The Peoples Furom

Cantor, Milton

THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Parties and Peace Hopes Dear Sirs: Demurring on the proposition that both major parties are afflicted with cold war psychoses, and that "Goldwater was just an honest Johnson,"...

...Your magazine gives us a wealth of excellent inside information which it is difficult to obtain otherwise...
...Mrs...
...Since this system includes processes of adjudication of disputes by legislative and judicial processes, disrespect for this system leads directly to settlement of disputes by what is supposed to be the only alternative to these legal processes, namely, by direct physical force...
...THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Parties and Peace Hopes Dear Sirs: Demurring on the proposition that both major parties are afflicted with cold war psychoses, and that "Goldwater was just an honest Johnson," I ask how do we go about changing the belligerent course of our government before it is too late...
...Milton Mayer Deerfield, Massachusetts The Sobell Case Dear Sirs: It is now more than seven weeks since two nationally famous scientists, Dr...
...We are going to defeat Communism only by putting our own house in order and offering to needy and desperate people in all areas of the world that kind of peaceful aid, cooperation, and know-how that no Communist country can or will provide...
...is judged by the effects of that movement as well as by the intentions of those involved in the movement...
...They had evaluated the sketches which were presented in the Rosenberg-Sobell trial as the atom bomb...
...Every possibility and situation must be explored to the fullest to give maximum expression to the yearnings of most Americans for a just peace in Vietnam...
...In the second place, one would like to know his response to those who maintain that advocacy of non-violent disobedience to law contributes directly to the use of violence on the part of others...
...Unless the contentions involved in both of these questions can be adequately answered, the moral position and the practical power of Dr...
...Thank you, Mr...
...John Roche was fairly nominated and elected as ADA chairman...
...The result of the acceptance of both these contentions is obvious...
...If the Commission had begun investigating in a direction that was totally divorced from the image of the solitary Oswald (that has been so much overemphasized by the mental hygiene theory of assassination) it might not have treated the testimony of some of the eyewitnesses to the assassination in such a cavalier fashion...
...A third political party committed to peace rather than the dissipation of our very life's blood for a massive military establishment may not appear to have too much support, but I believe that millions of our citizens today are remaining away from the polls simply because they have lost faith in our two major parties and in the type of candidates offered...
...By direct statement and by McCarthy-type innuendo Wechsler tells your readers that Roche's election was "a source of discontent...
...He attempts further to damage Roche's liberal credentials by asserting that his election "might have been averted" by Wechsler...
...This is a case which has troubled the conscience of the American people for almost two decades...
...My innocent husband, Morton Sobell, continues in his seventeenth year of imprisonment while we await the decision granting freedom or a new trial from Judge Weinfeld of the U.S...
...The most frightening aspect of this whole business is the police harassment of all witnesses whose testimony seemed to acquit Oswald...
...In the first place, one would like to know his response to those who maintain that the successes of the non-violent actions which he has supported are dependent, at least in part, on the existence of the threat or actual use of violence by others than himself...
...These three assumptions are treated as though they were established facts...
...My recollection of the 1962 ADA convention certainly involves a different perspective than Wechs-ler's as set forth in his "Roche in the White House" in the November issue of The Progressive...
...The decision is not only a legal one but very much a political matter...
...Philip Morrison and Dr...
...It would be hypocritical, indeed, for the critics to accuse the Commission of convicting Lee Harvey Oswald on insufficient evidence and then themselves name another assassin on the basis of the same evidence...
...The Commission's predisposition to the Lone Assassin theory is clearly evident in its interrogation of witnesses and only a fool would believe it did not know what it was doing...
...The importance of the issues involved suggests that these contentions must be adequately rebutted...
...Both Salisbury and the Commission have said, "Oswald was a psychopath...
...It is curious that Wechsler's main objection to Roche as a liberal concerns Roche's opinion about how bad McCarthyism was...
...Casting independent votes of "no confidence" with the Administration's Vietnam war policy could have proved of therapeutic value to impatient and frustrated peace activists—but what was really needed was the urgent dispatch of reinforcements, whatever their label, to the beleaguered "handful of maverick Democrats already there...
...Let all of us eggheads who disagree with Roche's acceptance of the Administration Vietnam policy confine our arguments to the policy and not engage in irresponsible ad hominem attacks...
...We welcome requests for information...
...Charles C. Lockwood Detroit, Michigan Salisbury on Oswald Dear Sirs: Harrison E. Salisbury, in his November issue review of the three most influential books that criticize the report of the Warren Commission, begins his inquiry into the assassination of President Kennedy with an unverified image of Oswald that rests upon three taken-for-fact assumptions : 1) Oswald was guilty...
...However, there are several questions concerning the relationships between the principles of non-violence and those of violence which should be answered...
...People will believe that non-violence has led to few if any significant gains for the Negro people but that it has contributed to the spread of violence...
...For that purpose we ask that they write to the Sobell Committee, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y...
...Permitting them to exert undue influence, on both the methods and course of the investigation, may have resulted in producing some of the more superficial explanations that are supposed to clarify the complexities of Oswald's "incomprehensible" behavior...
...As a matter of political history, the sinews of new parties are nurtured in the stirrings of resentment within the old...
...It tended to search for the kind of "facts" that would fit into the framework of its pet preconception...
...Dail Delaney Portland, Oregon One Killer or Two...
...We have always read your magazine with great interest, and we should like to avail ourselves of your recent special offer on behalf of some Danish acquaintances who have seen our copies of The Progressive and have become interested...
...The Warren Commission set out to investigate with a certain psychiatric preconception...
...If the contention involved in the second question is unanswered then the distinction between civil disobedience by peaceful means and disobedience which involves the use of physical force will be seriously eroded...
...I believe that both of these contentions can be answered, at least in part, and I believe that Dr...
...Neither John Roche nor James Wechsler would recognize me by sight or possibly by name...
...Morton Sobell New York, New York Borland Opens a Door Dear Sirs: October has always been a special month, but Hal Borland gave us a much greater insight into its real meaning...
...Irving Gold, member Nassau County Democratic Committee Levittown, New York Why They Don't Vote Dear Sirs: I was especially impressed by the comments and sound reasoning in the letter of R. Riddle in the November issue...
...Should this belief become widespread then the practical power of S.C.L.C...
...Alan Regan Tiburon, California More Danish Readers Dear Sirs: For some years we have gratefully received The Progressive as a gift from friends in Tennessee...
...Entirely apart from the reason for the harassment the fact of the harassment is intolerable in a democracy...
...To the advocates of a new party, with whom I agree in principle, the ugly truth must be told that we'll all be dead and buried before it could come to fruition, not to speak of power...
...King claims for non-violence will be attributed by many to the threat of violence...
...Many psychiatrists insist that there is no such thing as a psychopath, and there is no positive proof that either witches or psychopaths exist as valid, clinical entities...
...We urge that all those interested in the fair administration of justice acquaint themselves with the facts of this cause celebre which has received the attention of the entire world...
...Henry Linschitz, submitted affidavits in the Rosenberg-Sobell case...
...There are a number of books available also, most recently Invitation to an Inquest (Doubleday) by Walter and Miriam Schneir...
...Borland...
...10011 for copies of the current legal petition, reprints of stories and editorials in The New York Times, Denver Post, and other newspapers, and the verbatim trial transcript...
...My most vivid memory of the convention was a tantrum thrown in the hotel lobby by James Wechsler because he was unhappy with the convention's choice...
...King's movement may both be undermined...
...One thing we can be sure of...
...Henry Landreth Former ADA National Board Member Oxford, Ohio Violence and Non-Violence Dear Sirs: Martin Luther King's discussion of "Black Power" in the December issue of The Progressive is quite useful in clarifying some of the ambiguities which that term involves, for example, the confusion between political power and the use of violence...
...If the contention involved in the first question is unanswered then the successes which Dr...
...This explains why it is so inclined to minimize the importance of the observations of witnesses whose testimony was in conflict with its basic position...
...Conrad Rossebo Monona, Wisconsin Wechsler and Roche Dear Sirs: I am an academic person with no axe to grind other than what seems to me to be the truth...
...These scientists characterized the sketches as worthless and the detailed documentations of their analysis caused quite a stir through the scientific community, resulting in major articles in Science and Scientific American...
...The moral position of a movement such as S.C.L.C...
...Borge and Ulla Moltved Virum, Denmark...
...That such a course was both practicable and realizable was demonstrated by the powerful support given pro-peace challengers in Democratic primaries for Congressional designations in California and New York earlier this year...
...The article by Wechsler was petty in its tone and incorrect in its allegations...
...3) His act was motivated by his condition of psychopathic madness...
...King, or someone who commands the great respect that he does, should answer them explicitly...
...He is most fortunately possessed with the facility for taking us away from the war and politics, where he has opened the door that we all pass through but seldom acknowledge...
...Nothing could have been more shocking than the conduct of President Johnson and Vice President Humphrey following the 1964 election...
...2) There is no room for doubt that he was a psychopath...
...Believe me, there's a difference...
...Roughly, the argument is that disobedience of some laws causes disrespect for the entire system of law and of government by law...
...Dear Sirs: To argue, as Harrison E. Salisbury does in the November issue, that Allen Dulles makes a reasonable request in asking the critics of the Warren Report to name another assassin indicates that he has somehow missed the point...
...District Court in New York City...
...Hugo Lehman Ames, Iowa 'There's a Difference' Dear Sirs: I know that the correction never catches up with the error, but I should like the record to show that the expression "indecent exposure," in the second paragraph of my article in the December issue of The Progressive should have read, "decent exposure...
...and other organizations committed to non-violence will be undermined...
...We are not going to defeat Communism with napalm fire bombs or other weapons of war...
...Such a statement can no more be verified than the assertion that "Oswald was a witch...
...This harassment has been well documented and none of the apologists for the Commission has denied it...
...If the non-violent movement has led to morally objectionable results (or contributed to such results) then these consequences will be weighed against any gains which may be attributed to this movement...

Vol. 31 • January 1967 • No. 1


 
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