Letters: Sep. 28, 1962

Monroe v. Castro

Sir:

Recover story, “The Durable Doctrine” (Sept. 21): my compliments to the writer and the editors of this absorbing exposition of the origins and primary significance of the Monroe Doctrine and its relationship to the present Cuba situation.

If nothing else, it should stimulate national pride and impress all readers with the intellectual integrity, foresight and fortitude of our forefather leaders, who produced the Declaration, the Constitution and a doctrine of high purpose to put our country onto the path to greatness, on which we now seem to be walking with such faltering steps.

DOUGLAS L. REHLAENDER

Orchard Park, N.Y.

Sir:

Oh. the anomaly of it all! In 1823 we dauntlessly announced the Monroe Doctrine at a time when we possessed the will, but lacked the power, to enforce it. Now, possessing awesome power, we lack even the will to reaffirm it, much less to enforce it.

In the century of its existence as a unilateral doctrine, Great Britain and its fleet successfully defended it. But now that it has been multilateralized and has 20 American republics to defend it, it has become a dead letter.

Your story on the Monroe Doctrine detailed these anomalies nicely, and showed the Cuban situation to be what it really is: a microcosm of all our cold war frustrations.

RICHARD N. WINFIELD New York City

Sir:

Why all the panic about the Soviet buildup in Cuba? Considering the fact that the U.S. has missile, bomber and military advisory groups stretching from England to Iran and from Okinawa to Southeast Asia, it is little wonder that the Soviets are anxious to get a little foothold of their own in “our” hemisphere.

DEANE R. BRANDON Kodiak, Alaska

Sir:

All our finely worded doctrines, charters, manifestoes and reports have only served to implement Mr. K.’s inch-by-inch plan for conquest. If Mr. Kennedy doubts this, then let him inquire of Nehru how fast—and easily—a border can disappear.

(MRS.) JOAN CONBOY St. Johnsville, N.Y.

Sir:

If Russia can build a wall around East Berlin, surely the U.S. has every right to “throw a naval blockade” around Cuba.

FANZIA SHIEKH

Lahore, West Pakistan

Sir:

When you tally the supporting voices, add mine to yours. Let’s get the job done in Cuba ourselves, once and for all. Anger and resentment are not enough to contain encroaching Communism; traditional American action is long overdue. I’ll wager the consequences will not be as dire as predicted. S/SGT. CALVIN D. REAM U.S.A.F.

Armed Forces Police Detachment Xew Orleans

Sir:

However much you may consider the Cubans misguided, you must admit that Dr. Castro’s government still retains the support of the majority of the populace. How else could he survive when he has armed the whole nation ? To suggest “liberating” Cuba under these circumstances is to justify the Russian “liberation” of Eastern Europe, and to make utter nonsense of any American talk of upholding freedom.

Even from the narrow point of view of U.S. security, an invasion of Cuba would be a spectacular blunder. TIME lists several Caribbean nations as being covertly in favor of such an action. But what of the other American countries that really count ? Are Brazil, Mexico and Canada calling for an attack on Cuba? On the contrary, such an action would quite possibly shatter the OAS forever and provoke Canada into withdrawing from both NORAD and NATO.

What then would be the gain for American security ?

GEORGE METCALF

London

Sir:

Why is Fidel Castro to be ridiculed for fearing U.S. invasion of Cuba when he has not only the Bay of Pigs to point to, but also the bellicose words of U.S. Senators, Representatives, and much of the press?

Who can read the documentary history of U.S.-Cuban relations from 1959 to the present and pretend that we have virtuously exercised “enormous restraint”? Why is it necessary to quarantine, if not destroy, Cuba if its plans and accomplishments are so meager and puny?

ROBERT L. BEISNER Chicago

Sir:

The President has promised to “act” only if armed aggression is committed. There is, as he knows, little or no danger of armed aggression against any of these Latin countries at present.

Communism has advanced to its present position of power not through open armed aggression but by subversion and intimidation, and it is by these methods that the Communists will chop down the Latin American structure piece by piece while some Senators prattle about “self-determination” and the President waits for armies to start marching against us.

BURTON DAVIDSON

Islamorada, Fla.

Sir:

I am beginning to think President Kennedy believes the American people can be lulled to inaction by a lot of grandiose verbiage, but this only shows how completely out of touch he is with the man on the street. We are not going to be duped. We are not going to be led down any blind alleys. We are not going to be confused.

We definitely believe the Kennedy Administration was bluffed out of Laos, has bungled in Berlin, and is bewildered over Cuba. We want the line drawn on any further Communist expansion, and we want it drawn now. If Mr. Kennedy can’t, two years from now the American people will put somebody in the White House who can … if it is not too late.

ELLSWORTH CULVER Palo Alto, Calif.

Sir:

I have yet to see a better analysis of the Cuban situation than that reported in your Sept. 14 issue. What the U.S. has to realize is that its present attitude toward this problem—caused no doubt by its desire to avoid sharp criticism and undesirable public relations in America—works in a negative way. To the Latin mind, the U.S. stand is a sign of weakness and this opens the door for Communist subversion.

Cuba is a cancer. This malign tumor will continue to spread until drastic surgery is performed. Mr. Kennedy is the chief surgeon and the time to perform the operation is today. Tomorrow the patient (Latin America) may be dead.

A firm stand and positive action on the part of the U.S. will bring only cheers and respect from all American nations.

I. E. CHAMPSAUR President

Asociacion Nacional de Desarrollo Economico Panama

Wrong Sculptor

Sir:

While admiring your color photographs of modern sculpture in Spoleto [Aug. 24], I was sorry to see under the name Germaine Ri-chier and title Don Quixote of the Forest the magnificent King (1959) by Augusto Perez, who sculpts for my gallery, and of whom I am very proud.

GASPERO DEL CORSO Obelisco Gallery Rome Pioneer Felons Sir:

TIME has done a great service in publicizing the promising record to date of the work-release program at North Carolina state prisons [Sept. 14]. Wisconsin pioneered the idea of permitting prisoners convicted of misdemeanors to work outside their cells at regular jobs while spending nights and weekends in jail.

A few other states have enacted statutes authorizing judges to grant similar privileges to jail prisoners. I was fortunate enough to be instrumental in getting such a law enacted last year in Missouri.

But North Carolina, I believe, is the first state where the program has been extended to include prisoners convicted of felonies. The results achieved will be a guide to the rest of the nation.

FRANKLIN FERRISS Circuit Judge St. Louis County Clayton, Mo.

Money & the Ministers Sir: Orchids and onions to you.

Orchids because you dare to mention the unmentionable (money) in “Pastoral Pay” [Sept. 14]. Most Protestant clergy are col lege and seminary educated, the cost of which is similar to that of a Ph.D. or M.D. degree; yet most of these clergy find themselves un able to provide for their children the same education the church demanded for their profession.

Onions because, contrary to the Rev. Magee Wilkes, the church is not like any other profession. The high pay is found only in big churches, and if this is the sole objective of the clergy, then the people in the small churches are second-rate and do not deserve the Word and the Sacrament.

For the small town and small congregation, the Gospel of Christ is severely dam aged every time a guy like Wilkes makes his Madison Avenue pronouncements.

(THE REV.) JAMES H. DAVIS Episcopal Missionary of West Boise Boise, Idaho

Sir:

That any lay person who knows anything about the work of a minister should say “ministers never had it so good” is appalling to me.

I am the daughter of a minister, and to the quote “If pastors had to settle for a straight salary, you’d hear them crying to Kingdom Come,” I have a rebuttal—if parishioners had to pay their ministers an hourly scale wage for the number of hours they put in at their work, Kingdom would Come immediately from that howl!

As to the fringe benefits—what good is a “sure-thing” tip on the stock market if you haven’t got enough money to take advantage of it? In any church I’ve known anything about, the minister pays at least half of that “paid un” pension plan.

And this “stocking the larder”—how many people can use 150 jars of pickled pigs’ feet?

(MRS.) MARIELLEN W. PETTRY Purchase, N.Y.

Melliferous Ev

Sir:

God bless you for the Everett Dirksen story [Sept. 14].

In one article you have combined Americana, politics, patriotism, religion, common sense—a deserved tribute to the inspired leadership of ome of our great men who must lead us during the present world crisis.

WALT MARSH President

Marsh Stencil Machine Co, Belleville, 111.

Sir:

The words of Senator Dirksen flow like a river current—smooth and with rippled nuances.

It is not necessary for him to resort to extensive arm waving or shoe pounding. He knows the right words to express himself. His audience hangs on every word, wondering what gem will follow.

(MRS.) GENOVERA ANDRESEN Marengo, 111.

Sir:

My favorite from the melliferous mouth of Senator Ev came out in Senate debate some years ago. Said he: “Let us not imagine this legislation sprang phoenix-like from the brow of Jove.”

(THE REV.) RUSSELL C. STROUP Georgetown Presbyterian Church Washington, B.C.

Sir:

Hail Dirksen, Magnus Americanus! Your forthright and inspiring profile of this man should be a great challenge to our youth —the leaders of tomorrow.

Two or three such articles a year — without regard to political party, or origin — would be a great contribution to the thinking of our youngsters.

LEROY E. ROARK Sarasota, Fla.

Which Church

Sir:

I want to express my appreciation of the excellent article on E.E. Cummings that appeared in the issue of Sept. 14. It is a very sympathetic and sensitive treatment of the life of one of our great American poets.

I should like to point out that Mr. Cummings’ father was minister of the South Congregational Church (Unitarian) in Boston and not the Old South Church (Congregational). The Rev. Edward Cummings succeeded Dr. Edward Everett Hale as minister of that church and served until it merged with the First Church in Boston in 1925. DEAN RICHARD D. PIERCE Emerson College Boston

Duck for Dinner

Sir:

I am writing to more fully inform you on a statement made in your recent article on the outbreak of St. Louis encephalitis in St. Petersburg, Fla. [Sept. 14] … “Irate residents stoned health department workers who were trying to trap ducks merely to draw a blood specimen for virus testing.”

The many pet ducks that adorn our lakes are protected by neither city officials nor the state game commission, hence have become fair prey for anyone who has a fancy to see succulent roast duck gracing his dinner table. The only recourse is for “irate citizens” to protect their helpless pets from these marauders. It is difficult to tell whether a man chasing a duck wants a blood specimen (unheard of before) or a Sunday dinner (a common practice).

(MRS.) JODY K. MORRIS

St. Petersburg, Fla.