Revolution & Reaction

Sir:

One paragraph in your Oct. 29 issue packed more punch than volumes I've read in the last five years: "The U.S. is part of a great liberating revolution . . . Soviet aggression is a reactionary attack against that revolution."

It's about time we try to straighten this upside-down world, recognize our own role, and realize that the Soviet Union is like a page ripped from a history of Attila or Machiavelli and inserted into Vol. 1951.

(S/SGT.) EDWIN A. BUCK JR. Fort Sill, Okla.

Envoy to the Vatican

Sir:

As a red-blooded American, I make an emphatic protest over the appointment of an ambassador to the Vatican.

There is no more reason for it than the appointment of an ambassador to the Church of England or to the Latter-Day Saints in Utah . . .

E.E. MAGEE San Francisco

Sir:

. . . If the Roman Catholic Church is to be recognized as a foreign government with full diplomatic privileges . . . her prelates in this country should be required to register as agents of a foreign government . . .

(REV.) G. AIKEN TAYLOR Burlington, N.C.

Sir:

I presume if we American Protestants now protest the appointment of a U.S. ambassador to Rome, McCarthy and his political Catholic Church will accuse us of being Communists. . .

C. C. WINDSOR San Antonio, Texas

Sir:

. . . There is no need for one to become emotional or religiously biased about the appointment of General Mark Clark. He is there for a good reason . . .

Behind the Iron Curtain there are millions of Catholics. Their lips may be sealed, their actions hampered, but their minds and their souls still remain unfettered despite their Soviet antichrist masters . . . Isn't it understandable that we should have a man like General Clark in the Vatican to help coordinate this potential strength? . . .

Let us submerge petty bias and consider that in these millions of unhappy Catholic people of predominantly Catholic countries . . . we have the greatest "underground" secret army the world has ever known . . .

J. CLARK SAMUEL An Episcopalian Foxboro, Mass.

Yup, He Yawped

Sir:

Is TIME serious in its Oct. 22 description of Walt Whitman as an "anarchic old yawper?" Does TIME dismiss then such treasures of American literature as "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," "O Captain! My Captain!" "Bivouac on a Mountain Side," and "Song of Myself" to be the mere yawping of an anarchist? . . .

ERWIN W. SMITH Oxford, England

P:TIME said anarchic, not anarchist. The reference was to Whitman's own lines from "Song of Myself":

I too am not a bit tamed,

I too am untranslatable,

I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. . .--ED.

Rhubarb over Rose's Spinach

Sir:

Regarding your [Oct. 22] review of The New Yorker Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Album and the line, "Cartoonist Carl Rose's 'I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it.' "

The line was originated by E. B. White, and should properly be credited to him rather than to the undersigned. The. story of the origin of the cartoon (and its caption) is told in a volume modestly entitled One Dozen Roses (Random House), some rare first editions of which may, very likely, still be procured for 59-c-.

CARL ROSE Rowayton, Conn.

Post-Mortem

Sir:

TIME, Oct. 22, states: "Anywhere else a man in a space suit would have attracted attention, but in Southern California eccentrics were so common that supermarket clerks refused, until too late, to get excited at the appearance of a Man from Mars."

True, we have our share of eccentrics . . . but let me assure you that everyone in the Los Angeles area and especially those living in the San Gabriel Valley knew about and feared the exploits of Space Suiter Forrest Ray Colson . . .

CHUCK HILLINGER Los Angeles

Sir:

" . . . As it (the Man from Mars) began leveling its shotgun, a patrolman fired one shot from the hip. The figure fell, shot through the temple."

I don't doubt that Colson was shot through the temple, but where else could it possibly have happened except in movieland.? Where else would a man, while leveling a gun at an adversary, turn his profile? . . .

GARDNER REA Brook Haven, N.Y.

Sir:

. . . Could be family pride . . . but my brother, Harry C. Stone, was the cop who shot the "Man from Mars" with one revolver shot, in a crowded grocery store.

Incidentally, the robber was an ex-marine sharpshooter. So is my brother.

DOROTHY BURKHART Chula Vista, Calif.

For Ike

Sir:

Raymond H. Smith [TIME Letters, Oct. 15] wants to know how others feel about Eisenhower. I feel that while Taft has better preparation for the presidency, he cannot be elected because workmen still pay some attention to the distortions and calumnies heaped upon him by the leaders of labor rackets.

Eisenhower is the only man who can beat Truman, with his 17 million recipients of regular Government checks. The racket department of labor, as distinguished from the sincere and patriotic leaders, back Truman because they think they can get the support from him that they need to hold their jobs . . . If Truman is re-elected . . . nothing Eisenhower can do in Europe will save us from . . . bankruptcy at home.

WILLIAM DEWOLF Kirkland, Wash.

Out for Blood

Sir:

Too bad a "well done" can't honestly be said to civilians in regard to giving blood to the American Red Cross for the armed forces. It is even worse to think our military has to give their blood to the military. Not that they mind, but the principle is what counts.

TIME'S Oct. 22 article will go a long way in stimulating a greater desire to give blood for our fighting men.

MRS. EDWARD J. SHEA Nashville

Sir:

. . . Since it seems so difficult for the average adult to find his way to a Blood Bank to donate blood for the U.S. armed forces, it occurred to me that a little inducement might help.

Everyone hates to pay taxes and the new increase isn't going to make anyone any happier, but perhaps if a blood donor were permitted to deduct say $25 from his income tax each time he was a donor, it would make him a little happier tax-wise and also make him feel he was contributing a little more than his dollars to the war effort . . .

(MRS.) MARY ELLEN STRAUS New York City

P: Reader Straus's suggestion might be a break for taxpayers, but would certainly be a losing proposition for the Treasury. The basic fee for professional blood donors in Manhattan is about $5.--ED.

The Pride of Maine

Sir:

Read with great amusement your Oct. 22 article, "Skirmish on Munjoy Hill." With proper management, the city of Portland, Me. could attain the importance of a Boston or New York; with one of the finest natural arbors on the entire East Coast, it could rank high with the right people in office.

Portland-needs more Billy O'Brions, men who are not afraid to speak up in a city where so few control so many.

HAROLD YORK Van Nuys, Calif.

Sir:

To a former Portland resident your article was most interesting. The fact that "only 20% of its citizens bothered to vote in recent elections" was nothing new for Portland . . . The problem of citizen apathy in government in this country will not be solved by any one simple method. Like Portland, other municipalities will have to try many devices to stimulate interest. The main thing, however, is to make the average citizen feel that he has many ways of participating in the process of creating public policy and that in the last analysis what the government does depends on him.

ERNEST R. DALTON Hackettstown, N.J.

The McCarthy Story (Cont'd)

Sir:

I would like to nominate U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy as TIME'S Man of the Year for his unmitigated gall in applying the Torquemada technique and for alienating thousands of voters from the Republican Party.

RALPH P. SYMONS Los Angeles

Sir:

How about Joseph Raymond McCarthy for President of the U.S. in 1952 ?

Your smear story on him reminds one of the smear stories on Al Smith in 1928, when he was a candidate for President . . .

J. G. SULLIVAN St. James, Minn.

Sir:

Your story on McCarthy . . . managed to convey the impression that, maybe way deep down, he is, after all, a pretty good Joe.

I submit that he is not. And while I certainly do not believe that a man should be blamed for his pathological character, I do hope that the people of Wisconsin will assume the responsibility of revising their weird senatorial contribution to the state of the nation.

DR. HERBERT BAUER Sacramento, Calif.

Sir:

Your comments on Senator McCarthy were very much appreciated by me. I have been telling my government classes the same thing for two years.

Of much more importance is the fact that your magazine is the first great publication of national distribution to take a definite and positive stand on this issue. For this you should be commended. If more of our so-called molders of public opinion in Congress had the intestinal fortitude to speak their minds, this parasite would not have gained such influence . . .

The issue is not a question of should we or should we not ferret out Communists; it is the old problem of preserving the rights and privileges of persons and upholding legal procedures of prosecution . .

KENNETH J. CAREY St. Mary's University San Antonio

Sir:

. . . Compared to Acheson, Jessup etc., even your picture of Joe McCarthy looks like 100% American.

W. H. DAWKINS San Antonio

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