A M E R 1 C A S L E A D I N G L I B E R A L W E E K L Y S I N C E 1 8 6 5 ,VOLUME 167 NEW YORK SATURDAY JULY 3, 1948 NUMBER 11

THAT STRANGE SOUND EMANATING FROM the White House last Saturday was the President whis- ltling in tihe dark. &l1ers reported Mr. T m m as defi- nitely encouraged about h e whole political situat,ion as a result of the Republican nomi,natioa of Thomas E. Dewey and Earl Warren. Thi,s i?h .little hard to square with two other opinions attributed tu the Psesident witthin the past few weeks, One was the designafion of Dewey as the opponent he would? find hardest to beat, a selection that was needless to make and fantastic to publi- cize. The other was the tribute he paid to MK. Warren in the course of his recent visit to the Placific Coast. Not only d8id he hail sthe Californian as an excellent gov- ernor, but $e went far afield to suggestthat Warren was at heart a Democrat. In view of khese hapless com- ments, it is farcical for &e resid,ents supporters to put out stmies now of how relieved Mr. Tman is hat the Re- publicam did not choose Senator Vandenberg, who was, incidentally, fourth on his i is t o G. 0. P. candidates in ;the order of formidableness. But one need not depend on ehe Presidents badly -iti?nled estimates to be cectain h a t the work of the Philadelphia coaventim, described on page 6, was a severe jolt to such hopes as he still wist- fully entertaisned. The plain trubh is that the Democratic Sar,ty will have bo offer someone fiar stronger than Mr. Tman ilf it is to stand balf a chance in November. And khat someone had {better come forbh quickly and do a job of organizing. Senator Vandenberg proved conclusively at Philadelphia that a coy desire for a spontaneous draft is no match for a candidacy openly declared and vigor- ously promoted: x-

IN ,ITS HASTE TO LEAVE THE NATIONS business and get back to partis1a1-1 poli.tics, Congress i~nmcusably omitted to provide the loan necessary for starting WOK^ on &he new United Nations headquasters. Like a bad boy r.unning lrom s&od before finisling his lessons, Congress sl~ould be recalled to attend to this essentiaI detail. If anyone regands &is item as ~ Q O unimportant to justify an ~intnterrupticm of electmneeing, there is another unfinished task o f superlative domestic interestdhousing. The new Repablican platform favors a housing program, and Senator Taft is one author of the housing bill whi~ch died in bhe recent sessioa of Goa. gress. Housing is certain-to be a hot issue in the cam-

paign. If &e Repubkans mem what they say, ;they will come Ibwk to Washingbon and do something about it. If they ,do fiat do so under their own stem, President _Tmm codd only gain by calling them into special session before bhe eleatmn to Iface the issue. They have had several yeiirs to ,discuss it; he could not properly be accused of rushing hem. If (they passed &e bill, he coulld claim a large hare of the credit. If bhey fuozled i,t again M o r e November, the voters would know where to place &he blame.

WHAT IS AMERICAS RESPONSIBILITY FOR the bifker pl,ight of the European Jews? Americans have a worldwide reputation sfor blandly overlooking their own faults &ile loudly condemning the faults of others. We julstly assail the Britishland the Araibs $or heir part in frustrating Ibhe effort of &e Jews to establish a home in P,alestine and 60 be admiltted to it. We could dmo so wikh bebter grace if we bad allowed those Jews wlm wanted a borne in the United States to enter this country. Now, after considering $or two years a bill which woulmd admit 400,000 displaced perso,ns to &he United States, Congress has passed it w&h amendments so limiting the daw as to admit only 205,000, of whiah no more than 6,000 can ;be Jews, while Nazis ifrcrm the Baltic states are allowed ho come in. The Republican platfocm takes credit for a haven for displaced persons provided: The party, for its controlliug part in &is shameful proce- dtire,;deserves r e p ~ d i a ~ ~ o n by ?I1 who care for &eir cow- trys ,integrity or for humanity.

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THE BERLIN ~RISIS MAY LEAD TO AN ACTUAL clash between Russia and &e Western occupation powers, or it (may be &e point of departure for a new effort to reach general agreement; matters have been alluwed to go so far that a mere truce seems to be ruled out. To hold a porpulatim of 2,500,000 on h e verge of starvation for iten days and then, after a hespite of a week or so, to begin h e s a m ~ game over again is an impossible strategy for tlhe Jong m. This t h e , h e &&e is more drastic, Wit!h the tactics of cold war being rapi,dly left behind. Hope lies in the fact that the Russians have usually shown brnselves prepared to backtrack when the further ag- gravation of an issue threatened to cut off their last ave- nue of retreat. Ahsolute intransigence is almost as diffi- cult for the Western Allies. h order to resist the Rus- sians to the last ditch, the minimum requisite is unanh-

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0 I N THIS ISSUE EDITORIALS

The Shape of Things The Republican Platform The Nation Banned by Predd Kirchruey

ARTICLES The Nominee Nobody Loves

Cartoon: Uncle Thomass Cabin

Corrupt and Discontented by Irving K. Pagan Memoirs of Eduard Benes! 111.

Roosevelts Pre-War Views

by Winzfred Rdzgshenbmb

by Robert Bendiner

by Ezekiel Schloss

Clothes Cost Too Much!

Democracy Stirs in Turkey by Robert Roof A Yankee Looks at the Dixie Revolt Prevlew of September by Del V d p

by ]osspb E. Finley

BOOKS AND THE ARTS Thomas Mann as Critic, or the Strayed

Enterprise, New Style by George Souh Failures of t he Life of Man by Smess Jonsr The Cddo As Stuffed Head by Irving NOW? A Son of Imagination by Rolfs Humphiss Films by James Agsa Records by 3. N. Maggin

Novellst by J ~ m p e s Barzun

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS 1 , - CROSSWORD PUZZLE No. 269

by PrnnR W. Lewis

Ediior m d Publisherr Freda Klrchwey Execrrtive Editor:. Harold C. Field

European Editor Literary E d i t o ~ J. Alvarez del Vayo Margaret Marshall

. Associate Edito~r Robert Bendiner Pzndncid Edmr: Keith Hutchison

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8 9

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Dvamd: Joseph Wood IGutch Mmicr B. H. HaRgilr Assfstnnt Editor: Jefi-y Tallma Copy Editor; Gladys Whiteside

Assistant Literary Editor: Caroline Whiting Staff Corafriburors

Carey McWilliams. Relnhold Niebuhr, Mawell S. Stewart. J. King Gordon. Aylmer Vallance. Ralph Bates. Andrew Roth

I Bgsiskess 6 Aduertisirra Mntzaxer: Hug6 Van Alrx Director of N a h n Associates: Lillie Shultz

by The Nation Associates, Inc.. 20 Vesey St., Ne& York 7, N. Y: Tb0 Natioa, Dublishecl weekly nnd copyright. 1948 in the U. S. A Entered 88 second-class matter December 13, 1878, at the Post, Offlee of New York N Y.. under tho act of March 3 l87D Advertking and Circulatidn &Presentative far COntinentd Europe r Publmtas, Lausanne, Switzerland.

year.q $14. Additional postage per sear: Forelm and anadinn $1. Subscr lp t lm P7aces: Domestic-One year $6 : e o yeam $10 ; Three Clucnge of Addrass: Three weeks notice ie required for chanae of address, whlch cannot be d e without the old addreas aa wen as the new. ~~ ~ ~. . I n f o r m t k m to Libranss: The Nat i ,~ i~ ,~ is indexed in Readers Guide to Periodical Lltereture, Book Review Dlsest. Index fx, Articles. Publio Affaira Information Service, Dramatio Index,

The -NATIQN ity of &mght among the other occupying powers. Pos- sibly this will $e -.achieved under pressure from &he United tates, which seems ready to back General CTay in his announced determination to remain in Berlin by all means shlort of war. But Bidault is obviously reluctant and has hint& very clearly that Fmce wodd welame the renewal of four-qawer conversations on Gemany. And even M i . Bevin, while skeptical Df general talks, is ready to discuss ways out of &e impasse at Berlin. Both realize that t h e Western position here has been seriously weakened b y - h estzblishment of a trizonal government headquarters at Frankfutt, and both would accept so&@ compromise to r e d agreement with Moxcow. Whether this attistrude Dr General Clays will prevail depeds largely on t he Russians. A n obstinate deteaminabion to drive i h h e Western Allies out of Berlin mald ree5tabiish unanimity mung partners whose differences today are quite paoptible, The Russians will persist in khek pres- ent taatlcs only if they want a r e d showdown with the United States. * B G S VJWAT$ON OF TJdE PYILBTINE TRUCl3 was neither a mimnderstanding nor an accident. Zt wag deliberate, and so f a r it has been successful. The United Natilm has wihdrawn its observers, and if the Israeli try b take dmntage of Count Bemadolttes explicit permis; sion to send a food convoy to ,their surrounded colonics in the Negev desert, they will do so at their own risk. Meanwhile, in Rhodes, the U. N. Mediator and his aides are discussing the delicate situation, while at Lake Succesa, Faris El Khouri, ehairman of the Security Coluln- cll, wiho represents Syria, Egypts pzatner in aggression, -has d a d out a meeting of &e m m c i l to consider the Egyptian violation. Panticular point is given to the whole affair by a n m memorandum submibted It0 the U. N. this week by The Nation Associates. It presents, both in fac-

- simile and translated f a m , certain documents mmoved lf rm the files of the Geman Fureign Oftice which prove ithe intimate alliance existing during t,he wzr between Kcling 5arouIc of Egypt and &he Nazi high command, as well as between Earoulc and &e Mufti. The very plan lto bomb Tel Aviv, Imthlessly carried out by the Egyptian air force bebre h e truce intervened, was one sdxnkted to the Nazis by the Mufti in 1943 and ~bandoned at that time only tor lack of a,tl adequate task face. Farodcs intimacy with tihe Germans inclnded espionage md a plan, drawn up by Ambassador Ettel and ,transmitted by t h e Mufti, to transport the King to ~I?IXmm-CORtrQ~Ped territory in order to save ] h i m from an alleged British plot against his life. Thsmu&out the negotiations, Faro& ex-

prase3 Ms full sympathy with Germm a h and his support of the Mufti and as1 those who work w i h him 5or the s~ccess and victory of the Axis. Barrhg HitIer, ,the alUmcz b sbIl1 In opedon; Farod and &e M u f ~ are still acting in dose col1abora;klon. The fa& rearealed

July 3, 1948 &or &he hrst tilme in our memorandum are,not nlere in- teresting fragments of history, but a &arp cmnmentary on the Arab leaders who, wibh ihe help of Britain and our o n Shte Department, have (been able to carry on Hlitlers war against the Jews in open defiance of the Un,ited Nations. These facts should be kept in mind by Count Bernadette as h e conlsiders Egypts violation pf the t r U C a . >t

HOLLOW WITH FATIG,UE BUT HIGH IN morale, the men and women at 164 Duane Street, in the early hours of June 23, tenderly put to bed Volume 1, Number 1 of the New Yo& Stay (formerly P M ) . The first edition had forty-eight pages and $25,000 worth of kdvertisimng, i8ncludirg an ad for a doll on sale at: Mags. This may signify the first crack in the solid icy wall &at bad met PM when it went to the major depaltment stores. one of ,&he most cheerful omens for &he new paper is that there is money in &e bank and more promised to Fublisher Bartley C r w and Edit.or Joseph Barnes. They ore not sayi.ng mhuse money it is until certain legal mat- ters are settled. A chief objective of the new owners is to be obligated to no faction while maintaining a bmadly liberal pmitiaon. To this end, the Star. mounced in its first issue that it i,ntended to respect the convention, de- liberately defied by PM, Ithat news can be separated from opinion. ?In addi,tion, editorials will $e unsigned ahd speak fsor the paper as an entity. Another of bhe StaIJ.r &jec.tives i s an audience of approxhately 250,000 readers, double hhe present circulation. It has redesigned its front page to include the dlays half-,dozen top stories rather ,&an one or two news-feature headlines. Imt has also. taken on some top-notch new talent and bhe synd,icated cartoons of Edmund Duffy and Bill Mauldin. There have been no editorial fipings to date, although some of ithe staff - m o s t notably, former Elditor John P. Lewis-Aave chosen to resign, and a few other old bands may find it difficult to adjust to a reduction in prerogatives. But the tone of the office is generally one of excitement and high hope. We have had the problem, said Jay O d d , the Acting Managing Editor, last week, i f having to WC& in ,three tenses at once. Having weatrhered the transition from past to present, the Stdr now looks eagerly to the future. W e wish it all success.

>c TWENTY-FOUR INTER-RACIAL COLLEGE

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groups melt recently at Roosevelt College in Chicago to form a unique national college fraternity, Beta Sigma Tau. The new fraternTilty elects members without regard to race, religion, or national origin, outlaws the black- ball, and frowns upon Iming, secrecy, or excessive ini- tiation fees and dues. It now has active chapters at the University of California, Ohio State University, the Uni- versity of BuEalo, the University of Indiana, and Ohio

3 Wesleyan University, in addition to Roosevelt. To offset the stultifying iduence of the alumni-&en alumni who were Ilberal when young-Beta Signla Taus constitu- tion provides that each college chapter shall have three voting members at the annual convention, each alumni chapter only two. Eleven of the groups abtending the Chicago meeting wilthdrew to form an organization of their owni the American Commons Club-because they dislike the use of a Greek-letter name. The appearance af these two national non-discriminatory organizations is at least a sign that American student opinion has be- gun to attain a new fnaturity.

T H E platform of a major psliticd panty i n h e United States is not a serious pledge to the citizen. Nobody

voting far the candidates who stand on it: can have the slightest assurance &at its promises will be fulfilled, or even ,that its wmds will be interpreted to mean what they Seem to him #to mean when h e readls &em. The party itself is not a disciplined and ef3icien.t unit which can be mobilized to execute a coherent pecygram. It is an un- easy coalition held together mainly by the efiort to win office, jabs, and power, but imt is scarcely of one mind about anybhing else. The platform-maker is expected to produce a circus tent which will aver all the factions, and to embellish 1t with enough ballyh3oo so that a ma- jority 0.f .&e voters will b,e attrmted inside.

Neverheless, platforms have a significance all heir awn. They!play a ceremonial d e in the strange rites by which we nominate candidates and choose our rulers and could no more be omitted &an the awful oratory, the synbt ic demonstrations . which fiolluw nominating speeches, the fiction lkhthan: individual delegates make up he i r minds which nominee would (be the greatest states- man and cast their ballots accordingly. A platform is a iihalistic obeisance to sthe civic conscience of 6he nation, an intangible but at times a very real force. Candidates make some use of them to get: elected; platforms persist for awhile as documents by whdah bhe governing p a q m,ay be called to account. Like any ceremony, $hey have a sym;bdic content, and may indicate bhe mental condi- ti,on of those responsible, for &em.

The new Republican plat#form is in this sense the mask of a guilty conscience. Fresh from hhe sIns of a sahizo- phrenic and blundering Congress, the party proclaims how well it did and how wicked are the opposing party and the President: And ik Boasts, by i,mplication, how mwh {better it is going to behave in the future than if has in the past. Yet the vagueness of wording anmd bhe hesitancies betray the lack of quch single-mjndedness on the par,t of the framers. A few exalnyles of the treat- ment given to i,nlportant issues will make this clear.

Only by &e most heroic efforts at the last moment had

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4 , &he hiterna;tionalist leaders prevented Congress from re-

neging m its cmmibment to European recovery by voting hs8&icient fu-nds. The platform de.daration for foraign aid inserts qualifying clauses like wi~thin h e limits of OLE own economic welfare and business-like and efficient a&ninis8tmtion, whi& could justify every- body 6mm Senlator Vandenbeeg to Representative Taber. The h a 1 version omits h e promise lof the first draft to hplement with appropriations any c m i ~ t m e n t made by degislalative enactment.

Congress had almost cut the heart out of the reciprocal- tradeagreement program by extending it for only one . yeer &tad of three and increasing the role of &e bi- pardsan Tariff Gomissi,on &the expense of exmntive discrebion. The platform prmises support of reciprocal trade, at all times safepading our own industry and agriculture. Anything h r n tariff reduction to protec- tionism couEd mar& under &tit banner.

Wibh zest, the platfom leaps at he opening offered it by the Dmacratic Admministration $0 write a strong and ringing pllank on Israel; &e Republican Congress had not been required to legislate on &is subject, khough it did close Americas dtoors t o all but 6,000 displaced Jews.

On idation, the Republicans are extremely vulner- able. They contributed largely to the ending of price con- trol. and wakened the one substantial counter-inflationary force-a budget surplus-by forcing through tax reduc- tion. They refused to adopt any new anrbi-inflation meas- ures proposed by &e President. Now they accuse the Democrats of causing i d a t i o n e n d the Demoicrats are not wholly guiltless. In one passage, t h e platform takes credit for tax reduction; in another, it takes credit fol the su~plus which tax seduction will reduce, In still others, it promises to reduce taxes somk more and abandon to &e states important sources of revenue. It declares far cut- ting the cost of gover,ment i,n h e passage on idation, and in &her passages promises various increases in gov- ernmental expenditure. Everyone knows how that con- flict will end. And waving a ludicrously olbvious red herring, it closes the inflation section with- a pledge to rwt aut mrnmmism.

Labors special interest is in repeal &f bhe Taft-Hartley act, whioh bhe Republican Gongress passed. The plat- form does not mention it by name but faces both ways by patting ~&e party on the back f a a sensible reform of the labor law while pledging continuing study to ilmpmve lebor-management relations. Mr. Taft could have run un this declaration; so could a candidate W ~ O wants to amend bhe law out of existeme.

Gongress for ,the second year in succession -failed to enact &e housing bill sponsored by hhe Republican leader of $he Senate, even after the House had cut out ,tsf it slum clearance and federal ai,d for low-rent housing. - The platform plumps- boIdly for federal aid to the states for local slum clearance and low-sental housing

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programs, but only where there is a need that cannot be met either by private enterprise or by states aad localities. The real-estate lobby says there is no such need. B e question is: whose judgment will prevail?

Many uther noble causes are supported, suoh as de- velopment of water power, reclla,iiatim astivities, con- servation of natural tesources. But &e platform promises to return &he tidelands oil to khe, states, and offers fuU protection of the rights of the states in water uses- a euphemism for turning over such resources to private interests.

The vuters had bettsr forget &e platform if they want 60 exercise any real .influence 6n governmental action. They had (better concentrate un the records of the candi- dates and the forces behind izhem. And they had better pay particular attention to the candidates for Congress.

T BY IXFDA FJIRGHWEY

HE report khat The Nation had been banned from the New York public schools on account of Paul

Bhnshards articles on ,the Roman Catholic church came first in the form of a mor-to us almost incredible. We found it hard to believe that &eBoard of Superintend- ents $#ad kaken su& a step ,under any circumstances; harder, that it had- acted in secret so that we, and the public, hound out about it only through a friendly tip-off. Pefhaps the similar action of the Newark scl-~crols last January should have forewarned us &at such. things cuuld happen here; but Newarks cduatioaal authoribies are &emheluningIy Gatholic and the domination of its sahools by the dm-& is notorious. New Yurk is, after all, a city where civil rights- and a lively clash of opinion are old hbits. No ahm& or pl ibial organizatiun has been able ,to put h e public schods in its tucker bag for long; too many competing civic groups assert their interest in public education. Although a few books have been re- jected by the school libraries, nobhhing so^ drastic as the banning of a responsible journal of general circulation had previously been attempted.

For ithese reasons, we d u u b d Lhe rllmor when we first heard it, but inquiry quickly showed that it was true. Wibhouit previous notice or subsequenit antnouncement, the Board of Superintendents on June 8 had dropped The Nation from the lislt of pLddications to /be subscribed to for s&ool libraries and classroom use. 1.f (fie fact had nut leaked, the list would have been accepte,d without dis- cussion and the omission gone unnoticed.

We learned of the ban in the afternoon of June 22. The next day, it was ad,mitted by Dr. William Jansen, Superintendent_ of Schools, and by Mamimilian M O S S , act- ing chairman of the Board of Education. On June 24, ;the New Yurk Thzes carried confirmation of he star1

July 3, 1348 and statements by both officials: Dr. Jansen approved the action of &e Supeiintendents: Mr. Moss deplored it. At a meeting &e same afternoon, the Board of Education acted upon the new list of publications along with dozens of' &her more or less routine iltems. I give this chron- ology not so much .to show how quick and automatic is the process by whi.& a major act of censorship .can be carried through as to emphasize a much more encourag- ing fact: at least half a 'dozen impor.tant civic organiza- tions, hearing about .the ,ban either the night before the meeting of the Board of Educabion or on the day itself, sent represen8tatives to the mceting wihh prepared si@- ments backing up our proteslt and' cal.ling for a pdblic hearing befolre the decision was approved. Their state- ments were animated by an urgent senlse of the bhreat to all free expression implied in 'the action of the Sup,&- tendents. AIl&hough Acting Chairman Moss argued that protests should be lodged with &e Board of Superhtend- ents rather tlhan the Board of Education, he allowed The" N d o , n and i,ts backers full oppol?tun.ity to state their objections. For bhis he deserves great credit, as h e does for his own outspoken 'disagreement with bhe decision to drop ,&is journal. His at8titude was in striking contrast to the vituperative statement of his colleague, George A. Timone, whose attack on The N a h n carried a clear eaho of the old tirad,es of the Christian Front, with wh,i& h e loyally cooperated.

Th%t &he Boaad of Education in the end, without dis- senting vote, i,nd,oried &e expurgated Ilist is deplorable. But it does not close the case. The, N d o n will be sthut out of the p d b k sdmols as of July 1, but I dare predict ,that when they reopen on September 13, it will be back again. Zts banning will not be tolerated by bhe lllberal a n d free-minded citizens of New York.

In its report of the Board of Education meeting last Thursday, h e Herald Tribuns named a few of the peri- odicals .that remain on the approved list. Among &em are the Alllt~erican Hdirdresser, the Bdvbers' Jozlmal, the Jew- i d Bdkeur' Voice, and several others whose appeal would .seem a bit limited. But ,the names are significant as we11 as amusing; if ;trhe spirit that forced The Nation out is allowed to control &e Board's policy, journals such as these will serve +s an apt symbol of tmhe new attitnde to- ward freedom of information in +he school. At least they are non-controversial; at least ehey can be trusted to avoid dangerous thoughts or facts unpalatable to special groups. The Nut i~ t .~ was excluded fro& Hitler's Reich, but I pre- sume subscribers to the American Hdrdresser got their copies regularly. By banning The Ndtion, the authorities have set bheir foot on a road whose des'bination is plainly marked. h education, as in questions of civil rights, New York has set a s'tandard for the country. There is no question whatever khat arbi,trary censorship suck as this, if it is not reversed, will be promptly imltated in other cities, for Intolerance is as contagious as decency.

5' VEN now, the spread of thought-control'has been

& q x x t e d with concern by teachers and parents groups, by ljbrarians, and {by labor and civil-llber.ties organiza- tions. The idea that students in the s&ools skould $e insu- lated from crilticism of the attitudes and doctrines of the Roman Catholic church while being freely exposed to ;Lttacks on every slort of radical political philosophy is only one aspect of the pmblkm. The growing power of the church in America makes i.t a most ismportant one- as Mr. Blamhard's articles have amply proved. But the ohurch ibs a single pressure group. The greater danger was revealed, quite unconsciously I am sure, 'by Superintend- ent of S d m l s Jansen in answer to a question aimed at ,the Board of Superintendents by Paul Blanshard. Citing cibje&ms by #&e Catholic hierarchy io a recent article on the Reformation #in Life, Mr. Blanshard asked whether the board was going to ban that magazine from khe s&hooIs. Dr. Jansen didn't ka,ow, he sai,d, whebher t h e s&od libraries snbscribed t o Life, #but if they ,d,id, and if khe issue "is offensive to any group, hhen it will be banned.?

This astonishing statement goes to the heart of the business. Censorship in a dictatorship is a fairly simple affair; the state merely deletes or suppresses anything that runs counter to the ruling ideology. In a democracy, censorship is more complex /but ,no less intolerable since it is exercised by government agencies under the didate of groups strong enough to wiel,d polliltical power-the Roman Catholic church, the National Association of Mannfactiurers, the power interests. "Any group" is a

A Common Fight Protests against the banning of The: Nation were

presented at the meting of.bhe Board of Education on June 2 4 by the following persons:

ROSE V. RUSSELL, Legislative Representative of the Teachers Union, Local 5 5 5 , U. P. W.-6. I. 0.

MRS. CHARLES SHIPMAN, Executive Secretary of rhe * New York Teachers Guild, Local 2, A. F. of L. OLIVE MCKAY, Director of School-Conmunity Rela-

tions, United Parents Asseci'ations. FREDERICK C. MCLAUGHLIN, Educational Director g

the Public Education AssociAtlan. DAVID K. BERNINGHAUSEN, Chairman of 'the Commit-

tee on Intellectual Freedom, American Library Asso- ciation.

BERTRAM DIA,MOND, member of the Commission om Law and Social Acbion, hecican Jewish Congress. Since June 24, many other organizations and indi-

viduals, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have notified The Nation of their desire to cooperate in fighting the ban.

a phrase not ko be taken quite literally, for we have yet to hear of cmsarship ]based on the objections of Jews or Ffeethinkers, labor unions or &e Comlmmismt Party. Bmt if any of these segments of our society should acquire the will and enough idue,nce to induce Dr. Jansen to ban America or the Sundczy Visitor, we would protest just as loudly. TO contrd lbhe distribution of ideas or informa- tion by deferring to &e sensibilities of organized groups -religious or secular-is an outrage up& democracy. In the case sf The Nation, we are dead sure it was the pres- sure of &e Roman Catholic c h m h khat brought about bhe high-handed action of h e Bcmd of Superintendents. We believe the ahaharch is today t!he most potent organized force opposingfreedom a d progress in this country. But next t h e , )&e source of pressure may be a different one, The Issue is $reedom to &ink and learan and speak even at the risk of offending some special interest.

Tbs Ndion will appeal &he decision of the Board p E 1 Superintendents and &e Board of Education. We have . been assured a he help of various educational and labor organizations md other citizens groups. We welcome &his 1 backing and bespeak ehe aid of all ow readers. For this is a fight that )must. be won if the principles we tea& our 1 children in the schools are to make any sense. I cannot 1 do better &an to repeat here the excellent words with ~ which Acting Chairman Moss concluded his statement to bhe Board of Education, just before it ratified &e ban: 1.f we tamper with ihese hard-fought American rights in the name of good ci.tjzenship, we make a sham of the 1~ Gonstibutim. To me, it appezrs ironical for the Board o i Superintendents to take any action which might zbridge freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights while at bhe 1 ~ same time demanding that our teachers and children hold &em sacred.

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0 Loves BY ROBERT BENDINER

Philadelphid, Jzne 26 UT of 1,094 delegates to the Republican NationaI Conventilon, 1,094 voted to nominate flhohas E. Dewey for President, 450 of hem appearing to

think ilt a reasonably good idea while the remaining 644 went along with emotions ranging from- physical relief to sullen resignation. Republican delegates have been h,oodwidce.d and pressured &fore, of course, but as a rule hey either didnt k \nm or didnt care a great deal. These delegates did kntrw and did care, and their resentment impafited some novel twists to an otherwise desulbry affair, conducted in #&e clijmate of a stokers hold.

It was odd, for exmple, if not alto- gebhher unique, to hear delegates roundly boo the speaker who had tihe honor of offering Governor Dewey a9 ?he man mho . . .-especially since the speaker was a Senator of &e state &at played host to the convention md Mr. Dewey was all but cectain to win. As for &e galleries, they had to be warned by Chairman Joe Martin .to re- frain from making unusual noises while the Senator performed that rite. It was odd, too, to witness a demon- stration for the potential victor h a t ground -its mechanical way along by sheer determination, prolonged by 8

band &et simply refused to stop Maring even after Mar. . tin Ohreatened bo have it h o w n out of the hall. It was novel for the opposition to persist, more bitterly than ever, after the second $aI180t showed 5 15 votes for Dewey out of a needed 548. And it was unprecedented for a con- vention to give a greater ovation tu a defeated candidate on the occasion of his wibhdrawal than it ,did to ~e victor when it was all over. Theorebically h e convention nomi- , ~ nates and ,the candi,date accepts. In this case the Gandidate I norninate,d and the convention as-

cepted. Why? In the first place Dewey was politi-

cally, if not personally, the ,most obvi- ous and logical choice. In a party al- most as wide i,n its ideologisal spread as the Democrats, here was the perfect middle-of-the-roader. Now mildly aligned with the supporters of the Eu- ropean Recavery Program, he had once been- a harsh critic of the Adrninistra- tions foreign policy, and unlike Sen- ator Vandenberg, he had not taken oc- casion to go publicly to the mourners bench. As a governur he was well out of Ithe Congressional rows that recently raged between the Martin-Halleck- Taber a b a l in the House and the Taft- Vandenberg -leadership in the Senate. One of the few men in public life to venture no opinion on the Taft-Hartley