"Nullo" In '52?
Sir:
As nearly as I can gather from a sampling of forecasts, the long-suffering U.S.A.-ers are likely to be forced with a '52 presidential choice between Harry S. Truman and Robert Taft. It will be like playing "nullo" with the resources of the nation--human, spiritual and material. Low man wins--because what can we choose between these two egocentric party-liners other than the lesser evil?
Heaven help us if soon there does not emerge among our politicians a leader who has better than a party-eye view of this democracy of ours . . .
CLARICE H. HUFFAKER Omaha
Sir:
Your July 30 correspondent, A. E. Cornell, wants to rally the independents for Eisenhower . . . And he says, "Taft can't win." That's what they all said out in Ohio. But Taft will win again, while "Ike" waits for both parties to nominate him.
LAMBERT FAIRCHILD New York City
Vinson on Truth
Sir:
In the July 23 issue you quote Chief Justice Vinson as saying, "Nothing is more certain in modern society than the principle that there are no absolutes." Vinson either contradicts himself or he is a very foolish man, for he says in effect that he is not absolute about his very statement.
If he really believes what he says, what manner of men have we heading up the Government? On what principle of certitude do they base their profound judgments? Truth is that which is, or can be . . .
Stratford, Conn. NEIL R" GAHAGAN
Sir:
. . . Assuming that Mr. Vinson is an honorable man, his only alternative is to resign from his job as interpreter of our laws . . . This action is certainly the best he could do in the interests of our nation.
MARY MEYER Eagleville, Pa.
Pass the Plums, Please
Sir:
If Dr. George M. Smith prefers pigs to peaches [TIME, July 23], he's welcome to them. But to peddle the idea that it's more physiological to run your fruits & vegetables through a pig before eating them is a far cry from the physiology I studied in medical school . . .
For my money, I'll eat the "deteriorating diet" of the Maoris of New Zealand and join the modern craze for fruits & vegetables. If more Americans would follow suit, we might better our sorry statistics: three out of four Americans eat an inadequate diet, short on fresh fruits and green vegetables.
J. DEWITT Fox. M.D.
Washington
Endorsement for a P.R.O.
Sir:
. . . In your issue of July 23 you say of Brigadier General Frank A. ("Honk") Allen: ". . . As press chief for General Eisenhower during World War II, he was blamed for holding up news of the German offensive at the Battle of the Bulge." Blamed, yes, by those who did not know that in Allen's pocket there was an order from Lieut. General Walter Bedell Smith, Chief of Staff of SHAEF, saying in substance, "there will be a lag of 48 hours in all news given about our positions during this situation" . . .
You say further: "He also held up the news of the German surrender and the war's end until A.P.'s Ed Kennedy defied the ban and broke the story." But for one who was sitting alongside of Allen when he pleaded with General Eisenhower to get the "heads of state" to release the story of the surrender ahead of the time agreed upon by [the Allies] and heard the reply from Eisenhower, "Those are my orders, Allen, and by God, they are yours, too!", this continued blaming of Allen strikes a very sour note.
And now the correspondents are blaming Allen again--forgetting that the chain of command is still Pentagon and/or State Department, Supreme Commander and then Information Chief . . .
BURROWS MATTHEWS
Editor
Buffalo Courier-Express (Formerly Chief of Operations, SHAEF)
RCA's General Sir:
Your David Sarnoff July 23 article was terrific. The cover itself was close to being a masterpiece. While being ostensibly a picture of General Sarnoff on a background of RCA 45 r.p.m. multicolored records (the "5-inch record with the 6-inch hole," as it was first laughingly referred to), it was, to a radio engineer, a greatly enlarged artist's representation of the face of one type of RCA color television picture tube. This tube has red, blue and green dots in a mosaic pattern similar to Artist Chaliapin's . . .
WM. B. LURIE
Bronxville, N.Y.
Sir:
As an ex-office boy (1930-36) to General Sarnoff . . . I remember well his prediction in those days of an individual "wearing on his person a miniature radio receiving set--each assigned his own frequency"--so many years ahead of Dick Tracy* . . .
JOHN ESPOSITO
New York City
Machine-Age Change Sir:
Has the quality of our minds changed or has the machine age changed us?
"Clutter to Clarity" is as revealing as the sharp, clear color in which TIME [July 30] presented two of the rooms I designed for the opening of Corning Glass Works' new museum. The precision of the machine age appears to have created a new kind of elegance.
Probably without analyzing it, the Victorian woman felt impelled to cover herself with layer upon heavy layer of elegant materials, awkwardly expanded with hoops and bustles, to help her personality compete with the cluttered detail of her rooms. The woman of today . . . can sparkle, even in a simple sheath gown, without fear that the elegance of her personality and appearance will be lost . . .
LEIGH ALLEN
New York City
P.S. to Cicero Story
Sir:
As a Negro soldier over here in Korea, I sometimes wonder just what am I really fighting for when I read about such riots as those that occurred in Cicero and other American communities.
The people of Cicero by such unwarranted bigotry have created a deadlier effect on my morale and on hundreds of other Negroes here than any Communist bullets . . .
I must warn [them] that they cannot ever expect the Americans to prove to the millions of people in Asia and Africa that our form of government is really the best for them, when American citizens participate in such riots . . .
(Pfc.) KARL LAVAL YOUNG c/o Postmaster San Francisco
Sir:
Your story made me angrier than anything I have read in a long time.
If American citizens living in the U.S. are being deprived of their . . . rights, what in the name of heaven are we doing trying to establish freedom, justice, etc., etc. over here? . . .
(Sgt.) TEX KNOLLE Tokyo, Japan
Sir:
. . . I am filled with shame for my fellow "white" man.
Please forward the enclosed check to ex-Sergeant Harvey E. Clark Jr. as a small contribution toward replacing his destroyed furniture.
R. MATSON Los Angeles
Sir: The least that can be done is to make known to Mr. Clark that other Americans are ashamed of what happened and want to help.
I assume you will receive other contributions and will be grateful if you will kindly send to Mr. Clark the amount represented by this check to help replace what he lost.
WALTER H. GRAY Bishop of Connecticut Hartford, Conn.
P:TIME has forwarded these checks, along with other contributions, directly to the Harvey Clarks. -- ED.
* Who has a two-way wrist radio.
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