The Visitor
Sir:
Khrushchev's presence on Manhattan island is the surest possible insurance against hydrogen bomb attack on the city while he's here. The longer he stays the better, as far as I'm concerned.
DAPHNE HARE
New York City
Sir:
Here comes Khrushchev again with his henchmen to throw out insults that we will take, as usual.
Will the day come when the U.S. stops coddling this boor and tells him where to head in ?
F. K. GOOCHER
Maplewood, Mo.
Sir:
New York refurbished a special pier for Khrushchev--but still I suppose this can't be called giving him the quay to the city.
GWYNETH EVANS
New York City
Religion Issue
Sir:
Since with a truly religious person all of life is colored by his philosophy, it is indeed a fair issue in the election of any man. It is John Kennedy's personal tragedy that his religion is a schizoid one, being also a political system. The fear--even amounting to dread--of Catholicism that we Protestants feel has nothing to do with the purely religious aspects of the faith. It is Catholicism as a political system that affrights us. John Kennedy's stout denial that it could happen to him causes us to suspect that he does not know his own church very well--or that he wants the presidency so hungrily that he will say anything to get it. Either way, it is a bad risk, and it is my duty to warn my people--which I have done.
Doubtless the anti-bigot bigots will tar me for this. But I will plead only what the papacy has always claimed for itself: that "the Pope has two swords." The religious sword we fear not at all. It is that political sword that shakes us.
(THE REV.) C. R. STEGALL JR.
Shalimar Presbyterian Church
Shalimar, Fla.
Sir:
The only purpose of the minuscule state of the Vatican is to remove the head of the Catholic Church from all undue political and secular influence.
Catholics owe no political allegiance whatsoever to Vatican State, but they owe religious allegiance to the Holy See, the Bishopric of Rome, occupied by the successor of St. Peter and Vicar of Christ, the Holy Father.
H. F. TIBLIER S.J.
Jesuit High School
El Paso
Sir:
I have a good hunch that a lot of the people who are "heckling" Jack Kennedy about his church never take time to darken the doors of their own.
At least Mr. Kennedy supports the church of his choice by attending it.
RUSSELL T. DANIELS
Tulsa, Okla.
Sir:
I feel that to attack Mr. Kennedy on the religion issue is unworthy.
I find that there are so many objections to him morally, ethically and democratically that to take exception to him on the question of religion is unnecessary.
THEODORA W. NICHOLS
Hollywood
Sir:
Congratulations to TIME for reporting the sounding brass festival at the Mayflower Hotel without throwing up. It is a sorry and desperate cause that will drive a Baptist like Poling into the same bed with the kindly apostle of Confident Living. One might have guessed that the faith of neither would stand in the way of their common Republicanism.
THOMAS W. FERRELL
Cambridge, Mass.
Sir:
May I suggest that Norman Vincent Peale take a trip to Texas and have himself totally immersed by his Baptist brethren--say for ten minutes or so ?
J. MACRAE
Potsdam, N.Y.
The Candidates
Sir:
With Sputniks, Luniks, beatniks, surely the G.O.P. will start plugging their hopeful as Dicknik.
DAVID MCLENNAN
Schagen, South Africa
Sir:
We know he's not another Ike
Because he's very hard to like,
But even if he makes you sick,
He's all we've got, so vote for Dick.
WILLIAM PINCH
Clayton, Mo.
Wave of the Future
Sir:
Thank you for your fascinating cover article on the new products being invented by big-business-backed scientific research. It took the layman on a brief but enlightening tour behind the Iron Curtain of ignorance which separates him from the "other world" of applied science.
NANCI LUGSDIN
Almonte, Ont.
Sir:
After reading your cover story on new products, I wonder: Is Winslow Homer's Maine hideaway for rent?
HARRY J. WELLS
Bellerose, N.Y.
Sir:
Egad ! What a cover! Perchance--did Artist Artzybasheff dine on slings and arrows the night he dreamed it up?
NORMAN J. MEUNIER
Northampton, Mass.
P: No, on outrageous fortune.--ED.
Sir:
What I am trying for is the window that can be cleaned on both sides simultaneously.
L. K. FRANK
Grove City, Pa.
The Touchy Issue
Sir:
Your roundup on "The Touchy Issue" in the issue of Sept. 19 was interesting, well done and courageous. Should you have further occasion to comment on this subject, the St. Petersburg Times policy is identical with the Charlotte Observer's, and is extended to ban disparaging remarks also on race and color.
Thank you for getting into this really "touchy" issue.
ROBERT W. BROWN
Associate Editor
St. Petersburg Times
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Busy Signal
Sir:
As a recipient of one of the 3,812 phone calls, I read your item "Public's Opinion of Polls" with great interest.
About dinnertime I answered the phone to hear, "This is a presidential election poll. As of now, which candidate would you vote for, Nixon or Kennedy?" I asked the caller to name the organization she represented, and the reply was, "A presidential poll." When I asked which one, the reply was, "I don't know."
Whether it is pride in the institution of the secret ballot or fear of identification, I feel pleased that all but 34 of those called refused to answer. An inquisitor who refuses to be identified does not deserve an answer.
NEAL T. PINCKNEY
Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Sir:
Of course, all surveys or polls are subject to slight statistical error. However, we have one in North Carolina that we feel is quite reliable. We tabulate automobile bumper stickers to determine the trend of support for presidential candidates.
Our latest tabulation indicates that Nixon is in first place, Linville Caverns is in second, and Kennedy is tied for third with Tweetsie Railroad.
JACK RUNNION
Winston-Salem, N.C.
A for Effort
Sir:
As an avid reader of TIME, and also one of the "angry school officials" who "snort" replies to the accusations of "bright-eyed kids," I found your Sept. 15 article concerning the high schools of Downey to be most revealing. Now I know, firsthand, why I shall never cancel my subscription to your magazine: What other publication offers so much entertaining reading without the intrusion of factual and accurate reporting?
JOHN D. MILAM
Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction
Downey Union High School District
Downey, Calif.
Sir:
My hat is off to the wonderful 14 students from Earl Warren and Downey high schools.
A teacher from Earl Warren High (on leave to the Quito Binational Center in Ecuador), I am "guilty as charged" by several of my former students. We did give too few compositions in English classes and fewer yet essay exams. What will help? Get the history teachers out of the English department, the coaches out of the social sciences. Then treat the students as maturing young ladies and gentlemen, even when they don't seem to deserve it, and demand that they work up to a high school student's standard of excellence.
THOM M. HENDRICKSON
Director
Centre Ecuatoriano Norteamericano Quito, Ecuador
Sir:
I fully agree with the kids that our lax school system should be stiffened. While in a San Diego high school, I got to select my own courses--all art. Now, five years later, I'm called a beatnik--what I really am is a "stupnik" and am straining in night school to catch up on fundamentals.
GERALD GOULD
Los Angeles
Open Transit
Sir:
It is with a great deal of professional interest that I read the item titled "Labor" in your Sept. 19 issue.
In the space of four short paragraphs you managed to give as biased an account of the recent strike on the Pennsylvania Railroad as one of that company's paid advertisements. [TIME says that] Quill became a union leader by "periodically paralyzing New York City's subways with strikes and threats of strikes." We have news for you. In 26 years of TWU leadership, Quill never pulled a strike on the New York subways.
CLAIRE ROTH
Assistant Editor
TWU Express
New York City
P: Reader Roth is right. TIME should have said that New York City's bus system was periodically paralyzed with strikes.--ED.
Successful Integration
Sir:
Results from the Olympic Games at Rome suggest that the integration of Negroes into U.S.A. sport is a howling success. Could you inform readers of your wide-ranging journal how your crop of medals was shared between black and white?
W. B. EDWARDS
Melbourne
P: American athletes took home a total of 112 medals for all competition, including team sports such as basketball. Of these, 27 were won by 24 Negroes and 85 were won by 76 Caucasians.--ED.
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