At the Convention

SIR:

ALTHOUGH A MEMBER OF THE DINOSAUR WING OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, I OBJECT TO THE TACTICS OF SENATOR TAFT. THE STEAMROLLER HAS TO STOP. IT IS GOING TO STOP. THERE IS A DEAD END STREET IN CHICAGO.

KIMBALL PENNEY SAN FRANCISCO

Sir:

Your continual yammering about the "Taft machine" here and the "Taft machine" there, to the glory of smiling, lovable, everybody's friend "Ike," has left a rotten taste in the mouths of thousands of Taft boosters like myself ... If Ike does get the nod in Chicago, he'll know what it is to be up against a machine...

D. T. QUINN Brooklyn, N.Y.

Sir:

Taft's arrogance and highhandedness may win him the nomination in July but will lose him the election in November. The Republicans seem not to have profited by the lesson of Dewey's defeat in 1948. If the Republicans really want to win a presidential election, they had better sit down and study the campaign tactics of the Democrats.

EDWARD P. J. CORBETT Chicago

Sir:

Your recent articles on Taft and Eisenhower have been most informative, but can someone tell me why "Mr. Republican" doesn't sit back and size up the situation as it actually exists and act accordingly?...For the first time in 20 years the Republicans have a chance to get into power, and the Taft forces are deliberately throwing it away. Taft will never get a Democrat's vote in his own right. Why doesn't he haul down his presidential banner and run as Ike's VP? Together they would have a landslide...

DOROTHY G. KNAUR Denison, Texas

Sir:

At the convention, Americans will have to choose between Senator Taft, whose whole political life seems to have been a preparation for the presidency, and General Eisenhower, an able, well-meaning and charming army man, with no background of political experience.

Those who are now shouting "I like Ike" forget that we Americans have been paying dearly in blood and tears for our sentimental hero worship. We worshiped F. D. Roosevelt, only to hear the charge that his policies at Yalta and elsewhere were responsible for strengthening Communism. We worshiped General Marshall, only to see him condemned for losing China to democracy. If, seemingly, our recent heroes have proved giants with feet of clay, what warrant is there for holding that Eisenhower--the glamour boy of the hour--will not bring us more, and bitterer, disappointments?...

(THE REV.) FRANCIS C. COPOZZI West Bangor, Pa.

Sir:

This is a plea to all delegates to the convention...If you Republicans are statesmen and not mere politicians, you must realize that Eisenhower is ideally fitted to lead the country. He is a gifted organizer and a superb mediator. With the proper politically experienced helpers behind him (not just bitter opponents to the Demo-donkeys), he could do more for the country--and the Republican Party--than a dozen didactic Tafts...

Too many of my friends and acquaintances are already saying, "What's the use? The G.O.P. professionals are going to steamroller the convention anyway. They are afraid to put Eisenhower in because he isn't tied to their apron strings!" I don't believe it. I'm sure that all honest delegates want to nominate a man who will win the support of the voters. Nominate Eisenhower, and I'll bet my only tax-free dollar that he will be the best Republican President this country ever had.

MARJORIE BARRETT Detroit

Sir:

...The delegates to the convention will do well to bear in mind that if Eisenhower is nominated, many Democrats and most of the Independents will vote for him. If Taft is nominated, we may expect to see a Democratic President elected.

A. S. FROHMAN Portland, Ore.

Sir:

...There is a type of thinking in my part of the country which asserts with some bravado: "I would rather lose with Taft than win with Eisenhower.'' I propose a more worthy slogan: I should rather lose, fighting a clean campaign, than win in the ranks of a crooked one.

GERTRUDE BILDERBACK. Champaign, Ill.

Situation in Texas

Sir:

The Republican situation here is a mess and a disgrace...[National Committeeman] Harry Zweifel and his gang are trying to keep the Republican Party in Texas a small private club. This has to be stopped ...1952 presented a golden opportunity to make Texas a real two-party state...As a matter of fact...many people firmly think that Eisenhower could carry Texas--but not Taft.

There are many fine people in the Republican Party, including politicians...and some of them must be vitally interested in its future...If we could get in touch with the right man--a power in the Republican National Committee who is not too pro Taft or Ike--we might be able to get him to realize how bad the Texas situation is, and get him to clean out the present committee. It has to be done quickly...

I am a member of a local group of some 50 citizens originally organized to work for Ike, but we now are dedicated to work for a clean, honest government...We are very much alarmed over the present state of affairs, and more than irate over the way our vote was ignored at Mineral Wells.

JOHN F. ANDREWS Lubbock, Texas

Should a Woman Tell?

Sir:

Re Gloria Grahame's comment--U.S. girls are "too proper" to give Dr. Kinsey much help in researching his new book on the U.S. female [TIME, June 16]--I submit that the word "proper" has accusing connotations. Why not say that the average American woman is too discreet or self-respecting to rattle off about her sex behavior to even the smoothest interviewer? If Kinsey ever does get out his report on women, he should abandon the present pretentious title and call it Sexual Behavior in the American Female Who Is Willing to Talk About It--hardly a representative group, even in a "liberal" age which encourages Dr. Kinsey to operate.

ROBERT V. WILLS Encino, Calif.

TIME v. Webster

Sir:

Can you have meant this? "There was something mighty familiar about the way Harry Truman was acting. Almost every time he got a chance to say a few words in public, he had a mouthful of invective for his opponents and fulsome praise for his Administration"--TIME, June 9.

Webster defines fulsome: "offensive to moral or esthetic sensibility or to the sense of propriety; repulsive, disgusting; esp. offensive from insincerity or baseness of motive..."

JOSEPH E. SALTZMAN Hartsdale, N.Y.

Sir:

..."Fulsome praise" indeed! Is TIME editorializing or has Harry taken to admitting it?"

JESSE E. HARRIMAN Worcester, Mass.

P: Harry has not taken to admitting it, but TIME admits that it misused "fulsome"; TIME meant "undiluted."--ED.

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