The Bomb at Nagasaki
Sir:
In the March 9 article, "Don't Look Now," TIME quotes [two scientists]: "In the case of
'nominal' (Nagasaki-type) atomic 'bomb, the heat cooks the skin up to two miles away. But if a person happens to be looking at the detonation, he will certainly be blinded permanently at more than four miles away, and even at a greater distance his eyesight will be seriously damaged."
I saw the Nagasaki bomb fall at about a distance of three miles away ... I was a civilian internee at a camp in a suburb of Nagasaki, and on the morning of Aug. 9, 1945, was out on a hillside . . . cutting grass for two cows which we had to keep for our Japanese guards ... A plane swooped over my head . . I watched it as it was about to disappear over a low ridge which lay between me and the center of the city . . . Suddenly, there was a tremendous flash, far brighter than the sun . . . The next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground. As I scrambled to my feet, I saw the great mushroom of smoke rising into the sky . . . The skin of my bare arms seemed as if it had been held before a hot fire and was tingling ... I was wearing dark-tinted spectacles at the time ... I thought this fact might be of interest to Ophthalmologist Rose and Biophysicist Buettner . . .
LAURENCE D. M. WEDDERBURN Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland
Bishop in the Front Line
Sir:
Many thanks for your cover painting and fine story on Bishop Dibelius' courageous stand against Communism in the April 6 issue.
Your article is a sermon in itself on the church and its beliefs . . .
WILLIAM R. FAIRMAN Pastor
St. John's Lutheran Church Mamaroneck, N.Y.
Sir:
It is another reminder of the fact that life today is a tough proposition and any ostrich policy deserves exposure. It is easy to grow accustomed to the existence of Communism and hope piously for a change in the party line, but the Protestants of East Germany are facing increasing persecution, and they cannot philosophize in comfort . . . Thank God for a Christian church that will stand for truth and righteousness when other organizations, educational, political, and fraternal, have surrendered to the enemy.
R. B. HANNEN
Berkeley Baptist Divinity School Berkeley, Calif.
Sir:
It is encouraging to find our finest periodicals following the lead of our theological classrooms in exploding the "Luther to Hitler blind obedience" myth. Any resemblance between the "Christian Prince" of Luther's day and the Hitler or Malenkov of our own is purely demonic--Communist East-zone propaganda (like its Nazi prototypes) notwithstanding !
WILLIAM H. LAZARETH Philadelphia Lutheran Seminary Philadelphia
Sir:
I believe that you will receive the hearty commendation of almost all Americans, and probably of most Christians, whether Protestant or Catholic, all over the world. Dibelius is evidently a man of real integrity. In our time, when there is so much uncertainty about moral and spiritual values, it is helpful and reassuring to all of us to read about such a man . . .
S. VERNON MCEURASLAND
University of Virginia Charlottesville, Va.
Joachim's Children (Cont'd) Sir:
During the last month I had to undergo a series of operations. I was hospitalized when your [March 9] article on "Journalism and Joachim's Children" appeared . . . [It] was a surprise to me--and a very pleasant one. I would not have thought that my New Science of Politics would attract your attention. It is a severely theoretical work, and it makes no concessions to popularity. That a magazine which is meant for the general readers should try to mediate problems of such complication is indeed extraordinary. And I can only compliment you on your courage. Moreover, your attempt has been splendidly successful. You have seen what probably not too many will see, that the theoretical propositions are applicable to the concrete questions of our time . I am sure your article will help even professionals in the field of political science to understand the pragmatic value of my analysis...
VOEGELIN Louisiana State University Baton Rouge
Sir:
The reactions [March 30] to your article substantiate your point that the world today is truly bereft of any possible common ground on which to arbitrate the present confusion which has enveloped its inhabitants . . . This common ground is based upon a unity in the fundamental concepts: moral principles and standards, and a framework of philosophy about man, the world, and truth in general. It is evident that those who replied to your article in a derisory manner . . . are oblivious of the fact that all laws are based upon man's basic nature. The nature each one of us possesses today is the very same nature possessed by the first man--Adam . . .
JAMES L. HESBURGH Notre Dame, Ind.
Sir:
After reading your article ... I have these comments to make: there is a rising tide of Puritanism in America. The last election proves it; McCarthyism proves it; the constant battering of liberals proves it; the general distrust of intellectuals proves it; and the favorable reception to your article proves it. And what is this neo-Puritanism? It is an authoritarian morality that is completely intolerant of opposition; a prudishness in support of that morality; a passive and negative philosophy of life, purporting to leave all to a God that is no less prudish (the doctrine of original sin), no less authoritarian (a jealous God unmindful that he created men with free wills) . . . The remedy for "growing intellectual confusion" is neither in Gnosticism nor Puritanism. The one is without a heart, the other is without a head. One offers answers, the other offers dilemmas. The solution of this mess: learn to think for yourself. This is why God gave us minds . . .
(THE REV.) H. M. PENNINGTON JR.
East Dennis, Mass.
The Readers & Ros
Sir:
Your March 30 cover painting is the worst I have yet seen. Rosalind Russell could sue.
BILL FARRINGTON Muncie, Ind.
Sir:
Congratulations on your . . . cover and story. At last, TIME has given its stamp of approval to a wonderful personality . . .
MARILYN ISOBEL Boston
. . . We wondered if you were aware of the relationship between Miss Russell and Hazel Washington, a charming Negro woman who entered the employ of the actress over a decade ago as a maid and subsequently became a business partner . . . This friendship, plus the many instances of charitable endeavor you cited in "The Comic Spirit," is the basis for an award to be presented to Miss Russell ... for her contributions in the field of human relations.
Being an interracial group, we feel the Rosalind Russell-Hazel Washington story is symbolic of the potential strength of our country. If every such fortunate American followed Miss Russell's example and shared their blessings with another American who had suffered lack of opportunities because of color or creed, we would soon have a powerful weapon with which to combat the propaganda our enemies now peddle . . .
ELLEN TARRY
Committee for the St. Charles School and Community Center Fund New York City
Naval Ratings
Sir:
As a British citizen, I object in the strongest terms to the wording in your March 30 article "Britannia Waives the Rule" ... In coupling the term 'third-rate' to the First Lord of the Admiralty's announcement regarding world sea power, you leave the reader with the typical American misconception that quantity reflects quality. The First Lord's . . . statement merely concerned the fact that America's chief ally, the nation whose sea power ensured the safety of this country for many, many years and gave meaning to the Monroe Doctrine, now ranks third in numbers among the sea powers of the world. And this fact should be a matter for American concern rather than editorial flippancy ... I have no naive hopes that this letter will be read as anything more than an outburst of patriotic pique . . .
ARTHUR B. TOFT Westport, Conn.
Commonwealth Division
Sir:
I read with interest and pride your March 23 article on the British ist Commonwealth Division. There should be more said about this tough division made up of volunteers from all over the British Commonwealth. The fact that they are volunteers sets them aside from many units in Korea, and they take a fierce pride in this fact . . .
A. D. BRUCE Shelburne, N.S.
Block that Plosive
Sir:
For quite a few years, a goodly number of Professor Grant Fairbanks' colleagues in the field of speech have watched with indulgence and some amusement the earth-shaking experiments of this self-declared wizard. As one of them, I have no strenuous objections if the good professor wants to lock himself in a laboratory and determine, for example, if the burp is a plosive or a fricative or how many times per second the navel vibrates during the sounding of the intermediate "a," but I do cry out in anguish when I learn that Fairbanks is now devising ways to compress speech (TIME, March 23] and . . . endorsing the general idea of faster speaking.
If the gentleman will step out from behind that oscillograph and into a classroom, he might be startled to discover what all teachers of public speaking have long known: excessively rapid utterance, a besetting sin of most amateurs, too often results in general unintelligibility and arid monotony. Let the professor confine himself to compressing Rosemary Clooney's vocal records--a task worthy of his talents . . .
LYLE V. MAYER University of Maryland College Park, Md.
Impact of a Prisoner
Sir:
I am not a sculptor, but after seeing your March 23 article and picture of The Unknown Political Prisoner, I was sorry I did not submit an entry of my own . . . The young man who smashed this prizewinning piece in a passion of pungent criticism has my sympathy . . . The winner's rationale for his "sculpture" is specious, precious, unimaginative, and indicates an underevaluation of the intelligence of the art-viewing audience.
SHIRLEY FRAZIER New York City
Sir:
... I am an ex-paratrooper and ex-Commando . . . When I saw Butler's abstraction, I ... thought of Dachau, Belsen, and all the "pleasant" little places in Siberia. Butler made me see myself as the political prisoner ... It was a very powerful work of art . . I found its impact shattering . . .
J. E. LLOYD Skewen, Glamorgan, Wales
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