Ups & Downs Sir: In the past few weeks this country has accustomed itself to the fact that we are technologically backward. I assume this will be properly investigated by the usual brass-bottom parties. But we are now faced with the fact that we are so inept and so ineffectual in the matter of public relations that we have advertised ourselves as dolts to the entire world.
JOHN G. STEELE Houston
Sir:
If freedom of the press in these parlous times means handing out information to Russia and the rest of the world on what our military is going to do before it has done it, then to hell with the press.
CHARLES J. COLLINS Detroit
Sir:
Wouldn't "Rearguard" have been a more appropriate title for our satellite project? JOHN JAXON-DEELMAN Los Angeles
Sir:
Why don't we send up a satellite on Christmas Eve and call it the Saintnik?
BILLY C. MCPHERSON Evans City, Pa.
Sir:
Not all projects are successful at first. By working harder and calmly, the launching of America's next satellite will make the world look skyward with admiration.
ARTHUR MURRAY AIBINDER New York City
Sir:
We can learn something about good manners from those Russians. They did not get at all peeved because we produced the original "Spoutnic"—John Faultster Dullest. CLIFFORD G. MILLER Cannes, France
The Power for Now
Sir:
Loud applause for your exposing the weakness of Khrushchev's loud and bumbling propaganda attempt to convince the rest of the world that the power of the American long-range flying bomber is over. This is an insidious lie, made more tragic by the fact that some Americans have come to believe it. One of the best things that could happen to the world right now would be for Khrushchev to launch one of his ICBMs. He could undoubtedly kill a lot of Americans (maybe), but for the next five years he could probably not hit a single significant target. In the meantime SAC could and would pulverize, not Khrushchev, but his military capacities and his industrial strength. The world would be better off. Of course, if we go to sleep during that five-year grace period, we will have lost the war and the world.
JAMES A. MICHENER Kuala Lumpur, Malaya
Sir:
Thank you for your Nov. 25 article on the U.S. Air Force. No matter what the Russians say about Sputniks, stick to your aviation program, and you'll be ten years ahead of the Commies.
SALVADOR RAMOS IGLESIAS
Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Should Ike Resign?
Sir:
Ike should be allowed to resign. He is not Superman.
, TOM KENDALL Walnut Creek, Calif.
Sir:
I'm a damned Democrat. And I'll be damned again if I don't think Eisenhower deserves a better break than he is getting.
RUBEN ARREOLA Albany, Ore.
The Young Senator
Sir:
Congratulations on your fine Jack Kennedy story. It is his "independent voting record" which sells me on the fact that he is the only American who can fill the shoes of Dwight Eisenhower. Who gives a damn whether he's a Democrat or Republican, Catholic or Presbyterian.
JOHN R. DEHNER
Indianapolis
Sir: