THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Doctor in Vietnam Dear Sirs: I have long been an interested reader of The Progressive and recently my interest has grown as the situation here in Vietnam has deteriorated....
...Is America to survive on the blood of Vietnamese civilians...
...and as a man who lives for certain values...
...But they must have the facts on which to base an intelligent judgment—not the dreamy nonsense put out by our generals and diplomats...
...Mary-Louise Hooper Director, South Africa Program American Committee on Africa New York, New York Hoover's Toppling Tower Dear Sir: J. Edgar Hoover's idea of the Golden Rule seems to have been a foundation of shifting sands upon which he has built story after story of what once appeared to be his impregnable ivory tower...
...Losing 190 lives in the period that we have been out there is bad, but it is not like the 190,000 that we might lose the first month, if we escalated the war...
...There comes a time in a doctor's life, no matter how hardened he has become, and perhaps in every man's life, no matter how cynical he may be, when he must protest as effectively as he can about the suffering of his fellow man...
...Let our remembrance be that of a people who helped decrease the suffering of the Vietnamese...
...It is exactly the kind of publication that you should wish to be a resounding failure...
...Now, nearly a quarter of a century later, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was our supreme commander, confirms the unpopular position some of us took at that time...
...President, in New Hampshire in the end of September you said: "We are not going North and we are not going South...
...If history is repeated and America's influence in Southeast Asia is to diminish, as it has for other foreigners in the past, let us hope we are remembered for something besides napalm, helicopters, jeeps, Coca-Cola, and the twist...
...I can only wonder why it did not crash years ago...
...We are committed to suffering that will lead us to freedom, as it has been the lot of all oppressed people before us from time immemorial...
...There is much that is salacious...
...We should urge in every way possible the South Vietnamese to try to secure an immediate cease-fire agreement, leading to a negotiated peace, and we should work toward phased withdrawal of American military forces from the country, contingent on Vietcong adherence to the agreements...
...We believe that "the time has come," as Senator Ernest Gruening recently urged, "to cease the useless and senseless losses of American lives in an area not essential to the security of the United States...
...No refund has ever been made, and direct letters to Ginsburg go without reply...
...as a doctor who is concerned with the welfare of his patients...
...The patients, already diseased by tuberculosis, anemia, and malnutrition in many cases, are now entering more frequently from direct effects of the war...
...Mrs...
...Hitler, according to Eisenhower, "used something from the mouth of our own leader and persuaded the Germans to fight longer than they might have...
...Unconditional surrender, he says after all these years of silence, played into Hitler's hands and prolonged the war...
...In spite of return receipts requested on letters, questions or complaints go unanswered—but another request soon arrives, begging for a subscription...
...a twelve-year-old boy brought in unconscious by relatives who described how artillery blasted their village the night before...
...Some say candidly that America's purpose here is to protect herself from a great and evil enemy...
...no mention that my subscription ought to have run two more months...
...Advance payment guaranteed the come-on of two extra issues free...
...Rather than liberating a people, it seems that these techniques and weapons result in innocent civilians, women, and children being beaten, burned and murdered...
...There is practically nothing of a positive or constructive value in it...
...Many of your articles explain and interpret developments which might otherwise be baffling to those of us who are many miles away in Europe...
...a fifty-year-old woman, accused of being Vietcong who had been beaten, electrically shocked, and had her hands punctured for three days to extort information...
...History often vindicates the position taken by a lonely band of dissenters...
...three other civilians also accused of supporting the Vietcong were released to the hospital after severe beatings and their innocence determined...
...The military situation has been deteriorating for some time, the South Vietnamese people have shown little inclination to fight the guerrillas, one unpopular regime after another has fallen in South Vietnam, and the present regime is also unstable and unsupported by the people...
...The civilian hospital in our province in central Vietnam is good by Vietnamese standards...
...I have written as an American who wishes his country to act with the greatness of which she is capable...
...Ralph Cleveland Evanston, Illinois More on 'Fact' Dear Sirs: I would like to add my voice to others appearing in your People's Forum to say that I believe you should discontinue advertising Fact magazine...
...When one's own country is involved in the inhumanity, the responsibility becomes greater...
...Naturally, I don't agree with every article, but I am better informed by every one I read...
...H. L. Curtis Guymon, Oklahoma Enriching Document Dear Sirs: For foreign readers The Progressive stands as an enriching document and a useful instrument of truth...
...Owen C. Wicks Centralia, Washington...
...I am not surprised that the tower is now toppling...
...The advisers need to suggest ways and devise means of preventing useless and wanton slaying of civilians...
...Dean Ewing Albuquerque, New Mexico Dear Sirs: My son is a dedicated charter subscriber to Fact magazine...
...resolutions calling for an economic boycott of South Africa is to quote the words of one of the most loved and trusted leaders of the African majority of the population, Chief Albert Luthuli, 1963 Nobel Peace Prize winner...
...that we look forward to, and entreat, its most stringent implementation and that we would encourage the most vigorous forms of action in protest against the apartheid policies which blight our country...
...For nearly two and one-half years I have attempted to recover from a Ginsburg outfit the $4.95 paid in advance for the book which led to Ginsburg's legal troubles...
...But I will thank The Progressive not to censor my information concerning other available publications...
...Mrs...
...The Vietcong destroy bridges and homes, kidnap children, and murder legitimate village officials...
...Our military advisers teach Vietnamese modern techniques of killing each other...
...For example, a pregnant woman demonstrator with a bullet hole in her abdomen, whose fetus died later...
...Does this make us great...
...President: Recent events in Vietnam require public discussion...
...He said: "On behalf of all the oppressed people and all freedom lovers in South Africa, I wish to make it clear that we welcome this resolution [U.N...
...William S. Samuel Jr...
...This is the real betrayal of responsible liberalism and of faith in the American people...
...We have been victims of suffering long before our boycott and sanctions call to the nations of the world...
...What seems to be needed is for America to exert her influence, to insure such basic human rights as the opportunity of the accused to present evidence on his behalf, and the abolition of cruel punishments and interrogation...
...Our weapons aid in more thorough destruction of themselves...
...However, I am deeply disturbed by the suggestions of your readers that you should not accept its advertising...
...J. David Kinzie, M.D...
...It is my opinion that the people of this country are mature enough to be able to digest and act on the truth...
...Of course, war has always been described as evil, but does this mean that America must add to it...
...It is a shocking story he tells, but it could have a most wholesome effect if it is read and pondered by the members of our Congress...
...I would urge that you and your government be not deterred from any action by the excuse—often advanced by our oppressors—that boycotts and sanctions will bring to us, blacks, more suffering than the whites...
...resolution calling for complete economic sanctions] most joyfully...
...Signed by more than 150 members of the University of Wisconsin faculty Lesson for Liberals Dear Sirs: It seems like only yesterday that some of us were smeared as "appeasers" and "bleeding hearts" because we dared question the moral and military worth of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's insistence on an "unconditional surrender" policy in World War II...
...What we are determined not to do, cost what it may, is to acquiesce in a status quo that makes us semi-slaves in our country...
...Mrs...
...I have been in Quang Ngai for six months in general practice at a civilian provincial hospital, and I can remain silent no longer...
...Your editorial analysis, it seems to me, has been sound and moral...
...There is a lesson here for timid liberals today...
...Dorothy Clark Santa Barbara, California Dear Sirs: Until I learned how short the integrity of his publications stretches, I was sympathetic to Ralph Ginsburg...
...Many of the victims' "crimes" consisted merely in living in an area the Vietcong had overrun the night before...
...And each issue alerts me to some new world problem, or opportunity, that I should know about...
...My experience with Fact has been shabby...
...I still do not believe in censorship, but Ralph Ginsburg has earned scorn for his reprehensible tactics in false advertising and unfilled commitments...
...A more immoral approach is hard to imagine...
...The battle of terror is not unequal...
...The worsening situation makes it imperative that our government seek a peaceful solution in South Vietnam now...
...Above all, negotiations must begin to end this tragic war, even though the conditions may not be optimum from the West's point of view...
...Therefore, I have read every issue...
...the book continued to be advertised...
...I subscribed to the first issue...
...We believe that escalation of the war in South Vietnam involves grave risks that cannot be justified by the interests which the United States may have in the war's outcome...
...Lawrenceville, Virginia South Africa Boycott Dear Sirs: In reply to the letter in the January issue by Barbara Hansen, perhaps the best answer to her Short-sighted attitude in decrying the U.N...
...I received stalling replies, each time from a new name on his staff...
...The first year is up, and I am on the ex-subscriber list, deluged with pleas to renew or subscribe...
...The prudent alternative, then, is to have the South Vietnamese regime seek peace through negotiations with the Vietcong, while such negotiations may still net a compromise settlement agreeable to all parties concerned...
...As long as we refuse to read, or try to keep others from knowing of, those publications which do not seem responsible according to our personal interpretation, we are scared fodder for dictatorship...
...I will continue to subscribe to The Progressive rather than Fact...
...Robert C. Stephens Alexandria, Virginia Time for the Truth Dear Sirs: The Progressive again performs a great service by giving us James A. Wechsler's brilliant article, "Vietnam: A Study in Deception," in the February issue...
...Thus I add my belated voice...
...J. R. Armogathe Marseille, France Better Informed Dear Sirs: Every so often, after reading the latest issue of The Progressive, I say to myself: "This one copy is worth the price of a year's subscription...
...I would ask you to unite in demanding that your governments should honor the resolutions taken at the United Nations...
...Perhaps I have written naively (I have not mentioned the threat of Communism or the defense of "freedom"), but if naive voices of many concerned people stop the suffering of even one innocent individual, it is worth the effort...
...Quang Ngai Vietnam Seek Peace in Vietnam Dear Sirs: In the belief that public opposition to our government's possible escalation of the war in South Vietnam is urgent, and that it is our responsibility as citizens to offer the President our considered views, this open letter has been sent to President Johnson: Dear Mr...
...Also, I fully agree that it is as biased and sensation-seeking for the radical left as is American Opinion for the extreme right...
...It is time for the truth...
Vol. 29 • February 1965 • No. 3
