchy is pressing for segregation according to religion.

MARJORIE M. VOGEL Pittsburgh

Sir:

The squabble over federal aid to education, especially to parochial schools, means only one thing: dangerous delay that will cause thousands of students to receive another year of substandard education.

PAUL FISHER West Bend, Wis.

Life in Laos Sir: My service in Thailand for seven years as United States Ambassador and my many friends among the peoples of Southeast Asia, Thailand and Laos have given me a deep respect and appreciation of the fine qualities and attributes of the Lao people.

Their veneration for and devotion to the Buddhist faith, their respect for their King and their elders, their tolerant philosophy of life, their artistic achievements, their joyous customs, and their friendliness and hospitality are surely admirable qualities and worth bringing to the attention of Americans.

I was dismayed, therefore, by TIME’S feature article concerning Laos—dismayed by the thought that TIME’S article will be read by many thousands of American citizens and will sharply color their thinking and image of the Lao people; dismayed, too, by the thought of the irritation and resentment which I fear this article will arouse. I feel this is the kind of reporting that undercuts the efforts of our country to win the good will and friendship of other peoples.

EDWIN F. STANTON Devon, Conn.

¶ Edwin F. Stanton retired in 1953 after 32 years in the U.S. Foreign Service.—ED.

Sir:

Having spent the better part of the year 1956 as the chief of CARE in Laos, I wish to congratulate TIME on a superb job. It was a wonderful picture of the situation in this enigmatic, exasperating and charming little country.

SAMUEL ZISKIND New York City

Consortium in Connecticut

Sir:

I congratulate you on the lucid commentary regarding the U.S. Supreme Court and the Connecticut birth control laws.

The unenforceable law against usage of contraceptives, by its ludicrous nature, tends to degrade law in general. The law preventing prescription of contraceptives is far more vicious and discriminatory in its effects. The patient in Connecticut who can afford a private physician has no difficulty in obtaining contraceptive advice. The indigent patient who receives medical care on the ward or through clinic services receives no help. There is nothing academic about this economic discrimination in medical care.

RICHARD D. OTIS, M.D. Bloomfield, Conn.

Sir:

In your article on birth control in Connecticut, you make the statement: “In Connecticut as elsewhere, Catholics defy the hierarchy and use medical contraception.”

The exact issue, according to Catholic teaching, is that birth control defies or contravenes the law of God, as expressed in nature in a matter involving human life. To “defy the hierarchy” is here only a euphemism to cover the real issue, which in Catholic teaching is defiance of God’s laws. (THE REV.)M. M. FITZGERALD, C.S.P. Chicago

Sir:

The discussion of the Connecticut birth control statute contains several false and rather disagreeable insinuations. The first is that the statute is Roman Catholic in origin. The second is that the Catholic Church is in some way committed to the task of keeping the statute on the books.

It should be noted that the statute was originally passed under Protestant pressure during the notorious “Comstock era,” when the reformist confusion between civil law and private morality reached its apogee. To state that the church now supports such a statute is to ignore a traditional Catholic jurisprudential position, viz., moral imperatives unenforceable in the civil order are not a proper subject for civil legislation.

JOHN K. O’CALLAGHAN New York City

The John Birch Society

Sir:

The article concerning the John Birch Society was of no surprise to the members.

Our leadership had told us that we were beginning to hurt the Communists and their fellow travelers badly, and to be prepared for tripe such as yours and the sources from which it would come. Needless to say, their forecasting was entirely accurate.

Tell your comrades that they will be hearing a great deal from the John Birch Society in the years ahead.

V. A. McCuLLOUGH Mexia, Texas

Sir:

Living in Barryland, where the only two newspapers lend wholehearted support to the John Birch Society and lump TIME in with those other “leftwing” publications, the New York Times and the Washington Post, I was interested in your line on Mr. Robert Welch and his friends.

I first heard of the John Birch Society about the time I was informed that mental health programs and the concept of cultural relativism were softening us up for the Communist coup. About the same time a flurry of student energy was directed into compiling lists of “subversive professors”—a wonderful chance to get back at the prof who flunked you in history. Americanists were busy on the phone, too, and one student who refused to drop a course “because the instructor is a Communist” was threatened with a full-scale “investigation” of her own activities.

We’re in real trouble when we let these outfits define “Americanism” for us and release their fears and frustrations by charging “Red” whenever anyone disagrees. I don’t think the Kremlin could think up a better way of splitting our ranks and invalidating constitutional guarantees.

MARVIN FISHER Arizona State University Tempe, Ariz.

Sir: Hope springs eternal! With the Washington “economaniacs” on the loose, one’s hopes begin to pulsate on reading of Barry Goldwater’s young and sane followers, Young Americans for Freedom, not to mention the No. i aim of the John Birch Society, i.e., the impeachment of Chief Justice Earl Warren.

C. G. ELLIS Elsinore, Calif.

Sir: Humbug-hating John Birch was more proud of the U.S. 14th Air Force in which he rose to captain than the whole Navy, and your promotion of him to navy captain he would have spurned. Likewise would he have spurned the use of his great and good name for such a cause as Leader Welch’s. On his headstone near Hsuchow, the Chinese wrote his epitaph: “Sha sheng ch’eng jen,” which can be translated “He died for humanity,” or “He died for righteousness.” Leader Welch is doing dishonor to the name of my old friend, who fought for righteousness but not righteousness without humanity.

MALCOLM ROSHOLT Major (ret.), U.S.A.A.C. Rosholt, Wis.

Closing the Tourist Gap

Sir:

Your article on enticing tourists to this country was immediately sent to my mother in Denmark, who this summer will be making her sixth contribution to the tourist-gap cause. She is a devotee of the drugstore, which to her is a most amusing American phenomenon. She thinks it is hilarious to eat a hamburger in a regular apotek and loves to listen to the vernacular exchanges between the cook and the waiters, which completely baffle her. When she is there, she stocks up on those special favorites of her Danish grandchildren: multicolored Band-Aids, Silly Putty and Hershey chocolate kisses. She even saves Green Stamps!

Bodil H. GILLIAM Arlington, Va.

The Old Frontier

Sir:

I feel compelled to express my disgust with the handling of the Art section of TIME.

To show Frederic Remington’s The Old Stage of the Plains and call it “close to illustration” is probably the understatement of the century. It, along with most of Remington’s and Charles M. Russell’s work, has about as much merit as a work of art as TV’s Gunsmoke or Have Gun, Will Travel.

OTIS D. HUBARD Virginia Beach, Va.

Sir:

Mr. Remington may have known how to paint in a New York studio, but he certainly did not know much of Western stagecoaches.

In the picture is shown a six-horse team going down a steep hill, apparently with little or no road, about midnight.

1. No stage driver with any experience would even attempt such a foolhardy trick; the chances are the stage would have turned over or the horses been killed.

2. The man standing on the roof of the stage would be tumbled off in short order.

3. Apparently he was looking for Indians or other bad men, in which case why was the coach illuminated ?

4. The illumination looks as though the stage was lighted by electricity, whereas the only possible way it could have been lighted would have been by a small candlepower kerosene lamp.

5. If there were any passengers in the coach, they would have turned the lights out in an endeavor to sleep.

I know all of this by experience, as in the early years of the century, I traveled hundreds of miles by stagecoach in Montana and Wyoming.

CHARLES F. WIGGS Santa Barbara, Calit.

Of One Place

Sir:

In your book review of The Gouffe Case, you say: “. . . A sullen lout named Eyraudt, who had fled to, of all places, Chicopee, Mass.” I am concerned in what sense you use the phrase “of all places.”

The best meaning, and it is the one I hope you had in mind, is that, of all places in this world to go, Chicopee, Mass., is too nice a place to harbor the villain of this story.

Nevertheless, it is nice to have our city’s name appear in your fine magazine.

EDWARD LYSEK Mayor Chicopee, Mass.