THE PEOPLE'S FORUM

High Cost of Dying Dear Sirs: Thank you so much for the excellent article on the "High Cost of Dying," which appeared in the March Progressive, and for the fine presentation of the answer to the...

...As members of the world community in whose name Israel acts in this case, we call upon that nation to forsake the right to place Eichmann on trial for his life...
...It is not the color of their skin that is objectionable...
...This is the resolution: "As opponents of capital punishment, we oppose executions in all countries and for whatever reason...
...The first result of any war is that the adversaries exchange vices...
...Richard L. Johnson Walnut Creek, California Use Wadsworth's Talents Dear Sirs: I am glad to have seen your memo to the President on James J. Wadsworth in the March issue...
...I hope it will also be done, invariably, in the training of the Youth Corps...
...He believes that when a man finds himself unable to get a job that will support himself and his family, government must not step in to help the man because that would be a deprivation of "freedom...
...I think that one of the most characteristic comments of the opponents of the Soviet proposals was an editorial in the New York Times which claims the Soviet proposals would inevitably "paralyze the United Nations executive," and would "deliberately introduce partisanship into the executive, split it apart, and impose on the policy-making decisions...
...Those who intend to base themselves only on decisions adopted by a majority vote will sooner or later destroy the United Nations...
...I realize that the illustration is in an advertisement and does not necessarily represent The Progressive's point of view...
...O'Connor has pointed out intelligently the faults in the foreign policy of your country toward Latin America in general...
...We propose to erect a monument that is more meaningful...
...We recognize in ourselves the human desire for revenge in this case...
...During the crucial months in 1959 and 1960 when the test-ban negotiations were being conducted by Ambassador Wadsworth in Geneva, I had occasion to correspond with him on several occasions...
...And it is significant that Payton's neighbors in Charlotte—middle-class Southerners who can by no stretch of the imagination be accused of pro-union bias—have expressed their belief in his innocence...
...Membership of Seattle's People's Memorial Association is well over 7,000, not 3,000, and is increasing at the rate of almost 200 a month...
...He claims that they assented to his plan...
...I listen to their high pitched squealing and struggle with their passive resistance to education all day long...
...I refer to C. P. Snow's "Either-Or" and Clyde Sanger's "Wind of Change in Central Africa...
...They received these sentences for talking to a man sent to see them (and hired for that purpose) by state authorities...
...they deny it...
...We recognize that psychology still is an infant science...
...It helps us to become more cultivated men and women...
...Gricory Morozov Moscow, Russia Rand Disavows Kahn Dear Sirs: The new book by Herman Kahn, On Thermonuclear War, has provoked a great deal of discussion and controversy...
...In the process of serving the economic and educational needs of these people, we must always seek to serve the psychic need simultaneously...
...The perfectionist libertarian has one answer to the Jew, haunted by memories of Auschwitz and Maidanek: "Die heroically for my faith in absolute liberty]" But the puzzling question that would occur to any fair and decent man of the street is still: Why is Jewish blood so cheap for liberal absolutists...
...All human beings learn by example, and we abhor the example set by executioners...
...Indeed, by their definitions, you stand accused of utter inconsistency...
...Actually quite the opposite is true...
...As a member of the physics division at Rand, Kahn has the privilege of publishing his opinions on matters of civil defense, nuclear war, national survival, and so on...
...T. S. Holman Recording Secretary Passaic County Industrial Union Council (CIO) Paterson, New Jersey Freedom to Starve Dear Sirs: Arizona's Senator Barry Goldwater, a millionaire, naturally is opposed to having the people's government do for the people what he has always expected it to do for property...
...In the life-long custody of that organization, he could be subjected to examination by the world's most learned authorities on individual and social behavior...
...It is no secret that Russia has a vast surplus of one particular commodity from the Ural Mountains—a bright yellow metal that we could use quite handily right now...
...It is admitted that Aaron was quartered in a motel in Roanoke Rapids in a room rented by the State Bureau of Investigation, and that the same source furnished him with hard liquor or the funds and means of obtaining it...
...Manoel Luiz Leao Porto Alegre, Brazil Pleads Strikers' Innocence Dear Sirs: On November 3, eight leaders of the Harriet-Henderson Textile Workers strike in Henderson, N. C, entered North Carolina State Prison to serve sentences, of two to ten years, on charges of which the great majority of people who know them believe them to be innocent...
...Like Hitler, Rockwell could put an end to the frustrating aimlessness of these youths and give them a cause...
...The United Nations Charter speaks of the necessity of ensuring the objectivity of the Secretary General in the interests of the United Nations, as well as of those nations of different social systems and geographical areas...
...So, McReynolds may write indignantly about the stupidity of our President (as he did about New York's Mayor Wagner) and the inconsistency of fair-weather liberals...
...If the Soviets are really desperate for our surplus grain, they do have goods to trade...
...This man, Harold E. Aaron, a former convict with a personal grudge against the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA), which had refused to save his job when he was fired for good cause from the Fieldcrest Mills, offered to blow up the Harriet-Henderson Mills if the eight union men would supply him with dynamite...
...It if could spread throughout the world, faith in America would truly rise...
...The Progressive is a magazine of broad outlook and courageous standing...
...Africa is essentially a huge slave-labor camp where the food and other symbols of luxurious living are produced by the dark-skinned slaves for the benefit of the white man...
...The correctness and wisdom of this idea is irrefutable...
...The stronger provinces are able to help others hit by crop failures...
...Richard Bellman The Rand Corporation Santa Monica, California Bell & Howell's Principles Dear Sirs: It was good to read in your February issue the praise of Bell and Howell for their television programs on the South...
...Within three days the company repudiated the agreement, and the union had no choice but to renew the strike...
...Such a unilateral approach is extremely detrimental to international cooperation, and it is precisely this, using the expression of the New York Times, that "paralyzes the United Nations executive...
...This organization should be guided in its activities by the principles of cooperation which suits all groups represented in the United Nations...
...It is wonderful to see how magically the big oil power complex has cast its spell over the United States Senate...
...We refer to the case of ex-Nazi leader Ad-olph Eichmann, now awaiting trial in Israel before a court that will speak for the conscience of humanity...
...Adah Maurer Chicago, Illinois...
...Before reading your memo, I was contemplating a letter to President Kennedy, urging the further use of Mr...
...Such an approach is not difficult to teach to the young people who will be in our Youth Corps...
...This uniquely intensive study would embrace every phase of his physical and mental make-up as well as every significant incident of his public and private history...
...By taking the trouble to be seriously interested in their language and their culture, by seeking to get from them as well as to give to them...
...Unfortunately, in many news stories, in magazine articles, and in Letters to the Editor, the point of view expressed by Kahn has become identified with the official point of view of the Rand Corporation...
...But we believe it is necessary to suppress this desire...
...Goldwater, however, does not believe in the "freedom" of property to exist without government aid and support...
...The convictions were upheld by the North Carolina Supreme Court, which is not surprising in view of the climate of opinion that prevails in the South today on the question of unionism...
...Dag Ham-merskjold expresses in the Secretariat the interests of only one group of states—the countries of the West...
...The articles on Cuba by James O'Connor constitute the most comprehensive and honest study I have read on the subject...
...And what better cause, sanctioned by centuries of tradition, than the killing of Jews can any gang ask for...
...High Cost of Dying Dear Sirs: Thank you so much for the excellent article on the "High Cost of Dying," which appeared in the March Progressive, and for the fine presentation of the answer to the problem which is being offered by the Memorial Associations...
...However, I'm sure that a letter from me, and many others like me, now will carry much more weight because of your thoughtful memo...
...An Austrian journalist recently wrote in Der Rundblick: "The role of the United Nations Secretary General retains its meaning only while the Secretary General enjoys the confidence of all groups represented in the United Nations...
...What he feared has practically overtaken us...
...However, observers overseas report that actual famine conditions do not exist...
...Professor Cohen died not long after expressing this prophetic view...
...As far as "clear and present danger" goes, the relatively factual speeches of the more or less well-informed, more or less responsible admirals and generals, delivered to groups of "solid citizens," are less likely to incite an immediate war than the words of a hysterical Rockwell are liable to incite a riot by reaching some youthful members of New York City gangs...
...Despite our recession, the cold war bitterness and the dollar-weakening lesson taught by fifteen years of handouts to other nations, a kindly Uncle Sam would still aid these fellow humans...
...He does not want property to be relieved of government support as it has in Cuba and other lands...
...It is hard to believe that these strike leaders would take part in an outrage which, even if it had not led to prosecution, would have served no purpose but revenge, and would have tarnished their union's reputation and set back its hopes of organizing the South...
...Reprisals can be savage and vengeful, as Senator Joseph Clark has found in the present session of Congress...
...It is conceivable that such a project, properly motivated and adequately organized, could rekindle and carry throughout the world the light of freedom and brotherhood, now somewhat dim, but once the shining beacon of the "American Dream...
...But The Progressive need not worryl McReynolds will not come to the aid of the admirals and the generals, nor will he be angry at a liberal, somewhat pacifist, magazine for rejoicing in the silencing of the warmongers...
...Why are they always so ready to fight for their absolute principles till the last drop of our blood...
...I know what I am talking about...
...The Memorial Associations are by no means limited to the West Coast but are springing up all over the country...
...It was Bell and Howell, quite alone among big corporations, that took a courageous stand on the tariff several years ago, saying in substance: "Let foreign-made cameras come in without protective barriers...
...As the chief of the Gestapo's Jewish section, he has been charged with implementing the cold-blooded murder of an estimated six million men, women, and children...
...Sir Charles pictures the white people as dining luxuriously inside a cozy restaurant while starving, dark-skinned people outside are looking in with resentment...
...However, when this confidence is absent, as in the present case, the Secretary General should resign if he really regards his duties seriously...
...Our neighborhood, near the Univei?-sity of Chicago, is integrated—neighbors on both sides of us are Negro...
...While we have men in Congress who can write reports like that, I say there is hope for America...
...Eddyville, Oregon Psychic Needs Abroad Dear Sirs: I have just read "Youth for Peace" by Henry S. Reuss in your February issue...
...While there is still time, the White House, the State and Defense Departments, and the Senate and House Committees that deal with the armed services and foreign affairs, might well heed the wise man's warning...
...For accepting his drinks and listening to his plot (but never carrying it out) the sovereign state of North Carolina wants from two to ten years out of the lives of eight men...
...I shall cite only one of the many comments made by people who correctly understood the idea behind the Soviet proposals on improving the United Nations executive body...
...Irwin M. Moskowitz Consultant to the penal-affairs subcommittee of the Friends Committee on Legislation of Southern California Los Angeles, California 'Utter Inconsistency' Dear Sirs: Weren't you worried, when you editorially commended President Kennedy on the gag-rule he forced down the throats of his admirals and generals, that you would be taken to task by David McReynolds, by all those who endorsed his article, and by the American Civil Liberties Union...
...The "superficial observer" cannot help but admire Senator William Proxmire's courageous exploration of the issues involved in the Connally appointment...
...When they produce a Patrick Henry of their own and become willing to stick their own necks out for the rights denied them, then and only then will they merit our respect...
...And the exacting of capital revenge involves the risk that Eichmann would be converted into a martyr in the eyes of unsophisticated youth...
...Nonetheless, because the swastika is so surcharged with emotion, I think it is unfair to use it in that context...
...What "freedom" does he mean...
...They point to the fact (which the prosecution admitted at the trial) that they took no action whatever to comply with Aaron's request for dynamite...
...I hope that other groups and individuals will endorse the idea and make known their endorsement to representatives of Israel...
...The only thing that makes McReynolds and his ilk indignant and self-righteously angry is to see Jews—each of whom mourns a precious life in Hitler's crematoria—react with fright at the sight of an American Hitler and seek protection here, there, somewhere...
...it is the excessive sexuality, the careless unconcern for casual child-bearing, the lack of personal pride, and the hysterical fear of everything and nothing...
...Rather, he should be placed on trial for life itself...
...Marye Myers Los Angeles, California Praise from Brazil Dear Sirs: I am only a recent subscriber to The Progressive, but your magazine already ranks very high in my preferences...
...The men who did it have not been arrested to this day...
...I, too, believe in humanitarian-ism, but I find it hard to share your distress...
...The late Professor Cohen ranks as one of America's wisest and noblest minds...
...John Halcone Pasadena, California Adenauer No Nazi Dear Sirs: I was a little surprised to see the swastika behind a picture of Konrad Adenauer in your February issue...
...The whole concept of conflict of interest was persuasively explained away by Connally's supporters, Democrats and Republicans alike, as only a rather loathsome derangement of a diseased imagination, from which the Senate majority was fortunately free from any infection...
...We cannot raise the moral level of civilization if we repeatedly descend to using the same methods as those who would destroy humanity...
...If "freedom of speech" is a universal absolute for the "liberal," no "liberal" magazine should applaud a limitation of that freedom, even if (or, perhaps, especially if) it is applied to opinions with which it disagrees...
...I congratulate you on the outstanding quality of your magazine...
...As you know, Adenauer was never accused of being a Nazi...
...L. Stillman Lemon Grove, California Africa's Slaves Dear Sirs: I wonder how many of your readers noticed the relation^ between two of the articles in your February issue...
...They no more represent the official views of the Rand Corporation than do the views of Walter Teller at Berkeley, a physicist, Linus Pauling at California Institute of Technology, a chemist, or Harlow Shapley at Harvard, an astronomer, represent the official views of their respective universities on social, political, and economic matters...
...Count me out...
...But we believe mankind's survival may depend on the fragmentary insights gained from individual studies such as we propose in this case...
...In full accord with this basic idea the Soviet Union proposes to replace the one-man authority of the Secretary General by a collective body representing the three groups of states existing at present...
...If Eichmann is guilty, he unquestionably is one of the most hideous criminals of all time...
...Proposals Dear Sin: The proposal on improving the structure and the executive body of the United NaTHE PEOPLE'S FORUM tions advanced by Nikita Khrushchev from the rostrum of the Fifteenth Session of the United Nations General Assembly evoked much comment in the press of all countries...
...Eduardo Reyes Monterey, California Warns against Militarism Dear Sirs: During World War II, noted American philosopher-mathematician Morris R. Cohen wrote: "We are adopting the things that made our enemies powerful, and incidentally the things that made them our enemies...
...The convictions arose out of the two-year-old strike at the Harriet-Henderson Cotton Mills...
...A few small corrections and additions, however...
...Lee M. Brooks Webster, North Carolina Trade Food for Gold Dear Sirs: Mild disappointment was expressed editorially in your February issue over President Kennedy's failure to propose that our surplus food be made available to the Russians and Red Chinese...
...I am wrung dry, and can see no solution but that Negroes take matters into their own hands and fight their own battles...
...But we now feel called upon to speak out on a specific case that challenges the very essence of our belief...
...During the past winter we have answered several hundred inquiries, from thirty-eight states, from people who would like to see a Memorial Association functioning in their community...
...So your editorial did not live up to the standards set in McReynolds' article, "Hitler in New York," in behalf of George Rockwell, nor to those of the ACLU activities on his behalf...
...It is doubtful whether anyone will refute the fact that both the Socialists and Afro-Asian groups of states never had, nor do they at present have, proper representation in the United Nations apparatus...
...We are convinced that the killing of Eichmann would accomplish nothing but the removal of a valuable living reminder of the destructive potential of the human personality...
...The trial should be for the sole purpose of determining his exact responsibility for the mass murders...
...Esther Ticktin Madison, Wisconsin Rotten Eggs for Rockwell Dear Sirs: The official stand of the American Civil Liberties Union to safeguard civil rights was commendable, but I am one of those ready to throw rotten eggs at Fuehrer George Rockwell and his followers the next time he puts in an appearance here, even if I had to spend time in jail for it...
...Friends of these men would welcome a thorough investigation of the case by any Federal authorities—legislative, executive, or judicial—confident that a full disclosure of the facts of the case would prove their innocence...
...Secondly, it enriches us, giving us fresh knowledge and deeper insight both into them and into ourselves...
...Our danger is that we shall copy the militarism that corrupted Germany and Japan...
...Indeed, the United Nations cannot simply base itself on a majority vote...
...The main aim of the Soviet proposals is precisely to remove the "partisanship" of the Secretary General, that is, his adherence to the West, and instead transform the Secretariat into a body in which the interests of all "sides" would be represented...
...Is It not the "freedom" to starve...
...From my own experience in foreign service with the American Friends Service Committee, I came to realize that the economically underdeveloped peoples not only have tremendous political and economic needs, but they also have what might be called psychic needs...
...The pressure for conformity, upon young Senators especially, must be almost overwhelming...
...Has he ever considered writing fact...
...For fifteen years I have taught in an integrated high school...
...I've seen this done in the American Friends Service Committee, and it really works...
...The paternalism of the "liberal" suffering from a guilt complex does nothing to stiffen the jelly backbones...
...Walter W. Haines Pomona, New York Fed Up with Negroes Dear Sirs: I am cancelling my subscription because I am fed to nausea with the plight of the Negro...
...Our young people should always be in the position of exchanging knowledge and ideas, never of merely dispensing them...
...my children attended integrated schools...
...However, Clyde Sanger's article shows that the darker skinned people may, after all, have some cause for resentment other than mere envy...
...In the face of massive Western culture and its technology, they tend to feel desperately inferior and inadequate, though they will rarely admit this...
...It is a pity that a larger share of such inspiring and stimulating American journalism does not reach enough of the world...
...we will find a way to match quality and cost without disaster...
...We have been unconsciously but certainly creating an America dedicated to force...
...Its research includes studies ranging from space travel to cancer research, from neutrons to neutrality...
...Ernest Morgan Yellow Springs, Ohio Applauds Peace Corps Dear Sirs: As one who has used these pages to criticize Representative Henry Reuss' views on monetary policy, I would like to take this opportunity to applaud vigorously his long, enlightened, and creative drive for a Youth Peace Corps...
...First, it builds the dignity and self-respect of the people and makes them far more receptive to what we have to offer...
...The foundations for it are firmly planted in our American heritage, so that it need only be brought into the open and vigorously presented...
...H. R. Glascock, Sr...
...We fully understand why it appears fitting to many persons to apply to Eichmann the capital-punishment provision of Israel's genocide law...
...Wadsworth's talents...
...James Finucane Executive Secretary Committee for Return of Confiscated German and Japanese Property Washington, D. C. Deplores Senate Conformity Dear Sirs: A careful perusal of the Congressional Record's complete transcript of the Senate debate on the confirmation of the appointment of John B. Connally as Secretary of the Navy is enlightening...
...Thein Wah San Antonio, Texas Great Discovery Dear Sirs: The Progressive is one of my greatest discoveries in my visit to the United States, and I am taking it back to my country, Chile, as an example of good, free journalism...
...Sylvia H. MacColl Educational Director People's Memorial Association 2366 Eastlake Seattle 2, Washington Study Eichmann Dear Sirs: In connection with the impending Eichmann trial in Israel, I call your attention to a resolution that has been adopted by the California Conference to Abolish the Death Penalty...
...Cyrus S. Eaton Cleveland, Ohio Mayer's Fairy Tales Dear Sirs: In reference to "As It Is in Heaven," in the January issue, Milton Mayer writes a wonderful fairy tale...
...A list of currently operating Memorial Associations and an outline of our structure and function is available to readers of The Progressive on request...
...During the strike, Boyd E. Payton, regional director of the TWUA and one of the eight later convicted, was beaten into unconsciousness in the doorway of his hotel room...
...In every instance I had a prompt, informative reply, and was made to feel that he had valued my interest...
...A five-month strike ensued, which was settled April 17, 1959, by an agreement reached under the auspices of Luther H. Hodges, then governor of North Carolina and now Secretary of Commerce in the Cabinet of President Kennedy...
...This has two effects...
...We believe it would be a mockery to commemorate the martyrdom of the millions of Nazi victims by engaging in the futile and pathetic gesture of one more killing...
...I think that it is essential to point out that Rand is a nonprofit research corporation with no official point of view—except for that of examining problems of national concern...
...It is a moving picture...
...In November, 1958, after fourteen years of peaceful relations with the TWUA, the company had announced that it would not renew the union contract unless the union gave up all rights to ask arbitration of grievances...
...His brilliant teaching career took him to such diverse and distinguished institutions as Columbia, City College of New York, Chicago, Yale, Harvard, John Hopkins, and Stanford...
...He was arrested by the Nazis during the Hitler regime and returned to his job as Mayor of Cologne by the United States occupation forces...
...On the basis of personal conversation, I can report that a number of senior members of the Rand Corporation who have examined these questions over the last five or ten years do not share Kahn's views, and I myself do not have these troglodytic, apocalyptic visions of Kahn...
...Theirs is an admirable example of doing the right thing against threats and fears of the "you'Il-be-sorry-type," and then out of it all being rewarded with proper profits under the banner of high principle...
...Florence E. Anders New York City Russia's U.N...
...If any degree of direct responsibility is established, he should be remanded to a special research unit of the United Nations...

Vol. 25 • April 1961 • No. 4


 
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