The West Point Dismissals
SIR:
THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF VIOLATION OF THE HONOR CODE BY 90 CADETS U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY WAS A PROFOUND SHOCK TO US ... MORE DEPLORABLE IS THE FACT THAT SUBJECT HAS BECOME CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE IN PRESS AND AMONG OUR PEOPLE. WHEN ISSUE OF VIOLATION OF HONOR CODE BECOMES OVERSHADOWED BY CONCERN OVER LOSS OF ATHLETIC STANDING, THE EVER-INCREASING APATHY TO NATIONAL MORAL TURPITUDE ... BY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE [IS] ALARMING. [IN THE PAST] SOME CADETS FAILED TO LIVE UP TO RIGID REQUIREMENTS AND WERE QUIETLY DISMISSED. THE REST OF THE CORPS WENT ON TO GRADUATE AND SERVE OUR COUNTRY . . . NOT ALL WERE TO BECOME LEADERS OF THE CALIBER OF PERSHING, BRADLEY AND EISENHOWER, BUT ALL HAD ONE THING IN COMMON--A CODE OF HONOR . . . IT MAKES LITTLE DIFFERENCE WHETHER ONE OR 90 CADETS ARE INVOLVED; THE PRINCIPLE REMAINS THE SAME . . . THERE CAN BE NO ARGUMENT, NO INTERVENTION OR NO RECOURSE BUT IMMEDIATE DISMISSAL FOR THOSE VIOLATING THAT CODE.
COLONEL HOWARD REED ('31) COLONEL FREDERICK TERRELL ('36) OKINAWA
Sir:
. . . Any academic system giving identical exams to successive groups of students is not only lazy, but is naively begging and teasing its students into corrupting themselves . . . Such a code of honor is un-worthwhile and undesirable . . .
In Annapolis, we had no fetished code of honor, but enjoyed the more realistic system of breaking rules with risk of consequent punishment if caught. No classmate would report another classmate, but with all upperclassmen plus the officers of the executive department as a police force, only the first class was able to get by with very much. Infractions of the generally accepted moral code (including cheating) were held to a minimum by the general disdain of the regiment for such practices and any infraction of either the moral code or of major Academy regulations were reported even by classmates . . . E. K. PERRYMAN JR. Annapolis '45 Bethlehem, Pa.
Sir:
Whether we like it or not, the West Point firing of 90 cadets has brought to a head the whole subject of football as it affects the universities all over the country.
Football has now reached a point where it can be considered a specialized profession and it should be taught and recognized as such in any educational institution that desires to include it in the curriculum. That would eliminate all of the undercover tactics and hypocrisy long connected with this important American sport.
HERMAN FOLKMAN Chicago
Favors & Compromises
SIR:
AS A PENDERGAST DEMOCRAT, MR. TRUMAN FAVORS MR. TAFT, SO THE PAPERS SAY, AS REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE NEXT YEAR. AS AN UNPROFESSIONAL REPUBLICAN, I TAKE LEAVE TO FAVOR MR. TRUMAN AS THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE ON THAT SAME OCCASION.
IRA JEWL WILLIAMS JR. PHILADELPHIA
Sir:
I would like to suggest to both the Democrats and Republicans that they effect the following compromise:
Get rid of Secretary Acheson and Senator McCarthy.
SAM ROSEY San Francisco
Portrait of the Artist
Sir:
For pure spite and undiluted malice, you would have to go far to beat your Aug. 6 article on Mario Lanza . . .
RAYMOND R. KISCH New York City
Sir:
. . . May I, as an English housewife and not an American bobbysoxer, protest at such a spiteful article? . . .
(MRS.) MARJORIE FEIGEN London, England
Sir:
What you have done is monstrous.
LAURIE ZEITLIN President
Mario Lanza Fan Club Chicago Chapter
Sir:
Many thanks for the all-fracturing article, and for placing it in the Cinema section, not Music.
OTTO WITTENDORFER Chicago
Sir:
. . . Egoist Lanza may be, but with a God-given voice like his, who cares? My wife, a former professional singer, gets goose pimples when we play his records . . .
FRED L. BEEMAN
Las Vegas, Nev.
Sir:
... Your expose on Lanza will hardly delight the multitudes, but will be appreciated by those who still dare to maintain that there are ideals in music, too.
ROBERT K. FISSEL
Manheim, Pa.
Sir:
It seems to me the public's adulation of Mr. Lanza and other stage figures is indicative of a weakness in our democracy. The human race desperately needs objects and principles to believe in and worship . . . Perhaps, if democracy could find some way to glamorize its better elements, the people wouldn't fall for so much that is trivial.
T. WHEELER JR. Los Angeles
El Benefactor P.S.
Sir:
Kudos for a brave, succinct July 30 report of Santo Domingo groaning under Dictator Trujillo. I was in Port-au-Prince in 1938 when I heard of the incredible butchery of innocent Haitians ... I viewed the remains of hundreds of slain men, women and children at the uncharted Haiti-Santo Domingo border.
You have cleared up something that troubled me no end when I read the paid notices of the increased distribution of wealth and progress in Santo Domingo these days. I feared that might, having firmly seated itself, could displace democracy. Never . . .
HAROLD H. DAWSON New York City
Sir:
I think it would be interesting to know what steps Dictator Trujillo took to suppress your damning sketch of him . . .
KENNETH Gow Houston
Sir:
You may be no more amused than I was to hear that as a transit passenger on [a] Pan American flight ... I was searched in Ciudad Trujillo airport and my copy of TIME, July 30, taken away from me forcibly. I insisted on its return, calling the U.S. Embassy for help, and thus missed my plane to Curac,ao. After the ruckus was over, the magazine was returned to me ...
Since a public complaint might do me harm in other police states, such as Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, etc., please withhold my name.
NAME WITHHELD
Miami, Fla.
Beating the Gums
Sir:
TIME'S Aug. 6 article, "How Are Your Teeth?" quotes Dr. Hans Neumann: "The chewing of pencils, leather, or pieces of wood by children should be regarded as a wholesome instinct . . ."
Abundant data compiled by dental researchers provide irrefutable evidence that the chewing of pencils, leather or pieces of wood by children leads to strain of the supporting bone and gum tissue. Initially, chewing on such objects may prove to be tissue stimulating, but eventually it leads to serious disorders such as recession of the gums, loosening of the teeth, gingivitis, pus pockets and gum boils. Such habits also tend to move and shift the teeth out of proper alignment, thus tilting and opening gaps between them . . .
T. E. J. SHANAHAN, D.D.S.
Chairman Dental Information Bureau
New York City
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