Fulbright's Debate

Sir: Your cover story on Senator Fulbright [Jan. 22] was brilliant. I admire and respect him for his interpretation of foreign affairs. The world certainly needs men who educate themselves and others by "thinking those unthinkable thoughts."

BJORN LINDSTAD

Gentofte, Denmark

Sir: Senator Fulbright hopes for an improvement in the political and military situation, but does not offer a plan for attaining it. He opposes getting out of Viet Nam and opposes escalating the war. He wants to continue present policy, and hopes for an improvement in this situation that deteriorates daily. Evidently our chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has neither plan nor plot, but merely hope. I too hope. I hope that he and we will form a positive strategy and pursue it. But I am getting less and less hopeful.

BERT SHAPIRO

San Francisco

Sir: If it is true that Maxwell Taylor, in talking to a group of "Young Turk" generals in Saigon, used the rough manner described in your articles, then this is a matter for grave concern. Such condescension is reminiscent of the arrogance and highhanded attitude of French officials in dealing with our people on many occasions. This French arrogance brought them utter defeat in Indo-China and sowed hatred among the Vietnamese for many years to come.

DO NGUYEN ANH

Saigon

Sir: The "quiet escalation" in Laos will eventually lead to a confrontation between the Paper Tiger and the Red Dragon--and this time it won't stop at a 38th parallel. There's too much at stake.

ANTHONY PEDERSON

Waterville, Iowa

Sir: Re the "neutralization" policy advanced by Lippmann and Morgenthau, I disagree with your implication that if the U.S. "dismissed" Asia and Africa as "soft regions," then it would be only a matter of time before the U.S. would also consider Europe and the Americas in the same light. The histories of Europe and the Americas have been too closely interconnected with that of the U.S. for it to suddenly chuck the solid ties of friendship and cooperation presently existing among them. Private U.S. investment capital in Europe and the Americas alone would preclude any "dismissal" of these areas as secondary to the core interests of the U.S. Even if the U.S. were to "write off" these areas as soft regions, there would be scant likelihood of their developing Communist political systems, at least of the Moscow-Peking variety. Present tendencies in Europe and the Americas are toward a more nationalistic brand of Communism and socialism.

FRANK KEIM

College, Alaska

The New Congress

Sir: You, your artist, and staff writers produced a splendid article on Congress' Majority Leader Carl Albert [Jan. 15]. Serving as Mr. Albert's pastor, I have had the opportunity of coming to know and understand him. My wife and I agree that while the artist made him look too fat, the genuine warmth and integrity that makes him the remarkable leader he is did shine through both the painting and article in a fine way.

RICHARD E. GIBBENS

Grand Avenue Methodist Church McAlester, Okla.

Sir: Your article on Carl Albert and the Johnson program was most enlightening. It points up, however indirectly, that the President intends to follow the path of his predecessors in worrying about the domestic areas only and ignoring or playing down the foreign situations. Such attitudes in the past failed to prevent Hitlerism, Pearl Harbor and Korea. Is history going to repeat itself?

TERRY C. THOMAS

Lowry A.F.B., Colo.

Sir: Cover Artist Boris Chaliapin successfully captured the dilemma of the Republican Party on the Jan. 15 cover. Not only are they fighting against the obvious 2-1 Democratic majority in Congress, but also against a hidden third force in the split within their own ranks. Could another elephant out of the painting be helping the two donkeys pull down the poor elephant?

LANE G. LENARD

Geneva, N.Y.

Sir: What a pair we've got now! An ineffectual Senate majority leader and a part-time Democrat as Senate majority whip. Long suddenly observes that the Civil War is over, and that we live in a "changing world" where "things move." He'd be great at forecasting trends!

MONNIE F. ANDERSON

London

Sir: You note that critics complain that House Minority Leader Ford is "ruled solely by ambition." It has been my pleasure to know and work with Congressman Ford for the last 15-odd years. If I were to criticize Jerry Ford, it would be because he has deferred his personal advance many times to the ambitions of others.

WALTER J. RUSSELL

Grand Rapids

Society Sources

Sir: Perhaps the President's "Great Society" phrase has as its source [Jan. 15] the medieval preaching of Englishman John Ball on social reform that led to the so-called Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Some historians note that the phrase was indeed in use at the time of that ill-fated event, and L.B.J. might have done well to look up its outcome: John Ball was drawn and quartered, and Wat Tyler's head was impaled upon London Bridge.

K. L. ROPER

Reno

Sir: Van Wyck Brooks in his Letters and Leadership wrote: "Without leaders we cannot have a great society."

IKCHAN UM

Rutherford, N.J.

Sir: There is One great society alone on earth: The noble living and the noble dead. --William Wordsworth GERALD ASHFORD

San Antonio

Sir: Another possible inspiration is Michael Harrington's book The Other America [Feb. 7, 1964]. In this work, Mr. Harrington constantly refers to the "great society" as the one from which the poor in our nation are constantly excluded.

BARBARA PARSONS

New Orleans

Not Very Average

Sir: Daggers to your critic who erroneously assumes that Nothing but a Man is a movie that "describes what life is like for an average Negro in America" [Jan. 15]. Contrary to his belief, the so-called average Negro family does not consist of a man who never knew his father and who has had a bastard son of his own! I am a Negro myself, but I would never assume to judge what comprises the so-called average American Negro myself. How the hell can TIME?

(MRS.) DOLORES FIELDS

Akron

Syrian Blues

Sir: We have come to expect Syria to change its government from day to day, but not TIME its facts from page to page. Though the count will change again before you can recheck your data, was it "18 governments in 15 years" or "15 government reshuffles in 18 years"?

EARL J. WYMAN

Madison, Wis.

Fifteen attempted coups in 18 years, says our temporarily strabismical researcher.

Midas' Curse

Sir: Truly, it is nonsensical for us to ignore our long-dwindling but still very substantial gold supply [Jan. 22] to the point where a mischief-maker in world money markets can embarrass us (and predictably, old Mischief Maker Charles de Gaulle would be the one to do it). Let us recognize that after all, the domestic soundness of our dollar in our expanding economy is based not on an unreachable gold reserve but on responsible and enduring fiscal policies secured by the fabulous energy, brains and productivity of our people.

GEORGE LADD

York Haven, Pa.

Sir: Unfortunately, few people understand the laws that should govern the circulation of money in a modern economy. After all, isn't money just the counterpart of goods delivered or services rendered? The amount of money in circulation should not depend on the chances of gold being found or even on the bad temper of Charles de Gaulle, but rather on the measurable requirements of a modern economy. That gold in Fort Knox is a most fantastic relic of an ancient age. Give all the gold to the French and let De Gaulle become another King Midas.

WALTER H. GRAF

Milan

Sir: All currencies, not only the dollar, have already been devalued in terms of all goods--except gold. Every world currency is worth only a fraction of its goods value of 1933. How can one be surprised that the supply of gold has not kept pace with the expansion of trade if its price has not been allowed to keep pace with rising prices? It is not, therefore, a question of further devaluing the already devalued dollar, but of increasing the price of gold. Such an increase would obviously be worldwide, leaving the relation between currencies unchanged.

PETER BUBELA

Taxco, Mexico

Divine Time

Sir: Although that pendulum-and-map method of finding lost objects in your story about French astrologers [Jan. 15] is thought of as something magical, the plain fact of the matter is that it works. However, the functioning of the gadget is quite scientific, and is based upon reverse psychology: the guards at the portals of the subconscious always do precisely what the conscious mind is telling them not to do. Therefore, when a person consciously attempts to hold the pendulum motionless, it commences to sway. Subsequently, since the subconscious retains all memories, including where a person might have lost a given object, inevitably the pendulum begins to circle the spot where the object was lost. If it's been stolen, of course, no dice. Proof of this function is easy to demonstrate. Without consulting your watch, draw a circle, indicate the numerals 1 to 12 as on a clock face, and suspend a pendulum (such as a pencil suspended from a needle in the eraser end, the needle dangling from a short thread) over the enter of the "dial," then ask the pendulum what time it is. Within a few seconds, your hand will stray, and the pendulum will arc back and forth at the proper time for instance, arcing about one-third of :he way between the 7 and the 8 would 20 minutes past 7). This is because the mind has a built-in clock that always cnows precisely what hour, minute and second it is, day and night.

JACK SHARKEY

Chicago

Movies' First Lady

Sir: When the materialists of the magazine world speculate on the personal life of someone of Mrs. Kennedy's magnitude [Jan. 22] and attempt to render her emotions trite for their own selfish gain, something should be done. We're glad that TIME took the initial step.

MICHAEL T. MCCORMICK THOMAS D. MCCLOSKEY JR. Notre Dame, Ind.

Sir: Hail, TIME, for your article on Jackie Kennedy and Hollywood. I have long seen this "junk" on the newsstands, and it disgusts me. I'm glad to see that someone put those money-hungry bums in their place.

JOE MONREAL

San Diego

Sir: My compliments to your writer and your whole staff on defending the reputation and name of this woman.

DENNIS G. ESSIG

New York City

Undermining Manners

Sir: Granted some commercials are clever and enjoyable [Jan. 22]. But to go so far as to praise Bert Lahr's "old Aunt Tillie"--that's just plain bad taste. We spend one-quarter of a lifetime trying to teach our children manners and respect for their elders. To have them then subjected to an "old lady" grabbing a bag of potato chips (a brand I will never buy) away from a child--well, that's just too much for a mother to bear.

(MRS.) RITA MARGOLIN

Yorktown Heights, N.Y.

Sir: I do enjoy watching Bert Lahr eat a potato chip, but no one can convince me that James Mason drinks Thunderbird wine.

JANE KAHN

New York City

25,000 Popsicle Sticks

Sir: Speaking as a practicing applied-mathematician, I am not surprised that the "new math" may result in a "generation of kids who can't do computational arithmetic [Jan. 22]." Even the deepest understanding of the laws of buoyancy and hydrodynamics has never taught anyone how to swim. Some skills have to be acquired the hard way, and doing sums is one of them. Beberman's idea of buying 25,000 Popsicle sticks isn't bad at all. Forced to add, say, 17,281 and 6,666 Popsicle sticks physically, the kids would beg to learn some labor-saving trick (such as "carrying").

ALAN KARDAS

Chicago

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