Candidate Taft

Sir:

How could you possibly report the candidacy of William Howard Taft's son without quoting the only appropriate campaign song?

I want a job just like the job

That worried dear old dad.

ERIC SANDQUIST Dedham, Mass.

Sir:

Your June 2 cover shows Senator Taft and the White House within a question mark. You cannot seriously believe that there is a possibility of Taft being elected . . . If he is nominated . . . I predict the most overwhelming Democratic victory in history, regardless of their candidate. Eisenhower offers the Republican Party its only, and perhaps last, chance to survive.

RAYMOND A. PINGREE Cranston, R.I.

Sir:

. . . I think your article overlooked the very pronounced pro-Taft sentiment here in the Deep South . . . We know what we have in Taft; he's an intellectual and a gentleman. General Eisenhower may have glamour--but we had enough of that in the days of F.D.R. . . .

J. T. REYNOLDS Pineville, La.

Sir:

. . . It is obvious from Senator Taft's past record that he would stop at nothing to defend his title of "Mr. Republican." What we mugwumps want is a "Mr. American"--not a "Mr. Politician."

HUBERT L. STEWART Inglewood, Calif.

Sir:

If the doings here in Texas are any indication of the principles which "Fighting Bob" will not modify "to secure the support of a limited number of mugwumps," he certainly will not get the two mugwump votes of our household! As voters in Precinct 129 of Harris County, we are indignant over the malicious allegations of the Taft machine here which invented a cock-and-bull story about those "whisky-drinking, beer-guzzling Ike supporters who stole Chairman Miller's silverware," and then turned right around and stole our votes at Mineral Wells. To thousands of outraged Texans, Truman may stand for the Fair Deal, but Taft stands for the Dirty Deal!

DOROTHY BENTHALL Houston

Candidate Harriman

Sir:

Mr. Averell Harriman would make an excellent President, but I am afraid it can't happen. He must first become a politician, and you can't make a sow's ear out of a silk purse.

EDMOND J. WALSH Nashville, Tenn.

The General's Lady

Sir:

The idea of having in the White House a first lady who "smokes Philip Morrises and plays canasta tirelessly [and] until three months ago, when her doctor asked her to swear off alcohol because of a heart murmur, she drank old-fashioneds at parties" [TIME, June 2] is going to cost Eisenhower a lot of votes.

BYRON C. NELSON Spooner, Wis.

Sir:

Your account of the general's lady dismays the general's good friends. She may soon preside at the White House, and her influence is important. Yet you write of her as of a glamour girl . . .

In what church does she hold membership? . . .

(MRS.) PAUL H. McCLANAHAN New Concord, Ohio

P: Mrs. Eisenhower is an Episcopalian.--ED.

"All These Gentlemen"

SIR:

WE URGENTLY PROTEST THE TENOR OF YOUR JUNE 2 ARTICLE ON THE GERMAN WAR PRISONERS AT SPANDAU REFERENCE TO THESE MEN AS "SEVEN OF THE BLACKEST NAZIS STILL ALIVE" IS CONTRARY TO FACT, BIASED, AND SERVES TO PREJUDICE THE PENDING APPEALS FOR THESE MEN. RUDOLF HESS TOOK POSITIVE ACTION FOR PEACE EARLY IN WORLD WAR II. GRAND ADMIRAL DOENITZ AND ADMIRAL RAEDER WERE COURAGEOUS NAVAL LEADERS. BARON VON NEURATH, ALBERT SPEER, WALTER FUNK AND BALDUR VON SCHIRACH WERE FAITHFUL ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICIALS. ALL OF THESE GENTLEMEN DID THEIR DUTY AS THEY SAW IT AND THEIR MISFORTUNE LAY MERELY IN BEING ON THE LOSING SIDE ... A COMMITTEE OF PROMINENT AMERICANS HAS BEEN FORMED TO WORK FOR THE RELEASE OF THESE MEN AS WELL AS FOR FIELD MARSHALS MANNSTEIN, LIST, KESSELRING, MAJOR GENERAL OTTO ERNST REMER AND MANY OTHERS. IN FAIRNESS TO THE APPEALS NOW IN PROGRESS, WE ASK THAT YOU REPRESENT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY.

H. KEITH THOMPSON

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

COMMITTEE FOR INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE: COMMITTEE FOR THE FREEDOM OF MAJOR GENERAL REMER

CHATHAM, N.J

Witness (Cont'd)

Sir:

Thumbs up on your May 26 Chambers-Hiss article. Mr. Chambers deserves all your accolades for doing what many other so-called civilized people should be doing--regaining their perspective in relation to one another. The basic fight . . . is between materialism and spiritualism, that quality which distinguishes man from the rest of nature . .

WALTER B. SMALLEY Washington

Sir:

It is unfortunate that TIME, like many other newspapers and periodicals, has fallen for the Whittaker Chambers story. By the tone of your article you are adding to the prestige of, and admiration for, a man who is a confessed "liar, spy and traitor" as well as an admitted perjurer.

You state that the "Hiss-Chambers case has stirred the whole spirit of the time." If this is true, it is to be deeply regretted that the spirit of the time is such as to allow one man to be chastised by society while another, equally guilty of the same things, is respected and admired. Hiss was sent to jail for perjury, and Chambers not only goes free but at the same time becomes a respected man. Is this a democratic concept of justice?

VAN DYNE MCCUTCHEON Gambier, Ohio

Sir:

Mr. Whittaker Chambers: a new type of publican--a TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLAR PUBLICAN . . . May I express my feeling of nausea at your picturing Mr. Chambers cloaked in Biblical raiment? . .

E. B. TREIDLER Glendale, Calif.

Sir:

Your June 9 excerpts from reviews of Whittaker Chambers' Witness largely confirm his thesis that the liberalism of our intellectuals is as atheist as Marxism.

Fortunately, these reviewers do not represent our American culture, in which belief in God is a tremendously vital factor. Otherwise there would be terrifying truth in the meaningless gaucherie ("If Chambers is right in believing the major bulwark against Stalin to be faith in God, then it is time for men of conviction and courage to take to the hills") with which one reviewer writes off the noblest act of courage our generation is likely to see.

FRANCIS J. CORLEY St. Louis, Mo.

Sir:

How terrifying that the majority of the reviewers of Witness cannot accept Mr. Chambers' thesis that Communism can only be defeated by religious faith, i.e., faith in God . . . As Christ Himself said: "He that is not with me is against me."

ANN B. REINHEIMER Neenah, Wis.

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