THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Fateful Decision Dear Sirs: At the time of the first Pugwash Conference of nuclear scientists, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain were the sole possessors...
...Chase neglected to mention a preventive measure for the cure of the "war" and "full of violence and hatred" mind that is prevalent in everyone, blatantly or latently, to some degree...
...I was in Washington last week, and in view of the small amount that has been in the papers about him, I was surprised at how many people were talking about Chester Bowles...
...Blanche S. Metz Woods Hole, Mass...
...We agree with the jury that Sobell—who protests his innocence—was guilty of espionage beyond a reasonable doubt...
...These grave considerations dictate the urgency for the early conclusion of a clear-cut test ban agreement at Geneva, where negotiations have been dragging along for fifteen months...
...Some months ago, when listeners in the New York Metropolitan area having access to TV Channel 13 learned that financial difficulties threatened "The Play of the Week," they spoke up so that now the continuation of this distinguished series of plays is assured...
...I wish to congratulate you especially for the article on Adlai Stevenson...
...THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Fateful Decision Dear Sirs: At the time of the first Pugwash Conference of nuclear scientists, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain were the sole possessors of the dread secret of the bomb...
...Many people who say they would not care to vote for either of the "front runners"—Kennedy or Nixon—will add that they could "become enthusiastic about Bowles...
...I am quite sure that gunpowder in its time loomed as dangerously before the eyes of men as a reason to do away with war forever, as do nuclear powered weapons today...
...All of these countries now have the requisite scientific manpower and industrial capacity in the key fields of electric power, steel, chemicals, engineering, and large-scale construction...
...Won't you join us in the support of an idea whose time has come...
...In the billions of people alive and functioning (or in the future generations of man) there are some Caesars, Hitlers, and Napoleons...
...Oh, for candidates that we could really trust to work for disarmament, disengagement, and increased cooperation through the United Nations...
...We submit that this is an absurd injustice which ought to be remedied...
...The following platform is that prepared by the New England group, "Political Action For Peace": To bring world peace: we favor total disarmament...
...Dear Sirs: Your series on Presidential hopefuls is not complete without Chester Bowles...
...Mr...
...To me, this is nonsense...
...Men want to be elected to do something...
...Defense Department, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the small handful of official scientific advisers with a vested interest in urging the United States to run the risk of more tests...
...That school children should accept the crudities and vulgarisms of your tabloid-paper prose as a model for their own expression is as frightening to me as the prospect that these children might grow up reactionaries...
...Liberals should be alerted to publicize this condition, and to seek remedial legislation...
...One to Make a War Dear Sirs: My husband and I were much impressed by Stuart Chase's article proposing a Peace Production Board and long range employment planning as the most logical preventive measure of the next war...
...Why Ignore China...
...Food & Drug Record Soiled Dear Sirs: Although public attention has frequently been focussed upon situations within the Food and Drug Administration, one exists there of which too few people are aware...
...As OPA administrator, ambassador to India, governor of Connecticut and now a member of Congress, he has become thoroughly acquainted with both executive and legislative problems...
...For example, in response to a question about a statement by Kennedy that "our position in Europe is worth a nuclear war," Bowles indicated that was a proposition to which he would subscribe...
...Yours respectfully, Vera Brittain London, England Men and women in the United States have no less a responsibility to speak out on the question of nuclear testing...
...Cyrus Eaton Cleveland, Ohio German Dishonor Dear Sirs: I would like Americans, especially subscribers to The Progressive, to know how deeply disgusted, depressed, and full of despair a great many Germans feel on account of the anti-Semitic demonstrations in Germany recently...
...Surely you must include him in this series...
...neither rendered any assistance to his government...
...Mayer's deep misgivings of this country's complacency and unawareness of what is happening in the outside world...
...Dear Sirs: After reading all the articles on China in your October magazine I have looked almost in vain for comments in the People's Forum of November through February...
...Newton LeVine Philadelphia, Pa...
...We cannot regard them only as an insult to the Jewish people, but beyond that as a mark of dishonor to the Germans after all the horrible deeds during the Nazi era...
...Muriel I. Symington Brooklyn, N. Y. 'Well Read' Feeling Dear Sirs: The Progressive is the best magazine I read...
...War is no longer a solution—if indeed it ever has been—to the problems that arise between nations...
...Nathan Glazer Sidney Hook Irving Kristol Dwicht Macdonalo New York, N.Y...
...Furthermore, Chester Bowles is a convincing speaker who manages to combine content with a manner of presentation which avoids the over-academic...
...But on the list you have offered for future profiles there is one name missing, which I think is an important one if there is any chance of the politicians foiling the efforts of intelligent Democrats to nominate Adlai Stevenson...
...To the tranquilization examples of Grosz as well as Heinrich Mann and Kurt Weill could be added such further examples as Ernst Krenek (a revolutionary musician who turned professor in this country), Lion Feuchtwanger (who became a complacent historical research novelist), and hosts of European socialists who have yawningly turned their backsides on their pasts...
...To confront the economic problems arising from the transition to a peacetime economy: we propose the formation of a National Disarmament Administration with power to take the steps necessary to maintain full employment...
...Mankind may have civilized itself technologically, scientifically, and in other physical ways, but man himself has not changed his desire for power, lust, greed, and selfishness...
...Seattle 55, Wash...
...It all depends on TV audiences...
...At the same time, Great Britain is giving every evidence of intending to follow the Canadian example promptly...
...His inaction is blocking from interstate commerce a cancer drug which, for the past decade, has been relieving the agony of terminal cancer patients when they are most in need of help because opiates have ceased to be effective...
...We hope that Vera Brittain's letter may be seen by the thousands of Americans who read The Progressive, and that they too may be encouraged to write our President...
...1 find the Index included in the January issue invaluable...
...Dear Sirs: I am enjoying your series on Presidential possibilities for 1960 very much, and would like to suggest that you add another to your series—one on Chester Bowles...
...It seems to me that this is unjust and amounts to a negative action through inaction...
...To provide for the transition to world peace: we support the strengthening of the World Court and the creation of a small international police force to prevent the spread of conflict...
...We feel that in both cases the sentences were excessive and that —a full decade having passed—an act of clemency is now in order...
...Peace is no longer the visionary's dream—it is the practical man's necessity...
...Dear Sirs: I cannot say how it is in some sections of the country, but there is a great deal of sentiment in this vicinity for Chester Bowles as a Presidential candidate...
...It would be far better if they had criticized Eisenhower for permitting Adenauer and de Gaulle to dictate Allied policy, and for the proposed plan to give Germany nuclear weapons...
...His numerous books and articles, particularly in the field of foreign policy, are thoughtful and arresting...
...Ann Hubbell Ypsilanti, Mich...
...Robert B. Stewart Arvada, Colo...
...I look forward eagerly to the April number on Hubert Humphrey...
...Chester Bowles-for-President Clubs are forming in the East...
...The primary objective of two of these groups is to persuade major party candidates for Congressional office to adopt a particular platform, and to support the candidacy of those who do...
...Sobell was tried together with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of supplying atomic data to Soviet agents and were later executed...
...Truman suggested at the Democratic dinner in Washington that we should not only examine carefully the seven potential candidates who were speaking there but other good men in the party too...
...We do not mention David Greenglass, another principal involved in this case, whose testimony as a cooperative witness played a key role, because he was sentenced to fifteen years and has been eligible for parole for some time...
...In view of the fact that no atomic espionage was even alleged against him, and that the sole witness testified merely to unsuccessful attempts to procure information, we think that Sobell should now be released from prison...
...Unless international agreement is reached soon to prohibit tests and ban nuclear weapons, each of the other nineteen nations on the Pugwash list, along with others, will in all likelihood be equipping itself with nuclear weapons...
...President: As a veteran of two wars who has published many books and articles on peace and war, and as a British citizen who has advocated nuclear disarmament on numerous American platforms from New York to San Francisco under the auspices of the American Friends Service Committee, may I beg you to reconsider the decision of the American government to withdraw the ban on nuclear testing...
...I see no reason to question why the intellectuals all like him so much...
...Box 246, Sunderland, Mass...
...The Canadian government has just announced a straightforward new foreign policy calling for the end of all nuclear testing and the complete prohibition of nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare...
...Others must be as disturbed as I am...
...The rivalries that now seem to loom large between the United States and the Soviet Union will be overshadowed by the terrible hazards that will confront mankind if twenty-three or more nations become manufacturers of their own nuclear arms...
...because there is something in us that says that life is not worth living for us if this attempt were not made...
...Last year Bowles disappointed his own supporters by some statements he made at the University of Washington...
...Emulate the writers of 30,000 letters...
...But in the offing there is good news for millions who cannot get Channel 13...
...In essence then, my criticism of Chase's article, "Peace, It Could Be Wonderful," is that it seeks to solve only the material and physical aspects of war, the least of the stimulants of battles among men...
...His applications for parole have been uncharitably denied seven times...
...I only think of a dark one—and am cha-grinned to think this possible—if I am denied the first and best choice...
...The bigger problem is: How do we get man to understand, love, and protect his neighbor as an end in itself...
...What we have said above applied a fortiori to him...
...An embryonic group in Seattle, "Platform for Peace—1960," is now preparing a similar program...
...R. H. Morton New York, N. Y. Letters to the Rescue Dear Sirs: Thirty thousand letters did it...
...I can't believe that there has been only one letter on this pertinent subject...
...We would do all this because we have to do it...
...The Editors...
...The Play of the Week" has been sold to station KCOP in California, which in turn sells to a supporting sponsor...
...Progressive 'Barely Literate' Dear Sirs: I have just read in a recent issue of your magazine that it is being circulated in primary and secondary schools with glowing recommendations...
...The Office Memo, on the inside front cover, contains a comment on the suggested article on Chester Bowles...
...Chester Bowles has superior qualifications for the Presidency...
...She went on to say that he seemed to have all the qualifications and so far as she had been able to discover no "disqualifying factors...
...But even if "nothing" were accomplished, as the cynics maintain, all of us working in our own way for a better world would still stand at the vigil against germ warfare, we would still send a protest group to the Sahara Desert, we would still sail the Golden Rule to the Pacific, we would still work for freedom, equality, justice, and a better life for all the people of the world...
...Humphrey has opposed the latter, and I suppose that Stevenson does, though I have seen no statement of his...
...To provide initial steps toward total disarmament: we propose the immediate cessation of the production and testing of nuclear and biological weapons and ballistic missiles...
...Like Adlai he is not an avowed candidate, and like Adlai he has repeatedly over the years evidenced that keenness of perception and depth of thinking that make his outstanding greatness shine so brighdy...
...Other qualifications, or a lack of them, should be the criteria...
...Surely you are not going to omit Bowles in your proposed list of men you are going to write up as Presidential candidates in future issues of The Progressive...
...But Mr...
...Those of us who believe this must say it, and say it politically...
...It takes only one to make a war, the right one to persuade the mob...
...Constitution...
...I could add that there absolutely is a considerable amount of sentiment among "ultra-Protestants" against Senator Kennedy because of his Catholicism...
...Reginald Parker Salem, Oregon Shares Mayer's Misgivings Dear Sirs: The February issue of The Progressive is especially wonderful...
...But Washington can be very provincial in its thinking and I thought maybe this was a local phenomenon...
...I class Nixon among the boys...
...Stevenson says he is not a candidate...
...His latest volume, The Coming Political Breakthrough, could well serve as a platform for the Democratic Party to work from in 1960...
...I hate to see its record soiled in the fashion it has been...
...Men who complain about the missile lag and advocate increased military spending are not convincing peace candidates...
...To help create a peaceful world: we urge a large-scale, long-range program of world economic and social development channeled primarily through the United Nations...
...America's closest Western allies have restrained themselves from open criticism of the United States position with the greatest forbearance, but now seem determined to convince world opinion that they, for their part, favor a different course...
...Bowles for President Dear Sirs: I agree wholeheartedly with your article on Adlai Stevenson...
...Your cause would be better served with a more intelligent presentation of material...
...because our existence gains meaning and significance by "just standing there" and saying that war and injustice and hunger in the midst of plenty may exist but that we protest against their existence and the perpetuation of their existence and are doing what we can to remedy them...
...If they do so in sufficient numbers their local station will give heed...
...We are all aware of the two-sided nature of man, but we are not always aware of what triggers which side to act when...
...Mrs...
...Perhaps it is highly relevant to add that many people feel that Chester Bowles would have a good chance to win— which is pretty certainly not true of many possible liberal candidates...
...It may, of course, be argued that something is accomplished by those working for a better world and that the world is a little better because of their efforts...
...J. L. Johnson Seattle, Wash...
...I speak of Chester Bowles...
...Fortunately the many distinguished plays previously produced are not lost to the new audience...
...Platform for Peace—1960 18339—47th PI...
...The mere fact of having been arrested— sometimes as the result of vindictive persecution, or in error—is sufficient to deny employment, both public and private in many instances...
...Over a four-year period, five Pugwash scientific conferences have brought together 112 eminent specialists from twenty-three major nations, East and West, who are of the unanimous opinion that weapons of mass annihilation must be universally banned, and that delay can lead only to the eventual possession of the worst forms of weaponry by every country of consequence around the globe...
...Dear Sirs: May I thank you for the excellent series depicting the candidates for President...
...To increase the effectiveness of the United Nations: we favor the admission of all nations to the U.N...
...and, finally, because we believe that the existence of our fellow human beings, and especially those who are the victims of these misfortunes, gains significance and hope by our efforts...
...Stature may be difficult to define, but Stevenson has it...
...However, when I got home I had a letter from a friend in North Carolina telling me that her choice for the Democratic nomination was Chester Bowles...
...We hope that people who are interested in this kind of political action will get in touch with us and begin to work in their own communities...
...Bowles is the one man that ranks with Stevenson...
...These criticisms tend to bury both the chances of Democratic victory in November and our hopes for peace...
...He now languishes in jail...
...Dione Neutra Los Angeles, Calif...
...God knows what would have happened to Gus-tav Mahler had he remained in this country...
...Press Brown Long Beach, Calif...
...He is a must for a magazine like The Progressive...
...What is the use of so much talk about "peace" with Russia when any new approach to China is ignored...
...He stands out—towers if you like—among all the others...
...They seem to persist in ignoring the Senator's own statements about the U.S...
...Werner assumes...
...Dear Sirs: I should like to express my appreciation of the series of portraits of possible Presidential candidates which you have been presenting in The Progressive, especially the recent fine interpretation of Adlai Stevenson by Senator Neuberger...
...Of these, Chester Bowles seems to have the ability, vision, and experience that would suggest a more thorough exploration of his potential as a candidate and as President...
...My emphasis) The author of the article, is of course, a retired military man...
...One point to consider is that Bowles— while a convinced liberal—is not thought to be anathema to the South, apparently because he has so clearly recognized that the problem of desegregation is a national and not just a regional problem...
...Write to: Committee on Political Action For Peace P.O...
...Both evidence greatness...
...Margarethe Lachmund Berlin-Zehlendorf, Germany Clemency for Gold, Sobell Dear Sirs: We should like to direct the attention of your readers to the cases of two men now serving sentences of thirty years' imprisonment for espionage...
...The eyes of the world are focused on the President of the United States, the one man who can make the fateful decision...
...Platform for Peace Dear Sirs: There are many of us concerned about making total disarmament and the whole issue of world peace a paramount issue in the 1960 election campaigns...
...I wish to urge you to include one more man in this series...
...The idea of articles like these is not only to present Chester Bowles to the public, but also to inform Chester Bowles that he is urgently needed...
...Do not misunderstand me, please...
...To affirm our belief in the value of human life: we renounce the use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances...
...It appears that Commissioner Larrick is completely callous to human suffering...
...Norman J. Whitney, National Sec'y Peace Education American Friends Service Committee Philadelphia, Pa...
...Chester Bowles is as remarkable in his way as Stevenson is in his...
...Is Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese lobby still so powerful...
...Since the party organizations, at the moment, seem disposed to ignore real solutions to this crucial dilemma, groups are being formed in various parts of the United States to inject peace issues into the campaign...
...Adlai Stevenson is still my "horse" for the race...
...This series can and must be sold to many other local stations throughout the country...
...As always...
...Frank Lassey Cartwright, N. Dak...
...Dear Mr...
...It reminds me of the separation of men from boys...
...And yesterday I had a letter from California which began "How do you feel about Chester Bowles as a possible candidate for the Presidency...
...Anne M. Stadler Platform for Peace—1960 Seattle, Washington 'Just Standing There' Dear Sirs: Pacifists (and those who propose and attempt to reform the world) are often asked why they don't give up since it must be obvious by now that they accomplish, as "Scott" said in Milton Mayer's January issue article, "Just Standing There," "Nothing...
...This is why the late Judge Jerome Frank of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dissented from the opinion of his two colleagues in upholding the verdict on Sobell...
...Those who crave such offerings as "The Play of the Week" must speak up...
...Included in the comparison, therefore, should be the one man, who also says he is not a candidate, and who can measure up to Stevenson in stature...
...Communicate with your local station by letter or postcard requesting "The Play of the Week...
...Irene Spanolios Corona, N. Y. Remedy Arrest Records Dear Sirs: In many states, including California, records of arrest are permanently retained in all cases, even when complete innocence is established...
...I shuddered at the news: not because I am antipathetic to Progressive sentiments, rather because the writing in your magazine is of such an inept, barely literate level...
...and yet they are now set free, while Gold remains in prison...
...The condition of both our foreign and domestic affairs demands the election of a giant in leadership...
...It covers all subjects of interest, contains much international information, and carries good editorials and Notes in the News...
...With the recent French explosion in the Sahara, membership in the nuclear club has increased to four...
...Yearns for Peace Candidate Dear Sirs: In common with many readers of The Progressive, I suspect, I heartily applaud the views expressed in the February issue editorial on the recent Truman-Acheson criticisms of some of President Eisenhower's more peace-minded policies in foreign affairs...
...The only witness against him, Max Elitcher, stated merely that Sobell had tried, without success, to get military information from him for the benefit of the Soviet Union...
...Martha Ragland Nashville, Tenn...
...It is not enough for TV audiences privately to deplore the lack of intelligent entertainment on that medium...
...Mrs...
...Nels Walton Alhambra, Calif...
...I only wish Mr...
...Joke of the Century Dear Sirs: My vote for the joke of the century goes to this quotation from The Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Biological warfare . . . represents another attempt by man to examine and control the forces of nature for the use of civilization...
...Hansi Popper Chicago, 111...
...The name is that of Chester Bowles—a man who seems to me to come closer to Adlai Stevenson's qualifications than any other candidate so far named—in short a man of stature...
...Marjory L. Comings Great Barrington, Mass...
...I tremendously enjoyed Milton Mayer's article...
...Elitcher said nothing about atomic espionage, as Judge Kaufman admitted in sentencing Sobell: "The evidence in the case did not point to any activity on your part in connection with the atom bomb project...
...A further objective is to publicize the stands taken by candidates on these issues of grave national importance...
...Mrs...
...I wish there was a way of making this compulsory reading for all Americans, to bring them out of their lethargy...
...Boys want to be elected to be something...
...A person has a feeling of being well read...
...Although Senators Hubert H. Humphrey and John F. Kennedy, Representative Chester Bowles, and Adlai E. Stevenson take far more acceptable positions than do Truman and Acheson, they are not sufficiently peace-directed to keep the President's "peace mantle" from falling on Nixon—that is, in popular estimation...
...Many other British women in this crowded island who are the mothers of young adults and the grandmothers of small children look to you personally to do your utmost to save all mothers and children from this renewed menace to the world's future, and to give us a lead in subordinating the terrifying powers of science to the moral vision of mankind...
...Senator Paul H. Douglas of Illinois, requesting a hearing on Krebiozen from Commissioner George P. Larrick of the food and drug agency, said, "It seems extraordinary that you should hold an application for over five years and not make a ruling upon it—or even set a hearing...
...J. E. Clubb Vancouver, B.C...
...as a long supporter of the Food and Drug Administration...
...James Hazard Department of English University of Connecticut, Storrs, Conn...
...While both Allen Nunn May and Klaus Fuchs were far more important and sinister figures than Gold, neither evidenced any noticeable change of heart...
...But we think that ten years is an ample sentence for what Sobell actually did and that, having served the term, he should now be released...
...They have been put on tape, so that new listeners may look forward to viewing such gems as Medea, Waltz of the Toreadors, Month in the Country, Juno and the Paycock and in due time the current offering, the brilliant Tiger at the Gate...
...Mayer's article could be reprinted in a mass media magazine, so that millions of readers could read it and ponder it...
...Protests Dropping Bomb Ban Dear Sirs: We would like to bring to the attention of your readers a letter from the well-known British writer, Vera Brittain, to President Eisenhower...
...There can be no hope whatever of agreement at Geneva as long as pressure for further testing, however limited, continues to be successfully exerted on the White House and the Congress by the US...
...The second case is that of Morton Sobell...
...Let us hope that his concern for humanity and respect for world sentiment, coupled with his profound knowledge of weaponry and his broad experience in warfare, will tip the scales toward the immediate end of nuclear testing as the first step in disarmament...
...The first case is that of Harry Gold, who cooperated fully with the authorities in exposing Soviet espionage activities in this country, but who nevertheless (for reasons beyond our comprehension) received this extreme sentence...
...Backs to the Past Dear Sirs: I want to congratulate you on Alfred Werner's piece in your January issue on George Grosz (whose name, incidentally, was always George, not Georg as Mr...
...he naturally towers above them all...
...As we also travel so much—two years ago all over Africa, last year twice in Europe and South America—I share Mr...
...There is a flaw in the comparison, however...
Vol. 24 • September 1960 • No. 4
