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So it's a demerit for Mr. Dewey that he mildly exclaims "good gracious" and "Oh Lord" when excited (TIME, Oct. 2). To be a good President one has to know all the stronger "swear" words, I suppose. I admit that the majority of American businessmen prefer "My God" and "Well, I'll be God damned" to "good gracious." Personally, I admire a man who hasn't forgotten that he once learned "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. . . ."
CLARINE H. SPENO Ithaca, N.Y.
Sirs:
I agree with TIME (Oct. 2) when it states that Governor Dewey has many merits and demerits. However, there are many men such as myself who would have a better idea of what is to take place in the future if Governor Dewey would tell us what he will do and not what must be done, or what can be done. I think we know that by now. [ARMY SERGEANT'S NAME WITHHELD] Camp Chaffee, Ark.
Sirs:
Dewey reminds me of a young over-zealous friend of mine, a Fundamentalist preacher, who had a good case when he decided to preach against the outlandish hairdos of the young women of his congregation. I asked him if he had a theme and a text. "Most assuredly I have," he replied. "My theme is Top Knot Come Down. My text is in Mat. 24:17, also Mark 13:15, also Luke, 17:31: 'Let him which is on the house top not come down' "
JOSEPH K. THOMSON Paterson, NJ.
Sirs: In TIME (Oct. 9) I note with interest the statement of Harry Truman, Democratic candidate for Vice President: "A statesman is only a dead politician. I never want to be a statesman." Many of us soldier voters were faced with an impossible choice this fall: should we choose Dewey with his inexperience in foreign affairs, or Roosevelt, who has been in too long and who has an inept man running with him who may very well serve part of the next term? A man who can make the above statement in any sincerity is a sad example of the results of American politics
Unless the people of this country take steps to bring politics up to the level of statesmanship, millions of men are fighting for nothing. It's high time we had some statesmanship in our politics.
[ARMY CORPORAL'S NAME WITHHELD] Raleigh, N.C.
Sirs:
Thanks for your excellent reporting of the Dewey campaign. It is heartening to millions of Americans who feared the Roosevelt dynasty may have been given a grant. in perpetuity. Before going to the polls on Nov. 7, I should like to put a question to Candidate Dewey, in a paraphrase of a song from the motion picture, Going My Way: "Would you be satisfied with two terms in the White House ... or would you rather be a pig?"
T. HARRY THOMPSON
Philadelphia
What Happened?
Sirs:
What happened to your 50,000 researchers when it came to the Books section (TIME, Oct. 16, Lee's Lieutenants) ? Dr. Douglas Southall Freeman, editor of the Times-Dispatch? Gawdamighty, no! We of the News Leader object.
JACK KILPATRICK Richmond News Leader Richmond
¶ TIME'S Books researcher got into the right building (jointly occupied by the jointly owned Times-Dispatch and News Leader), tripped over the wrong editorial chair.—ED.
About Time
Sirs: