THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Campaign 1968 Dear Sirs: We hail The Progressive for its marvelous contribution to Senator McCarthy's peace crusade. You were right when you said in your May issue editorial...
...Some time ago, Marshal Lin Piau, the Communist military leader in China, prophesied the reverse domino theory in these words: "When the U.S...
...If the election is thrown into the House of Representatives, each state would have one vote...
...Yet, thanks to Barry Goldwater, on election night in 1964 Ben Meier was awake until four a.m...
...As one concerned American I say it's high time that J. Edgar Hoover was turned out to pasture...
...Stoner's prophecy will not have to meet the acid test and that clear sailing lies ahead for the only Democrat to be elected to statewide office in South Dakota in the last decade...
...But there is growing evidence to supr port a domino theory in reverse...
...It is high time to take another critical look at the domino theory...
...In 1955 he was employed at the Detroit Ordnance Department...
...Neighboring North Dakota does not allow simplified straight ticket voting, and what happened up there in 1964 is most instructive...
...Theodore R. Crane Charles Angeletti History Department University of Denver Denver, Colorado 80210 Mayer 'Magnificent' Dear Sirs: Milton Mayer is simply magnificent...
...He is a powerful and urbane writer...
...Witcover that Nixon has acquired a sense of humor, a self-deprecating manner that suggests a kind of humility new to him, and the appearance of a moderate middle-of-the-roader...
...On the contrary, it would have deprived us of a true-blue progressive in the inner councils of the Administration...
...I made this demand to the hearing board and to J. Edgar Hoover...
...I do not quarrel with your support of Senator McCarthy, but do you need to deal so harshly with Mr...
...Revis O. Robinson Student, Department of Criminology California State College Long Beach, California Dow Justifies Napalm Dear Sirs: In a letter to The Progressive (May, 1968), C. W. Griffin, Jr., observed that the Dow Chemical Company simply "parrots the inanities of Johnson Administration bunglers," now that they have ended their stoic silence and decided to answer their critics...
...I have been informed by persons I believe qualified to know that Mr...
...When you hear and read what he has to say, the old Nixon is much in evidence...
...Marie Ely Long Beach, California Fire J. Edgar Hoover Dear Sirs: Senator Eugene McCarthy has stated that J. Edgar Hoover should be retired...
...You were right when you said in your May issue editorial that he has changed the course of history, and you were right when you wrote that this candidacy enabled us to spread the glad tidings that America does have a choice...
...Supposedly the most unbeatable officeholder in normally-Republican North Dakota is the Republican secretary of state, Ben Meier...
...This country has its own problems and the sooner we try to solve them, the better off we will be...
...It would be a terrible blow to our democratic system and a serious drain on the nation's morale if this bantam demagogue from Alabama could control the destiny of our country...
...There is so much that could be accomplished here if only enough care and thought were given to solving the problem instead of merely patching it up or repressing it...
...He deserves better from a liberal publication...
...He has been there for fourteen years, renders marvelously impartial service, and "nobody's mad at Bennie," the saying goes...
...Apparently our serious involvement in Vietnam has encouraged the recent Communist activities in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, South Korea, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, The Philippines, and parts of Latin America...
...At the end of the hearing, Lupa was completely cleared, but it was an exceedingly rough experience...
...His counsel was rejected by the President...
...This means that racist Mississippi would have equal strength with enlightened New York, that the sparsely settled, gambler-dominated state of Nevada would have an equal voice with California, the most populous state in the nation, and so on...
...Humphrey in the process...
...He dismissed my other points by saying that he resented the other "imputations" I made about his company...
...Finally, in the family of nations, the dominos are falling...
...One morning that year he was informed that he was suspended on the charge of being a security risk...
...Humphrey frequently urged on the President ¦—privately, of course—the need for a more moderate and humane policy in Vietnam, including the cessation of the bombing of North Vietnam...
...The agent even came to his home and repeated his proposal before Mrs...
...Otherwise Lupa was through...
...The reality, however, destroys the appearance...
...Finally, monolithic Communism is losing out, or has lost out, in Cuba, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Egypt, North Korea, Indonesia, Algeria, Ghana, Kenya, The Congo, Japan, Malaysia—and is being challenged even in China...
...No other agency of Government would try or could possibly get away with anything like this...
...Johnson withdrew, and right up until 9:39 p.m...
...Thomas Nelson Minneapolis, Minnesota Dear Sirs: I agree with all your political analysis in the May issue—except your judgment of Vice President Humphrey...
...One little "X" is all that it takes to vote for the whole bunch, on either side of the fence...
...K. W. Simons Pine Ridge, South Dakota Death for Cop Killers Dear Sirs: I am convinced that Senator Philip Hart's article, "Abolish the Death Penalty," in the April issue, presents an overly broad and sweeping suggestion...
...It was the repotted intention of the Pentagon to call 60,000, according to some news dispatches, but the call-up in the end was not of 60,000 but of 24,500 reservists...
...Other dominos threaten to fall in the same direction if our preoccupation with Vietnam continues or increases...
...One can only shudder at the thought of what a Johnson candidacy might have done to Senator McGovern's impressive standing in the eyes of South Dakota voters...
...Griffin that the company's decision to answer its critics has validated the wisdom of its former policy of remaining silent...
...Stoner wrote the article before Mr...
...In a recent article in Big Ten magazine, C. A. Ger-stacker, the chairman of the board of Dow, makes these points and goes on to cite the testimony of Dr...
...A lot of us out here are happy that Mr...
...Paul Rosen Providence, Rhode Island Reverse Domino Theory Dear Sirs: "The domino theory," says General Shoup, "is unadulterated poppycock...
...in your April issue...
...Statements of Dow spokesmen suggest that since napalm is only a small part of overall corporate production, and since Dow also makes many beneficial products, then making napalm is OK...
...I cannot congratulate you too highly on continuing to carry his material...
...Granted his arguments may be valid, but something within compels me to keep the death sentence for at least one specific class of murderers—the convicted cop-killers...
...J. Wheeler Los Angeles, California...
...In a nation this size and with the wealth it has, it is indeed a shame that we cannot even take care of our own people, yet we seem to try to take care of everyone else...
...The Pentagon's subsequent action in calling 60,000 reservists into service . . ." should state "24,500...
...John Lupa had served honorably in the Army and Navy for nineteen years...
...by Jules Witcover), I was inclined to believe that the author had been bamboozled by Nixon press agents...
...Gerald Barnes Denver, Colorado Correction Dear Sirs: In editing my article, "The End of Empire," for the May issue, you permitted an error to creep in which I would appreciate correcting...
...Rusk's conclusions...
...Howard Rusk, who says he did not see many napalmed people during his visit to Vietnam...
...After all, the Negro is an American, and he deserves the rights of an American—not after some other country is taken care of, but before...
...I only wonder how many hundreds of cases there have been similar to Lupa's during the years...
...The Vice President could have resigned, but this would not have advanced the cause of peace in any way...
...Robert Pearson Arlington, Virginia Dear Sirs: I do not believe sufficient attention has been paid to the calamity that could befall our country if George Wallace of Alabama succeeds in winning as many Southern states as the experts predict...
...and Mrs...
...Yet most of the assumptions back of the domino theory are naively unrealistic...
...March 31 the nightmare facing Senator George McGovern's supporters was that the massive unpopularity of the President in this state would be the fatal albatross around McGovern's neck...
...aggressors are hard-pressed in one place—pinned down and depleted—they have no other alternative but to loose their grip on others...
...He was told to get his things and report to the Detroit office of the FBI...
...I recently received a letter from the Dow Corporation, signed by C. A. Gerstacker...
...Lupa refused this unprincipled demand and, as his attorney, I insisted on an early hearing on the charge that he was a security risk...
...His views on the war in Vietnam and the crisis in our cities would indicate that he has learned little and understands less...
...In a letter to Mr...
...before he learned that he had squeaked back in...
...Two—In the Soviet satellites—Poland, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, and even East Germany—nationalism (somewhat like that in Yugoslavia) has been persistently and effectively challenging Communist doctrine and strict Soviet control...
...Since the Kennedy Administration and before, monolithic Communism has been disintegrating: One—Between the Soviets and China, cooperation has ceased and bitter rivalry threatens to grow into actual conflict...
...It seems to me that the inanities go beyond parroting...
...Scott Ward Madison, Wisconsin Jesse Homer Newlon Dear Sirs: To supplement the Newlon Papers in the University of Denver Library, and for a biography, we seek correspondence and reminiscences concerning Jesse Homer Newlon (1882-1941), influential figure in the progressive education movement as Denver school superintendent (1920-1927) and professor of educational administration, Teachers College, Columbia University (1927-1941...
...He told me that he was aware that his company's position was "not very well understood in Madison" (a reference, no doubt, to the October 18, 1967, Dow protest on the University of Wisconsin campus which ended in violence), and that my letter "only confirmed this...
...Gerstacker, I suggested that even though Dow does not make much money on napalm, and even though Dow also makes many beneficial products, this just might not be enough to satisfy those who protest against Dow...
...The only answer was a loud No...
...O. Edmund Clubb New York, New York Negro 'Top Priority' Dear Sirs: I was interested in your editorial comment, "Black Hope and Anger," in your March issue...
...He deserves "top priority" in having his problems solved before strangers in some foreign country that do not even want our "help...
...Charles Lockwood Detroit, Michigan McGovern's Albatross Dear Sirs: As a South Dakotan, I read with more than normal interest Bruce Stoner's "Can McGovern Be Re-elected...
...Whatever the ultimate outcome of his candidacy, Senator McCarthy will be recorded in history as "the man of the year" for 1968...
...Lupa...
...James Rector Berkeley, California Dear Sirs: When I read your March issue article on Richard Nixon ("Is There Really a New Nixon...
...If Ho should take over and communize all of Vietnam, who can be sure that his success would not motivate more Communist aggression in other parts of the world...
...Anyone who follows South Dakota politics closely can vouch for everything in the article save the last sentence: "Unless events beyond our imagining now disturb the course of the campaign, McGovern will be re-elected as a dove even as President Johnson loses South Dakota...
...Incidentally, The Progressive is in greater demand than ever in our library these days...
...Doubtless this conclusion is oversimplified and too sweeping...
...On the basis of this experience with the preposterous public positions of the Dow Chemical Company, I can only agree with Mr...
...At the hearing I presented sworn affidavits to demonstrate the miserable conduct of the FBI and demanded that the agent be produced for cross-ex-ination...
...The people must be alerted to the peril this man represents...
...Perhaps my emotions have conquered my rationality, but I fervently believe that anybody who kills a policeman acting in the line of duty has no right to live...
...It is time that we begin to put aside some of our money and time for our own people and our own problems before we play big brother to everyone else...
...I also pointed out that there is considerable testimony from many competent people which disputes Dr...
...Gerstacker chided me that "the question is not whether the war is right or wrong," (my emphasis) but "whether you support our democratically-elected government...
...He stated the FBI wanted Lupa to become an informer and that if he would do so he could have his job back and even get a promotion...
...This may shock many Americans...
...South Dakota has straight ticket voting...
...Lupa did so and was ushered into the room of an FBI agent, who told Lupa that he was in serious trouble unless he was willing to cooperate fully with the FBI...
...However, I want to present a case which supports McCarthy's position—a case which at the time received much publicity, all of it unfavorable to the FBI...
...Three—In Russia the orthodox Marxist doctrine is being mellowed more and more by free enterprise and tolerance for Western culture patterns...
...But after seeing Nixon on television several times since then, I am inclined to agree with Mr...
...One by one our allies and the neutral nations are withdrawing their support or expressing their disapproval of our aggression in Vietnam...
...He also said he had been assured by military sources that napalm was used only in a "very discriminating manner" in Vietnam...
Vol. 32 • June 1968 • No. 6
