Correspondence
Correspondence - organs over the methods and direction of foreign policy." Everything here, he continues, "depends on precisely which forces within the ruling circles control the government." It is not...
...is seen as falling behind militarily...
...Ted himself, in the courtroom scene, indicates he does not consider her a failure...
...F104, 163-09 Depot, Flushing, NY 11358 Changing Your Address...
...80 acre tract already acquired...
...Like Ted, she would have lost jobs and taken salary reductions...
...Roam the world by freighter at savings of at least 50...
...In his analysis of the divisions within the Democratic Party, he suggests, relying heavily on American analysts, that "struggles" between Congress and the President are especially helped by certain Democratic deviations, most of which are dovish as well as anti-executive...
...Too bad you don't have $45 million...
...Print your new address and mail this form to The American Spectator...
...F.L...
...Reduce income tax interest up to 50...
...Adelman prescribes the timehonored conservative remedy of across-the-board increases in defense appropriations...
...There is, unfortunately, some truth in what he says...
...The value of this simple yet extremely effective tactic has not gone unnoticed...
...Or did you write to Walter Cmnkite-and get back one of those meaningless form letters thanking you for your interest in CBS News...
...10 to "1601," Box 69-S, Carrboro, NC 27510...
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...This holds as the goal of strategic weapons to assure an unacceptable level of damage to the opponent in a retaliatory second strike...
...Deluxe accommodations TravLtips Dept...
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...And while Democrats in Congress may oppose a Democratic President, a more useful situation, Nyporko suggests, is one in which a Congress predominantly of one party deters a President from the opposition party...
...Bloomington, Indiana Joanna has not been during the fiveyear period encompassing toilet training, shoelace tying, and the guidance which has made Billy a good, sensitive, loving, and brave child...
...You will he supporting AIM's weekly newspaper column, "Accuracy in Media," which reaches a couple of million readers through over 100 newspapers...
...Worse, they are teaching their children to reject it too...
...You can join Accuracy in Media, America's media watchdog orgniltiou...
...Hardcover $9.00, Softcover $4.00...
...Kramer is the decade's great cinematic litmus test...
...Adelman is pleased to note that "only one-tenth of the public now considers the U.S...
...Homer's view of Ted Kramer before the fact: that Ted was a stranger to his son until circumstances bound them together...
...The life of the spy may indeed be dull, as le Carr6 wants us to know, but art shouldn't mirror life all that faithfully...
...Nonetheless, the first scene between father and son, in which Ted incompetently makes breakfast for the two of them, gave me the impression of an "affectionate" and good-natured father...
...Yet to question the desirability of deploying still more atomic weapons is to be roundly dismissed by Adelman as either a guilt-ridden Soviet sympathizer seeking to "balance the power of the United States," a "coward...
...Time magazine and most of the other critics share Mrs...
...describes true and false liberals...
...Even so, it must be admitted that there exists an older, stronger brotherhood which justifies Ted's style of desertion and which is only now being examined for immoderation...
...Those who remain unconvinced are simply laughed at...
...But I imagined, as I stretched out on my bed, that le Carr6 would make for welcome relief...
...Morton Worcester, Massachusetts Nuke the Novelist The megaton of literary criticism over Norman Mailer in the pages of the February American Spectator leaves me wondering what remains...
...Well, if you had $45 million or so, you could buy your own newspaper and do things as they should be done...
...Instead of providing an explanation, Adelman proudly asserts that SALT II has permitted defenseminded individuals like himself to "awaken Americans from their torpor to the coming strategic inferiority...
...One day it poured with rain and so I retired to my room with the copy of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy that was lying around the house...
...Kramlr might well have made the extraordinarily unpretentious and rare leap into greatness m which too many movies pretentiously aspire...
...a real rip-snorter...
...The apocalyptic tone of this pronouncement is matched only by the I Did you ever try to complain to a newspaper or a network about the way it treated an issue of concern to you...
...this scene appears to be set up in order to demonstrate Ted's insensitiveness, but he actually comes off rather well...
...n Enclosed is my check for $15 D Charge VISA account no...
...Podhoretz concludes, that the ideology she uses to make good her escape from an imagined sense of injury exists for, and is promoted primarily for, that purpose...
...Coffin as the emissary from the Left and Rep...
...He summarizes the principal political philosophies...
...Travis has as well...
...In peeto...
...tarily superior to the USSR while onehalf believes the Russians have forged ahead...
...Tom Bethell IVasbington, D. C. Perverse Toryism I have come across what I consider to be a classic definition of "neoconservatism" which I thought that you might enjoy...
...There can be no defense for the desertion of a child--not worries about career, money, or health...
...And finally, the ascendant ideology that is women's liberation has not been abused by a type like Joanna...
...and stands up for work and duty...
...To order this book, or for a copy of our catalog, write: LibertyPress/LibertyClassics 7440 North Shadeland, Dept...
...And you may have felt even more defeated if, as often happens, you saw them do again the very same thing you had complained about...
...Against Mr...
...Her desertion is inexcusable, b u t . . . If she had taken him, or had continued to take full responsibility for him at home, within the marriage, she would have fared about as well as Ted did, when he took charge...
...The chances are that after yon explained what was bothering you, he explained that they "stood by their story," or that it was all matter of"news judgment...
...It is not hard to see how something like the invasion of Afghanistan might follow from that...
...mili...
...Such statements are no laughing matter...
...A dull dog is Smiley, waddling introspectively at your heels for 327 solemn pages," Richard Barkley wrote of Smiley's People in the Sunday Express...
...This is a fine doctrine except for one small factor: The Soviets have never bought it, as seen by their large and redundant air and civil defense systems and their relentless ICBM buildup...
...His involvement in career extends well beyond the responsibility of family support...
...After another hour I was totally in the dark, and eventually I threw down the book in disgust, turning to my welfare documents with renewed enthusiasm...
...strategic doctrine, offering in its place a simplistic analysis of U.S...
...Within an hour or so, I realized I didn't have much idea what was going on in Smileyland or why, or who was saying what to whom...
...I have my doubts...
...Before TV nonproductive advertising took about 3% of your dollar...
...Democracy and Leadership joins the broken links between politics and morals-and that accomplishment marks it as a work of genius.With a foreword by Russell Kirk...
...He may go even higher after Afghanistan and before the complete budget is announced...
...Literature," George Orwell writes: Politically, Swift was one of those people who are driven into a sort of perverse Toryism by the follies of the progressive party of the moment...
...3. Mr...
...Join now...
...Try herbs...
...Even so, his first preference, of course, would be "that "progressive forces" (unnamed) form their own party, under the guidance of the Communist Party USA, or work successfully within one--guess which ?--of the two American political parties...
...No SALT II for a while, he told the Senate and the nation...
...is falling behind the Soviet Union militarily," which is "nothing new," and that, more importantly, "the U.S...
...Send $3 to OIL LOTTERY, Box MW, The American Spectator...
...If nothing else, Mailer may go down in the history of literature as the hack who was atom...
...It has inevitably become the focal point for jingoist extremists who have seized the political initiative and now hold the treaty hostage...
...strategic might is dwindling mightily...
...Free catalogl 603(A) North 2nd, Philadelphia, PA 19123...
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...We will send you The Terrors of Justice by Maurice Stans--a chilling account of how the media and a vindictive Watergate special prosecutor in the crazed atmosphere of Watergate hounded an innocent man, trying by hook or crook to nail him with some criminal charge...
...To me, we're in the fine position of having SALT's lessons without its provisions (legally, at leas0...
...APWP, Box 28594, Sacramento, CA 95828...
...Podhoretz says that the "Sisterhood" has made desertion by mothers "acceptable and even 34 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR APRIL 1980 laudable...
...privately printed...
...If she leaves him behind, it is he who is the real cause of the desertion...
...Or you could have picked up the phone and talked to an editor or some other official...
...From 1969 to 1973," he gleefully notes, "Congress passed 149 different resolutions reducing executive power...
...Not surprisingly, he would prefer to see a Republican President elected in 1980, along with a Democratic Congress...
...20005 O 1 want to joan AIM...
...133 Sarkes Tarzian Inc...
...What exactly is meant by this is unclear...
...Despite the talk of the last ten years, women who abdicate their motherhood can receive no valid defense...
...Be sure to include the line of information above your name...
...As Nyporko puts it, the "more liberal one...
...It is a pictur book, soldier emasculated to the point where only his skeletal structure remains...
...defense policy and the Soviet strategic threat, the debate has centered around budget numbers, percentage changes in nuclear inventories, and the precise date on which the Russians wilt acquire strategic "superiority...
...The important thing about all of this is that analyses like Nyporko's do have an effect on Soviet foreign policy...
...This true story of the ordeal of Maurice Stans, former secretary of commerce, and many others, retails for $12.95...
...While not conducive to a serious examination of the realities of strategic power, these promotional methods do serve a useful purpose, as the second " l e s s o n " soon reveals...
...Travis composed his letter...
...Not a peep of opposition has been heard on either the defense boosts or the shelving of SALT II...
...I t is not hard to imagine which forces Nyporko would prefer to see presiding...
...Information $3.00...
...After all, Billy did know that he wasn't supposed to drink the punch in the living room...
...He then goes on to make expenditure comparisons of both superpowers which supposealy lend validity to his initial claim that Western strategic might is in jeopardy and that the Soviets will soon achieve global supremacy unless measures are taken to prevent the U.S...
...By delaying ratification, congressional hawks hope to extract commitments from the administration and the rest of Congress to reverse America's ominous military "decline" and renew the quest for global supremacy...
...FEDERAL OIL LEASES Learn how you as an individual can compete with the oil companies in obtaining $1 a year per acre drilling rights...
...I found the bureaucratic prose to be a model of lucidity compared with le Carr& The British press has been somewhat less enthusiastic about le Carr6 lately...
...We live in a productively competitive society, where a chief source of joy is work well-done, and recognized as such...
...The question therefore becomes: By what standards is strategic might measured and on what grounds could it be said that it is dwindling...
...Last summer I was kindly invited by some friends to spend a few days by the seashore...
...It's as if the case of Ted vs...
...This was his only directly political book, and in it Babbitt applies the principles of humanism to the civil social order...
...We see no evidence of his affection before her flight...
...Payment enclosed [] Please bill me (please print) Name...
...Robert Benton, Kramer vs...
...Joanna were under consideration by the Supreme Court...
...Mark D. Travis Denver, Colorado Kenneth Adelman replies: Where to begin...
...l ~ I I I I I I l l I I I I I I I I I I To: A l l , 777 14th St...
...C O R R E S P O N D E N C E QO0~iB00D~b~t~DDgBUDjD0IOBQ~m0e9Oi0IQtIO~80tDDDD~DODBDD0~0D00D0~DBOD0IQD0~000DmD~QDD~mD80P0~0~I0~DD0II9~QOI0OP000IQD0jD000~PbD~DB~DQI0~D6~0~DDD0~I0D00 ~0 Podhoretz vs...
...If he had faced it and struggled with it, Kramer vs...
...Date of change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X91 CORRESPONDENCE (continued from page 36) ion of those easily misled by such sophistry...
...However, I find in myself and among friends who share this general criticism surprisingly strong support for Joanna...
...rl Send me the FREE copy of The Temws of Justice that ! am entitled to receive for joining AIM...
...Speaking of Jonathan Swirl in "Politics vs...
...after greeting the Rev...
...4. Is not Ted's act of heroism-handling job and home alone-the permanent and unpraised condition of millions of divorced women...
...This says something for the film as political event, not drama--an understanding of its significance John Podhoretz demonstrates in his review ("The Talkies," January 1980...
...And what is more, your $15 membership in A I M is tax-deductible...
...A32 Indianapolis, Indiana 46250 While it should be evident that such simple comparisons do not in themselves constitute sufficient grounds for examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of American and Soviet defense postures, Adelman acknowledges the considerable political utility of stressing these differences when discussing the issue publicly...
...Box GJ, The American Spectator...
...If an ascendant ideology can be abused, to what extent does that discredit the ideology...
...Podhoretz asks why Joanna did not take Billy with her, if she loved him...
...He does not define his terms and takes pride in manipulating the opin(continued on page 39) 36 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR APRIL 1980 MISCELLANEOUS Problems...
...Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Zip...
...Desertion of a child is, always and everywhere, impermissible...
...Adelman may be correct when intimating that the SALT II treaty may be the best thing ever to happen to American foreign policy...
...To insist as he does that the Soviets will soon acquire "superiority" in the strategic realm without adequately explaining what it means, and then to reveal how easily the public can be manipulated into sharing the same perception, is intellectually dishonest...
...N.W, , Washington , D.C...
...Later on, Ted does yell at Billy for spilling Hawaiian Punch on some of his worksheets...
...f"l Send me more information about Accuracy in Media...
...Unfortunately, Adelman fails to capitalize on this opportunity to make a genuine contribution to the debate on the fundamental assumptions underlying U.S...
...Would you rather have Rather or Brainbeau...
...Billy is not the product of what Mr...
...Where affectionate...
...But, discounting for dramatic exaggeration, is it not possible that, over the long haul, Joanna did all three of them a favor ? Constance Homer Washington, D. C. John Podhoretz replies: It is plug-in-your-own ideology time at the movies...
...A small clarification: The measures of strategic power need not be specified in this type of popular article but are readily available in the Secretary of Defense's past two Posture Statements (Charts 1A-1) which come to the conclusion I presented...
...215) 925-3336 anytime...
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...How wrong I was...
...nut if you have .eooooo3 of th,t --jm, $1 ~--you tim do smnetMng almost as satisfying...
...distinguishes between ethical individualism and destructive egoism...
...All the action seems to take place offstage, for one thing...
...In the absenc~ of a critique of the doctrinal foundation on which U.S...
...but it also sees, and rather counts on, the weakening of executive power as a result of congressional overreaction to, among other things, the "mistaken" Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the Vietnam war, and Watergate...
...Adelman is dishonest with himself in refusing critically to examine his theoretical assumptions and dishonest with his reading audience in not making those assumptions explicit...
...Those who cherish meritocracy must acknowledge that to exclude women from its rewards (and its pains) is to create a climate in which many women reject the value of the competitive and productive ethic as a way of preserving a sense of their own importance...
...Twice n mouth, you wilt get the AIM Rt~p~'t--I hard-hitting, provocative newsletter that tells 7ou about the latest lins of the media and mllgests letters etbal~ you have sent a letter to that you can write in concert with thousands of others to exert pressure on the media moguls to correct them...
...One so mentioned, William Sloane Coffin, headed to Iran for Christmas, after the article was published, saying he could not understand the American public's hurry in getting the hostages released and comparing President Carter's sanctions against Iran to President Johnson's bombings of North Vietnam...
...SURVIVAL VILLAGE IN FLORIDA Now In planning stage...
...deterrent strategy is based and sufficient proof of the vulnerability of existing weapons systems, Adelman's concerns about the destabilization of the strategic balance simply remain unjustified...
...No reply is forthcoming...
...military capabilities and the standard rightwing elixir for America's "dangerous" military decline: massive acrossthe-board increases in defense spending and the deployment of every new weapons system the Pentagon manages to concoct...
...THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR Circulation Department P.O...
...strategic doctrine" have been bound up in the MAD doctrine of "mutual assured destruction...
...Send SASE to Brainbeau's Brainstorms, Box 2138, Youngstown, Ohio 44504...
...Unbelievable...
...Podhoretz's conclusion that the film--or the story itself "outside" the film--presents a partial and overdue indictment of a liberated woman as "a cop-out artist who has failed to hack it in what is the most taxing and important job there is," I have heard raised, and have raised myself, the following questions: 1. If Joanna/s seriously more culpable than Ted, does that imply, as There Mr...
...Travis' charge of my mentioning some "gurus" to be "simply laughed at...
...Adelman's first "lesson" is that "U.S...
...This is not a simple question to a n s w e r . 2. Because of Joanna's desertion, which represents to Mr...
...ized by the greatest critical blast of the nuclear age...
...So much has happened since Mr...
...The Spy Who Came In For a Scold I hope you will permit me to disagree with Karl O'Lessker's lengthy review of the allegedly "brilliant" novels by John le Carr6 ("Le Carrr's People," March 1980...
...George Hansen from the Right...
...Samuel Putz Schenectady, New York THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR APRIL 1980 39...
...Strategic Mite...
...If this has ever happened to you, you belong to a very large club...
...Throughout our global military empire are poised thousands of warheads capable of literally incinerating the Soviet Union should it attempt a preemptive first strike...
...Kramer has bounced Carter and Kennedy, the Ayatollah, and the imminent Third World War from dinnerparty conversation in the city where I live--which is Washington, no less, where movies are only "culture," and not usually in the same league with politics for serious social discourse...
...Seems that the writing of The Executioner's Song brought this forgotten target into range...
...12) for an average 4.5 percent real annual defense increase over the next five years and more than 5 percent real boost next year...
...all it can do is rail verbally against Ted, because it cannot face, or measure up to, the indefensible...
...I for one believe it when the Right says it will defend America to the death: your death, and mine-ours...
...Everyone seemed to be saying that it was wonderful...
...A note of confession on Mr...
...No allowance is made for critics intent on exposing the suppositions underlying his reasoning for thorough inspection...
...Please attach the address label from the most recent issue of your American Spectator in the space below...
...What can you do about it except stew...
...I say "surprisingly," because no reviews I have seen construe the movie as primarily a sympathetic portrait of her...
...motivated by the fear of not looking sufficiently progressive," or a "guru of the state, church, and academia" who still clings to "fashionable canons...
...Mark Twain's brilliant, wickedly lascivious underground masterpiece...
...stead of giving the general public greater insight into the theoretical framework within which this obsessive preoccupation with nucleat "inferiority" is justified, writers like Adelman have obscured this deeper issue and have concentrated chiefly on "setting into motion pressures which, over time, [will] redress the strategic imbalance," the nature of which they never bother to define...
...Besides being poetic, it proves that "neoconservatism" is not new at all, but has been a historical companion/antidote to all progressive follies...
...Richard Ingrains noted in the Spectator: "The poor fellow has completely lost his touch and can no longer write clearly...
...So confident is Adelman in his argument for the continued e~calation of strategic force levels that at one point he ventures so far as to say that in the recent past, "the U.S...
...I am frankly perplexed by Mrs...
...I surmise Mr...
...Clearly the Kremlin is aware, as Nyporko reveals, of the potentially great power of the American President...
...For another, the President has joined us "jingoist extremists" who "now hold the treaty hostage...
...It has merely been comprehended, internalized, and acted out to its logical letter...
...Please renew my subscription for one year (twelve issues--S12...
...Greater detail is contained in a 1978 study for the Defense Nuclear Agency, which found the Soviets ahead in 33 of the 41 measures of strategic power...
...Podhoretz's criticism of those who employ the women's movement ideology as a cover for selfishness and irresponsibility...
...Think of it...
...Worse, probably, since she had m start a career...
...Podhoretz calls a"lousy mother...
...For one thing, President Carter has used the "standard rightwing elixir for America's 'dangerous' military decline" to call (Dec...
...Now it's heading for 50...
...The Reverend should be held up to more than scorn...
...from continuing to "disarm itself...
...This recommendation is based on the observations that the "U.S...
...Irving Babbitt was a distinguished professor of French literature at Harvard and a leader of the intellectual movement called American Humanism...
...Podhorerz "the flight of privileged American women from their natural responsibility," Ted "must become a mother to the kid to whom he is already an affectionate father...
...Risto Marttinen Falls Church, Virginia Give Me Solar or Give Me Death According to Joseph Shattan ("The No-Nuke Wind Ensemble," March 1980), people who oppose nuclear power don't like America--apparently because they'd prefer to see American citizens alive and healthy instead of riddled with bent chromosomes or cooked alive like meatloaf in a microwave oven...
...You will he supporting AIM's daily radio commentary, "Media Monitor," which is aired Is a public service by a steadily growing number of radio stations around the country...
...The conditions of "divided rule," he goes on to argue, "can only assist progressive tendencies...
...Perhaps Barry Commoner's "Citizen's P a r t y , " formed since the book was written, fits the bill...
...Embassy in Teheran have such disdain for the U.S...
...contrasts Rousseau with Burke...
...While it was hoped that SALT II would raise critical questions about the direction of U.S...
...I should say that I was at that time immersed in welfare research, and had even brought with me some government welfare proceedings (just in case, so to speak...
...I, for one, do not believe this, in spite of the convenience of the theory, and even in spite of the movie itself, which talks a lot about Ted's workaholic nature...
...17...
...BEAT INFLATION...
...Homer Since its release, Kramer vs...
...Eightypageannotatededition...
...was disarming itself so fast that nothing new was left to propose to the UN disarmament crowd," a reference to President Carter's decision to forestall development of the B- 1 bomber, MX missile system, and Trident submarine programs...
...This is why the movie weakens when it attempts to give Joanna's side of the story...
...Although there may be "no difference in principle" between the two parties, because they both support some degree of capitalism, "they nevertheless wage a sharp struggle with each other for the right to influence domestic and foreign policy...
...A larger clarification: The "fundamental assumptions underlying U.S...
...You will be able to get important, interesting books from AIM at a discount In fact, AIM will give you one of these books FREE if you join using the coupon below...
...Joanna's "natural responsibility" ? What is Ted's natural responsibility...
...In his article, "The Seven Lessons of SALT" (December 1979), Kenneth Adelman recognizes the futility of endeavoring to pIace substantive, bilateral constraints on arms growth and notes that the value of SALT treaties may lie ultimately with the pressure they exert periodically to subject America's defense posture to public review...
...There would have been for her only what she got at home before her flight: no praise, no promotions, no victories over competitors...
...Far more Democrats than Republicans are singled out as spokesmen for "progressive forces...
...Joanna is Billy's mother...
...Does this make it great literature...
...MEDIEVAL FARTING CONTEST Elizabeth, Shakespeare, other notables compete, with accompanying lewd remarks...
...20 units proposed...
...5. Ted's isolation from his family before Joanna left was his form of desertion...
...Carter has now come to that realization and I hope that Mr...
...We may safely conclude that any attempt at arms control which is unsuccessful at restraining arms growth will ultimately be exploited by militarists who would move the country toward the brink of nuclear confrontation by capitalizing on the political straits of politicians for whom the symbolic aspects of a SALT treaty yield considerable utility...
...He is significandy responsible to self and ambition, as opportunity in America...
...It will be yours FREE if you join Accuracy in Media today...
...Horner's sympathetic evaluation of Joanna...
...It would be guileless to expect the Soviet Union to be the first nation in history to achieve military superiority and not try to exploit it for political if not military purposes...
...In real art, such an act can be explained and the person who commits it can even be viewed sympathetically and understandingly: Anna Karenina is the supreme example of this, and a very fitting one in this instance...
...Nyporko's paradigm is the Nixon presidency, the checksand-balances tension of which he calls "unprecedented...
...Given her jargonized lines, and given the fact that her act of desertion is undermotivated (whether by script defect or "really" is, I believe, not possible to say--a major flaw in the film), a sympathetic response is necessarily a political, not a dramatic, reaction...
...p the editor --only to find that it was never printed...
...I share in Mr...
...Kramer' s writer/ director, simply chickens out when he meets the real challenge...
...The main trouble with le Carrr's books, when all is said and done, is that they are so boring to read...
...hberty l_abertyC/ s Democracy and Leadership By Irving Babbitt A penetrating work of politica book, moral philosophy, first publisheo In 1924, Democra~ y and Leadership is packed with wisdom...
...The chances are that you felt frustrated and defeated...
...No attempt whatsoever is made to define such terms...
...IMPORTANT: Allow six weeks for address change...
...Name Address City, state, zip THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR APRIL 1980 35 imagery it is meant to conjure of the dissolution of our strategic deterrent, a caricature of which is displayed on the next page for those who do not immediately acknowledge the gravity of the situation...
...Box 1969 Bloom)ngton, Indiana 47402 (Please attach address/abe/here...
...No wonder the "students" at the U.S...
...Horner's letter further convinces me that Kramer vs...
Vol. 13 • April 1980 • No. 4
