The People's Forum
The People,s Forum Katzenbach's Rationalizations Dear Sirs: Under Secretary of State Nicholas Katzenbach's recent exchange with Senator J. W. Fulbright and the Senate Foreign Relations...
...Rosemary A. Rexford Montpelier, Vermont Real Cause of War Dear Sirs: As a college professor, I have watched with interest the various anti-war protests and petitioning and their subsequent results...
...Gonzalez has cited pre-tax profit rates...
...when the talk turned to the Senator's criticism of the U.S...
...And what have been the positive results of these activities thus far...
...With all the misunderstanding that has arisen around this "war on poverty" it continues to do a fantastic job in towns and cities across the country...
...Then the barbed wire and concrete barriers went up, and for nineteen years the Jewish people were illegally prohibited from visiting the Old City...
...Richard Chinn 600—3rd Providence, Kentucky...
...He quotes Goering: "Naturally, the common people don't want war...
...That would be absurd...
...Excluding the hippies, Wasserman faces the latter problem by admitting that, without the war issue, the New Left would halve—a damning admission comparable to admission that the camp of the campus Left is merely camp or faddist...
...In any case, he does not dispute the validity of my basic thesis— that powers of the Government to recover excess profits from contractors have been greatly reduced, despite the fact that we are now in a war, and despite the fact that the Renegotiation Board has time and again proved its value as a guardian of the public interest...
...role in Vietnam, the President said he "wasn't sure but what I was right" and that he had the Vietnam situation under "intensive study...
...This is the reason, the real reason, why U.S...
...This view ignores both geography and history...
...To take the monkey off your back I'll answer these embarrassing questions for you...
...You report: "When the UN voted the partition of Palestine in 1948...
...The late President Woodrow Wilson said to an audience in St...
...The UNEF was created primarily to guarantee the Straits of Tiran and to prevent the resurgence of Egyptian terrorists...
...There can be no peace so long as international commercial rivalry exists...
...This court definition would thus envelop all but the most dogmatic atheist, and even his case would be open to doubt...
...As a new subscriber I could not be more impressed...
...At a public hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 25, 1966, Senator Wayne Morse stated that U.S...
...troops outright, Mr...
...Therefore, if the anti-war people in the world really desire peace, they should dedicate themselves to a peaceful revolutionary change to a new representative social system, never before tried, in which there will be production for use...
...But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a Fascist dictatorship or a parliament or a Communist dictatorship...
...All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger...
...He very probably cannot be successfully appealed to, even on the grounds of his own self-interest...
...Israel went to war in '56 for two reasons...
...Alfred Wentworth, a vice president of the Chase Manhattan Bank, put it thus in 1965: "In the past, foreign investors have been somewhat wary of the overall political prospect for the [Southeast Asia] region...
...On Senator Morse's concern that the presence of U.S...
...When will people realize that the real cause of the Vietnam war, and all modern war, is international commercial rivalry for foreign markets, areas for capital investment, sources of raw material, and spheres of influence...
...Israel withdrew from Sinai only on those two conditions...
...was there such tolerance for so long, of Jews being excluded from an area that you yourself admit is as holy to them as to Moslems and others...
...Coupled with Nasser's stated intentions it would have been foolhardy for the Israeli military to hamstring its mobility under the watchful eyes of the UN, having freed the Egyptians from the restraint of international scrutiny...
...most importantly, it helped focus on the crucial problem of the New Left...
...Why is Mr...
...Lawrence Cranberg Charlottesville, Virginia Potomacus on CO's Dear Sirs: Congratulations are deserved by your August issue...
...Stanley I. Kutler Associate Professor of History University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin JFK's Deescalation Plans Dear Sirs: I was pleased to see the editorial, "If Kennedy Had Lived," in the August issue of The Progressive...
...Katzenbach ought to be aware that his rationalizations are full ?f pitfalls—even for Number Two men...
...So long as inveighing against Arabs might result in interference with access to the Old City by favored groups (and possibility of reprisals against Christian Churches and Missions throughout the Arab world), the press and religious spokesmen, both Protestant and Catholic, preferred to maintain an ear splitting silence...
...policy in Vietnam is a tragically mistaken one—but it has now carried us far beyond the point where a dispassionate stock-taking can rescue us from the consequences of our Government's folly...
...The Progressive certainly deserves one: The magazine kept me informed about issues of vital concern...
...involvement in Vietnam in The New York Times, November 28, 1965...
...There is additional corroborative information of which you are perhaps unaware...
...While very grateful for the coverage on Vietnam and the social problems in the United States, I regret that there is so little written on Africa, an area long neglected by the American news media...
...Please do not cancel my subscription...
...And that rivalry will exist so long as the present social systems exist...
...Gettleman raises the issue of author ethics in more pungent form when he charges the State Department with "deceit" in relation to various "peace offensives," and in particular in relation to the 1965 White Paper, with its contention of "Aggression from the North...
...Fighting broke out between the Arabs and Jews, and the forces of what was then Trans-Jordan crossed over to the west bank of the river, took possession of what under the UN plan had been conceived as an autonomous Arab Palestine state, and seized the Old City . . . and it was not until seven months later that the Israelis announced that they would keep their part of Jerusalem...
...Katzenbach, the Number Two man in the State Department, has argued that there is no need for a Congressional declaration of war to wage battle in South Vietnam or to bomb North Vietnam...
...Magnanimous to whom...
...I was particularly pleased with your August issue in which you defended U Thant, as well as pointed out that in the recent Arab-Israeli conflict, Israel is not so faultless and innocent as many of her blind supporters claim...
...Goering then was reminded that in a democratic state the people can exercise some restraint through their representatives and, specifically, that in the United States only Congress could declare war...
...It needs our support and active participation if we are really serious about "winning...
...I doubt it...
...Have you just crawled out from under a beard...
...That is easy...
...I believe he is overdramatizing his case...
...The People,s Forum Katzenbach's Rationalizations Dear Sirs: Under Secretary of State Nicholas Katzenbach's recent exchange with Senator J. W. Fulbright and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee offers another example of the Johnson Administration's arrogance...
...a major provision was the internationalization of the entire city of Jerusalem, old and new...
...It works the same way in any country...
...Your expressed belief that Israel should not muff an opportunity to "play a magnanimous role in peace making" by internationalizing the Old City is the kind of mousemeat one would expect from the Mad Hatter or the Red Duchess...
...Having received a few handouts from the American Embassy in Lagos on Vietnam, I appreciated your depth of coverage...
...Gonzalez does not meet The Progressive's high standards in his approach to the military procurement problem...
...Without question, U.S...
...Moving the UNEF from Egypt to Israel, far from preserving the status quo would have meant the evacuation of the Sharm El Sheik garrison without any compensatory security for Israel...
...It has long been my feeling that if people are provided with enough correct information they tend to act for the common good...
...What is the policy of Rand and similar Government-supported organizations with respect to material assembled or written up under their auspices, so far as obligations and rights of authors are concerned...
...It is not clear whether this represents a revision of, or an addition to, the earlier plan...
...Headquarters in Saigon announced that 1,000 of the 16,500 American "military advisers" then serving in Vietnam would be withdrawn, beginning December 3. This fact was published in a chronology of U.S...
...Clarifying a situation which at the time seemed incomprehensible, Wechsler holds up a merciless mirror for those to see how blind, precipitate, and cruel they were, in their mis judgment of U Thant, in recalling the UNEF...
...It is no excuse to say that one was not told that he did so only after Israel's refusal to welcome the restraining forces on their borders, and not merely at the widely broadcast insistence of Nasser...
...military advisers" would eventually lead to the sending of U.S...
...I must say, though, that the U.S...
...His statement of $1,600 per family as an annual average defense expenditure does not apply to the procurements about which he is complaining but includes Government Service Life Insurance, military space programs, dependents' and even the privates' salaries...
...A simple glance at the map will indicate why Israel did not invite the UN troops over to its side...
...John's Grammar School Fugar via Agenebode Midwest, Nigeria War Movements, Pro & Con Dear Sirs: I would like to have descriptions from The Progressive's readers of both anti-war and pro-war movements in their areas...
...Lowell Ponte Managing Editor, Nepenthe University of Southern California Los Angeles, California Praises War on Poverty Dear Sirs: The programs of the Economic Opportunity Act, the so-called "war on poverty," have received much criticism since their inception and, in my opinion, not enough favorable comment...
...U Thant's well known wisdom as Secretary-General suddenly counted for nothing...
...House Office Building Washington, D. C. Irrational on Jerusalem Dear Sirs: The irrationality of your comment on the capsule history you give of post-1948 Jerusalem in your August editorial, "A Peace of Reconciliation," is a perfect example of the incredible naivete that pickle-headed, jug-eared editors are prone to...
...The Supreme Court did not rule against the provision in Section 6 of the Universal Military Training and Service Act of 1951, as amended, that "religious training and belief" do not include "political, sociological, or philosophical views or a merely personal moral code...
...policies in Vietnam "would have been different" had Mr...
...John W. Kelly St...
...According to an article in The Washington Daily News, September 23, 1966, plans for withdrawing 1,300 men were announced two days before the assassination...
...Further, there is not the slightest scrap of evidence that the present Administration considers even a limited de-escalation as a valid alternative in Vietnam...
...For the first time, an organization has been set up to deal directly with the problems of the poor with the cooperation and participation of this disadvantaged group...
...John E. Gibson Rush City, Minnesota Gonzales Replies Dear Sirs: I have no way of knowing what Mr...
...It was this clause that the House Armed Services Committee has again written into the draft law and which will continue to be fairly easy to run around—as long as local draft boards understand and carry out the Supreme Court decision—which is open to doubt...
...There is one statement, though, that needs correction...
...to break the illegal Egyptian blockade and to wipe out the terrorist Fedayeen bases in Egypt...
...The omission of pertinent details in Gurtov's case is not made more palatable by the fact that the book is published by a university press (Columbia), nor by the fact that one can legitimately wonder if Gurtov was employed in the tasks of remunerative authorship while he was also a Rand-remunerated employe...
...Richard A. Stuchiner New York, New York Dear Sirs: Thank you for publishing James A. Wechsler's illuminating article, "Ordeal of a Peacemaker," in the August issue...
...As Gettleman implies, the omission is significant as a departure from common practice...
...Moving the force to Israel would have enabled Egypt to close the Straits of Tiran with impunity, re-igriite a long quiescent border and shift the onus of the UNEF's existence from Egypt, where it belonged, to Israel, which it was supposed to protect...
...This clause remained in force after the Seeger decision...
...Louis, Missouri, on September 5, 1919: "Why, my fellow citizens, is there any man here, any woman—let me say, is there any child here—who does not know that the seed of war in the modern world is industrial and commercial rivalry...
...Thomas R. Robinson Longview, Washington Reform or Revolution Dear Sirs: Harvey Wasserman's "Reform, Not Revolution" in the August issue of The Progressive was clear, concise, tidy and, in part, correct...
...Nothing whatsoever...
...It is clear that President Kennedy was undertaking a reappraisal of the Vietnam situation at the time of his death...
...Gonzalez worried about the tax loss carry forward for defense contractors...
...Louise Hurlbutt De Wetter Keene, New Hampshire Dear Sirs: I find The Progressive refreshingly honest and open-minded, which is a rare quality in a publication today...
...And that ought to be enough to make anyone a "Nervous Nellie...
...a system in which the wealth of each nation shall belong collectively to all of its people...
...The New Left is not without a program," Wasserman gaily chirps...
...I have seen this feeling borne out in fact as I sat in on some of the meetings of low-income families as they met to discuss their common problems...
...actions in Vietnam this year have considerably reassured both Asian and Western investors...
...Your magazine, while eager to scrutinize important issues from the unpopular point of view, is too much addicted to presenting attitudes, rather than thoughtful, sophisticated ideas...
...He implies that the Secretary-General valiantly tried to preserve the UNEF by moving it to Israel whose adamant refusal left him no other choice than to withdraw the force as soon as possible...
...capital investment...
...Conrad Gutermuth, Jr...
...Richard A. Lindsey Social Science Division West Texas State University Canyon, Texas Significant Omission Dear Sirs: M. E. Gettleman's review of The First Vietnam Crisis, a book favorable to U.S...
...Perhaps the pain of the New Left lies in that bog between reform and revolution, mired in program and not policy, in conduct rather than concretion...
...We must recognize that no clear line can be drawn between reform and revolution, but if either is to be made lastingly meaningful, any alteration must rest on policy, not program, on what John F. Kennedy called "the hard logic of events...
...It is apparent that his understanding of my article is sadly distorted...
...In the same issue, Edward P. Morgan's "My Native Land" expressed so well the deep concern in the hearts of many of us and stirred the hope that his words may ring across our country, as a challenge, and a warning, lest we succumb to the ancient lure of the golden calf...
...Senator Morse recalled that he had visited the President about ten days before the assassination...
...Eugenia W. Smith Long Grove, Illinois Withdrawal Unlikely Dear Sirs: Marvin Gettleman's review in the August issue quotes Howard Zinn's Vietnam, the Politics of Withdrawal, which urges that "if enough people speak for withdrawal, it can become politically feasible...
...Of course so long as Arabs have oil running out of their ears, they are the darlings of American foreign policy makers, both in the White House and our dismal State Department, who approach the problems of the Middle East in pig Latin double talk...
...By now, the President is probably the political prisoner of the military, and no longer his own man...
...But now that the holy shrines have come under Israeli control, everyone, particularly the Vatican, is suddenly strongly in favor of internationalization...
...Witness Hermann Goering (another Number Two man) discussing the Leadership Principle with an American psychologist in Nuremberg in 1946...
...I hope that your magazine continues to maintain its excellent standards...
...It should be pointed out that the defense industry pays taxes at the exorbitant corporate rate but Mr...
...Why, except for an occasional feeble "tsk...
...So long as Christians and Moslems had access to the Old City, who cared a damn that Jews didn't...
...One can only regret The Progressive's publication of the article...
...Why wasn't the present dustup about the Old City hammered out when, as you yourself stated, Jordan illegally took control in 1948...
...Gibson's motivations are...
...Whether or not Lyndon Johnson has, in fact, the power to stop the juggernaut is also questionable...
...Uniontown, Ohio A Peace Corpsman's Thanks Dear Sirs: As I come close to finishing my two years of service as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I felt that I should send some letters of thanks...
...James A. Wechsler's August issue article on U Thant, "The Ordeal of a Peacemaker," appears not only to excuse the inexcusable, he blames the victims of the mistake for its cause...
...Actually, rather than deciding upon the question of whether a "non-religious" objector had as much right as a "religious" objector to conscientious objector status, the Supreme Court expanded the definition of "religious" to include those who maintained a "sincere and meaningful belief" in a "place parallel to that filled by the God of those admittedly qualifying for the exemption...
...J. S. Rosenthal Waterford, Connecticut Thant's Middle East Role Dear Sirs: Blessed are the peacemakers, but they are not infallible...
...the campus Left seems content with either hippie isolation and withdrawal, or protest—an admitted definition of self solely in terms of the enemy...
...It would be interesting to learn how this dogma avoids the pitfall of self-perpetuation...
...But this provision never became operative...
...Henry B. Gonzalez, M.G...
...Don't you even know that the only magnanimity the Arabs are capable of understanding after their immunity for nineteen years, is for Israel to turn into a nation of lemmings and go down to the sea in mass suicide...
...In this context it is obvious why Israel refused to allow the force on its territory...
...While I do not know the source of his thinking, there is an interesting, recent parallel...
...Machiavellis are apparently always on hand to remind the less sophisticated how really harsh and cruel the "real" world is...
...The prerogatives of university professors with respect to authorship and publication of material prepared in their professional roles is well defined, as is the obligation to identify the supporting institution...
...Kennedy "indicated that was not his intention...
...On November 15, 1963—one week before the assassination of President Kennedy —U.S...
...Peter Holland Editor The World Federalist The Hague Netherlands Challenges Gonzales Dear Sirs: In his August issue article, "The War Profiteers," Representative Henry Gonzales5 generalization about the methods of war profiteering—"The practice of inviting bids is set aside . . ."—is unsubstantiated by facts about procurements for our current Vietnam war...
...policy on Vietnam by Melvin Gurtov, notes that the book carries no information about the author's credentials or sources of support, and that direct inquiry to the publisher revealed that Gurtov is an employe of Rand Corporation...
...It is also granted to individuals and corporations who are not engaged in the defense business...
...Potomacus is probably correct in stating that the Supreme Court decision smacked of "godlessness" to the Rivers committee...
...In effect, we are told that the Constitution is outmoded, that it is old-fashioned to express the national will through representative action—in short, that Our Leader knows what is best...
...Literary tradition tolerates anonymity, but work which purports to deal responsibly with critical issues can hardly be allowed comparable indulgence...
...Potomacus states in "The Word from Washington," that the new draft law "returns the nation to a definition of conscientious objection that the Supreme Court explicitly rejected as too restrictive in 1964, because it declares that 'religious training and belief do not include essentially political, sociological, or philosophical views, or a merely personal moral code...
...That is understood...
...His understanding of Eastern psychology— certainly far greater than we of the Western world can attain—was forgotten...
...soldiers are being sent to fight in Vietnam: to make that area of the world, Southeast Asia, secure for U.S...
...Your intentions are beyond reproach, but reading your magazine is largely a waste of time...
...Having reported the above, you then don your editorial toga and Napoleon hat and proceed with that universal, self-satisfied rectitude and omniscience of all editors to plug for internationalization of the Old City, pointing to The New York Times, as if Jehovah were speaking, as supporting your belief...
...Sharm El Sheik, overlooking the narrow entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, does not lie on Israel's border...
...Alice M. Alt Silver Spring, Maryland 'Nearly Adolescent' Dear Sirs: Having decided not to renew my subscription to The Progressive, I feel obliged to advise you of the reason...
...Decent men are capable of committing shortsighted errors, but the cause of truth will not be served by rationalizing them away...
...On the whole, the majority of your articles are very nearly adolescent...
...Kennedy lived...
...It should...
...Goering's answer was instructive—and chilling: "Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders...
...The Progressive is an outstanding magazine because it examines our social and political problems as problems, not as grand frauds maliciously perpetrated by one segment of our population on another...
...With your head under a rock...
...Yet the "program"—or, via Webster, "plan of procedure"—of the New Left has taken on the quality of a retreat...
...G. M. Gilbert reported the conversation in his book, Nuremberg Diary...
...Robert V. Apple Ukiah, California Outstanding Dear Sirs: I want to take this opportunity to congratulate you on an excellent and lively magazine—outstanding among the many which arrive on my desk...
...In contrast, Thomas Jefferson thought the worlds of public and private morality were inseparable...
...The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 is a special vehicle designed to move a disadvantaged group of our society into line with the rest, that we may advance together...
...Where have you been for the past nineteen years...
...neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany...
...One can only conjecture about his purpose in writing this article...
...Those who wish her dead...
Vol. 31 • October 1967 • No. 10
