Friday, Jul. 10, 1964

The Downstretch

Sir: With Goldwater's pro-Americanism philosophy and Scranton's meaningful criticism of the present Administration, I hope to be able to vote for both men this November. Our country needs people who are willing to stand on their beliefs despite pressure from minority forces.

(A/3C) W. B. KOEHLER McCoy A.F.B., Fla.

Sir: To this European, Senator Barry Goldwater appears not as a fascist ogre, but as perhaps the last hope of the American people to pull their country out of its headlong dive into that oblivion where everybody and everything, races, parties and states, shall be mongrelized into a drab grey uniformity, watched over, of course, by Big Daddy in the White House.

JACK O'HANLON Dublin

Sir: If the Republican Convention defeats Goldwater and adopts another "liberal" platform, it will be through the coalition of jealous, selfish, incompetent kingmakers, who will ruin all unity.

LOUISE BRUNING CABLE, M.D. Los Angeles

Sir: We had nothing but cowards in the past Administrations concerning foreign affairs. Any so-called American who fears Senator Goldwater because of his ideas in foreign affairs is not a true American.

C. ROBINSON Attleboro, Mass.

Sir: In voting against the civil rights bill, Goldwater has upheld the Constitution of this country. The Communists hate him; they hate anyone who is against Communism. They also hate the John Birch Society, which is the only organization actively fighting Communism in this country.

HAROLD CIRIELLO Belmont, Mass.

Sir: I find Senator Goldwater's candidacy for the G.O.P. nomination not unlike the topless bathing suit; scandalous and with no widespread support.

NEIL MELTON Fresno, Calif.

Sir: Goldwater's victory in California and his overwhelming support among G.O.P. delegates makes us realize that our doubts about America's political maturity are not completely groundless. It is a frightening idea for us who are so strongly dependent on the U.S.A. that such a man could possibly become President.

PIETER J. BOELEN

Rotterdam

Sir: Recalling Dwight D. Eisenhower's pride in his own invention, "modern Republicanism," it seems to me utterly strange that he, being the one person who could decisively influence the Republican Party's development now, chooses to remain silent when the party seems to be marching straight toward the very opposite of modern Republicanism.

GUSTAF DONNER Helsinki

Sir: Goldwater's statement that discrimination is morally wrong but constitutionally right ineluctably implies that our Constitution is immoral!

ROBERT HARARI Los Angeles

Sir: As Goldwater says, he gives us a clear choice. If he is the Republican nominee, my choice--though I am a registered Republican--will be his opponent.

R.A. SEELIG Washington, D.C.

Sir: Unless the Republican Party can come up with a strong but moderate candidate or can draft a platform for Goldwater, he will go down as a disaster in political history.

JOHN BROWNING Troy, Ala.

Sir: Governor Scranton's favorite thumbnail self-description, "I am a liberal on civil rights, a conservative on fiscal policies and an internationalist on foreign affairs [June 19]," sounds mighty like Lyndon Johnson to me!

ROBERT B. FINNEY Bartlesville, Okla.

One Vote Per Voter

Sir: One Ohio U.S. Senator still represents 4,900,000 citizens, while one U.S. Senator from Nevada represents only 143,000 citizens. This is gross voter discrimination. Perhaps somebody will start court action to force all U.S. Senators to run at large or, better still, to determine if the Constitution is still constitutional.

ROGER B. WILLIAMS Columbus

Sir: Now that the Supreme Court has once again rewritten the Constitution, I demand that it apply the same principle on the federal level. It should give California 40 Senators to Nevada's 0 on the grounds that more than half the people in Nevada are Californians supporting the indigent natives with gambling losses--a monstrous form of taxation without representation.

JACK R. LOVETT China Lake, Calif.

ICBM Program

Sir: In TIME, May 22, you quoted my December 1945 statement to the effect that accurate intercontinental ballistic missiles were a long period off, and that "I wish the American public would leave that out of their thinking." Your article went on to say that "because of the arguments--like Bush's--against it, it was not until May 1954 . . . that the Air Force launched a crash program to develop the Atlas ICBM."

At the time of my 1945 statement, some eminent generals were telling the Senate that intercontinental ballistic missiles would be available in a year or two. My statement should be read with this, and the following, in mind: a crash program meant hardware and large costs. Reasonable men in development work do not enter this phase until the central problems are solved. At the time there was no known means of guiding such a missile successfully. There were also large problems on re-entry and on fuels. The fact that I was interested, and was encouraging such research, is illustrated by one invention I myself made on guidance, and assigned the patent rights on it to the Navy. I did not oppose development of guided missiles.

VANNEVAR BUSH Belmont, Mass.

> TIME regrets giving an inaccurate impression of Dr. Bush's position on missile development, and is glad to have his correction of the record.--ED.

Fleetfooted Victims

Sir: I have taken to heart the Baltimore cops' advice to run when attacked [June 26] and am now vigorously practicing wind sprints. However, one difficulty has arisen: my fiancee, who is addicted to wearing high heels, is hard pressed to comprehend that when trouble appears I shall be forced to abandon her.

PAUL H. RIMELSPACH New York City

Power of Ideas

Sir: Re your comment that "economists collectively have far more influence than Keynes & Co. could ever have dreamed of [June 26]," Lord Keynes stated in 1935: "The ideas of economists and political philosophers are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back. I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas."

MICHAEL G. DWORKIN ALBERT M. KATZ Wayne State University Detroit

The Cardinal & the Priest

Sir: Although many lay Catholics have been chagrined by Cardinal Mclntyre's reluctance to actively endorse civil rights as a fundamental moral issue [June 26], the views of the church are hardly so equivocal. As exemplified by Archbishop

Rummel in New Orleans, the church traditionally supports, often actively, the essential dignity of man.

ROBERT E. EDMANDS, M.D. Westminster, Calif.

Sir: Cardinal Mclntyre represents the best thinking of the 4th century.

MRS. DANIEL C. HOULIHAN Pearl River, N.Y.

Sir: It is such policies and attitudes as those of Cardinal Mclntyre that are driving the more thoughtful of the Catholic laity toward an anticlericalism that is too vehement to be healthy.

JAMES P. WARD Wilmington, Del.

Sir: Cheers for Cardinal Mclntyre. A pox on these so-called clergy who, under the guise of moral leadership, insinuate that they represent the majority and exert powerful pressures on our legislatures to pass minority legislation. Muzzle them or remove them. The clergy has no business meddling in politics or agitating violence.

HARLEY D. TAYLOR Austin, Texas

All Things Flow

Sir: Your article covering Dr. Hoyle's theory of gravitation [June 26] was very informative, but it seems to me that Dr. Hoyle was preceded by Lucretius, who in 70 B.C. said: No single thing abides, but all things flow. Fragment to fragment clings; the things thus grow until we know and name them. By degrees they melt, and are no more the thing we know.

N. H. GHYST St. Louis

What's up Front Counts

Sir: After seeing your picture of the topless bathing suit [June 26], I can easily guess what comes next: the gownless evening strap.

NORMAN D. NEXON Glencoe, Ill.

Sir: I wouldn't even think of wearing a topless bathing suit. I believe the only reason for this fad is to lead men on. When and where will virginity go to?

DENISE PINCINA Woonsocket, R.I.

Boo Who

Sir: Mme. Callas enjoyed a tremendous success in Paris as Norma [June 26]; the boos came from the anti-Callas faction. They may boo her, but they really pay her the highest compliment by paying "Callas prices" at the box office. They may hate her, but they just can't stay away.

MALCOLM GORDON Toronto

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