Politics & Pokes

Sir:

If I were of voting age, I would cast my November ballot for the Kennedy-Johnson ticket because the election of a Catholic and a Southerner would be one of the greatest triumphs over bigotry in our history.

RAYMOND McKAY Alvin, Texas

Sir:

As an afterthought on the proceedings of the Democratic Convention at Los Angeles, it occurs to me that the choice of Jack Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson as the Democratic team violates Deuteronomy 22:10, where it says: "Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together." The wide divergence of these men in political policy militates against good teamwork.

ROY L. LAURIN

Pasadena, Calif.

Sir:

I could only take one day of the Republicans in Chicago.

Tell me, did they go ahead and nominate Mr. Lincoln?

PAT W. CRUZEN Florence, Colo.

Sir:

For some strange reason, since the early days of F.D.R., I have gone all out for the Democrats. However, the dignity of the Republican campaign party that I heard and saw over television made a Christian out of me--so here I go again voting Republican!

VIRGINIA C. SELIG Oakland, Calif.

Sir:

I am frankly tired of the "hero" role attributed to Mr. Nixon by overzealous Republicans because he "stood up to Khrushchev in the Kitchen." What redblooded American would do otherwise?

I prefer the heroism of Kennedy's PT boat to that of Nixon's debate, if that is the ammunition expected to put Nixon across.

W. D. SMITH Wichita, Kans.

Sir:

Although I am a staunch Democrat, I congratulate the Republican Party on Mr. Nixon's running mate, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.

(Miss) G. J. NEMECEK Syracuse

Sir:

If, as you say, the conservative spirit is "like Sleeping Beauty," it certainly is being awakened by this Senator Charming--Barry Goldwater. I'm sure we haven't gone so far to the left that we can't see what's right. If conservative principles are out of date, then so is freedom itself.

JOAN WILKE Chicago

Target Practice

Sir:

TIME scored an A on the report of C-Grade Archer Southergill from Connecticut.

Perhaps the committee of Manchester High should note the following suggestion: schools with college-level biology, college-level English and college-level American history ought to have college-level marking systems too, i.e., gym is either passed or failed and not given the prestige of being graded.

BARBARA TUNESKI Key West, Fla.

Sir:

As a physical-education teacher, I must comment that young girls who take no interest in gym will most likely grow to be slouching, tired, fat-without-foundation homemakers.

JOANNA B. LOVE JOY St. Albans, W. Va.

Sir:

As a student and lover of archery, I was concerned with Miss Southergill's shooting style. Miss Southergill should not have received even a C in archery; she should have flunked the course. I have met Charlene, and my club, the Hartford Archers of Hartford, Conn., gave her her first real lesson in archery. The photograph, taken after one lesson, shows the difference in form [see cutsl. After missing the target with the first arrow, she only missed the target once more during the entire lesson.

ALPHONSE A. MAJOR Hartford, Conn.

Learning in Summer

Sir:

Your article on increasing summer school activities shows that many American children have the gumption to get more out of their spare time than a case of TV eyestrain.

RICHARD SWERDLIN Cincinnati

Sir:

We are appalled at your misconception concerning the Yale-North Haven Summer School [which has a Yale teacher-training program]. True, it is an experience for us students but, for the most part, not a worthwhile one. The influence of the master teacher is felt by the student only through the awkward efforts of the teachers-in-training, who, moreover, are often less acquainted with their subject than are their pupils.

JUNE CHAPLIN Hamden, Conn.

Sir:

Our new "Workshop in Learning," a private summer-enrichment program for junior high school pupils in the Greater Cleveland area, was extremely successful this summer. One comment overheard by a teacher: one student to another, "You know, while going with the teachers to field trips, I found out that they're just like real nice people."

ALLAN BELLIN

MURIEL ENTE

EDMUND PALLER

RICHARD PAULSON

ZORA RASHKIS

Instructors Beachwood Village, Ohio

W. H. Lawrence v. Lyndon Johnson

Sir:

TIME owes me a full, complete retraction for its gratuitous, malicious attack upon my professional integrity in a footnote to a July 25 Press section account of reporting from the Democratic National Convention. You have falsely asserted that one of my stories was a sample of how "the press sometimes even appeared" to help push the Kennedy bandwagon along, and that specifically a story about possible rules changes "was obviously made up out of whole cloth." That story described a tactic, later abandoned, whereby the anti-Kennedy forces considered a rules change to prevent delegations from changing their vote after the initial roll call of states. Although Senator Johnson denied any part in the rules-change fight, the proposal for a change had been announced openly at a news conference by Representative Charles Brown, representing Senator Stuart Symington; was not categorically denied as a future possibility by John Connally, representing Johnson; and had been reported as a possibility by Governor Herschel Loveless of Iowa as chairman of the Rules Committee. Thus, as any TIME reporter at the Los Angeles convention can tell you, my story was not "obviously made up out of whole cloth."

W. H. LAWRENCE Hyannis, Mass.

P:TIME intends no attack on Reporter Lawrence's integrity, cites these facts: Lawrence wrote that the aim to change the rule was "announced by backers of" Lyndon Johnson. Senator Johnson next day said: "There's an old political custom that some candidates follow of planting untrue stories that will require their opponents to deny them. The Lawrence story quoting Johnson supporters as advocating a rule change is such an example. How false it was could have been revealed by a simple check of the Johnson manager, Speaker Rayburn or myself. This was not done. Subsequently we took the time to check with Governor Loveless and he confirmed the fact that no Johnson supporter ever discussed the matter with him. This seems to be a case of reporter fatigue."--ED.

Science v. Theology

Sir:

According to Julian Huxley man has now become his own savior and has complete control of his own future. Man can now save his own self by "a comprehensive theory of evolution" and "its reliance on scientific method." However, if this be true, we should look at the world situation today and see the works of the scientific savior, who only studies man, who cannot love man because to love would destroy the validity of the "scientific method," and who, finally, can only point to, but not forgive, the sins of the world. Huxley's savior promises not eternal life of love and bliss but, rather, an external life of pain and suffering. This god sends not his son but rather a ballistic missile.

(THE REV.) HARRY W. THOMPSON St. John's Episcopal Church Morganfield, Ky.

Sir:

Most scientists are conscientious, hardworking people, well aware that it's here that the diseases kill, it's here that the ma!formed babies are born, it's here where man needs to center his efforts and thoughts, and not on some nebulous Utopia of an afterlife.

MRS. FLOYD ENGLISH JR. Painted Post, N.Y.

Sir:

Thank you for your surprisingly unbiased account of the debate between Biologist Huxley and Theologian Mascall. That Huxley won the argument was not so much owing to his superior debating ability as it was to the fundamentally untenable position of his opponent, who, like many other bachelors of science, does not really understand the scientific method.

G. ALAN ROBINSON New Orleans

Sir:

The truth of our religion is not empirical --if it were, we would in many cases have to admit its absurdity. Christianity is not a deductive system, it is the Word of grace spoken into the heart of man in his guilt and tragedy. It grasps the whole being of man, not just his logical faculties. Huxley's comparison of religion and science is like a comparison of music and cost accounting. TIM SWANSON

Ann Arbor, Mich.

Sir:

Whatever will the churches say when the biochemists successfully synthesize protoplasm ?

Lois HOOK Corning, N.Y.

Sir:

I'll turn in my preaching parchment if Huxley and his biological associates can make one further advancement. Let them eradicate this thing we theological boys call sin. If so, I'll return to the scientific campus or take up a janitorial job in a biological lab.

(THE REV.) H. LeRoY STANTON St. Paul's Methodist Church Baytown, Texas

Road to Survival

Sir:

Harvey R. Boyd's unsuccessful survival attempt as "Last Man on Earth" was not an experiment but what engineers call a destructive test.

A destructive test determines how soon the tested thing will break. An experiment simulates a possible situation. Boyd's situation was too far removed from reality, which made the attempt illogical and valueless.

In case of a bomb attack, a man burdened by his wife and three children is not suddenly transposed into the wilderness with a minimum of items in his possession and left to die or survive.

They should have let "Bud" Boyd and his family pick whatever they thought they needed, whatever they felt they could carry. Thus they could have set up house in the wilderness and played the survival game, rationing the food and sharpening the tools and their wits for the project of obtaining shelter and more food off the land.

PAUL C. BRUHL

Detroit

Sir:

Regardless of whether Harvey R. Boyd was a hero or a hoaxer, he and his family behaved on their campaign trip, not as though they were the last people on earth, but as if they were the only people on earth.

The abandoned campsite was left with the remains of many campfire meals--cans, eggshells and watermelon rinds.

I suggest that the Boyds should be fined $50 for littering the land.

MOLLIE R. GONICK Phoenix, Ariz.

Air Force Contract

Sir:

Your Aug. 1 article "Brains for Sale," concerning an Air Force contract with IBM for a global communications-computer system, contains erroneous and misleading information. Your story stated that: the contract is in the amount of $40 million; Technical Operations Inc. "will teach IBM's computers how to solve the Air Force's vast logistic and strategic problems"; and the new Air Force contract is expected to add $8,000,000 or more to Technical Operations Inc. sales over the next three years.

The facts are these: The Air Force has awarded IBM a contract for $590,000--not $40 million--for analysis of a global information system. Further funding will depend upon Air Force review of the results of the study contract; the overall systems design responsibility is being executed by the IBM systems development department, Bethesda, Md. Technical Operations Inc. has not yet been given a formal subcontract. The company has been authorized to proceed in systems studies under IBM's supervision, and work on aspects of the computer program. It is expected that Technical Operations proportion of the current study effort will be about $90,000; further subcontract funding for Technical Operations Inc. will depend upon results of the current study contract.

D. R. MCKAY

Director of Communications International Business Machines Corp. New York City

Accent on French

Sir:

So Mother Kennedy's French is not as nimble as other 70-year-old women from this country! "Potted too" is better than "not at all." Why can't you give her credit for knowing enough French to converse for a quarter-hour TV interview without panning her French? How many Frenchmen say "potted too" in a quick conversation?

IRMA SCHROEDER Venice, Calif.

P:According to 50 million Frenchmen: "Nevaire."--ED.

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