Letters, Oct. 17, 1960

The Great Debate

Sir: The "great debate" on TV showed that Kennedy has looks, charm, and the gift of eloquent speaking. I only wish Nixon could express his views with Kennedy's finesse. BARRY LYERLY

Boulder, Colo. Sir: Jack is the next of kin to the old medicines (I hesitate to call them snake oil) which were sold from wagons to people. It was claimed they could cure TB, baldness, hives, and any other affliction on earth. Undoubtedly Jack has created the greatest mass of hot air since Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over the lamp.

DAVID Y. SELLERS

Ithaca, N.Y.

Sir: A personal triumph for Kennedy, a personal debacle for Nixon.

JAMES W. CRAWFORD

Belmont, Calif.

Sir: Vice President Richard M. Nixon, "the man who stood up to Khrushchev" in the great Moscow kitchen debate, appears to have backed away from arguments presented by Senator Kennedy in the first "living room" debate on TV. It seems to me that a man who professes to have advised the President during the past eight years could have presented better arguments than agreeing with Senator Kennedy's comments for the better part of half the program.

JOSEPH J. BRAZAN

Waukegan, Ill.

Sir: Lincoln-Douglas have nothing to worry about.

W. E. WINDEN

Minneapolis

The Gang's All Here

Sir: It is quite possible that my longtime love for the home-town paper and Mr. Block's longtime production of wordless strokes of genius have something to do with it, but I cannot refrain from saying that your cover of Oct. 3 is a new peak, your finest! The figure of Castro alone says more than all the words of Sartre recently reported by TIME.

WALTER B. SMALLEY

Washington, B.C.

Sir: Both TIME and Cartoonist Herblock deserve medals.

MRS. T. R. DEMECO

Lancaster, N.Y.

Sir:

Just what good does TIME'S Oct. 3 cover do for anyone except that by it you vent your spleen? (I vent mine on occasion by writing letters to editors.) I do not think that it helps to ease international tensions, no matter if it graphically presents an essential truth. Furthermore, I seriously question your judgment when you say, "Khrushchev was reduced to chumming around with Cuba's Fidel Castro, and such enthusiastic courtship of Castro seemed a petty pursuit for so great a power." Would it be petty if Russia set up its technicians in Cuba, made it a real base of subversive activity in the Americas? Would it be petty if Khrushchev could persuade Castro to attack Guantanamo, and possibly substitute Russian ships and planes for ours at that base? There, now I feel better.

(THE REV.) WARREN P. WALDO

The Burke Haven Parish West Burke, Vt.

Sir:

Khrushchev's declaration of independence for all peoples of the world should meet with our enthusiastic approval as the first step to real disarmament. Therefore, let us hurry and schedule, for October, free elections in Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, etc., and then resume the otherwise fruitless talks at the U.N.

ROMAN MAKAREWICZ

Gardena, Calif.

Sir:

The United Nations happens to be situated in this country, and Khrushchev has every right to head his country's delegation. Although we are a host nation, we must not feel that visiting statesmen should have our permission to attend the U.N.