Out of His Era?
Sirs:
. . . Now is the time for greatness. The general level of our two possible Presidential candidates leaves one with a sickening feeling of being hamstrung and hog-tied by the two Chicago conventions.
Ever since the Wisconsin primary we have been hoping desperately for some kind of miracle that would make available to us the greatest man in American public life for at least a generation: Wendell Willkie. It is not one of the least ironic facts of our "greatest democracy on earth" that in one way or another we have either assassinated, rejected or shamefully repudiated the greatest democratic leaders this country has produced—among them Lincoln, Wilson and Willkie. We believe the worst that history will be able to assay against Willkie is that he lived out of his era. And whose shame is it if the American people had not the discernment and vision and integrity to accept the One World idea until possibly a Third World War has made it in fact a One World destroyed ?
Both parties have left us with a shopper's choice of taking either a White House ham or an Albany cold fish!
MIRIAM GALLAHER MARY LESLIE HARRISON Charleston, W.Va.
¶ Readers Gallaher & Harrison's appraisal of Wendell Willkie was posted before his death. History will record his place, which TIME thinks (TIME, Oct. 16) will be a high one.—ED.
The Campaign
Sirs: WE HAVE BEEN PRESENT AT AN EVENT WHICH TIME HAS GROSSLY MISREPRESENTED. WE ARE REFERRING TO YOUR BADLY DISTORTED, WHOLLY INACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF THE DEWEY RALLY AT THE LOS ANGELES COLISEUM (TIME, OCT. 2). IF YOU ARE CAMPAIGNING FOR ROOSEVELT, WHY DON'T YOU SAY SO. . . . WE PREFER "SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP OF A HIGH ORDER" RATHER THAN "A VETERAN VIRTUOSO PLAYING A PIECE HE HAS LOVED FOR YEARS. . . ."
JUNE AND FRANK SUNDERLAND Los Angeles
Sirs: . . . It so happens that I live just across the street from the Coliseum, and I was interested in watching the crowd as it trekked across the Park. High-school youngsters (nonvoters) were present in droves, and we saw a great many families (with three or four children, some toddlers) hurrying to get there in time for the glamorous entertainment promised. Add to these the hundreds of adults who, regardless of politics, would walk miles to see a Hollywood star, and we have a crowd made up, in great part, of movie admirers, not Dewey voters. "Ginger Rogers will introduce" were magic words. Yes, it was the stars (their attendance advertised days in advance) who drew 'the crowd. . . . Without them, Dewey would have faced a half-empty Coliseum. . . .
ANNETT HUNLEY Los Angeles
Sirs: At the rate the American people are descending into utter moral and mental degradation, under the New Deal, I wouldn't be surprised to see Roosevelt's speech to the teamsters placed side by side with the Gettysburg Address in our history books. Two comments I heard on it rate notice, I think. Said a lady, "I thought I was listening to the Great Gildersleeve running for the office of Mayor of Summerfield." Said a bewildered man: "I didn't know we had a canine vote in the U.S."
EVVA S. TOMB Toledo