The People's Forum
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Jackson Not the Man Dear Sirs: Senator Henry M. Jackson's present pre- tense of being an environmentalist is a phony claim. He was silent on Project Cannikin in Alaska...
...We also need to elect to Congress men who will restore constitutional gov- ernment, which has been largely replaced by Henry Kissinger and his cohorts in the White House in conjunction with the Na- tional Security Council...
...In others the scheduling of legislative sessions makes it already too late to get the neces- sary legislation passed in time to apply to 1972...
...Clubb documented overwhelmingly the billions of dollars milked out of American taxpayers, and the more perfidious and hopeless the cause, the more we paid for it...
...The Constitution provides there shall be no preference shown for one religion over another, nor shall there be any preference for a religion over no religion...
...In criticism of that somewhat bucolic pic- ture, I'll simply quote Edgar Snow, writ- ing in The New Republic of May 22, 1971 against the background of an inter- view with Premier Chou En-lai: when vi- olent factionalism developed among the "rebels" of the cultural revolution, "fight- ing broke out, and near anarchy pre- vailed...
...Those with a longer view will recal that the party's two most recent majoi convention reforms, the abolition of the two-thirds rule in 1936, and the adoptior of the no-racial-discrimination rule ir 1964, came during the two best times Democrats have ever had...
...THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Jackson Not the Man Dear Sirs: Senator Henry M. Jackson's present pre- tense of being an environmentalist is a phony claim...
...Nor wai I ever particularly interested in his rating by the critics, only in what he wrote anc how he wrote it, and still am...
...China has scored some remarkable achievements, and of course should be ac- corded appropriate credit...
...It is indeed possible to draw parallels between our postwar involvement with the Chinese Nationalists and our entanglement in South Vietnam (see, for example, my "State of Our Asia Policy," The New York Times, March 1, 1971), but I didn't happen to be writing on that topic for the August, 1971, issue of The Progressive...
...That is the message we got fron the Pentagon Papers...
...There are many chil- dren in the public schools who embrace faiths other than Christianity...
...Overall the Glass article is on( of the more accurate accounts to appear ir the national press, but I feel that in some important respects his picture is sufficient ly out of focus that The Progressive's read ers should not take it as an exact represen tation of what is going on...
...He is profligate with the lives of our young men, with our billions of tax dollars, with the irreplaceable resources of the earth...
...in the October issue...
...The review dis- turbed me since it seemed to resort to nit-picking, even though the book was com- mended in numerous respects...
...Instead it concentrated on its own development and care for its peo- ple...
...Glass's final assessment of the state par- ties' compliance with the reforms not only casts further doubt on his reading of Fra- ser's motives and actions but on the whole makes more sense than many in the nation- al press...
...Elizabeth Most Pensacola, Florida Clubb Replies Dear Sirs: The full purport of Elizabeth Most's first paragraph is that there has been no shift in China's strategy, and that my basic premise is therefore in error...
...It is not spelled out in the amendment, but it is obvious from the promoters that the prayers will not only be Christian prayers but also they will be orthodox Christian prayers...
...Take, for example, his free-and-eas) ascription of motives, not only to individ uals but to the whole party...
...Senator Jackson clearly is not that man...
...The Third Plan, first projected for 1963- 67, actually didn't get off the ground until 1966, and then was almost immediately aborted under the impact of the cultural revolution...
...Thursday could be Christian prayer day, and so on...
...Prejudice is protean, but regardless of form is never admissible to the arduous task of perceiving the complex realities of China...
...I am informed that so great is tin hatred of our military system in som< parts of California that military men oi leave are ashamed to wear their uniform in public...
...Perhaps for Glass as for too man] others these days, all history begins ir 1965...
...I found all Thi Progressive's articles interesting and hav< not missed many since, but invariably i was Mayer's piece I looked for first...
...A civil war without guns...
...I wish he were correct, for most of those leaders— far more than I would have guessed in 1969—have shown themselves quite will- ing, even eager, to comply with the new guidelines...
...Absolutely none, unless it has gained you a few dis- contents who do nothing in life but rail at those who are trying against great odds to correct the ever-recurring evils that creep into a country such as ours...
...A. Smits New York, New York Miserable Gang of Knockers' )ear Sirs: I have been looking over your magazine ff and on and I note that you have been criticizing, condemning, and curmudging every President and almost all Senators, Congressmen, and others over the years, and what good has it done...
...K. F. Emerick Clarion State College Library Clarion, Pennsylvania The Kennedy 'Myth' Dear Sirs: The naked realism of the Pentagon Pa- pers meant many things to many people...
...We desperately need to nominate and elect a President who will rely on constructive measures rather than on military action, which intensifies and multiplies problems rather than solving them...
...However, we the public must share the >lame for letting this happen...
...Austin Ranney Professor of Political Science University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin Threat of Free Enterprise Dear Sirs: What chance have ecology, environ- nent, and conservation so long as "free enterprise," that goddess of the conserv- itives, the conservative Republicans, and conservative Democrats, dominates the cene...
...Constitu- tion by passing the proposed prayer amendment...
...If there was an...
...The idea is repugnant, especially if the count includes women, children, anc babies as at Mylai...
...Miss Most says that in my Twentieth Century China in 1963 (the publication date was 1964) I predicted that without substantial foreign aid China would be unable to make a showing in the following five years, and holds that this was among my "glaring misconceptions...
...No more No less...
...Now we nust see that our representatives in Con- gress act to protect our environment...
...There doesn't seem to be anyone or anything in public or private life that suits you and your miserable gang of knockers...
...He was silent on Project Cannikin in Alaska this fall, although it was 250 times as powerful as the bomb which destroyed Hiroshima and threatens ecological disasters of international pro- portions...
...As a librarian, I strongly recommend it as required reading—a must for libraries, media personnel, and every listener, view- er, and reader who desires to be aware...
...We are grateful for the Pentagon Paper —even if they did expose our idol for wha he really was...
...His otherwise scholarly approach in Twentieth Century China was marred by the last chapter ridden by a blinded prejudice which has not changed...
...Further, like the rest of the pack he was revealed as being just another scheming politician obsessed with the same thirst foi power and imbued with the same arro gance, an egoist with the same capacity for ruthlessness and complete lack of mo rality as the rest of them...
...John F. Kennedy, we were told in no uncertain words, was only common clay— not what we had built him up to be...
...Don't Bame the People was far more than I expected—a fascinating and thor- oughly documented expose of the media...
...Marsh F. Beall Portland, Oregon Criticizes Clubb on China Dear Sirs: O. Edmund Clubb's seeing "China's Strategic Shift" in The Progressive for August reminds me of men's earlier belief that the sun revolved around the earth...
...These had their ups and downs and took time...
...They will see how their elders force them to pray to God, while the elders go out and slaughter thousands of people and destroy the homes of thousands of little children, simply to make jobs and profits...
...pre- erve our country's national beauty spots nd wildlife...
...President Nixon was quick to as- ure industry that it would not be made t scapegoat...
...She continues to demand we take back our ar- mor from the East, with or without a visit from Nixon...
...Whereas I was critical of the cultural revolution with respect to its effect on China's foreign relations, Miss Most seem- ingly finds virtue in the description of that movement as "a civil war without guns...
...Reston also saw an army supporting itself with productive work and not a single soldier on foreign soil...
...Alice Franklin Bryant Seattle, Washington Commends Democratic Reform Dear Sirs: As one of the two professorial members of the McGovern-Fraser Commission, I read with special interest Andrew Glass's article ("Have the Democrats Re- formed...
...I believe contrariwise that incontrovertible evidence, some of which I marshalled in my article, supports my thesis that "China . . . has embarked upon a new strategy in foreign affairs," and I see no contradiction of that proposition in recent American moves...
...E. A. Benton Morongo Valley, California Prayer for Big 'Body Count' Dear Sirs: I have sent the following letter to Pres ident Nixon: "A great many Americans including my self were stunned to see a picture of ai American military chaplain praying on hi knees for a big 'body count' at the begin ning of the day's military activities ii Vietnam...
...But we already have evidence >f what free enterprise has done in pol- uting our air and waterways...
...Events obliged Mao reluctantly to call upon the army to end the chaos...
...And we can now close th< book on John F. Kennedy and the myth o his "nobility of soul...
...Moreover, it is an effort which will not end after 1972, and for liberals of all parties or none, perhaps that is the most impor- tant story of all...
...She has offered no more than her willingness to be acknowledged by those who relin- quish their recognition of Taiwan...
...Fraser knows very well whal Glass should learn: that the chairmanship of that committee has long been a nasty chore taken on by a loyal party leader whe usually leaves the post with some politica wounds (Glass might interview formei Governor Richard Hughes on this point), In 1972 the job will be the toughest ever, and while someone will have to be per- suaded to take it, no one—certainly not Don Fraser—is foolish enough to run for it...
...But Clubb knows little about the China of today...
...Compare our ruthless class of idle warriors meddling with people's destinies over the globe...
...But to the millions of Americans like my- self who believed in John F. Kennedy as a compassionate and understanding man, as a "man amongst men," the Papers were probably more crushing in their impact than they were to others...
...But in many of the states some laws as well as party rules must be changed, and this will not be easy in states where a Republican governor or legisla- ture must be persuaded to go along...
...Tuesday would be Buddhist prayer day...
...Equally unwarranted but more offensive is Glass's suggestion that Commissior Chairman Don Fraser is going easy on re form enforcement because "he is running for the chairmanship of the credentials committee...
...He serves the military-industrial complex against which President Eisen- hower warned us...
...I bought the book...
...After twenty-one years of our stubborn pre- tense that China did not exist, it is symp- tomatic of our overweening arrogance to find our "coming around" as evidence of their shift...
...James Reston supports Lin Piao's description of the cultural revolu- tion as "a civil war without guns...
...The Com- mission's efforts to reform the Democratic Party's ways of choosing delegates to its national conventions constitute one of the most significant structural developments in American party history, and it is good to see a leading liberal journal pay their some heed...
...Clubb has not learned from his own mistakes, or has this become a Western disease...
...Here in horrifying detail we saw a myth —a legend—literally ripped to pieces be- fore our eyes in black and white, the myth of something that wasn't there...
...He was no mon noble than is this nation—for any natioi is only what its people make it...
...and guard the public health, weep in touch with your legislators in V ashington...
...But even if the Commission achieves something short of perfect success, its efforts will still consti- tute what two leading political scientists have already called the greatest effort ever made by a major American party to set national standards for its state parties...
...O. Edmund Clubb New York, New York Rivers' Review 'Nit-Picking' Dear Sirs: William Rivers reviewed Don't Blame the People by Robert Cirino (Diversity Press, Box 45764, Los Angeles, $2.95) in the May Progressive...
...Jack Odom Fort Brass, California Mayer First Choice Dear Sirs: It was some years ago that I first reac an article by Milton Mayer in a borrowec copy of The Progressive...
...If the prayer amendment is passed, perhaps the way to conform to the Constitution would be to specify that on Monday children would say Islamic prayers...
...of salvation," but when they sense victor) they quickly sacrifice reform for part) unity...
...The refer- ence is presumably to my statement, made with specific reference to China's projected Third Five Year Plan, that, "in the ab- sence of substantial aid from some quarter, China cannot make an impressive show- ing in the five years ahead" (emphasis added...
...Among other glaring misconceptions, he predicted in his book in 1963 that without substantial foreign aid China would be unable to make a showing to the world in the follow- ing five years...
...Wednesday the children would meditate on atheistic pray- er thoughts...
...He tells u« that "when the Democrats fall on hare times, they talk of party reform as a mean...
...However they do it, it is going to point out to the youth of the nation the great gap between what the elders preach and pray about and what they do in business and everyday life...
...We need a real housecleaning in our 1972 elections...
...difference, we failed to see it...
...Senator Jackson, moreover, has never said a word against continuing the destruc- tion of the ecology of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia...
...but there is no corollary mandate requiring besides a veil- ing of Chinese shortcomings and errors...
...John Joseph Jonathan Wyandotte, Michigan Opening the Prayer Gap Dear Sirs: If you want to widen the generation gap and further alienate the youth of the na- tion, just let the Bible-belt Christians go ahead and undermine the U.S...
...Nor did it, in the economic field...
...Then little children from first grade up will be able to see how their elders have them pray for one thing, while these eld- ers commit acts that are totally different from the objective of their prayers...
...The story of whether these formidable obstacles can be overcome will not be finished until next spring...
...Clubb, I think, could have used his first-hand knowledge of Kuomintang Chi- na to draw important parallels between the stranglehold that corrupt and collapsing South Vietnam has around our neck, and our shameful involvement in the debacle of Chiang Kai-shek...
...H< did not and does not always see things th< way I do—but then, who does...
...Most of the "free" world danced to our tune, but the People's Republic of China, patient and secure in its own analysis of world affairs, made little attempt to woo other countries...
...China is now ready to open up to the outside, and is apparently so keen in its timing that countries are falling like dom- inoes before her mere receptiveness...
...He implies that the final outcome will depend largely or en- tirely upon the good faith of the Dem- ocratic leaders in those states...
...Hal Sudborough Woodland, Washington...
...Right now," Glass admits, "no one knows whether the key states at the convention will take the . . . commission's work to heart...
...For that, hi must share the blame for the mass murder that followed after his death in a thousanc or more Mylais, because his complicity ir those murders was great, beyond argument beyond denial...
...Casualties ran into hundreds of thousands before the army took up weapons to restore order...
...I note further that Miss Most herself im- plicitly concedes change by saying that "China is now ready to open up to the outside...
...Instead of putting your shoulder to the back of the public conveyance and assist- ing in pushing it over the bumps, you just stay in the background among the human weeds and thistles and knock, knock, knock on your miserable little tom-tom...
Vol. 35 • November 1971 • No. 11
