THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Insist on Action Dear Sirs: Readers of The Progressive are doubtless aware of the important breakthroughs that recently have been made in the Delano, California, grape...
...Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or anyone else...
...Don't your writers realize the significance of Vietnam ? Your articles sound as though the Viet-cong are asking to negotiate and we refuse...
...We urge our country to sympathize and support the nationalistic social reform in Southeast Asia, recognizing their similarity to our own anti-colonial and revolutionary heritage...
...By chance I opened the February, 1966 issue to Arnold Serwer's "The Humphrey Buildup," and as a result I am now writing one of my few fan letters...
...We have a responsibility, therefore, to share this understanding with fellow churchmen in the United States...
...If my memory serves right, he has been waging the fight for liberal principles for twenty years or more...
...If Senator Kennedy's liberalism is genuine, then I bid him welcome...
...As a result, the Mexican-American representatives walked out...
...The Progressive is "must" reading in our home...
...Its problems cannot be equated with those of Negroes, although both minorities share subordinate status, and action programs which ignore its specific difficulties are doomed to failure...
...To increase American understanding of other people...
...Isn't it quite possible that Mr...
...Its loss of confidence in Vice President Hubert Humphrey ("The Politics of Vietnam," April, 1966) is, I fear, shortsighted...
...How good a chance that will prove to be depends almost entirely on how much citizen demand there is for it...
...It's too bad that your writers are not, at least one of them, the President of the United States...
...Hazel Pye Blinkley Hollister, California Plea from the Philippines Dear Sirs: As American churchmen involved in the life and mission of the church in Southeast Asia, we feel impelled to express our concern over events in this part of the world...
...We urge the cessation of bombing of North Vietnam, the sincere pursuance of a cease-fire, and a willingness to negotiate with all parties involved in the war...
...To increase knowledge of the United States in other countries...
...I read it with great interest and excitement from cover to cover...
...The chairman of the Commission, Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., was conspicuously absent, and only one of the remaining four commissioners attended although the conference was called by the chairman...
...The Mansfield report stated that the other governments in Southeast Asia are uneasy...
...Please cancel my subscription to The Progressive—which I never want to see or hear of again...
...The very nature of our ministry has brought us into intimate contact with the feelings and ideas of many Asian friends and, thereby, has awakened in us an understanding of the events and issues as seen through their eyes...
...Bette L. Stern Los Angeles, California Omission Dear Sirs: On Page six of the April, 1966, issue of The Progressive, you listed nine "men of courage" [nine members of Congress who registered a vote opposing Administration policy in Vietnam...
...I like your progressive liberalism...
...Have we forgotten that while Mr...
...You surely know that the more you agitate the less willing the Vietcong and North Vietnam are to negotiate at all...
...and Superintendent Orlando Wilson of the Chicago police will have a better chance to solve the immense social problems of Chicago...
...Hal Borland's article on April is one of his best...
...And they have yet to recognize that this group, despite its concentration in the Southwest, is emerging as a national minority...
...The latest example is the regional conference of the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission with Mexican-American representatives in Albuquerque on March 28...
...It is highly unlikely that these other Delano's will be as restrained and peaceable...
...Arnold Forster New York, New York Tiresome Dear Sirs: I have been a consistent reader of The Progressive for some time...
...Walter B. Rideout Chairman, English Department University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin Working with Police Dear Sirs: My most hearty thank-you for bringing to the attention of our readers that civil rights groups and the police force can work together in solving social problems...
...Preoccupied by their concern over Negroes, Federal agencies have yet to awaken to the presence of more than four million Mexican-Americans in our midst...
...Highly trained individuals tend to become overly involved in the techincal aspects of their assignment, almost to the elimination of social and cultural functions...
...I think all such efforts to enforce conformity should be denounced—as Theodore Roosevelt did in 1918—because, if they are successful, this country, as we have known it, will have ceased to exist and its government will have become a potential menace to its people...
...Humphrey should read it himself...
...The city should have been Minneapolis, Minnesota...
...One would expect a Federal agency responsible for dealing with minority issues to be alert to the special sensitivity of the Mexican-American group...
...but I don't agree with your frequent complaint that everything is wrong and little is right...
...In the reference to two police officers who openly criticized the courts in an address before a meeting of Birch members, the location was erroneously given as Milwaukee, Wisconsin...
...THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Insist on Action Dear Sirs: Readers of The Progressive are doubtless aware of the important breakthroughs that recently have been made in the Delano, California, grape pickers' strike...
...Representative Robert H. Barnes General Assembly State of Connecticut Hartford, Connecticut Truth about President Dear Sirs: In 1918, in the midst of World War I, former President Theodore Roosevelt, said: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the President or that we must stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but it is morally treasonable to the American public...
...My father was the same kind of person, and all I had to do was to mention Andy, and my father would shut up...
...I believe it takes a certain amount of idealism and dissatisfaction to become truly involved with the host country nationals, and it necessarily requires living on the same economic level to understand and work with them...
...Reverend J. William Mathews National Council of Churches in the Philippines Reverend Richard Deats Union Theological Seminary Reverend W. Cecil Findley United Church of Christ Reverend James E. Palm Chaplain, University of the Philippines Manila, Philippines Defends Hubert Humphrey Dear Sirs: As a long-time fan and subscriber of The Progressive, I am distressed at one of my favorite magazines...
...I don't think that a volunteer can give more importance to any one over the other two, for it is within the framework of all three that we live and work...
...Ironically, policies repudiated by the American electorate in the 1964 Presidential campaign have now become an actuality in Vietnam: defoliation, bombing North Vietnam, and a vast increase of American troops...
...May The Progressive continue to flourish, may Arnold Serwer continue to flourish, and may I someday be able to forgive myself for not subscribing to your magazine earlier, say thirty years ago...
...Unless one understands that the war in Vietnam is but another episode in the twenty-year series between the two major forces in the world today, democratic capitalism and Communism, one doesn't understand what is happening in the world today, much less in Vietnam...
...Elmer Bernard Homewood, Illinois Peace Corps Goals Dear Sirs: These are a few observations on Arnold Zeitlin's book, To the Peace Corps With Love and Philip S. Cook's review in the March issue of The Progressive...
...A few days after Easter this breakthrough was reinforced by similar offers from two smaller growers...
...Pick out one of them, and let's run him for LBJ's job in 1968...
...I wish to register a protest on your omission of a tenth name, Benedict Arnold...
...In his last two reports J. Edgar Hoover has warned that real Communists are working in colleges and universities in the United States...
...In the midst of the tragedy and the confusion, however, we have been encouraged by those voices at home which are calling for a rational and honest reappraisal of American foreign policy objectives in Southeast Asia...
...Letters may be less glamorous than demonstrations, picket lines or boycotts (though at times these are necessary and useful too), but from experience we know how effective letters can be in securing legislation...
...Our concern reaches out to the Vietnamese people: bombed, burned, and harassed, a people of desperate poverty who have become pawns in a great international power struggle...
...I am especially pleased with your coverage of the Vietnam war...
...W. James Cawley Jr...
...James L. Vizzard, S.J...
...Only by understanding and working together can the two groups achieve their goals...
...By working together, Dr...
...Cook seems to have more insight into the functioning Peace Corps as opposed to the "image...
...They are problems of the nation-at-large...
...National Catholic Rural Life Conference Washington, D. C. Magnificent Dear Sirs: Your April, 1966, issue is absolutely magnificent...
...Therefore: |J We urge a reexamination and reformulation of our foriegn policy goals in Southeast Asia...
...H. R. Clarke Rochester, New York Serwer 'Funny, Therapeutic1 Dear Sirs: Recently, roughly thirty volumes later than I should have, I took out a year's subscription to The Progressive...
...At times, you remind me of Andrew H. Gump, so-called "Andy...
...This I would love to see...
...The only thing which has any chance of preventing such eruptions and the only way in which farm workers can achieve for themselves an adequate and honorable living would be the passage of legislation to protect the workers' right to organize and to enforce the corresponding duty of the employers to recognize and bargain collectively with them...
...You are at all times fearless in the pursuit of truth, and not many periodicals can make that claim...
...And are you quite sure that the fight in Vietnam is not a battle for freedom...
...Equally important with the provision of trained manpower is the educative process which comes from the inter-personal relationships formed between volunteers and host country nationals...
...In this session of Congress, however, legislation will soon be considered to bring farm workers under the National Labor Relations Act and thus provide them both with the necessary legal protection and with the well-established mechanisms for collective bargaining...
...Now there is a growing identification of America as an imperialist power...
...Of course, I understand your writers of editorials and articles have to write about something to earn a living...
...But I'm not willing to drum Hubert Humphrey out of the service of liberalism because he advocates a hard-line approach to a totalitarian adversary...
...Besides, it became painfully apparent that the Commission was poorly prepared to deal with the problems of this minority...
...Schenley Industries, the second-largest grower in the Delano area, had offered to recognize the National Farm Workers Association and to sit down with them as equals for the purpose of collective bargaining...
...Zeit-lin seems to take for his premise only one of the Peace Corps "goals," for in reality there are three, and I quote from the Peace Corps Handbook: "To aid social, cultural, and economic development through the provision of trained manpower to nations which request such help...
...So far no other growers in the strike area have broken the line and, if anything, their position seems more adamant than ever...
...You have acted as prosecutor and jury and judged that it is...
...Senator Kennedy has been carrying the standard of liberalism for fifteen months...
...Less disturbing is the accolade heaped upon Senator Robert Kennedy...
...We urge the United States to use its vast economic and military power with utmost discretion, respectful of the sovereignty and national interests of the nation states of Southeast Asia...
...The over-all impact on Federal relations with the group was worse than if the conference had never been called...
...Moreover, unless necessary national legislation is soon passed, the next few years will see dozens and perhaps hundreds of other Delano's in California and in other parts of the nation...
...If the American public has a distorted view of the Peace Corps image it is through their own misunderstanding and infatuation with the "hairshirt" image...
...But the problems posed by the group's poverty and educational deficiencies, by its alienation from our society, and by discriminatory practices can no longer be brushed off as matters of only regional significance...
...Important though these developments certainly are, it would be a mistake to assume that they signal the end of the farm workers' struggle...
...But the problem is far more serious...
...Today, there are those who would—to prevent dissent—even go so far as to make it illegal during periods of armed conflict or war to dissent through public demonstrations, public writings, public speeches, or any other means...
...Militant and unimaginative U.S...
...Of course we could surrender to their terms and permit a unified Communist Vietnam...
...Wasn't Adlai Stevenson then equally guilty...
...Instead, the spectacle offered by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission merely reflects the general public ignorance and indifference in respect to the Mexican-American minority...
...Washington, D. C. 20008...
...If this was merely a Federal "snafu" one could write it off as an unfortunate episode...
...Those who are concerned about preserving our traditional separation of church and state should make their concern known to their Senators in Washington in no uncertain terms now...
...Martin Luther King Jr...
...But it gets tiresome, believe me, since I am a politician and know that LBJ is doing a much better job than any of your writers could ever expect to do...
...In my opinion, they are all of the same ilk...
...Then, according to the Peking timetable, next year or the year after another war could be started, in Thailand...
...Serwer's piece seemed to me enormously funny and, like all good satire, therapeutic to boot, particularly if Mr...
...Could we suggest, then, that those who have been stirred by the valiant struggle of the Delano grape pickers and who believe that the time has come when, at last, this nation must face up to the demand of justice for farm workers would now let their Congressmen and Senators know by letter, telegram, or personal visit that they insist that this legislation be passed...
...They think that the United States is divided and weak and that they are winning...
...In that case, why try to preserve any freedom in South Vietnam...
...America, born in the fires of revolution, was once the unrivaled ideal of those dedicated to justice and freedom...
...We are witnesses to American policies, especially involving military bases, that are an affront to the sovereignty of newly independent nations...
...Leo Grebler, Director Mexican-American Study Project University of California, Los Angeles Prayers in Public Schools Dear Sirs: The well known right wing extremist, Carl Mclntire, has been exhorting his listeners to bombard Senator Everett Dirk-sen with letters urging him to ram through a Constitutional amendment which would override the Supreme Court ruling and force little children to parrot tailor-made prayers in public schools...
...Peace Corps Volunteer Merida, Venezuela Mexican-American Problems Dear Sirs: At a time of turmoil among disadvantaged minority groups the Federal government continues to display astonishing ignorance, indifference, and insensitivity concerning Mexican-Americans, the second largest group of this kind in the nation...
...The articles by Donald Grant, O. Edmund Clubb, and James A. Wechsler are all splendid...
...We are concerned over the escalation of the war in our neighboring nation, Vietnam...
...We long regarded him as too cold, callous, calculating and cynical—as a political operator more interested in power for its own sake than as an instrument for the achievement of progressive goals...
...But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him, than about anyone else...
...Stanley A. Sankus Linden, New Jersey Blind on Vietnam Dear Sirs: I have been reading the April issue of The Progressive and am amazed...
...And one would expect an Administration headed by a President who professes close personal interest in this group to be more knowledgeable and concerned...
...The Peace Corps is fermenting revolution through community action, and it is this kind of peaceful revolution which is needed to arouse the people to better their own social, cultural, and economic situation...
...Actually, even in Delano itself we are witnessing only a beginning...
...Kennedy was providing aid and comfort to the enemy (Senator Joseph McCarthy, to be specific), Hubert Humphrey was fighting the battle for social and economic justice, for civil rights, for peace...
...Step by step these policies have led America into a land war in Asia, retarded the thaw in the Cold War, and diminished the significance of . the China-Russia dispute...
...Kennedy's sudden new liberal posture is a result of a cold, callous, calculating, and cynical conspiracy at a new grab for power...
...You say "the New York Senator has not been one of our political heroes...
...Shall we let Communism spread until it reaches Hawaii, where it is already too strong...
...Could we ask that you write your letter now...
...As of now, farm workers are excluded from such protection of the law...
...Legislative experts tell us that there is at least a chance to pass such a law this year...
...My admiration for Mr, Borland is intense...
...Douglas C. Ford Honolulu, Hawaii Wrong City Dear Sirs: It has come to my attention that an error got by in my article, "John Birch on the Police Force," which appeared in the October, 1965, issue of The Progressive...
...Barbara S. Kraft 2801 Quebec Street, N.W...
...When the President does something you feel he shouldn't do, he is wrong and you are right...
...Gregory Slaughter Student of Police Science California State College Long Beach, California Ford Peace Materials Dear Sirs: For a history of the Ford Peace Expedition of 1915-1917 I would appreciate hearing from anyone having letters, diaries, reminiscences, photographs, or other pertinent information...
...policies in Southeast Asia, as well as in Latin America, have produced a growing feeling of cynicism, hostility, and despair among many of America's most valuable friends...
...If only he were in charge, how he would change things, for the good of all...
...And while posing questions, let's suggest another: Is Humphrey's advocacy of the Johnson Administration policy in Vietnam a desertion of liberal principles...
Vol. 36 • June 1966 • No. 6
