'Young, Virulent & Alive'

Sir:

I attended the Young Americans for Freedom rally at Madison Square Garden [March 16] and was duly impressed with the rousing example of patriotism. I was a Republican, but am now a confirmed conservative. Perhaps a new political party is what this country needs.

WILLIAM H. WISDOM Cherry Hill, N.J.

Sir:

In your report on Senator Goldwater's speech at the rally, you did not mention his description of conservatism as "young, virulent and alive." Yes, virulent. Perhaps this should be accepted as the definitive characterization.

LOUIS BALDWIN Albuquerque

Sir:

Why it should surprise anyone that the bulk of ultraconservatives are under 30 puzzles me. Why not? They missed the Depression, so can't understand the desperation that led to social-welfare bills. Never having been hungry and without work, they can't understand why they should have to pay to help those who are. They missed World War II and Korea, and seem to think that war is some grand chess game.

They've lived so long in the soothing syrup of security of job and home that they can't tolerate the insecurity of the cold war. I'd rather be dead than Red, too, but first I'd like a chance to fight the battle without bombs.

(MRS.) SHIRLEY PUDAS Charlotte, N.C.

Sir:

Your March 16 issue stated that I did not take part in the Madison Square Garden Young Americans for Freedom rally because General Walker's invitation was withdrawn. This is the complete reverse of the actual situation.

In a public statement dated Feb. 14, I stated that I would not participate in the affair because it had developed into an essentially partisan Republican rally, which included a well-known political extremist. I urged that the program be broadened to include anti-Communists who were liberals and Democrats, for the anti-Communist cause can succeed only as a broadly based bipartisan movement.

THOMAS J. DODD U.S. Senate Washington, D.C.

Ex-First Lady

Sir:

No woman reading TIME's piece on New York State's ex-first lady [March 16] could fail to be touched deeply by her poignant statement to newsmen inquiring about her: "Just tell them I'm a homely old lady."

To those of us who know her only through the news columns, she is a lovely lady who played her role as wife of the Governor with great dignity and graciousness.

A devoted mother of five children whose youngest was lost off New Guinea at the same time that her 31-year marriage was going down the drain, Mary Rockefeller has borne her tremendous personal tragedies with heroic silence and fortitude. She is a towering figure of strength and stability beside whom the Governor is a pygmy.

VIRGINIA TAYLOR KLOSE Red Hook, N.Y.

Sir:

Get with it. Your story says Mrs. Rockefeller is a "fantastic horseback rider despite her English saddle." Yet in the accompanying photo, Mrs. Rockefeller is shown riding the West's favorite horse, the Appaloosa, with Western gear.

MRS. ROBERT M. BRUNDAGE Golden, Colo.

Female Companionship

Sir:

And why shouldn't the boys have natural female companionship at Tijuana [March 16]? If I'd been permitted to have it in World War II, I might not have the troubles I have today.

HERB CLYATT Combes, Texas

Sir:

I'm sure that your article will inspire the mom-and-apple-pie set to do everything in their power to keep our peach-fuzz Army unblemished by Mexican border towns.

EDEN G. BITZER Syracuse

Sir:

You say that Mexican town "makes Gomorrah look like Racine, Wis." We Racine, Wis., boys have a passion for anonymity.

ANTHONY DE LORENZO Detroit

B is for Boondoggle

Sir:

I cannot think of anything to match the Air Force's redesignation of the B70 as "RS-70" [March 16] on the ground that while there may be some dispute about the need for bombers, everyone is in favor of reconnaissance.

I hope TIME will continue calling it the B-70. B, of course, for boondoggle.

ROBERT WACKER JR. New Canaan, Conn.

Mrs. Grundy

Sir:

TIME's article "Battle of the Socialites" [March 9] states that the term Grundyism was inspired by Pennsylvania's stiff-collared conservative and onetime G.O.P. State Chairman Joe Grundy. I believe, however, that the term was originally inspired by the prudish and narrowminded Mrs. Grundy, a person referred to in Thomas Morton's comedy Speed the Plough (1798).

MICHAEL OWEN MURPHY Milwaukee

"What will Mrs. Grundy say?" worried Dame Ashby throughout Morton's play. For years Mrs. Grundy and grundyism were synonymous with conventional behavior. But when Joe Grundy of Pennsylvania became influential in U.S. politics, the word took on the new meaning of "high button shoe political conservatism."--ED.

A Classroom of Fools?

Sir:

Re the article about Burgess Hill School [March 9]: "A School Without Rules," I fear, will only develop ''a Classroom of Fools."

ANITA GOLDSTEIN '63 University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich.

Sir:

It is no secret that our technical knowledge has surpassed our humane knowledge. Burgess Hill has taken a giant step toward closing the gap. Its methods are too radical for most of us. But it's the underlying philosophy that is important, i.e., by leaving a child free to be his natural self, he will regulate himself and thence become a positive human being.

JOAN W. ROSENFELD Shaker Heights, Ohio

Sir:

I attended Burgess Hill for one year before I came to New Zealand. The schooling I received there had a profound influence on me. I was a damn little brat by the time I'd finished, and at least a year behind in my formal schooling.

Experience with two worlds of schooling has left me with the unshaken belief that few kids turn out all right without a good belt on their backsides every so often.

MARTIN D. BROWN Christchurch, New Zealand

Sheep Sheets

Sir:

I instituted the use of shearling lambskin for the prevention of bedsores [March 9] at the Boston City Hospital in 1931. A few years later, I received a letter from one associate which quoted Hippocrates:

"A goatskin should be spread underneath to make free course for discharges, giving head to drainage and bearing in mind that these regions (when patients lie a long time in the same posture) develop sores difficult to heal."

I only hope that Hippocrates knew that goatskins were quite susceptible to anthrax.

OTTO J. HERMANN, M.D. Boston

Sir:

For 20 years, I have been squawking about that cotton sheet stretched over rubber or plastic. It is responsible for more discomfort, sleepless nights, and barbiturates administered than any other single factor.

LAUREL EARLE, R.N. Peter Bent Brigham Hospital Boston

Offset Outset

Sir:

There's one thing your fine article on web offset [March 16] has done--taken the mystery out of the offset process. Our 19 newspapers are now changing over to offset. Since we have been working on the transition, one of our editors came up with a line describing the chaos when a paper changes over: "At the outset, there was an upset over the onset of offset." I think that describes what is going on in the newspaper business all over the country.

Louis A. LERNER Executive Vice President Lerner Home Newspapers Chicago

Snipers & Disciples

Sir:

Tennessee Williams' writing will outlive all of us--snipers and disciples. Kalem's cover piece [March 9] was an excellent tribute to a great artist.

JACK HUTTO New York City

Sir:

As a Southerner living in New York, I found Tennessee Williams' plays like a visit to my relatives in Mississippi and Alabama.

Now that I live in Africa, I find fresh assurance that Williams speaks quite literally to modern Africans.

At least, he speaks to one newly enstooled chief who told me recently: "It's going to be better now; Big Daddy can no longer boss me around." He had seen Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in an Accra cinema and had felt quite at home.

WILTON S. DILLON University of Ghana Legon, Ghana

Sir:

Will you convey to Mr. Kalem our compliments for his article on Tennessee Williams? This was dramatic criticism on the level of the most perceptive philosophy.

WILL AND ARIEL DURANT Los Angeles

Sir:

From John Glenn's simple and elevating faith to the mire and miasma of Tennessee Williams in seven days! Does this shift in TIME's covers illustrate what is wrong in America today?

(THE REV.) C. R. STEGALL JR. Westminster Presbyterian Church Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.