THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM A Year in Vietnam Dear Sirs: In a few days I will have spent one year in Vietnam. That year represents not only the passing of time, but of seasons, of Christmas, of Easter,...
...Does he think the Administration would not spend the loan money...
...We discussed at length some of our findings...
...It makes people realize that an important and ever increasing percentage of the American people themselves strongly disagree with policies of their present Administration...
...They further argue that Wills' letter to his draft board, and the act of destroying his draft card, were political acts, protected under the First Amendment...
...We interviewed peoples of all walks of life, including native Taiwanese...
...Vietnam Peace Proposals is both a damning indictment of U.S...
...We exchanged views and observations...
...policy there is sound, but I'm sure the matter cannot be disposed of in such a cavalier manner...
...These things are really the job of Congress, which holds the purse strings...
...the United States, which challenges the constitutionality of the Federal criminal statute against draft card destruction...
...No, I don't like how the Americans treat us, but they are here and for the moment, that's life...
...The biggest threat to America is a thing that is expressed by a four-letter word: debt...
...I for one feel that you undo some of the damage done to your country by the Vietnam war...
...It is a noble cause...
...Although draft card destruction is a felony, no judicial proceedings were initiated against Wills...
...commitment to a free choice of government for the South Vietnamese...
...Now we are in a war, but our credit is bad and "printing press money" is just around the corner...
...It's called subversion...
...It was my privilege to tour all over Taiwan for over a month a year ago...
...Mac-Donald has petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the case in conjunction with O'Brien vs...
...A few months later, Wills received his induction notice, and on February 24, 1966, he refused to submit to induction...
...You would be surprised (well, maybe not, at that) to see the reaction from the peoples of these countries when they discover that there is an American periodical that so beautifully expresses their own ideas, hopes, and aspirations for a better and more just world...
...My rooms were never searched...
...Diosdado M. Yap President and Publisher Capital Publishers, Inc...
...And what better way is there to do this than to preach "progress" and practice stagnation...
...Therefore, it is entirely possible that the AFL-CIO's antics are specifically designed to foul up unionists and other reformers before they can get off the ground...
...It means drinking beer in a Vietnamese cafe with a Vietnamese friend who isn't afraid to say what he thinks...
...Any social reforms in these countries would threaten this state of affairs...
...I cannot have faith in a government which allows its business leaders to reap great financial profits on the commodity of death...
...We have an easier way now...
...By being here I have assumed more directly the guilt of my country...
...P. W. Williamson Ipswich, Massachusetts Contentment in Formosa Dear Sirs: In the December issue of The Progressive, I read with dismay the unsigned article entitled "Tyranny in 'Free' Formosa...
...This short pamphlet not only establishes such criteria but also presents the "peace" proposals of the U.S...
...Washington, D. C. Vietnam Peace Proposals Dear Sirs: Readers of The Progressive who are concerned about the criteria they use in supporting or opposing specific Vietnam peace policies should read Vietnam Peace Proposals...
...Instead, he was simply reclassified I-A, although he was at the time a graduate student in good standing with a II-S (student deferment) classification...
...Year after year we ran deficits when we should have had surpluses...
...Then in the 1930's the Government's credit was good and the debt could be, and was, increased without embarrassment...
...In some ways The Progressive seems to me to play into the hands of the right wing...
...Government, the National Liberation Front, and North Vietnam, none of which meet the criteria, and fourteen peace proposals which do meet them, including those of Senator Fulbright, the United Auto Workers, and Americans for Democratic Action...
...With such tools, a distorted and unjust freedom it will certainly grow to be...
...Jonathan A. Gallant Seattle, Washington The Debt Threat Dear Sirs: Melville J. Ulmer's idea, expressed in his article in the December issue, of a compulsory savings and "stabilization kitty" would be as unworkable as many another idea that sounds good at first...
...military policy in Vietnam and an invaluable aid in changing that policy to one which can both end the war and fulfill the U.S...
...At the end of three years, if times are bad and the money must be repaid and the kitty consists of Treasury bonds, where will the money come from...
...On September 23, 1966, he was convicted of draft refusal and given the maximum sentence of five years in prison...
...We are rich because we can buy raw materials cheaply and sell finished products at a high price, from and to the underdeveloped economies...
...In many places that I visited, I came across numerous foreigners—Americans, Australians, Indians, Japanese, Filipinos, Koreans...
...Nothing but friendliness, cooperation, and helpfulness were accorded me during my most rewarding visit to Taiwan...
...The Ninth Federal Circuit Court upheld his conviction on October 5, 1967...
...I hear religious leaders from all but a few faiths tell me to kill the enemy, for "God is on our side" and "our cause is just...
...I am happy to inform you that I was never subjected to secret scrutiny...
...A year here can mean other things too—dropping off a truck load of scrap lumber for an orphanage, or writing to friends and family for clothes and candy for the ever growing numbers of par-entless children...
...If not, would the money be used to buy Treasury bonds to make up the "stabilization kitty...
...After a year here in Vietnam, I am convinced that whether we win or lose militarily is irrelevant...
...We should not, in all good conscience, support a Saigon government which would represent only the interests of ten per cent of its taxable population...
...After a year of looking, listening, and feeling, I have lost faith in the motives of my Government...
...And in World War II the debt went up fast, still without embarrassment...
...Death, destruction, bigotry—these are the means we are using, the tools and fertilizer we wield, to grow freedom...
...When liberal positions are defended by a blatant selection of favorable facts and ignoring of unfavorable ones, the forces of reaction are winning the contest...
...We cannot, no matter how strongly, defend a freedom that never was...
...At times it has meant a disastrous sacrifice of moral values...
...Contributions are urgently needed to bring the case before the Supreme Court...
...The ends do not justify the means...
...During the 1920's Secretary Andrew Mellon paid off the national debt, reducing it from $27 billion to $17 billion...
...I urge Progressive readers to contribute to the Russel Wills Defense Fund, c/o Professor John Moulton, Treasurer of the Defense Fund, Department of Philosophy, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105...
...Would not the bonds have been bought when the market was high and later have to be sold at a loss...
...We need higher graduated taxes, to plug up the loopholes, at least about twenty of the worst ones, and cut Government spending...
...Harry A. Linendoll South Pasadena, California Subversion Dear Sirs: Regarding Susanne Bodenheimer's article, "U.S...
...As an American who has traveled extensively in Taiwan, I cannot but express the opinion that your contributor is 180 degrees wrong in pointing out that "Secret agents watch the activities of foreign tourists and students, prying into their contacts and correspondence with local people...
...Labor's Conservative Role in Latin America," in the November issue, I would point out that we are rich, labor and management, and we want to stay that way...
...I do not pretenjd to know whether U.S...
...How can I have faith in a President who condemns peaceful protest as the work of traitors and rabble-rousers...
...That year represents not only the passing of time, but of seasons, of Christmas, of Easter, Thanksgiving...
...J W. Crichton Toronto, Ontario Undoing Some Damage Dear Sirs: During my travels as a sea captain I often have the chance to hand my copy of The Progressive to people I meet in countries like South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Malaya, Iran, Iraq, India, Pakistan, and some others...
...I think that fault is now more serious on the left than on the right...
...Name Withheld Serviceman in Vietnam 'Lopsided Treatment' Dear Sirs: I have become increasingly disturbed by The Progressive's oversimplified and lopsided treatment of the Vietnam war...
...Wills and his attorney, Kenneth A. Mac-Donald, are seeking- an appeal to the Supreme Court...
...A few years ago one of the chief criticisms made against the right wing by liberals was their oversimplification of issues...
...Surely the money from loans would not be put "under the mattress" or into a safe deposit box...
...Be sure to let us know in later issues of The Progressive of his success...
...Their central argument is that the Selective Service System acted outside its own jurisdiction by calling Wills up for induction because of alleged violation of a Federal statute (that against draft card destruction) for which he was neither indicted nor prosecuted, and thus denied due process of law...
...Unlike other Asian countries that I visited, including my own native Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam (Saigon), Thailand, Japan, Korea, Hongkong, I found peace, harmony, and contentment in all sections of Formosa...
...Servicemen in Vietnam soon learn that silence is the best, and safest policy...
...David A. Remley Albuquerque, New Mexico The Russel Wills Appeal Dear Sirs: On October 16, 1965, Russel Wills notified his draft board that, as a consequence of his opposition to American military policy in Vietnam, he had destroyed his draft card and would no longer cooperate with the Selective Service System in any way...
...One of the worst things I find in The Progressive these days is Milton Mayer...
...Captain A. Schweitzer Nederland Line Royal Rotterdam Lloyd San Francisco, California Nader's Noble Cause Dear Sirs: Thank you for the information in the December issue on Ralph Nader's current efforts to fight such abuses as the oil depletion allowance and air and water pollution by organizing an effective "People's Lobby...
...The Russel Wills Defense Fund has raised more than $2,000 at the University of Washington for the legal costs of the case...
...David Luse Berkeley, California...
...In an effort to exploit the idealism of youth by extolling the vir-tures of freedom of expression and the freedom of protest, they have corrupted these very ideals by flagrantly violating them in action...
...People presumed that the debt would be brought down again...
...Given the Court's present libertarian tendencies, contributions to the cost of this case may succeed in securing the political rights of the most put-upon minority in America: young men of draft age...
...Most of them like myself were newspaper correspondents...
...Being in Vietnam means listening to your unit chaplain refer to Vietnamese as "slant eyes" and to the equally vulgar remarks of your officers and non-commissioned officers referring to them as "gooks," "yellow bastards," and "zips...
...His juvenile inanities are enough to turn any sensible person several degrees to the right...
...The Wills case is especially important because, aside from the constitutionality of the law against draft card destruction, it challenges the role of the Selective Service System as an extra-judicial political police...
...After a year in Vietnam I have learned that the moral idealism expressed by our military is empty...
...I am fearful that someone with a special axe to grind has done a job of furnishing you with some very unreliable information...
...This pamphlet was published by the World Without War Council of Northern California and is available from their office at 1730 Grove Street, Berkeley, for seventy-five cents...
...But about $3,000 of prior expenses remain to be paid, and an appeal to the Supreme Court will cost even more money...
...It pains me to think that some of my pennies are going towards the further inflation of that already overinflated ego...
Vol. 32 • February 1968 • No. 2
