Franklin Roosevelt
Sirs: "Prelude to History" in the last issue was TIME'S best job--intuitive and crisp. Most of us believe Roosevelt is a great and good man but after all the talk about the horse & buggy it appears in these last weeks as if he had taken us for something of a buggy ride himself. At least it now appears far from a streamlined ride. If the truth be known, most Americans are less deeply shocked by the German strength of arms than by the Allied collapse. This nation is still too young and too vigorous not to be exasperated by the apparent failure to survive of two great nations of the first rank. Every child knows history never blames the strong--but the weak. . . .
Whatever it is that has happened to England and France MUST NOT happen here.
. . . Hitler made every German man, woman and child feel that the society in which they lived needed them and needed all they could give. He gave them unity and purpose.
With an entirely different set of moral values we must do the same here, or perish. . . .
Obviously, all democracy is based upon some curtailment of personal liberty. Certain general assumptions, certain tacit agreements are necessary as a working hypothesis before any people can govern itself. It may be that we will have to broaden the base of these assumptions in order to establish a more vigorous, functioning, cooperative society. It may be that we will have to consent to a loss of some personal liberties in order to preserve the basic liberty of choosing those who are to govern. We need men now who do not fear change and do not count the bookkeeping cost of reaching the goal we absolutely must reach--a strongly armed nation, and a working democracy. As TIME points out, Roosevelt may, or may not be, the right head man.
It is impossible to live on this West Coast without feeling exasperated at one's mail from New York. New Yorkers seem peculiarly subject to a contagion of panic and they forget that west of the Hudson River lies the United States, which is still an immense and magnificent country inhabited by a vigorous race of people. . . .
L. C. O'GORMAN Hollywood, Calif.
Sirs: That was a great editorial boost you gave F. D. R. or was it? If he has a workable plan, the rest of us do not know it. And he will not have the same plan long.
F. PERRY Salt Lake City, Utah
Sirs:
"... still there was no man in the U. S. who could answer the question: Who is Franklin Roosevelt?"
I think I can answer that question allegorically: He is Melville's Captain Ahab.
L. G. HAMBLY Seattle, Wash.
Sirs:
. . . In this desperate emergency he [Roosevelt] is falling back upon the men whom, a short time ago, he was denouncing as Princes of Privilege and Economic Royalists. The very men who were the plundering, strangling villains of Mr. Roosevelt's imagination a short time ago are now brought forward as our saviors. . . .
But will his dependence upon these National Saviors outlast the coming political campaign? We may depend upon the President to work harmoniously with them until election day, for, with the country in its present temper in the matter of armament, if they should give up on the ground that they could not work with the President, his defeat would appear certain. But will he continue to depend upon them in case he is elected? . . .
RICHARD W. EDMONDS Philadelphia, Pa.
Sirs:
MAY GOD DELIVER AMERICA FROM THIS MODERN DON QUIXOTE. ROOSEVELT THE SECOND UPSETS ANOTHER CHERISHED AMERICAN TRADITION. ABANDONING THE SLOGAN, SPEAK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG STICK, MADE POPULAR BY TEDDY THE GREAT, OUR REBEL-ROUSING ROOSEVELT MAKES IT READ "BRAY LOUDLY AND BRANDISH A FEATHER DUSTER."
CHARLES F. MCREYNOLDS Los Angeles, Calif.
Sirs:
I have been a constant reader of TIME for the past eight years and in all this period I have found your lead articles written fairly until issue of June 10.
The article on Roosevelt is decidedly onesided. He is painted and "buttered-up" as a super-miracle man. Not one word is mentioned about his never admitting a mistake, his "rubber stamp" Cabinet, his radical "Kitchen Cabinet," and his seven years of blundering, which includes the following:
1) Supreme Court Packing Bill
2) Reorganization Bill of 1938
3) The Purge Attempt of 1938
4) The Lend-Spend Bill of 1939
5) The Death Sentence in the Utility Bill
6) The fanning of class hatred
7) Attitude toward sit-down strikes
8) The fascistic administration of SEC
9) $45,000,000,000 direct debt and more billions indirect
10) 8,000,000 still unemployed
11) The liquidation of thrift
12) Development of the corporate state
13) Infringement upon the right to work
14) NLRB favoritism and tyranny
15) The belittlement of the press
16) The invisible government of the radio
17) The use of relief funds to influence votes
18) Government competition with business
19) The foreign silver-buying policy
20) The undistributed profit tax
21) Bureaucratic growth, waste and absolutism
22) Continued invasion of States' rights
23) Hostility toward free enterprise and business
24) $9,000,000,000 budget glorified as an investment
25) Coddling of Workers' Alliance and American Youth Congress
26) Policy of scarcity
27) Doctrine that America is built
28) False theory that Government can create purchasing power
29) Legalized embezzlement in Social Security
30) Tugwelltowns subsidized by taxation
31) Concentration of discretionary power in the Executive
32) The Guffey Coal Bill
33) Placing reform ahead of recovery
34) Neglect of National Defense
35) Constant unpredictability of public policy
36) Neglect of our railroad problem
37) Building "new instruments of public power" which shackle our liberties
38) 17th place in world recovery
39) Sale of $250 Democratic Convention Booklets, autographed by F. D. R.
40) The biased Temp. National Economic Committee
41) The Wagner Labor Act
42) Appointments to Supreme Court as witnessed by one unqualified as much as Black
43) Violation of solemn campaign pledges 1932
44) Rule or ruin policy
45) I, the "know it all," will tell you how to do it. As witness by a Washington publication dated June 7, 1940. "On Thursday, at noon, Mr. Roosevelt met for the first time with his group of new advisers, and he did all the talking for an hour and a half."
JAMES C. WILCOX Ross, Calif.
Sirs:
. . . The article under "The Presidency," in National Affairs, of your June 10 issue is the finest example of superb journalistic writing that has appeared in your distinguished magazine. . . .
FRANKLIN T. WALKER Professor of English William Jewell College Liberty, Mo.
Sirs:
. . . About your sudden "ohs" and "ahs" before the mystery of Franklin Roosevelt. . . . It is no mystery that with all his bold self-confidence, he has not solved a single major problem of his seven years' administration. ... A man whose uninhibited wizardry has failed in peace is not likely to be the savior in war. . . .
GEORGE E. SWEAZEY
Tyler Place Presbyterian Church St. Louis, Mo.
Sirs:
... It seems too bad that a magazine of the standing and influence of yours should allow such an article to appear. The President certainly is not qualified to lead the country into any such hard, matter-of-fact preparation for defense as we surely have ahead of us. No mere politician with the record of the past seven years such as his, can do this. . . .
This is no time to play politics, and I am surprised and sorry to see such an article in your paper. It's too bad.
C. N. BLANCHARD
Binghamton, N. Y.
> As TIME said last week, Franklin Roosevelt is not its candidate for President--it has none.--ED.
The Ramparts We Watch
Sirs:
I keep hearing out here rumors about a moving picture called The Ramparts We Watch which has been made by the MARCH OF TIME. If there has been any mention of this in TIME I have missed it. Should like very much to know 1) if there is such a movie and 2) where & how it is likely to be released.
CLARE R. ELLINWOOD
Tucson, Ariz.
> There is such a picture. For the announcement of its release see p. 58.
--ED.
Air-Baseless
Sirs:
. . . TIME of May 27 ... stated (p. 43): "Bolivia . . was reported in June 1939 to have ceded Germany an air base at the town of Trinidad, Bolivia, in return for arms." What are the facts? Has the "report" been verified; and, if so, is the air base still under German control?
MARTIN KEAVENY Chicago, Ill.
-- The report (by New York Times Correspondent John White) was in error.
U. S. officials believe there is no air field at Trinidad, Bolivia.--ED.
Toye's Editorials
Sirs:
Your June 17 issue under Press has an article about JoeToye of the Boston Traveler, his recent Hitler editorial, and the consequent blacklisting of the Boston Traveler by the German Consul, Scholz, of that city.
Your comment on Mr. Toye needs a few corrections.
Joe Toye is not Irish. He is American. While he is proud of the land of his ancestors, he is more interested in the land of his children.
During 34 years of brilliant writing, Joe Toye has fought courageously and often alone for the establishment and survival of decency. His has been such an exceptional and well-known career of unselfish fighting for right against all conceivable odds that you damage your own reputation as a reliable authority when you state that the paper "is not renowned for its editorial vigor."
May I suggest that you come and take lessons from a man who gets lines in his face seeking out the truth to know it before he writes ?
JOE TOYE'S daughter
JEANNE TOYE GORMLEY Hingham, Mass.
Sirs:
Your article on "Traveler v. Fuerer" was most interesting. As a Traveler reader, I have long thought their editorial page the weakest and least intelligent part of the paper. . . . MARY N. BENNETT Milton, Mass.
Blitzkrieg Model
Sirs:
With reference to National Affairs, p. 18, col. 3, issue of June 10, you state: "Say the Roosevelt intimates: the U. S. M-Day plan is perfect, so perfect that the actual Nazi program of complete national mobilization for a knockout blow was based on it, after a six-month study in 1934."
Do I understand that our M-Day plan has been available for study to the Nazi General Staff? I was under the impression that our so-called M-Day plan was a secret plan, not available to foreign governments or to the public, but your statement leads me to believe that it is an accepted fact that the Germans were able to study this for six months in 1934 . . . .
H. C. WAYNE Needham, Mass.
> Ordinary diplomatic procedure, not treachery or clever espionage, enabled the Nazi military attache in Washington to study M-Day plans which the U. S. perfected over 20 years. The British and French might also have "borrowed" them, but didn't.--ED.
Republicans' Choice
Sirs: The European democracies are now paying the price for having followed the counsel of the Appeasement Group--Chamberlain, Bonnet, the Cliveden Set, etc.
One group of the Republican Party is already changing from Isolation to Appeasement. The Republican Party will be required to meet its responsibilities in its platform--it will be required to choose between partisan-weaseling of men like Colonel Robert R.
McCormick, Hamilton Fish and the lamented Borah on one hand and the national realistic views of leaders like Colonel Knox and Wendell Willkie on the other hand.
MORRIS I. LIEBMAN
Chicago, Ill.
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