Write In Willkie?
Sirs:
As one of the legion of independent voters not "sold" on either major Presidential candidate, I'd like to have your readers' reactions to an astonishing movement arising in this part of the world. Namely: "Write In Willkie'' on the ballot.
The idea is not a third party, but something similar to LaGuardia's successful Fusion movement, combining the best elements in all parties. Many of us feel we were in no way represented at either political convention. The following are but a few brief reasons why neither candidate appeals:
Both are too tied up with party machines.
In contrast to Willkie, both seem primarily self-pushers, politicians, and only last, patriots.
Our men are not fighting to perpetuate a dynasty, nor inaugurate a dictatorship.
Due to his never having been abroad, Dewey's international viewpoint is necessarily narrow.
We are wary of mere campaign promises regarding national policies.
We do not relish the possibility of Truman as a President.
In contrast, Willkie's blunt honesty, his freedom from political entanglements, his unquestioned patriotism, his practical idealism concerning the U.S.'s inevitable participation in a One World future, make him the kind of leader we so desperately need in the next few years--in war and peace.
We would like to know if there is any legal reason in this nation of so-called representative government why we cannot vote for Willkie.
BARBARA B. WALKER
Boston
P: There is. U.S. citizens may not vote directly for Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates, but only for slates of electors, chosen by a regularly qualified political party.--ED.
What's the Use?
Sirs:
The brutal presentation of what you call "Hard Facts" (about return of soldiers to combat after furloughs home--TIME, Sept. 4) inestimably lowered the morale of every G.I. overseas.
Though not in a combat area, we have served overseas well over the 18 months minimum required. Therefore we think we know the longing with which Joe looks forward to his 21 days at home. Your article did not help to make those precious three weeks any more enjoyable. We are not afraid to face the facts, but we do resent being slapped in the face with them; we learn the unpleasant things fast enough.
TIME, long a favorite of Joe, has just caused the soldier overseas to shrug and say, "What's the use?"
(SGT.) TOM OBERSCHMIDT
(S/SGT.) JAMES MCCORMACK
(M/SGT.) ALEXANDER DEAS
(CPL.) GERALD SNEDEKER
(CPL.) MARCEL PELOQUIN
(PvT.) GUIDO RE
(SGT.) ALBERT WEXLER
c/o Postmaster
Miami, Fla.
Sirs:
You mention the "hard, unhappy-looking men" keeping to themselves along the Atlantic City boardwalk and brooding over their 3.2 beer [TIME, Sept.11]. I was one of the original band who opened the redistribution center in October of 1943. We were "war-wearies" from all theaters and had had more than our fill of combat, but we were too happy to be home and alive to do any brooding. After the first shock of being treated like gentlemen we settled down to enjoy the marvelous facilities the army provided for our entertainment and enjoyment. We did not avoid civilians but it so happened we had little contact with them. The few that we did meet were more than pleasant and helpful. I am afraid that your reporter does not understand the first prerogative of any soldier: perpetual bitching. What you may mistake for deep-seated bitterness is merely our way of retaining our individuality.
SHERWIN KIBBE
1st Lieutenant
Monroe, La.
Sirs:
I have a gripe. Its crux is the problem of returning servicemen.
They scream we don't understand them when they come home. We don't know what it's like to see our buddy shot down in flames or ripped to pieces with a shell burst. How in hell could we know? . . .
You come home from the inferno and find a placid bunch of people who don't even know there's a war on. No bombers flew over us in a storm of death, chums. No snipers lurked at the corner of 3rd and Market; no ack-ack batteries picked us off in our penthouses. But that isn't our fault. It's a tribute to you. You kept us safe and we appreciate it. . . .
What is it you want? To know that we are sweating to back you up? When you needed a gun you got it, didn't you? You are the best equipped fighting force in the whole world, and you didn't get that way by our sitting at home on our fat fannies. Sure, we have slackers. The Army has goldbrickers, too.
Remember why you enlisted? To keep from being drafted or because all your friends were in? Did you apply for a commission because you felt you could do more toward winning the war that way, or because you could make more money, and you liked the prestige of being an officer?
You see? We are making the best of what we have, and you are too. You are maybe not in the service from choice but it is all part of being a young man and a member of a human race whose way of life seems to include periodic wars. . . .
You come home from hell and find us full of lassitude and complacency and you want to kick our teeth in. We can see your point. Can you see our point? We originally were made of the same fabric. Yours is maybe now a little tattered. But it can be mended. We can meet on a common plane if you will understand us too. We are the reality. The scene of battle is in an obscure past. We are the future, your future. You had better accept us and our frailties and our good intentions.
This is directed specifically in reply to TIME's article on morale (Sept.11).
I might add that this is not all idle chatter, that I am looking forward with much joy and not a little trepidation to my husband's return from England where he is the navigator of a B17. . . .
JEAN P. HAYDON
San Francisco
Shave for Shopkeepers?
Sirs:
It would seem logical and fair that, for every French prostitute so eagerly shaven and stripped by the impromptu courts held by French people, one shopkeeper and one businessman or businesswoman should also be given the same treatment. They, too, in their own way, have been doing business with the Nazis, the only difference, perhaps, being in the greater profit realized by the shopkeeper and businessman.
It seems odd that the French, whose history and literature so abound with freedom of expression as far as sex is concerned, should use sexual morality as the discriminatory basis for meting out punishment.
(T/SGT.) ROBERT W. RUSSELL
Santa Ana, Calif.
P: Would Sgt. Russell have had all French shops shut their doors, to Frenchmen as well as Germans, during the occupation?--ED.
Cheerless Prospect
Sirs:
Things look good in Europe, but bad here. Practically everyone seems to think the whole world war is just about over, and that all we need do now is to plan fur coats and automobiles for the almost immediate future. Which probably means that the coming tough encounter with Japan will be prolonged months or years longer than necessary because of the letdown caused by false optimism. And that means plenty of lives just wasted! Not a cheering prospect for us, nor for our comrades, the soldiers and sailors. Mightn't be a bad idea to celebrate Germany's end, when it comes, not by getting drunk but by getting hep to the fact that Japan can and may withdraw to China and hold out there for years unless we stay tough-minded, clear-eyed and in there punching.
(MERCHANT SEAMAN)
New York City
Dewey's Dummies?
Sirs:
Governor Dewey has launched a campaign of propaganda which may turn out to be very harmful to the fighting spirit of the American people and discouraging to our Allies. He speaks through the Congress man who implies that President Roosevelt was the Judas of Pearl Harbor, and through Governor Bricker who implies that the war was devised to provide jobs for the jobless. These are poisonous ideas that catch on easily and break down people's determination to see this war through to the bitter end. . . .
People do vote by custom or habit, it is true, but they may get wise to a lawyer's bag of tricks, too.
MARION PALMER
West Hempstead, N.Y.
CINCUSA?
Sirs:
How about CINCUSA (Commander in Chief of United States of America) as a synonym for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the President, F.D.R., etc.?
J. T. CROWE
Tacoma, Wash.
Salute to Hewitt
Sirs:
Like a baseball fan who has just seen his favorite team and then rushed to read his favorite correspondent's view of the game, so we with this Naval Task Force off Southern France waited for TIME. Unlike the fan, we shared your correspondent's grandstand seat, his secrets (the Navy plan of attack and the Army follow-up), and his close-up of the leaders and the players.
Your Aug. 21 issue and your Aug. 28 issue arrived four days after the date of publication and thus earned your circulation department a "well done." Editorially--"Good God." The 21st sounded like a program preview; the 28th like the fifth inning of the same game. What happened to the warm-up and the first four innings? . . .
General Patch is a fine fellow and a great leader on land, undoubtedly, but anyone will tell you that until the Army is ashore and headquartered, the amphibious attack is in the hands of the top naval officer--this time Vice-Admiral H. Kent Hewitt. . . .
How about the naval gunfire here that broke the "brittle shell" and either killed the coastal defenders or scared them to death? How about the minesweeps clearing the way for the assault troops up to 200 yards offshore in broad daylight? How about the gigantic task of collecting all these "some 1,000 ships" divided into three distinct forces and bringing them to the right place at exactly the right moment? And how about the Admirals in charge of these Task Forces under Hewitt--Rear Admirals Frank J. Lowry, Bertram J. Rodgers, and Spencer Lewis ?
Your articles took us on the trip all right, but you missed the boat! . . .
(NAVY LIEUTENANT'S NAME WITHHELD )
c/o Postmaster
New York City
P: Admiral Hewitt & Co. who have by no means gone unmentioned in TIME (July 26, 1943), rate a 15-gun salute for good work in five tough amphibious operations: the landings in Africa, Sicily, at Salerno, Anzio, Southern France. Possessor of one of the U.S. Navy's most brilliant mathematical minds, Admiral Hewitt is one of the prime organizers of U.S. amphibious warfare.--ED.
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