THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM McGovern, Pro and Con To make an endorsement of any Presidential candidate as early as March is not in the LaFollette tradition of wise and reasoned judgment, in my opinion—not...
...If I.Q...
...Nobody, in fact, knows...
...We would be much better off if all of us, including you, would do our damdest to save the Berrigans and follow their example...
...Furthermore, the more successful we are in our attempts to provide an equal opportunity for all, the greater will be the relative importance of genetic differences...
...above seventy would have trouble in November deciding between a Nixon and a McGovern even when you discount the fifty million or so dollars the Republicans are likely to pour into the campaign...
...It is a bit misleading, though, to emphasize that "virtually every item in his plan had previously been proposed by the United States, and all had previously been rejected by the other side...
...difference between whites and blacks is mainly genetic...
...Ann Sheldon Lynchburg, Virginia Diversity Desirable This republic's intervention in Vietnam, I have understood, is an expression of its faith in, and defense of, democratic processes...
...IBM has major revenue from defense contractors, such as aerospace, automotive, and oil companies, and other research contractors...
...When you have aborted a fetus, it is a matter of faith as to whether you have killed a human being or disposed of a blob of tissue...
...These would be insufferable insults— and are just as insulting when applied to women or gay people in the form of "gay lib...
...I intend to do my part to see that it gets around in my community...
...I hasten to add that these data come almost entirely from white families and that the numbers are not as large as one would like to have for statistical precision...
...Need I add that our society could do a lot more than it is now doing to improve the environmental lot of blacks and Indians...
...It is a full, fair, and authentic appraisal of his record as a U.S...
...The Democratic Party again has a superior choice...
...There are all too many Democrats of little faith who need the shot in the arm that your editorial beautifully provides...
...But the fact is that IBM spends a great deal of effort to influence our Government in its own interests, such as negotiating a weak consent decree instead of a full trial on its current antitrust action, using the same sorry logic as ITT about the dangers to our trade balance, Wall Street morale, and our national defense...
...Here in England one often gets the impression that there is little intelligent, informed liberal criticism and comment in the United States...
...efforts there and thus there will no longer be the "divisions" here over the war which the President believes aid the enemy...
...Jensen has argued that the higher the heritability within a group, the more likely it is that differences between groups are genetic, but I don't believe that he has asserted that this or any other existing evidence proves that the I.Q...
...One sees little of it in Congress, and even less in Presidential election campaigns...
...I am fearful that in a wave of justifiable resentment against overinterpretation or other misuse of I.Q...
...One gathers that American liberals act on the basis of moods...
...Gene McCarthy, alone again and unin-timidated by "demands for synthetic party unity" (borrowing from your more courageous opinion in 1968) is again responding to a great concern of the American people...
...Lloyd B. Gale Trenton, New Jersey Women's Liberation In your April, 1972, issue (your editorial note, "Power of a Woman") you several times refer to the women's liberation movement as "women's lib...
...We now offer to repeat some of the promises which we have been ignoring— but repeat them in greatly weakened form, under circumstances which make them worthless...
...Nixon disapproves of, General Eisenhower once said at a bicentennial dinner at Columbia in May, 1954: "Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionaries and rebels...
...tests can be very useful for such purposes as guidance and prediction, and for research...
...A matter of belief, not knowledge...
...At the same time, it is notable how often the spirited defenders of the unborn are men...
...Some who hold themselves to be Christians (including this writer) believe it is not—but that is their belief only, proving nothing...
...THE PEOPLE'S FORUM McGovern, Pro and Con To make an endorsement of any Presidential candidate as early as March is not in the LaFollette tradition of wise and reasoned judgment, in my opinion—not in 1972, when national unity is even more urgent an issue than party unity...
...Watson is so naive as to believe that corporations wield no power in "questions of war and peace, national security and diplomacy...
...but, despite the uncertainties, the theory that I.Q...
...It is frightening to recognize the same attitude again and again in the American people...
...Individuals differ greatly in I.Q...
...Without impugning their sincerity, one may doubt their empathy for women...
...I've been trying to spread a similar message among friends who keep echoing the dreary old refrain: McGovern is no winner...
...Luitgard Wundheiler Long Island University Brooklyn, New York IBM and the Pentagon In Lawrence S. Wittner's excellent article on IBM and the Pentagon in your February issue, the story leaves out some very important points...
...I can't believe that Mr...
...David Ludwig Sarasota, Florida Ms...
...On July 19, 1971, William E. Colby, who had directed the program for the CIA, testified that it had killed 20,587 suspects since 1968, and that the program was being stepped up...
...The letter of response in the March issue from IBM executive Thomas J. Watson, Jr., is full of pious platitudes about not interfering in our governmental processes...
...Frank and Kagan largely ignore the high correlations between tests that are strongly language-dependent and those that are not, and the stability and repeatability of I.Q...
...The Vietnamese are acutely aware— even though we like to forget—that international agreements involving the United States are made meaningless by the activities of the CIA, which operates in complete disregard of international law, specific treaties, declarations of principle, or tradition...
...Lewis...
...The important point is not that the proposals have all been rejected in recent years: the important point is that nearly every item was accepted—by Ho Chi Minh, in 1954...
...Presumably, therefore, we have managed to murder at least 30,000 Vietnamese by now...
...I hope that you will now cease using the term "lib," and edit it out of material that you print written by others...
...Since Vietnam is less than one-tenth the size of the United States, this is equivalent to slaughtering more than 300,000 Americans, as far as political impact is concerned...
...At his news conference on February 10, as reported in The New York Times, President Nixon said: "I would strongly urge at this point all candidates for the Presidency . . . review their public statements and really consider whether they are going to help the cause of peace or hurt it...
...First, IBM's receipts from the military budget are much higher than four per cent...
...Twenty-three primaries in 1972 as opposed to only twelve in 1968—progress, but how dull without McCarthy in them...
...William Palmer Taylor Hamilton, Ohio I.Q...
...Second, IBM obtains substantial revenue from the taxpayers from non-defense agencies, and from their contractors...
...It would be difficult to trace exactly how much of the taxpayers' money eventually finds its way into IBM's coffers, but I believe it is close to twenty-five per cent of IBM's revenue...
...This is insulting and demeaning, as the shortened form of one of the most radical attempts to fight oppression is simply another way of diminishing women...
...Those who oppose abortion-law repeal are seeking to continue to compel women who do not share their faith to undergo what may be an agonizing and life-wrecking ordeal...
...I would argue that rather than foster anarchy, a company that refuses to sell its computers or boots or milk or bombsights or whatever to those who continue the war effort is making the Government become a responsive one, one that is sensitive to the needs of the seventy-odd per cent of people in the United States who are against the Indochinese war...
...However, the two letters in the March issue are generally supportive, so I am writing to take issue with parts of the article...
...It reveals clearly his priorities and blueprints for America: peace in Indochina, war on poverty, at home and abroad...
...The information on heritability of I.Q...
...What is more disturbing than your ignorance is your attitude of moral self-righteousness which impels you to utter still another version of the ancient barbaric belief: "I am better than my neighbor...
...scores the whole field of intelligence testing will be set back...
...It was that belief which brought the Nazis to power...
...James F. Crow Genetics Department University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin Liberals' Moods Why is it that American liberal publications such as yours have not called for massive protests against President Nixon's proposals to increase the defense budget...
...Concerning the kind of dissent Mr...
...But this doesn't make the test worthless...
...As if Richard M. Nixon had charisma when he won in '68...
...It is our steadfast refusal to observe that agreement that makes it difficult for the Vietnamese to believe us now...
...Your magazine often refers to the National Liberation Front— never have I seen you print "National Lib Front...
...I haven't read anything in years that made me feel so good and hopeful and optimistic about his chances in the upcoming primaries and in November...
...Well, the Germans did have their Berrigans, but they were murdered and imprisoned...
...Never have I seen you print "black lib...
...Is it the taking of a human life...
...I think it is a mistake to base our concept of social, economic, and legal equality of all people on an erroneous assumption of biological identity...
...I regret your lack of attention to Gene McCarthy's challenge to the Daley machine in the March Illinois primary...
...he's too decent a guy...
...scores have a large genetic component seems to me to be well established...
...between blacks as a group and whites as a group is not known (nor is it for American Indians...
...John P. Johansen Marquette, Michigan In your March editorial, "George McGovern for President," why is there no mention of his vote for the Tonkin Gulf Resolution...
...Nixon is hoping that the Indochinese war will last at least ten more years, for by then liberals will no longer feel in the mood to oppose U.S...
...At present, the CIA is placing major emphasis on "Operation Phoenix"—a program for subsidizing the assassination of individuals suspected of being part of "the Vietcong infrastructure...
...But the best evidence—studies of unrelated foster children reared in the same household and one-egg twins who were separated in infancy and grew up in separate homes—is that variability in I.Q...
...Sure, it will take lots of money and effort for the Democrats, too, but that's the way it is...
...When your knife is in your brother's back, it is a matter of knowledge that you have killed a human being...
...I am glad that you now use "Ms...
...scores which make these tests such useful measuring instruments...
...Also, his assured "understanding" of the issues does not apply to the "abortion on demand" supporters, as he was not only uninformed but unconcerned on this issue when questioned on his views at the University of Massachusetts earlier this year...
...If, as he says, such questions must be resolved "by individual citizens exercising their rights through the political process," then those same individual citizens must make their business dealings consistent with their political vote...
...Testing When I read the attack on I.Q...
...And yet how can an American who thus religiously opposes abortion but at the same time affirms the Constitution of the United States in its separation of church and state have any just alternative to urging repeal of all abortion laws and the substitution of persuasion...
...within the black population is much less solid, and in particular the importance of genetic factors in determining the average difference in I.Q...
...lacks charisma and all that nonsense...
...Watson excuses his inconsistency of opinion and action (he opposes the war in Indochina but continued as IBM's chairman of the board to sell to the Pentagon) by saying that American companies which refuse to deal with the Government "foster anarchy...
...However, The Progressive has shown me that such an intelligent and informed criticism does exist...
...It can be found in GIs who murder "gooks," in mobs who lynch, and in peace-loving intellectuals who beat their breasts and bask in the reassuring thought that America has its Berrigans while Germany did not...
...But if an anti-abortion stand is a matter of faith, as it clearly is for most of those who take it, then another moral question arises: Does anyone have the moral right to compel others to suffer for his faith...
...David Shipton Rutland, England...
...Once the McGovern campaign catches fire there will be an outpouring of funds from big and little people all over this great country, the likes of which will amaze the kingmakers in both parties...
...Therefore, those who oppose abortion-law repeal are seeking to use the state to enforce their religion...
...No doubt, Mr...
...And, of course, the test will predict best the performance in schools of the same language and culture...
...May I suggest that you read the book, Der lautlose Aufstand by Gunther Weisenborn (1953) which documents the fates of thousands of German resistance fighters against the Nazis...
...tests are used foolishly or maliciously, the remedy is to use them wisely, not to belittle them or throw them out...
...On the other hand, Frank and Kagan seem to be saying that the difference is entirely or largely environmental...
...it is whether abortion is the immoral taking of a human life...
...It is better that hereditary differences be recognized and taken into account than be denied or ignored...
...when referring to women...
...Have you never heard of Prassek, Muller, Lange, and Stellbrink, all of whom were Catholic priests who were murdered by the Nazis...
...The opponents of abortion, including the Catholic hierarchy and some Catholics, believe it to be virtually murder—and that is their belief only, proving nothing...
...scores (as in many other ways), and genetic factors are often major determiners of these differences...
...Then, perhaps, we can really get down to fighting the war as it was meant to be fought...
...A fallible individual, I am surprised that when other Presidential candidates assailed Mr...
...I cannot believe that a magazine interested in the oppressed classes would refuse to do this, but if that is the case with The Progressive, I will terminate my subscription...
...Joan M. Van Horn, President VIP Systems Corporation Washington, D.C...
...Don't you think you are still discriminating (at least in the word's meaning of "differentiating") when, in book reviews in the April issue, Russell Kirk is simply "Kirk" but Beth Irwin Lewis is "Ms...
...is mainly hereditary—which they say is false...
...Have you never heard the names of Jesuit priest Delp and Cardinal Galen, to mention only the two best known Catholic priests who resisted Hitler...
...But for us it is Gene McCarthy all the way—across the causeway to the mainland, if necessary...
...I suppose if and when Spiro Agnew publishes his memoirs twenty years hence and asserts that the only opponents to the Vietnam war were "effete snobs" and "outside agitators," the editors of some German journal will believe him...
...Robert Feinstein Montreal, Quebec Hitler's Berrigans I was not really surprised to find that you trusted Albert Speer's words as much as you did in your editorial note, "Hitler Had No Berrigans," in the February issue...
...Thus, in the 1950s and 1960s liberals were attacking the defense budget and were holding massive protests about it, but now their mood has changed and they no longer care about such things...
...testing by J. P. Frank and Gretchen Kagan in the February issue of The Progressive, I expected that it would be answered by people familiar with intelligence testing...
...Furthermore, if the present difference is largely genetic, this doesn't imply the futility of environmental improvements, particularly new kinds of measures in groups where the present physical or cultural environment is badly deprived...
...George Leon Sacramento, California Duplicity on Vietnam The comments on "Nixon's Peace Spectacular" in the March Progressive were excellent...
...That's one per cent of our national budget, or one cent of every tax dollar going to IBM...
...As if anyone with an I.Q...
...Frances Hurst Madison, Wisconsin A British Comment As a teacher of American politics, I have found The Progressive to be an informative and extremely useful magazine...
...Would Nixon really insist that the 1972 election was a fair one if the Democrats were allowed to assassinate the 300,000 most prominent Republicans before November...
...Margaret Nobel North Windham, Maine Abortion: the Real Question The real question for almost all opponents of abortion-law repeal is not whether elective abortion is progressive or conservative or necessary to save us from a people inundation...
...My point is that nobody knows, and it is just as wrong to assert one conclusion as the other...
...And we must allow to them a sincerity that we may not always be prepared to allow to, say, the opponents of a smaller "defense" establishment...
...Finally, let it be noted that if opposition to abortion is based, as it almost invariably is, on the faith—not knowledge— that the fetus is a human being from the instant the sperm reaches the egg, it is a religious position...
...I am concerned primarily with Frank and Kagan's Proposition Three—that I.Q...
...This they answer in the affirmative, as recent letters in your columns have testified...
...This "challenge to conscience" in 1972 is a challenge to established political authority —to allow greater representation in the election process...
...I am not an expert on intelligence testing, but it seems self-evident that if a test is written in English, those who read English will make a higher score than those with some other native language...
...F. Dailey Woburn, Massachusetts It warmed my heart to read your splendid editorial endorsing George McGovern for President...
...scores is about two-thirds genetically determined...
...Is it murder...
...With such massive effort, IBM clearly has no time left to lobby for peace...
...Nixon's foreign policy he did not use the opportunity to dramatize for our totalitarian adversaries the fact that in a free society diversity of opinion is a vital essential to political health and survival instead of repressive administrative pressure...
...All the same, the moral question about abortion remains...
...It is an important distinction between knowledge and faith...
...In 1954, it violated the Geneva accords as soon as they were signed, by smuggling in tons of prohibited military supplies, sabotaging North Vietnamese railways and bus lines, and hunting down those who had been prominent in the struggle for Vietnamese independence...
...There are obvious difficulties in disentangling genetic and environmental influences in human traits...
...As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion...
...Tests should be judged by how reproducible and predictive they are, not by selecting individual questions to ridicule...
...Senator...
...Even Catholic theologians disagree, some holding that the soul is not infused until quickening...
...Phyllis Paine, Chairman Iowans for McCarthy '72 Des Moines, Iowa Here are my praise and thanks for the excellent editorial endorsement, in the March issue of The Progressive, "George McGovern for President...
Vol. 36 • May 1972 • No. 5
