THE PEOPLE'S FORUM

...On November II he said, "Khrushchev will not start a war . . . The Russian people will not support a war...

...At this rate, it will be more than a century before we break down the barriers of racial segregation in the public schools of the South...

...City buses, it is said, lowered racial barriers even before the admission of nine Negroes to Central High School in 1957 led to a Federal-state clash...

...The sooner the Editor of Tlie Progressive retires and takes Milton Mayer with him the better...

...A. Schmitz New York, N. Y. 'Glaring Error' Dear Sirs: Paul M. Rilling made a glaring error in the very first sentence of his article, "The South's New Resistance," in the March issue of The Progressive...

...Gerald Barnes Natick, Massachusetts LeRoy Collins' Record Dear Sirs: Sherwood Ross, in an article entitled, "Violence on the Air" in a recent issue of The Progressive deals most unfairly with LeRoy Collins, president of the National Association of Broadcasters and former governor of Florida...

...Never before did I realize the import of the case of Claude Eatherly...

...Lens' coverage, in so short a space, of all the facets of nuclear war plus the regimentation that would necessarily accompany it, makes it clear to any sensible person that "shelters'' and an acceleration of the arms race would only hasten the destruction o£ civilization...

...Carter Glass High School," erroneously implying that the school is named for the late Virginia Senator...

...I cannot convince myself that the American and Canadian publics are immune from this fatal tendency...

...L. C. Bates, Arkansas field secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was quoted by the Times as saying: "It's a real discouraging picture...

...C. J. Cronin Alexandria, Virginia Dear Sirs: "The Case Against Civil Defense" by Sidney Lens is in the finest tradition of The Progressive...

...It makes it possible for us to wage the fight on the community level with greater effectiveness...

...Mrs...

...J. C. Sandley Chevy Chase, Maryland The Civil Defense Issue Dear Sirs: Sidney Lens' "The Case Against Civil Defense" should be in the hands of every member of our Congress...

...Although the school segregation crisis ended two and a half years ago, as far as reporting in the press is concerned, the racial problem has not been solved...

...Walter Herberc Bronxville, New York Dear Sirs: The Progressive has done it again...

...The latter problem is far less acute in Denmark than in Norway or the United States because of the small size of the country...

...Ross calls Collins "a convincing salesman and a past master of the smoke screen technique...

...Let us hope this issue will be read by Congressmen, and that it will enlighten and influence their decision on the $700 million appropriation for civil defense...

...And in the rear are the Chinese Communists...

...Wiley G. Gary Lynchburg, Virginia Peace at the Fair Dear Sirs: The Seattle Peace Information Center, which will be in operation during the Century 21, World's Fair in Seattle, is an effort to give genuine meaning and support to the peace theme of the Century 21 World's Fair...

...Waiter Lipp-mann, Adlai Stevenson, Senator Hubert Humphrey, and others who have talked at length with Khrushchev, agree...

...Moreover, the Danish insurance system also aids in the payment of large dental bills which, no doubt, are also covered by the Norwegian system...

...Brochures describing the Center may be obtained from: Turn Toward Peace Pacific Northwest Region 1314 NE 43rd, Room 20 Seattle 5, Washington We hope that all readers of The Progressive who plan to visit the fair will let us know when they are coining—and will be sure to stop in at the Seattle Peace Information Center during their stay...

...What is the logic of stopping the enemy in Western Europe with weapons which, in all probability, would destroy Western civilization...

...Claude Bowen Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Dear Sirs: . .. In my opinion, "The Case Against Civil Defense" by Sidney Lens is the finest article ever to appear in your magazine...

...This is what is known as "token compliance"— which represents a shameful repudiation of the letter and spirit of the Supreme Court decision...

...Daniel Weinstock Rolling Prairie, Indiana Danish Health Insurance Dear Sirs: My congratulations to Keith Olson for his excellent description of the Norwegian health insurance system in the March issue...

...Martin Sacks Tampa, Florida 'The Hero of Hiroshima' Dear Sirs: I was deeply touched by "The Hero of Hiroshima," by James A. Wechsler, in the February issue...

...Your February issue on civil defense is by all odds the ablest presentation on the subject I have seen anywhere...

...Organizations and individuals working with the Center are committed to democratic values and to the search for alternatives to war...

...To most it comes as their first reading on this side—a revelation...

...Moreover, Negroes occupy no elective office...

...William H. Short Larkspur, California Dear Sirs: Sidney Lens' presentation of "The Case Against Civil Defense" was the best I have seen on this subject...

...My copy is being handed around the neighborhood...

...I hope readers throughout the country are finding it as useful as we are...

...I only wish we could find some enlightened philanthropist to finance the distribution of this issue of The Progressive to every home in the United States...

...George Koski Whitewood, Saskatchewan Dear Sirs: Congratulations on your special issue, "The Case Against Civil Defense," by Sidney Lens...

...Lens has not only proved the case against civil defense, but in the process he has demonstrated the urgent need for a more affirmative approach to the problems of American foreign policy...

...However, owing to The Progressive's position on fallout, and especially because of Sidney Lens' "The Case Against Civil Defense,'' I will renew my subscription...

...J. T. Prindle Detroit, Michigan Dear Sirs: Congratulations to The Progressive and Sidney Lens for the masterful "Case Against Civil Defense...

...Negroes have attended functions with whites at the city's auditorium without incident, although it is officially segregated...

...Eric S. Einhorn Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Editor, Mayer Should Retire Dear Sirs: I had intended to drop my subscription to The Progressive because the Editor and Milton Mayer are so balmy on the racial question that both should retire...

...Integration in the South has not generally come about through school districts voluntarily opening their doors...

...It is an excellent rebuttal to Time and Life magazines' fraudulent claims, and to all the others who wish to impose the cruel deception of civil defense upon the American public...

...When I resided in Copenhagen, Denmark, last summer for five weeks, I had ample opportunity to inquire about the Danish health insurance system...

...I think that this is a tribute to Governor Collins' performance, and to his skillful and brilliant creation of conditions which have permitted integration to occur...

...Lens' effort is praiseworthy not merely because he shows civil defense to be both ludicrous and untenable, but also because the political ends of civil defense are exposed, in a manner which illustrates the indisputable political motivations which our government has had in fostering a stepped-up civil defense program...

...Editor's Note: It is...

...It will be located in downtown Seattle, in the heart of the shopping district...

...Its documentation makes a powerful and convincing case, and leads inexorably to the quotation from Walter Lippmann: "There is no protection against nuclear war except to prevent it...

...You have performed a magnificent public service whose influence is bound to be felt in this terribly trying time...

...The Center offers to the public a broad range of reliable information on all questions relating to international peace...

...J. T. Worcester Fairhope, Alabama...

...Congratulations also for the excellent art and the provocative cartoons that enlivened it...

...Once again, The Progressix'e has bellowed out the truth that men need to hear...

...The Center plans a lecture series, a film series, and other events which will take place during the fair...

...Congratulations to The Progressive for publishing it...

...Garry Russell Berkeley, California Dear Sirs: I know you will be interested in learning that my wife and I were able to make wonderfully helpful use of the February issue of The Progressive, "The Case Against Civil Defense," at a recent PTA discussion of the shelter problem...

...I think the governor's performance would have satisfied Sherwood Ross' most exacting standard of morality, had he been aware of it...

...2. That the actual use of such weapons would miraculously defy the escalator principle...

...Ross goes on, "While publicized as a 'moderate' among reactionary Gulf governors, his tenure at Tallahassee was virtually unblemished by the 'stain' of integration although school districts elsewhere in Dixie were opening their doors to Negro pupils...

...Khrushchev knows that the satellite nations will blow up in his face...

...A better adjective to describe the rightist would be "anarchistic" for that is what they seem to advocate—"absence of a system of government and law...

...Kissinger really believe that the Russians would not use bigger and bigger bombs to get out of impossible positions, and that we would not do likewise...

...I hope that what you have so clearly and forcefully presented will be widely read and reflected upon by the average citizen and the supposed expert alike...

...Write for more information today—and we hope to see you this summer at the Century 21 World's Fair in Seattle...

...The broadcast was a display of highest moral courage on a violently controversial issue...

...Ross is also apparently unaware of Governor Collins' hour-long television address to the people of Florida, while still governor, on the immorality of the refusal of white merchants to serve Negroes in downtown lunch counters and stores...

...1. That Khrushchev will simple-mindedly trust us to keep our word, even though we have broken it about arming Germany and Japan and about flying planes over Russia, and even though we lied about the U-2 flights and about Cuba...

...Who would have thought even a small portion of our independent Americans would respond to Nikita Khrushchev's "I will bury you" remark with an obliging "No, we prefer to do it ourselves...

...I read Sidney Lens' article after finishing some observations by Bruno Bettelheim on the tragic docility of hundreds of thousands of European Jews who walked inertly into Hitler's death camps, offering hardly even token resistance...

...Even Richard Nixon accepts the evidence...

...Here we find at least three unconvincing assumptions...

...Even granting that our reasons were "good," surely self-preservation in World War III would be an infinitely belter reason for breaking any promise about the use of nuclear weapons...

...Unlike many other Southern states, lunch counters and restaurants in drug, department, and variety stores remain segregated...

...Assumptions two and three are important to the military-industrial complex philosophy, but that is insufficient reason for accepting them...

...It is similar to the Norwegian system and has had similar salutary effects...

...My neighbors are equally impressed and are making effective use of the material...

...However, the Times' report showed that the picture "had many positive aspects...

...3. That Khrushchev wishes, plans, or intends to attack Western Europe or the United States...

...This is a perhaps insignificant but tvpical example of the inaccurate reporting found throughout each issue of The Progressive...

...Your writings are based on rhetoric rather than experience...

...THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Little Rock Today Dear Sirs: Little Rock has long since disappeared from the front pages of the American press, but readers of The Progressive may be interested in a recent survey of conditions there by the New York Times...

...Does Mr...

...Marcaretta Reynolds Hibbing, Minnesota Dear Sirs: Allow me to thank you for publishing "The Case Against Civil Defense" in your February issue...

...The governor has absolutely no responsibility for integrating Negroes into the schools of Florida and is not culpable for the failure of Negroes to press for their rights in the Federal courts...

...I hope his article will assure more Americans of the advantages of a progressive health insurance program...

...Tom Clark San Francisco State College San Francisco, California Labeling the Right Dear Sirs: Joe Glover, in his letter in the People's Forum of the March issue, makes a good point in criticizing the use of the term "radical Right...

...Visitors are welcome to browse, to buy, to take advantage of free publications...

...The Seattle Peace Information Center is a project associated with Turn Toward Peace, a nationally coordinated effort of thirty organizations to achieve a just peace and preserve democratic values...

...Sidney Lens has eloquently and horrifyingly substantiated with facts and figures the position which I have long held: that to suggest that fallout shelters offer any answer at all to the catastrophe of nuclear war is a criminal absurdity...

...J. A. Cantine Acapulco Gro, Mexico Dear Sirs: I cannot thank you and commend you too highly for your recent issue devoted to "The Case Against Civil Defense...

...The chief problems confronting the Danish medical profession are inadequate medical schools (inadequate in their capacity for students, not in their methods of instruction) and providing enough doctors for the rural areas...

...Ross is probably unaware of the degree of integration which has taken place in Florida—unaware because there has not been a commotion...

...Mrs...

...Elizabeth P. Williams New York, New York Dear Sirs: Sidney Lens has done a stupendous piece of work...

...Ray Southworth Laguna Beach, California Dear Sirs: Congratulations to The Progressive for the February issue, "The Case Against Civil Defense," and to Sidney Lens, who has done such a splendid job...

...Only forty-five Negro children are attending classes in seven previously white schools...

...Americans deserve and can well afford a health insurance system free from bureaucratic control that will provide adequate medical care for all Americans—rich and poor, young and old...

...They have seen the dire effects of war first-hand...

...Don Lane San Leandro, California Dear Sirs: One could not ask for a more definitive and cogent analysis of the civil defense question than was made by Sidney Lens in "The Case Against Civil Defense " Mr...

...Ross' implication is that Governor Collins was somehow preventing integration in Florida, or somehow failing in his responsibility to bring about integration in Florida...

...Substantial desegregation has reportedly taken place in hospitals in Little Rock...

...This is the kind of leadership from The Progressive on which we have grown to rely over the years...

...Bus and rail terminals are desegregated...

...Thus the picture is a mixed one, but the essential fact persists that after all the violence and Federal intervention, only forty-five Negro children are attending classes in schools previously closed to them...

...I hope it has a wide circulation to offset the absurd assurances of the popular press that all we need do is build ourselves a deep cave, stock it with food and water, and sit out the next war in security—and even comfort...

...It pains me to observe that society would brand a man insane because he has the highest regard for mankind...

...The Center's coffee lounge provides an informal meeting place where visitors can raise questions and exchange ideas in a friendly, attractive environment...

...Anne M. Stadler Seattle, Washington Kissinger Unconvincing Dear Sirs: Henry Kissinger recently assured us that any promise on our part not to use nuclear weapons first would be an open invitation to Khrushchev to invade Western Europe...

...Practically every top Russian expert says that he does not...

...If we fail to understand the cause for which Claude Eatherly has sacrificed his life, we shall fail to survive in this bleak age of the nuclear threat...

...He calls the Lynchburg High School, "E...

...Actually, the school is named in honor of the late Edward Christian Glass, who was for many years superintendent of Lynchburg sc hools...