THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Shannon on Nixon Dear Sirs: "The [Half-] Truth About Nixon" is such a scurrilous screed, evidently written by a disappointed supporter of candidates Richard Nixon has...
...Leather making and typesetting as well as academic subjects have been added to the curriculum, Half of the day is now spent on academic subjects and half in the chosen trade...
...No, Democrats only complain of inadequate spending for "defense...
...John R. Kellam Providence, R. I. Wechsler and the Press Dear Sirs: I found much that was greatly disturbing in James A. Wechsler's article, "I See by the Papers," in your March issue...
...More than a year of Democratic stalling has badly blurred the image of that party...
...Out of this small start an important development has taken place...
...Except for picture books, the texts should be in Italian so money is the best donation that can be made to the school...
...Let's not let Nixon forget it...
...and it does not deal in trivia...
...E. A. Bayless Albany, Ore...
...These were guaranteed in our constitution, but they were not observed in practice...
...I say the Negro and white students and their parents in this spreading Southern-style liberal movement, for their work sets the pace for adjustment toward equality...
...Ajai K. Mitra, first secretary and political adviser to the permanent mission of India to the United Nations...
...I wish that all your readers would use that back cover order form to send The Progressive to new subscribers...
...This is not the truth...
...Chester C. Smith Belmont, Mass...
...John S. Gomuxion Evanston, 111...
...One of the great needs is for books to supplement the small library of ancient paperbacks and to use as texts...
...I have just returned from an examination of the progress being made in five North Carolina cities in the sit-in and picketing demonstrations...
...Mayer who looked for the negative side and found it...
...One significant example is the reaction to the President's recent proposal to expand the "nuclear club...
...Yone U. Stafford W. Springfield, Mass...
...I want to see your circulation increase, not only for the sake of the finances you need but also for the sake of the nation itself...
...In the vital issue of human survival they present no constructive ideas, but seem content to drift over the dam with Ike...
...The Hungarian revolution was a fight for independence...
...Marshall Bartholomew Greenwich, Conn...
...In scanning the political horizon, there appears only one man who is more concerned with standing for principles than running for office: Adlai E. Stevenson...
...All the South and the North need from each other is a mutual encouragement and a constant comparing of notes about our progress...
...Voters are already asking, "What have they got to offer...
...This I like, for I want my mind to be stirred—not with sensationalism or sarcasm, but with wellpresented information that can stand up under scrutiny...
...Every age has its ulcers...
...Nixon is the second-rater that you are trying to make him out to be and I can't believe that such all-out attacks upon everything he has said and done will damage him as much as you hope...
...The Progressive is like a fresh burst of air on what sometimes appears as a stale or stagnant situation...
...He is loved by millions of Americans...
...H. B. Sellers Pacific Palisades, Calif...
...Wilson Head, director of the Windsor group therapy project, and William Worthy, foreign correspondent and author...
...Me is so right when he notes that we have a press that is "far more forthright in combating tyranny in Hungary than in waging the fight for freedom in the United States...
...we need Presidential leadership...
...Dear Sirs: "The Truth About Nixon" is the article we have all been waiting for...
...Today there are over four hundred students in his school, in twelve large brick workrooms, all built by one mason, the children, and their parents...
...It is most understandable and convincing...
...I know that the American people do not feel as Mr...
...It must stop appeasing the Dixiecrats—if it wants the big independent vote which decides our national elections...
...Outstanding resource persons will be used...
...John G. Barrow Austin, Tex...
...Shannon deserves our deepest thanks for his penetrating analysis of Vice President Nixon...
...My conclusion is that any advanced civilization produces frustrations and tensions of this sort, and many primitive ones as well...
...It goes to the heart of the man—and his mind too—and provides us with the background and information we need to judge his qualifications for the Presidency...
...THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Shannon on Nixon Dear Sirs: "The [Half-] Truth About Nixon" is such a scurrilous screed, evidently written by a disappointed supporter of candidates Richard Nixon has defeated, that I am surprised a magazine I had thought tried to present unbiased articles would think of printing it...
...I do not happen to know his age or experience, but on the basis of this article I would rather see him in that position than a current candidate with the same name...
...His behavior in the critical situation involving war in Indo-China some years ago, as Mr...
...Each copy of The Progressive is eagerly awaited and greatly appreciated as a "whole kernel" amid so much "straw...
...In California, where we know him best, he is doing rather poorly in the polls, and I am confident he will do even less well when that day of reckoning comes in November...
...and the same could be said for living in the Massachusetts "Bible Commonwealth" in the 1700's or being a poor-white in the antebellum South...
...His whole record condemns him as devious, irresponsible, and cold, an ambitious opportunist...
...Your March issue article, "The Truth About Nixon," is therefore all the more valuable, and in keeping with the highest traditions of The Progressive, for it emphasizes his actual performance in the fields of domestic and foreign policies...
...William V. Shannon says, Nixon is average in intelligence, why should he be Vice President right now...
...A. Brand Cambridge, Mass...
...If they find ulcer-producing situations there, they are no worse off than before they moved...
...C. Christenson Waco, Tex...
...Well-informed people, both here and abroad, know it would be sheer madness, ending all hope for nuclear disarmament...
...Now that Ike is on the way out, Adlai may be the man to restore the people's faith in the kind of leadership which is brave, sincere, and humane...
...And they need no advice, no generalizing criticism from us, for we have our own serious race problems, particularly in housing segregation, to struggle over...
...Potters of Signa give clay, and leather workers leather...
...Usually they were most unsatisfactory...
...Witness the editorial indignation over racism in South Africa and the relative silence on racism in our own country...
...The real question is: How badly do the American people want the best...
...Dear Sirs: Thanks to Congressman Byron Johnson for "Toward a More Positive Peace Program" in your March issue...
...once a year the students are asked to contribute what they can and sums of four cents and up are duly inscribed in the ledger...
...Creative Tensions Dear Sirs: I have just read "Is Everybody Happy?," by James Wechsler in the April Progressive, and while I agree with much that it contains, I feel it is important to register some amazement at the lack of historical and sociological perspective which it seems to show...
...College students will be assisted in requesting credit from their particular colleges for the course...
...the peasants give grain and vegetables for the luncheon "minestrone...
...What I admire about The Progressive, what I feel puts it way above so many liberal and progressive magazines, is that it does not deal in sarcasm...
...Four years ago Stevenson came out for stopping nuclear tests—and Nixon ridiculed the idea...
...This work goes, for the most part, unpub-licized in the shadow of the newspaper reports of occasional violence and usually false bomb-threats...
...I wish we could have a President with ideas like Johnson's...
...If, as Mr...
...Alice Henderson Beverly Hills, Calif...
...Many of us are very displeased, although we enjoy most of the articles in The Progressive...
...While I am not a Republican, as a Californian I have followed his career with interest...
...I do not know the religion or politics of Mr...
...It is indeed refreshing to find some one such as Stevenson who is more interested in conveying a vital message than in hearing the sound of his platitudinous voice...
...To win, the party must speak up on big issues...
...I have seen too many papers of that kind elsewhere in the world...
...It is always easier, too, for a Northern paper to wax righteous over discrimination in the South, and yet have nothing to say about the discrimination practiced by local merchants—who are advertisers...
...Karen Kitzman Bandera, Tex...
...And are they anything new...
...Loren P. Beth Professor of Government University of Massachusetts Amherst, Mass...
...Neither school nor pupils can afford to buy textbooks so the teachers waste much time dictating the essential facts...
...Seminar on Pacifism Dear Sirs: The American Friends Service Committee is planning a "Seminar on Pacifism" at the Putney Graduate School, Putney, Vermont, June 16 through July 28...
...The director of the seminar will be Morris Mitchell, a Quaker and a leader in experimental education...
...Mayer does...
...I believe I can say that I agree with every word of it and wish that all of our citizens, including our national leaders and policy makers, could also agree...
...Mrs...
...James D. Cooper Haverford, Pa...
...Your magazine deserves attention...
...I hope "The Truth About Nixon" will be widely circulated...
...Some scholarship funds are available...
...Doris Stanislawski Austin, Texas...
...Who are the real leaders...
...For further information write to Putney Graduate School, Amy Kanemitsu, Seminar on Pacifism, Putney, Vermont, or Timothy Plummer, American Friends Service Committee, Peace Caravan, 20 South 12th Street, Philadelphia 7, Pa...
...the miller grinds the flour free...
...Does the party's advisory council come out for a sane foreign policy based on disarmament by mutual concession...
...While I have voted for John Kennedy for the Senate, I do not think I will vote in the future for a Roman Catholic, or anyone of a religion that is against efficient birth control, for any office...
...You tackle the problem, muster the facts, present them in understandable form, and challenge the reader in your presentation...
...It seems to me rather surprising that in any article purporting to tell the truth about our Vice President not a single statement commendatory of his career is mentioned...
...else they would not have been so generous, kind, and understanding...
...He has done a penetrating job in calling our attention to the inadequacies of our press, especially the lack of crusading journalism at a time we need it so badly...
...Dear Sirs: Blessings on The Progressive for its courageous exposure of Vice President Nixon's record...
...and $1.25 will buy a textbook...
...Opposes Any Catholic Dear Sirs: It is good to see The Progressive so impartial on the Presidential candidates...
...Six hundred dollars would provide texts for the most important classes...
...The proverbial plea for more interest, less apathy on the part of the voters has never been more poignant...
...John D. Whiting New Haven, Conn...
...It provides the kind of factual information and thoughtful interpretation the people need in these troubled and confusing times...
...Some will flippantly remark that he has lost twice in this contest and is thereby excluded from the race...
...What other group is so heavily supported by the government...
...Elizabeth Jallie College Secretary AFSC Twenty South Twelfth Street Philadelphia, Pa...
...thirty dollars will supply one class...
...Timothy Plummer American Friends Service Committee Philadelphia, Pa...
...Help for Italian School Dear Sirs: Last year in Italy I worked as a volunteer at the Villaggio Artigiano Scolastico, a remarkable vocational school founded fifteen years ago in the village of Signa by an elementary school teacher, Maestro Leopoldo Fantozzi...
...I'm a Democrat, but I don't agree that Mr...
...Despite all this, farmers cry more than any other group in our society...
...I am a freshman in high school...
...Whenever a society sets up ideals and goals, there will be many people who cannot achieve them, or who have to act in ways that are psychically contrary to their natures in order to achieve them...
...Robert Wayne Merced, Calif...
...The official record provides abundant evidence to confirm the author's conclusion that Nixon is a reactionary in domestic affairs and is "evasive, opportunist, and self-contradictory in foreign affairs...
...Dear Sirs: I have read with surprise and amazement the article by William V. Shannon, "The Truth About Nixon...
...Progressive Dull Dear Sirs: We had hoped that our gift subscription to The Progressive was only for one year, and would have ended by now...
...Irene Halasz Philadelphia, Pa...
...I am no great admirer of Mr...
...In face of the horrible, dangerous prospect of populations such as India and China have and Japan did have, we need every means of birth control possible and a drastic revision of our abortion laws...
...Mattone is only one of the many boys who help the school in various ways and thus help to create its unique atmosphere of cooperation and friendliness...
...If you wish to know why, you might read through the recent article about Vice President Richard Nixon and count up the derogatory adjectives which, added up over several pages, amount to smear politics...
...After all, it's been Tweedledee and Tweedledum since 1940...
...What other group is paid not to produce...
...Donations of books or money can be sent direct to Maestro Leopoldo Fantozzi, Villaggio Artigiano Scolastico, Signa (Tuscany), Italy, or through me at 703 Texas Ave., Austin, Texas...
...It irks me to see the bourgeois Reader's Digest print an article on this last crying need while our so-called progressive, liberal, radical publications never mention it...
...E. A. Love Pasadena, Calif...
...Napoleon would probably have taken tranquillizers had they been avaialble, and perhaps the course of history would have been changed thereby...
...My subscription to The Progressive is expiring and I do not wish to renew it...
...Democrats Need Stevenson Dear Sirs: I don't want Richard Nixon for President...
...Raymond Sollen Bronxville, N.Y...
...Julia Dobbs Chevy Chase, Md...
...It makes one wonder how hesitatingly blind, or just plain indifferent, can a so-called "enlightened people" be...
...To beat Nixon, the Democrats will have to show up with a real man and a fearless platform...
...It seems to me from a reading of the record, in agriculture, labor, social security, civil rights, housing, and education, that Nixon has forfeited the right to expect support from independent voters...
...We of California who were twice the victims of his smear campaigns—once against Jerry Voorhis and then against Helen Gahagan Douglas—hope the rest of the country catches up with this slippery customer by reading "The Truth About Nixon...
...The South's Real Leaders Dear Sirs: I must take exception to only one aspect of your generally correct editorial on "The Struggle for Civil Rights" in the April issue...
...But I would not accept the author's conclusion that perhaps a labor press is the answer...
...It must challenge the Republican claim to be the party of peace, by showing that our peace is on shaky foundations...
...Readers of The Progressive will recall two articles written by Stevenson last year, both of which attest amply to the stature of this man...
...Are the defects in the life of Suburbia really as significant as Wechsler leads us to believe...
...Trips will be made to various centers of interest, such as New York and Washington, D.C...
...The fact that emerged most clearly to me was the basic lack of principle and conviction in a man who aspires to lead our country in a time of great crisis...
...The Progressive is to be congratulated for providing this invaluable public service, and Mr...
...It must be, as Woodrow Wilson declared, "The party with a heart under its jacket...
...Shannon emphasizes in quoting the record, surely disqualifies him to lead the United States in a world conflict that is so tense and perilous...
...Nobody trusts a two-headed donkey...
...Reference books or colored illustrations of design are especially needed for the ceramics classes...
...Today we need more than a Presidential figurehead...
...A President can take a stand only when he has solid ground beneath him...
...Dear Sirs: Please cancel my subscription...
...But are we so foolish as to let statistical probability rob us of the finest leadership available...
...Dear Sirs: William V. Shannon's "The Truth About Nixon," in your March issue, was a great climax to a brilliant series of articles on the prospective Presidential candidates...
...Dear Sirs: The time is fast approaching when the Democratic Party will choose a Presidential candidate...
...I am not the only person in the school who dislikes this article...
...Dear Sirs: James A. Wechsler's discussion of the press in your March issue was unusually good...
...When you deplore "the lack of creative white leadership in the South," you defined by inference the leading elected segregationists as though they were the only leaders who count in this struggle...
...David A. Hall Minneapolis, Minn...
...Teachers and others who have genuine interest are most welcome...
...but since my subscription to The Progressive began, I have had only praise for its contents...
...Then too, the little band of people trying to bring this population explosion to the attention of our lazy, stupid masses does not contain the names of the great "liberals" and radicals, but rather people like General Robert E. Wood of Sears, Roebuck...
...Nixon and can think of others who would in my opinion make better Presidents, in both the Democratic and Republican ranks...
...It is hoped to have fifteen students who wish to undertake an exploration of pacifism...
...He must have had a hard time digging it up...
...Our Rich Farmers Dear Sirs: Any normal person reading The Progressive would think the American farmer is starving...
...He stands for something essentially democratic in its lack of dependence on the monied interests which fill the Republican coffers...
...That could only be a Pentagon project...
...Their work is usually quiet, full of sound judgment based on vastly more experience than most of us Northern liberals have, and well calculated to develop the increasing support of their local politicians, police chiefs, newspaper editors, university administrators, clergymen, and central area businessmen, all of whom are doing their race-relations homework with diligence, and most of whom are opening their minds to the reasonable requests of the patient and hard-working members of many human relations committee members...
...If, by some misfortune, the subscription was for a longer period, will you please cancel it...
...are ours more prevalent or merely better diagnosed...
...Undoubtedly city life produces its full share of ulcers: that is one reason why people move to the suburbs...
...Dear Sirs: As one who has had several unusual opportunities to observe Vice President Nixon at rather close range, I would like to tell you how much I appreciate William V. Shannon's "The Truth About Nixon...
...it does not take a flippant attitude toward any subject it covers...
...The Democrats can't win the election with that sort of negative apathy...
...However, we are going to get "Trickie Dickie" unless the Democrats wake up pretty quickly...
...After the war, he gathered orphans and other poor boys in a basement in the afternoons and taught them mechanics, pottery making, and carpentry...
...Kennedy or some other Catholic to the Presidency, has written a biased and prejudiced account of Richard Nixon because in Nixon he sees the greatest obstacle to the realization of this ambition...
...Mrs...
...On the whole, one may regard these as creative tensions, for without them man would not achieve anything...
...Commends Byron Johnson Dear Sirs: I wish to thank you and commend Representative Byron L. Johnson for his article, "Toward a More Positive Peace Program," in the March issue of The Progressive...
...In this respect the article is entirely negative and its contents an insult to the intelligence of the great party which twice nominated him for the Vice Presidency and to the millions of patriotic Americans who voted for him...
...Our protest resulted in the 1956 revolution —the fight of a small, helpless nation against a powerful giant, a fight of bare fists and a few guns against an army of thousands of well-equipped soldiers with their tanks and aircraft...
...We live by the mail from day to day," he says...
...Judith Laws St...
...Also, how could he have expressed himself so well and held his temper in his famous debate with Khrushchev—or settled the steel strike...
...But while the Longs and Eastlands and other bigoted demagogues fume and sputter their desperate cries of disappointment, the areas of willing transition are spreading...
...A little boy called "Mattone" (brick) has brought one brick every day for the last year and a half, along with plain bread for his lunch...
...Under the regime against which we rebelled our youth was trained to hate the principles so dear to us, our patriots were imprisoned in concentration camps, and people were disappearing from day to day...
...I came back with a very encouraging impression of the renewal of courage and vigor on the part of many Southern whites who are dedicated to human dignity and equality of opportunity...
...Does the Senate ring with Democratic protests...
...Mrs...
...All we wanted was freedom—freedom of speech, freedom of elections, and freedom of the press...
...I do, however, feel that a great injustice has been done him by the publication of this article...
...The total cost is $150 for room, board, tuition, and travel...
...Your magazine is one of the dullest, most ultra-conservative we have ever read...
...Nor has Congress yet been allowed to debate the plan...
...American farmers, as a whole, constitute about the richest group in the United States...
...Progressive Challenging Dear Sirs: I am a newcomer to the excellent magazine you publish...
...Details regarding costs and program are available from the undersigned...
...the piece of sausage and cheese that he forgoes pays for the brick...
...Louis, Mo...
...I have little doubt that life on the Western frontier had its anxieties and frustrations, though they had little to do with crabgrass...
...Jessie Bernard, professor of sociology at Pennsylvania State University...
...Dear Sirs: For much too long liberals have been content to denounce Richard Nixon without citing the record...
...Dear Sirs: I am writing you to tell you that the article called "The Truth About Nixon" is a biased report evidently written by a Democrat...
...It is only people like Mr...
...Everyone helps...
...AFSC Conference Dear Sirs: The Middle Atlantic Region of the American Friends Service Committee will sponsor a conference for college students at Camp Fernbrook, near Pottstown, Pennsylvania, June 3 to 9. The resource staff will include Norman Whitney, AFSC national secretary for peace education...
...Shannon but the very nature of his article makes it somewhat obvious to me that he is both a Democrat and a Catholic who, in his desire to elect Mr...
...One should quarrel with the goals that are set, not with the tensions created in trying to achieve them...
...The Hungarian Revolution Dear Sirs: I was greatly disappointed in Milton Mayer's article, "Who Fights for Freedom?," which appeared in your March issue...
...Maestro Fantozzi has faith that these and greater needs will be met...
...It is a source of enlightenment I turn to each month with a great deal of spirit...
Vol. 24 • May 1960 • No. 5
