Cuban Trade
Sir:
Castro's offer to trade 1,000 prisoners for 500 bulldozers is pure public blackmail. Yet I sense no wave of righteous indignation in the press or on the air . . . only foul submission. Mrs. Roosevelt and the Government of the U.S. make me sick.
FRED FINCH Spokane
Sir:
Inasmuch as Khrushchev and his Caribbean pal are agreed on their intention to bury us, 500 bulldozers will certainly come in handy.
W. H. KNOWLES Pompano Beach, Fla.
Sir:
If 500 farm tractors will ransom 1,200 Cubans from their homeland, maybe a nuclear submarine or two will redeem the Americans held in Red Chinese jails, and 100 B-58s will persuade the East Germans to release 10,000 of their malcontents.
ROBERTA F. GLEITER
Topeka, Kans.
Sir:
As an American citizen, a Korean veteran, and one who is damned sick of dollar diplomacy, I strongly object to the Tractors for Freedom Committee.
Are we as a nation so soft that we will resort to the payment of blackmail to a psychopathic, power-hungry dictator to avoid our responsibilities? There is no doubt of our obligation to the members of the unsuccessful invasion force, since they were apparently ill advised by our intelligence groups; but far more satisfactory methods of obtaining their freedom are close at hand.
I suggest that Tractors for Freedom be diverted to deserving South American countries--for who can deny the economic value of such a movement--and substituting a "Troops Instead of Tractors" committee for Dr. Castro. No doubt some critics would be aghast, but wouldn't it be wonderful to see our national pride glow again?
F. G. MERSER
Natick, Mass.
The Freedom Ride
Sir:
All men are entitled to equal opportunity and equal public facilities, all unsegregated, both morally and under the law. Nevertheless, the Southern segregationists are citizens of the U.S., too, and, more important, are also human beings, with the same feelings and sensibilities as the Negro. Education, not force, will change their misguided beliefs.
Antagonism, the method of the Freedom Riders, only causes more bad feeling and bloodshed, and in the end only makes the road to complete freedom more rocky. In this way, those Freedom Riders are not bringing freedom about, at all, but are preventing it and subverting its accession.
STEVEN E. HENIGSON Los Angeles
Sir:
Speaking of CORE's Freedom Riders [May 26], you say: "They were, in fact, hunting for trouble--and last week in Alabama they found more of it than they wanted." In actual fact, CORE's Freedom Riders were not hunting for trouble but for service--and they found it in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
Our purpose was not to demonstrate that segregation still exists in the South, but rather to end that segregation which we all know exists in interstate travel. We shall go on--calmly and with dignity, with understanding in our hearts, but also with firmness. We cannot wait for segregation to be removed at the rate of 1% a year. The time to act for all Americans to achieve an America of dignity for all is now.
MARVIN RICH
Community Relations Director CORE New York City
Sir:
Now I know what sacrifices Kennedy is asking of us: Cuba, Laos, Viet Nam--Alabama.
JANE C. HARRIS Wichita, Kans.
Faraway Places
Sir:
The photograph produced in your May 19 issue of Emile Gauguin is a startling contrast to the slim young man, the Tahitian son of Paul Gauguin, whom I sketched in Tahiti upon my return from the Gambier Archipelago in 1929. My book, Manga Reva, The Forgotten Islands, is the story of that six months I spent in the Gambier Archipelago. The drawing is in the collection of the
late R. R. McCormick, who published the Chicago Tribune, and is now in the home of his widow in Washington, D.C.
ROBERT LEE ESKRIDGE Olympia, Wash.
Might They All Be One?
Sir:
I am once again dismayed by a discussion of union between Protestant churches [May 26] in which the last item of consideration seems to be theology. Union for the sake of union itself, plus the fostering of an ephemeral dynamism that Dr. Blake senses, may have some validity, but do the beliefs of these individual churches mean nothing?
The proposal seems to say that union is good and therefore if no one brings up embarrassing theological differences, the four churches in question may bring it off; but as theology fades and the meaning of church fades to country-clubbiness, what happens to religion?
RONALD V. MERSHART St. Louis
Sir:
Better than a thousand sermons was your coverage of Blake's proposal to unite four major Protestant denominations. The average layman says: "Why not?" The clergy question: "When?" And our Blessed Lord prays, ". . . that they all may be one."
EDWARD A. PUFF Pastor
United Church of Christ Dayton
Sir:
Dr. Blake would unite the churches by throwing out the Protestant principle of sola scriptura. Once the Biblical curb on ecclesiastical power is removed, there is not a chance of stopping the bureaucrat. And guess who that lucky dog would be? The "organization man"--the man in the image of Dr. Blake. Our appeal to sola scriptura was given the heave ho. But without sola scriptura, you simply cannot be Protestant at all, much less Calvinist.
EDWARDS E. ELLIOTT Pastor
Garden Grove Orthodox Presbyterian Church Garden Grove, Calif.
Full Count
Sir:
The claim by the Roman Catholic Church that its members comprise 24% of the population of the U.S. [May 19] is impressive, as it was designed to be, but the Roman Catholic Church counts infants, children and adults as members. Most Protestant groups only count as members those who have been confirmed, generally age 13 or older.
RAYMOND P. BAREISS Philadelphia
Who Gets In
Sir:
The article in the May 19th issue concerning Don F. Odell of Denver may tend to give the impression that this is an unusual case. A dozen or more of the 250 applicants for admission to Harvard College that we interviewed this year had College Board scores averaging 750 or higher, and a few had 800s in mathematical aptitude or achievement tests. We rejected most of them.
It is probable that Swarthmore finds, just as Harvard does, that it could draw its entire entering class from applicants having College Board scores above the 700 level. For this reason, the selection must be made on the basis of something other than academic ability, after the elimination of applicants who would be unable to keep up with the required minimum standards of work. We like to have a few outstanding pure scholars and many leaders in various fields of endeavor.
J. C. DONNELLY Chicago
Sir:
Many Eastern schools, such as Swarthmore, are practicing the utmost in narrow-mindedness in their refusal of such Western students. More noteworthy, however, is the fact that, in their endeavors to retain so-called Eastern superiority and prestige, they are only cheating themselves.
WALTER J. LUCIEN JR. Chatsworth, Calif.
Top Men Out
Sir:
I am wondering how many times in the history of the U.S. the President and Vice President and Secretary of State have been out of the country at the same time, as was the case when Kennedy was in Canada, Johnson in Asia and Rusk in Geneva?
DONALD E. STAMY Marion, Iowa
P: Widespread overseas travel for top U.S. officials is a recently acquired custom. In 1957, President Eisenhower and Secretary of State Dulles met with Britain's Harold Macmillan in Bermuda while Vice President Nixon was in Africa. President Truman and Secretary of State Byrnes went to Potsdam in 1945 at a time when there was no Vice President.--ED.
Jewishness
Sir:
About your May 19 article on Jewishness: Here's how this Israeli of American origin sees it. If American Jews feel so much a real, integral part of American life, why do they segregate themselves into carbon copies of non-Jewish groups? These contribute nothing to Judaism. They merely insulate the Jews so that they can continue to feel they are fully accepted, something they keep telling themselves every day.
Of course, many more American Jews should come to Israel. We need them to build the country. The attitude of American Jews toward Israel is essentially immoral. They "thrill" to Israel's achievements, they look to Israel as a "center for the expression of the Jewish spirit."
But they are afraid, and they are empty. They are afraid of taking a slightly lower living standard, afraid of the Arabs, afraid to leave their mother or their grandchildren.
Isn't it ludicrous for praying Jews to beseech God to "take us back to Zion, thy holy city," when they can do this by taking the next boat?
M. K. OHRBACH Tel Aviv, Israel
Sir:
I see myself as entirely an American, but this makes me no less a devout Jew.
Israel, the land of my forefathers, holds a truly sacred place in my heart. The events that took place there in Biblical days were glorious, and I dream of visiting it. However, I have found my Zion in America.
MYRNA GOLDENBERG Chicago
The Meaning of Luster
Sir:
I read TIME'S May 19 article on our decorations and would like to point out that a basic reason, not mentioned by TIME, for lackluster medals is the almost complete "lackinterest" of medal holders in wearing them. The British know how to wear their decorations. Every veteran in a uniform, from elevator operator up, wears his ribbons and, on dress occasions, his medals. Get them out of the drawers and on the uniforms and full-dress suits, and the changes will be made!
(THE REV.) KIERAN MARTIN Church of St. Francis of Assisi Brooklyn
Sir:
I wonder how bravery and courageous deeds can really be paid for. Had the NASA awarded and President Kennedy pinned a "Safety Pin" on Commander Shepard's chest, it would shine nonetheless in the hearts and eyes of those who love him and the rest of us who honor and respect him.
DAWN RIDLEY Waterford, Mich.
Books
Sir:
I appreciate more than I can tell you having my book, The Morning and the Evening, selected for review by TIME. I think it would be flattering under any circumstance, but certainly for a first novelist. I think probably it will be brought to more people's attention through TIME than any other way. Thank your reviewer very much for his kind remarks about the book and for his thoughtful analysis of it.
JOAN WILLIAMS
Stamford, Conn.
Sir:
Would you mind correcting your statement, in connection with the review of my novel, A Journey to Matecumbe, that the book was published by Doubleday? The publisher is McGraw-Hill.
ROBERT LEWIS TAYLOR Sharon, Conn.
Different Channels
Sir:
Thank God for men like Newton Minow [May 19]. The argument used by spokesmen for the TV industry could well be used by the dope peddler: "I'm only giving them what they want." Since a great mass of our population is made up of uneducated, unimaginative people, who would sit in front of the TV set and watch beep signals if that was the only program available, the leaders of the industry have the definite responsibility to set standards at a high level.
(MRS.) HELEN JONES Shinnston, W. Va.
Sir:
Your article on television is one of the most frightening I have read in a long time. Have we Americans at last "committed"' ourselves to thought control? No one denies there is room for improvement in TV, but has any one individual the right to dictate to all what they will be allowed to see? I do not enjoy audience participation shows, etc., but see no reason to deny them to other people. I do enjoy informative or controversial programs, but not as a steady diet--there are times when all of us would prefer to be entertained and not challenged mentally. If I want Mr. Minow to twirl the dial on my set, I'll issue an invitation.
KIT KIFF Gardena, Calif.
Honorary Medoc
Sir:
I am sure that Mr. Dillon [May 19], being "the smartest boy in the class," did not tell you that his excellent wine from Chateau Haut-Brion was from the Medoc. This would be equivalent to claiming that oranges from Florida produced pure California fruit juice.
R. A. B. CLOUGH Maracaibo, Venezuela
P: To be sure, Chateau Haut-Brion is a Graves, but as a tribute to its greatness it was included in the famed 1855 classification of the red wines of Medoc.--ED.
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