Monday, Oct. 31, 1960
Facing the Nation
Sir:
My hat is off to Jack Kennedy on the Great Debate. He is effectively forcing Nixon to acknowledge the errors of the Eisenhower Administration by showing what should have been done in the past.
LLOYD J. CAMPBELL
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
Sir:
As an independent, I am increasingly impressed by John F. Kennedy's performances. Certainly he is a "Jack Be Nimble" who jumps over candlesticks unsinged. After the spellbinding, however, close examination reveals him as a master of the ambiguous statement, able to weave loopholes and cobwebs into a pleasing fabric on every issue. A smooth politician? Certainly. A great leader? Doubtful. My vote will probably go to Mr. Nixon as a man big enough to admit a fault and wise enough to correct it.
HARLAND GERBER
Racine, Wis.
Sir:
Candidate Nixon claims that America is the strongest nation in the world. Candidate Kennedy states that America may well not be the strongest, that we have some work to do. To Mr. Nixon I refer some time-honored advice from St. Paul: "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." *
KELLY GLEASON
Madison, Wis.
Sir:
One thing we must give Mr. Kennedy credit for--he aims to appease. Quemoy's surrender would resemble Munich and achieve the same results. How often must we learn?
MICHAEL H. RAUDENBUSH
Northridge, Calif.
Sir:
Something is obviously wrong in our Government, be it Democratic or Republican, when we spend millions on an island (Formosa) thousands of miles from our shores and lose one (Cuba) just 90 miles south of Florida.
V. J. SCOGIN
Slidell, La.
Sir:
Shame on Senator John Kennedy of Boston, "the home of the bean and the cod," for downgrading beans! That ought to cost him the Boston vote.
HELEN LEE WOODWARD
Wellfleet, Mass.
Sir:
After watching Rounds 1 and 2 of the Kennedy-Nixon debates, I have come to this conclusion: the best thing to do would be to elect both Nixon and Kennedy as co-Presidents. It would be terrible to lose the talent and ability of one of these individuals upon his defeat.
PETER A. KAROPOULOS
Watertown, Mass.
Sir:
We're truly in a sorry fix 'Twixt Kennedy and Dickie Nix. So, faced by this selection shoddy, Write in your choice and vote "Nobody."
JOSEPH A. METZGER
Philadelphia
Little Brother
Sir:
Your Bob Kennedy story induces me to feel: "To hell with the oldtime political bosses, their values and ways!" Let us battle with Bob and his boys for a better, more brotherly, more orderly and organized world of tomorrow.
CARL MOSIG
Arlington, Texas
Sir:
As a lifelong, convinced, prejudiced Republican, I cheer your epithet "Little Brother Bobby." Barbed, two-edged, it should induce every thinking Democrat to place an X on my side of the ballot.
MRS. WALTER B. COLLINS
South Duxbury, Mass.
Sir:
I can't understand why someone doesn't point out that due to Bob Kennedy's incompetence, James Hoffa is running loose today. If Jack's little brother shows the same incompetence in handling Jack's campaign that he did in investigating Hoffa, big brother won't get one electoral vote.
L. F. CUSHENBERY
Oberlin, Kans.
Sir:
The combination of your Bobby Kennedy cover and the account of electoral-vote distribution has undoubtedly prompted many private tally sheets.
As for my own, I don't think it takes a Bobby Kennedy to see a minimum of 320 and possible high of 385 electoral votes for Brother Jack. Care to go out on the limb with me, Bobby?
W. R. WESTON
Limestone, Me.
The Religion Issue
Sir:
I write as a Presbyterian. This issue of religion is nothing short of ignorance.
Repeatedly, Senator Kennedy has taken various oaths to uphold and protect our Constitution: when he voluntarily joined the U.S. Navy, when he entered the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. The same Constitution that Mr. Kennedy has sworn to uphold is the one that states and guarantees that no religious test shall be made against anyone running for public office. Protestant ministers are preaching that Roman Catholics are influenced in political matters--ha! These ministers know their influence, and they are using it--using it to get votes for Dick Nixon!
GARY R. BAKER
Akron
Sir:
Let me assure you that Southern Protestantism is no less a political machine than the accusations it hurls at Catholicism. As a former Southern Protestant (Southern Baptist) for 21 years, I have seen school boards and city governments infiltrated by the religious "machinery" of the Southern Protestant churches--all in the name of religion, of course.
Their so-called "separation of church and state" doctrine is far from a reality. To attempt to disguise bigotry and prejudice under the pretense of "being religious," as some of the Southern Protestant ministers do, is the epitome of hypocrisy pushed to dogmatic lengths.
WILLIAM HUDSON
New York City
The Hardy Breed
Sir:
Thanks for your article of Oct. 17 that deals with Baptists in general and Southern Baptists in particular.
Baptists are a peculiar breed, and I have told Jewish rabbis, "You'll never understand Baptists. They will never persecute people of other religious faiths. They persecute one another." Personally, I think that's good for all concerned. It makes the Baptists a hardy people. Also, where there are two Baptists, you always have three opinions.
I have been a Baptist minister for 30 years and thoroughly enjoy the work. It has been said that if you can be a Baptist minister for 20 years, you can stand anything.
(THE REV.) MERRILL C. SKAUG
Eagle Baptist Church
Eagle, Idaho
Sir:
Please allow me to correct an error in your story on Southern Baptists. I am a native of Kentucky. I was reared in Paducah, the town made famous by Irvin S. Cobb, Alben W. Barkley and the "Duke of Paducah." Thanks for your pretty fair appraisal of Southern Baptists.
(THE REV.) J. D. GREY
First Baptist Church
New Orleans
P.S. I don't simply "smoke cigars"--I smoke good cigars!
Freedom of Propaganda?
Sir:
One of our broadcast companies provided Mr. Khrushchev, our self-declared mortician, with a forum from which to distort history, attempt to confuse us with half-truths and lies, belittle our Government and our way of life. The thin excuse that their broadcast was necessary or excusable in order to prove we have a free press or to disclose the perfidy of Mr. K. is spurious. The only result that could possibly come from giving him a free entry into our homes would be to confuse the immature, some of the less informed or the woolly-minded.
G. C. KLEIN
San Francisco
Sir:
As a voting citizen and a taxpayer and an unwilling contributor to the maintenance of most of our television programs, I am outraged at the audacity of television station WNTA-TV in ignoring our Government's request not to put on a television show with Khrushchev. We have professionals to debate with Khrushchev; the outcome of Susskind's debate with Khrushchev was inevitable. Susskind floundered like an amateur and almost made Khrushchev's standard line of propaganda sound new and sincere.
T. GARDNER HILL
Glen Cove, N.Y.
In Tune
Sir:
In reference to an item about me in the Aug. 15 issue of TIME: The paragraph dealing with my [harpsichord-making] business suggests a fly-by-night operation, turning out inferior instruments with inferior materials to realize a quick profit in the manner of shady operators. To initiate the fly-by-night atmosphere, the word "rundown" loft is used. The loft building in which I am situated has the lowest fire insurance rate of any non-sprinklered building.
Next comes the phrase "mass-produced," which is equated in the public mind with junk. There is the same amount of patient hand labor on my instruments as there is on those of Chain's, Hubbard, et al. Since I specialize in small instruments, however, I am able to turn out more per year than they. As for the Ivaloid plastic keys, this refers merely to the covering, exactly the same covering as is now used by Steinway. The keys are made of wood.
WALLACE ZUCKERMANN
New York City
Radical Conservative
Sir:
The appointment of Stan Evans as editor of the Indianapolis News again accents the stupidity of our educational system. Imagine Evans being magna cum laude and still believing McCarthy was "in the main correct." Oh brother! Undoubtedly, he regurgitated his American history dates. But how about the philosophy and traditions of this great nation?
ELLIS W. ROBERTS
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Sir:
My faith in TIME'S policies of impartiality and objectivity was reaffirmed when I noted the excellent coverage of M. Stanton Evans in your Oct. 10 issue. To know that such a talented young man is a spokesman for conservatism gives me new assurance that not all of my generation have been duped by welfare statists or Lord Russell pacifists. ANNETTE Y. COURTEMANCHE President, Undergraduate Association
Molloy Catholic College for Women
Rockville Centre, N.Y.
Prop Replaced
Sir:
In your story on the magnificent Ford Foundation matching grants to five U.S. universities, you refer to "rich" and "wealthy" Stanford. Boy, do you ever make the job of raising the 3-for-1 matching dollars tough!
Stanford is indeed rich in many things--a fine faculty, an eager student body, a lovely setting--but not in money. Thanks for all the kind things you said about Stanford, but please don't knock the props from under us.
GENE K. WALKER
President, Stanford Associates
Stanford, Calif.
* 1 Corinthians 10: 12.
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