The Partisans
Sir:
Although Jack Kennedy (my namesake) and I are Catholics, he cannot have my vote I believe Mr. Kennedy placed his political ambitions above principle in accepting the Democrats' platform, concocted, in most part, by radicals bent on bankrupting the Government, enslaving our citizens and destroying our American way of life.
J. F. KENNEDY Royal Oak, Mich.
Sir:
Everyone is up in arms over John Kennedy's being a Roman Catholic.
Frankly, I thought the Republican Convention had the overtones and moral facade of a Southern Baptist revival meeting. The Republican Party's passing themselves off as the party with high moral Christian standards is getting sickening. Mr. Nixon, Mr. Rockefeller and Dr. Judd, to name a few, with their Protestant backgrounds, are just as fast at mud-slinging as the next politician.
MRS. DAVID BIRDSONG
Lansing, Mich. Sir:
My prediction for November (It's essentially my prayer) Is Nixon by a nose Not Kennedy by a hair!
MRS. WARREN R. WHITEHEAD Menlo Park, Calif.
Sir:
I do not say that those who denounce Kennedy for President are doing so merely because of his religion. I do say that his religion is considered his downfall by many. This is blinding people to the Senator's great intelligence, sincerity, confidence and spirit, all of which are essential, making him the ideal man to win the election.
NANCI D. HALE Lawrence, Mass.
Sir:
Nixon would be far more than a great President--he would be a living example for American teen-agers of what can yet be done in this land of democracy if one tries.
CHARLES C. LOWTHER Detroit
More About Mort
Sir:
Those of us in the provinces thirsty for More About Mort appreciate your cover story; you could have covered the subject more thoroughly. Like in the entire issue.
PATRICIA METHENY Tulsa, Okla.
Sir:
Congratulations and all that jazz to TIME on a real gasser of a story on that chick-loving weirdo I dig, that bug, Mort Sahl. "Wild, huh?"
ROBERTA THALER Reseda, Calif.
Sir:
Too bad! The repulsive cover would have been delightful in French: Sahl Mort.
KELLY ARCHER Kingsport, Tenn.
Sir:
Morton's Sahlty comments suggest that when id reigns, id bores.
GERALD J. WEIPERT Detroit
Sir:
Sahl is the embodiment of the cynicism, moral decay, and retreat from responsibility which currently infect this great land.
TIM TERRY San Marino, Calif.
Sir:
Mort Sahl is a true subversive. He is advocating the overthrow of the Government by "farce," which he may do if Washington doesn't beat him to it.
FRED L. NIEMANN
Cambridge, Mass.
Spellbound
Sir:
Anyone so fortunate as to receive mention in TIME should, perhaps, salaam three times to the east and praise Allah from whom all blessings flow. This I humbly do.
At the same time, in your usually very accurate magazine, your reviewer [Aug. 8] committed two errors: when he spelled my name Edward instead of Edmond--and when he committed a sin which is usually unpardonable to a sexagenarian. He added six years to my already very ripe 61. These I insist on reclaiming from you!
EDMOND SOUCHON, M.D.
New Orleans
Afterburner
Sir:
Your article on New York International Airport was very interesting. You said there are 640 take-offs and landings a day. Let's see, that's approximately one take-off or landing every two minutes. Yes, progress is wonderful. But every one of those planes goes over my house--24 hours a day. Progress--ha!
BETTE GENE JAKER
Laurelton, N.Y.
Sir:
Seven-dollar meals complete with ketchup bottle, a chapel where one prays for a safe journey from New York to Chicago (after having purchased sufficient insurance), gas stations designed by the renowned Edward D. Stone: such grossness, so typical of the times, is disgusting and just a little alarming!
MRS. JOHN H. SHELLY Birmingham
Speaking in Tongues
Sir:
Thanks so much for the article entitled "Speaking in Tongues." I was especially impressed with the phrasing of the article, since many writers seem to belittle those who believe and practice, this phenomenon. Father Bennett might also be surprised to learn that many of the estimated thousands of Pentecostalists in the U.S. are not ignorant and unlearned, as many seem to think.
(THE REV.) J. LAMAR GILMER The Church of God of Prophecy Fries, Va.
Sir:
Glossolalia is a lot more widespread than most Christians realize. I am a Roman Catholic and for years have found speaking in tongues to be an integral part of my private worship.
MICHAEL CALLAGHAN
Denver
Sir:
In the mid-1940s, while living in Pascagoula, Miss., a shipyard town, my wife and I used to go to outdoor meetings of an evangelical sect where "tongues" was a routine business. Nevertheless, to see it and hear it is always an eerie experience, even when aspects of the whole scene may touch on the ludicrous. There was one young preacher from Meridian who had the most perfect flow of melodious unknown phrasing, and an odd delivery which sent his lines coldly wailing through the moonlit pines. I made notes occasionally. One fragment--"Camma-moh-sanda! Handelosah!"--I gave years later to my character, Count Roller Skates, in a novel of the same name. Many of my writing friends in New York thought I was faking nonsense. I wasn't.
THOMAS SANCTON
New Orleans
Sir:
After reading the Aug. 15 article on glossolalia, I tried it myself. Here is what emerged: "Glog willich wolloch sog?", which freely translates as "My God, is this the 20th century?"
R. H. HOLMES
Brockville, Ont.
Poverty in Plenty
Sir:
You have done a great service by focusing attention on the plight of the migrant farm workers and their children.
This is a problem which has been attacked with vigor and courage on a state level by the progressive administrations of many individual states, notably New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Oregon, and a handful of other states. While progress has been made, the reluctance of other states to follow suit, and the inability of these leading states to create truly effective interstate agreements on such vital issues as adequate minimum wages, housing, health safeguards, transportation, child care and education has made federal action essential.
WILLIAM L. BATT JR. Secretary
Department of Labor and Industry Harrisburg, Pa.
Sir:
We took a field trip in Stockton, Calif, and witnessed the farm worker problem described in your Aug. 8 issue.
The first item on our agenda was a bus tour of the Stockton farms and farm laborers' housing. Here we were able to see the miserable conditions under which human beings are forced to live in a nation that likes to boast of its wealth. We walked through a labor camp, and although we had been "warned" what to expect, we were shocked to find how horribly our agricultural workers have been neglected.
MARGUERITE LAPIN Mountain View, Calif.
The Eye of the Beholder
Sir:
Your article "The Fair Ladies" is up the pole. It is not so much that the English women have undergone a transformation but rather the men have finally woken up! Female appreciation has long been the exclusive pursuit of our continental cousins, but at last, and thank God, we too can savor the delight, without feeling guilty.
PETER MILLER Nairobi, Kenya
Sir:
Delighted with your British beauty color pages. Prettied up your magazine--and probably increased both male and female readership for the entire issue.
Our usually quiet, efficient British representative deplored the omission of Max Factor's name in your list. Max Factor beauty products are No. 1 in sales in Great Britain. We call this to your attention because the philosopher has always maintained that beauty and truth go hand in hand.
DAVIS FACTOR Chairman of the Board Max Factor & Co. Hollywood
Sir:
Would you please identify the two secretaries sipping cider in the doorway of Cook-ham's Royal Exchange Pub?
JERRY A. ANTHONY U.S.M.C. Barstow, Calif.
P:Sally Hall and Lisa Thyne. They live in Cookham, outside London, with their families--ED.
Wrong Number
Sir:
I would like to point out that contrary to your reporting, I have only been married once and never to Bettina.
PETER VIERTEL Klosters, Switzerland
P: His second: Deborah Kerr.--ED.
Dread Disease
Sir:
In the Aug. 15 issue of your fine magazine you discussed the unusual malady of "imaginary poverty," wherein wealthy individuals imagine themselves to be impoverished and conduct their personal spending accordingly.
This article was of especial interest to me, since my wife suffers from "imaginary opulence." I would therefore very much appreciate obtaining information regarding any research work that is being done to find a cure for this affliction.
Also, could you tell me whether or not the Federal Government has any form of benefit program aimed at subsidizing the incomes of citizens whose wives are stricken with this dread disease.
JEROME E. VIELEHR Sudbury, Mass.
This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.