Witness
Sir:
As an American people and nation we should thank God for Whittaker Chambers' book Witness [TIME, May 26]. There are so many Americans sunk in the depths of lethargy and indifference that a great number of our youth will probably never know who Chambers is or what Communism is, until it is too late. Witness should be used as a textbook in every one of our nation's high schools and junior colleges . . .
(MRS.) CASPER BRENDEN
Scobey, Mont.
Sir:
Is Whittaker Chambers' concept of God becoming a new criterion for good Americanism ? God forbid! There's a peculiar tide running here. It includes such divergent figures as Niebuhr, Buckley (of Yale) and Billy Graham. It puts the Spirit of God and the mind of man in opposing camps. It implies that any effort to think through a man's problems on a rational basis is somehow ungodly, and very likely Red as well.
Isn't it time for someone to speak up for those whose concept of God is not based on a deprecation of man's scientific and intellectual possibilities ? . . . Plenty of good Americans can oppose Communism without embracing mysticism, even if Whittaker Chambers can't . . .
E. SCOTT PATTISON
White Plains, N.Y.
Sir:
Your analogy concerning Whittaker Chambers and the publican is not only inconsistent but ludicrous. This "humble" publican has performed no ablution, but rather has come out of the temple to sell his sins. Whittaker Chambers is an emotional, not a rational man. This is shown from his grasp of "faiths," each diametrically opposed. He has substituted one faith for the other and in his processing has disregarded rationality.
CHARLES REIS Webster Groves, Mo.
I have just finished your expert review of Witness with the same lump in my throat that arose after reading the installments in the Saturday Evening Post.
Coming as and when it did, Whittaker Chambers' sacrifice had an incalculable value —if only to set the record straight for some of our "highschool liberals" that have been rampant since 1932. Never did any man write with such righteous lucidity. Fie on those who would measure his abasement in dollars & cents.
PERRY CARRIEL
Lookout Mt., Tenn.
Sir:
. . . No sane American can approve or tolerate Communism, the diabolical philosophy of our time. But just because an ex-Communist bares his so-called soul in public is no excuse for a critic to start jumping hoops in applauding him. If your assessment of Chambers' book is correct, then Tolstoy was a pulp writer....
VERNON CARTER Lafayette, Calif.
A thousand bravos to you for an absorbing review ... As I am a young man just turned 30 and one who has encountered even occasionally in my own circle of friends so-called "liberals," ultra-left-wingers, apologists and the like; let me say that the young men & women of America should well take note not only of the content of Chambers' expose, but rather initiate something concrete in ridding our government, and the present Administration's crumbling bureaucracy of Communists who are trying to destroy us from within . . .
JOHN DRYER New York City
Magic Carpet
Sir: