Letters: Oct. 29, 1965

The Turning Point

Sir: This splendid cover story on Viet Nam [Oct. 22] cannot help giving a strong assist to the men who need and deserve our support and prayers.

(THE REV.) CALVIN THIELMAN

Black Mountain, N.C.

Sir: This is a heartfelt thank-you to the 1st Cavalry Division and the protective arms around the baby being carried across a field in Viet Nam. Because of them I am here, secure and free.

MRS. FRANKE LUNDE

Tuxedo, N.Y.

Vietniks et al.

Sir: TIME’S analysis of the Viet Nam protests [Oct. 22] is distorted and untruthful. Most of us who participated in this demonstration have no love for the Viet Cong or Hanoi, but we do believe that their defeat is not worth the price of adopting the values that seem to make their defeat so necessary. The leaders of this nation, like those of Nazi Germany, no longer seem capable of tolerating dissent. The great consensus has become a patriotic duty, and some have gone so far as to suggest that those who cannot accept it ought to be pulled up by the roots and thrown aside like worthless weeds.

LEO A. DESPRES

Associate Professor of Anthropology

Western Reserve University

Cleveland

Sir: The young men fighting in Viet Nam, regardless of their formal education, know more about life, death and the real meaning of freedom than do demonstrators on any campus. These men in Viet Nam are America.

MICHAEL MACALUSO

Weirton, W.Va.

Sir: Since when does making an impression on a foreign enemy take precedence over the right and duty of American citizens to protest policies with which they disagree?

H. LAURENCE ROSS

Associate Professor

Department of Sociology & Anthropology

New York University

New York City

Sir: The vast majority of students support our country’s commitment to Viet Nam. Our demonstration at the Claremont Colleges was orderly and enthusiastic, and we far outnumbered the protesters. A small but noisy minority has given the American public and its servicemen a distinctly incorrect view of the attitudes of American students.

JAMES C. KELSEY

Committee to Support

American Fighting Men

Claremont, Calif.

Sir: Although Castro’s offer to let Cubans leave their country [Oct. 15] is not a substitute for free elections, it is a humane action. The U.S. should reciprocate by encouraging the emigration from the U.S. of the small minority, including teach-in enthusiasts and Berkeley draft-card burners, dissatisfied with our country and its policies, so that they can seek a happier life in Cuba, North Viet Nam or any other paradise.

J. HILBERT

Los Angeles

Pitfalls of Republican Unity

Sir: As a Republican I enjoyed your Essay [Oct. 22]. Party unity has always been the greatest pitfall of the Republican Party. The socialist and Communist parties siphon off the crackpots of the left wing, leaving the Democratic Party nearer the center. On the right, there is no haven for extremists. When the Republican Party seeks to accommodate all, it succeeds only in pulling itself away from the political center. We can never have a valid two-party system until Republicans realize that unity in the pursuit of victory is no virtue.

PETER KOUGASIAN

Cranston, R.I.

Sir: In your Essay you attribute to me the statement that the party might do better to exorcise its “left side.” Would you tell me when I said that, where, and in what language, because the statement is taken out of context. I was referring to the need for the Republican Party to attack the radical left of the Democrats responsible for 1) burning draft cards, 2) demonstrations against foreign policy, 3) group researchin Washington, etc. Isn’t it time some accuracy crept into your writing?

BARRY GOLDWATER

Phoenix

> We read it in your syndicated column of July 11, 1965: “Which brings us to the other side of the party’s schizophrenic image: the left side . . . If it is splinters that Republicans fear, they should run a wary finger over the surface of the so-called Republicans for Progress.”

Commitment for Water

Sir: Your cover story on hydrology [Oct. 1] was most informative. Increased knowledge of the problems before us is vital. In New York, our problem is not one of water quantity but of water quality. As you indicate, “the people who vote must make the commitment” that will assure a steady flow of water. On Nov. 2, the people of New York are asked to make such a commitment. On the ballot will be a $1 billion bond issue to provide 60% of the cost of sewage treatment facilities needed through 1970 to end water pollution in New York.

(GOVERNOR) NELSON A. ROCKEFELLER

Albany, N.Y.

State’s State

Sir: As one who sees and works with the U.S. Department of State in the field, I enjoyed your Essay [Oct. 15]. But I was disturbed by your complimentary reference to Ambassador Attwood. Much more publicity of that nature, accurate as it is, could result in our losing him to a higher post. That would be a serious blow.

ROY D. SHAFFER, M.D.

Nairobi, Kenya

Sir: Your Essay is the most superficial fairy story you have printed in years. Because of some mysterious “American image” concept, the boys at State consider it unethical to make use of a propaganda advantage unless it favors the Communists. They are eager to encourage socialist revolutionaries and they have so little faith in freedom that they fear the “political vacuum” that would result if Communism were crushed.

R. D. GUNKEL

Potomac, Md.

Sir: Your Essay is one of the most commendable I have read in TIME. It does justice to the department by destroying false illusions created by often unwarranted, petulant protests.

MALCOLM RINGWALT

Storrs, Conn.

The Life & Death of God

Sir: I am writing to express my appreciation for the excellent job done by you on the “Death of God” theologies [Oct. 22]. Yours was a difficult task, and you succeeded admirably.

THOMAS J. J. ALTIZER

Associate Professor of Religion

Emory University

Atlanta

Sir: If God is dead, let us speak his eulogy quickly, bury him, and move on; it is unmanly to take refuge from the present in establishments of the past and unfitting to decry the impotence of the dead.

WILLIAM T. BATMAN

Houston

Sir: The teaching of godless theologians does not represent what most faithful, intelligent clergy and parishioners believe. If God seems dead to these theologians, this is a matter of their lack of faith. We should pray to God to forgive them.

(THE REV.) FRANK W. MARSHALL JR.

Trinity Episcopal Church

Bayonne, NJ.

Gall

Sir: Good grief! Bless the day when President Cleveland could have his operation in private! I liked Ike, but I did not enjoy romping through his insides. and no more do I care for a romp through Lyndon’s [Oct. 15].

A. W. FRYE

Forest, Va.

Iceland’s Claim

Sir: The so-called Vinland map [Oct. 15] would never be accepted in court. It fails in practically every particular for the establishment of authenticity. The authorship is unknown; the date of its supposed original drawing is a wild speculation: there is no evidence of its custodianship from 1957 back to 1440.

(JUSTICE) MICHAEL A. MUSMANNO

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh

Sir: The Italians have not asked, “Was the Vikings’ sketch drawn in 1440?” or “Was Ericsson, in fact, the first discoverer of America?” To answer the question of “who got here first” on the basis of ethnocentrism is as backward as pre-Columbus thinking that “the world cannot be round.”

MARVIN J. MIGDOL

Erie, Pa.

Sir: The U.S. Government apparently believes that Leif Ericsson was a son of Iceland and a discoverer of America. The U.S. engraved a statement to this effect on a statue of Leif and gave the statue to the Icelandic nation on its 1,000th anniversary in 1930. I am sorry if my fellow countryman has turned Norwegian.

I. G. THORSTEINSSON

Reykjavik, Iceland

>Ericsson, of Norwegian descent, was born in Iceland.

The Art of Acoustics

Sir: Your concise history of Philharmonic Hall’s problems [Oct. 15] perhaps says that acoustic qualities are more the result of art than of science—as makers of quality musical instruments have known for centuries. Acoustics of a concert hall are judged solely by subjective comparison with prior tradition, not by scientifical analysis. When the purpose of a structure is to aid in making music with conventional sound, architects had better forgo their artistic expressions in favor of those that will better ensure musical results. After all, one would hardly expect a piano that was constructed like a contemporary piece of furniture to sound like a piano; the same may apply to the largest musical instrument of all—the concert auditorium.

DAVID W. COGSWELL

President

Berkshire Organ Co. Inc.

North Wilbraham, Mass.