Evening star. [volume], April 12, 1959, Page C-3, Image 39

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
A Recent Visit With Frank Lloyd Wright:
The Fire and the Flare Were Still There
By MAURICE ROSENBLATT
Csatrikatlni Writer
When I lint n* Prank Lloyd
• Wright In 1039 he *u having a
Aght in • snowstorm with s con
tractor he owed some money. Be
fore It was over I had pulled
; him out of a snowbank on State
• street in Madison, Wls.
It was typical that this non
• conformist, then 95. was still
fighting with people he couldn’t
understand. But the idea the ar
chitect was an ill-humored old
man has been overdone, in reality
he almost always was in good
humor.
Because I happened to be visit
ing in Phoenix March 25, and had
an invitation to Mr. Wright’s
place, Taliesin West, I was privil
eged to have the last Interview
and to get the last photograph
of him.
Many times before, while I was
a student at the University of
Wisconsin and a Wisconsin news
paper man. I had visited his re
markable summer home and work
shop, Taliesin East, near Madison.
Now it was interesting to see what
time had done to this facile mind.
H« Kept His Pace
Mr. Wright had lost little of the
dogma and arrogance which I had
seen over 20 years ago. Physically
he looked goo<f except for a palsy
of the hands. He paced himself
well, did not rush, and walked
steadily without the aid of glasses.
Mentally he was like an ency
clopedia. To what he had known
20 years before he had added
much lore and seemingly had re
tained everything he had ever
experienced.
Perhaps most remarkable was
that, at 80, Frank Lloyd Wright
was still looking into the future.
"The hope for America is the
teen-agers.” he told me in that
last interview. “They haven’t
learned to conform yet.
‘T get a lot of letters from teen
agers and each week answer at
least one personally."
Here was a man who had lived
more than half the life of the
Republic, pinning his faith on
people 75 years his Junior.
New Plans at 89
You could see his forward
looking in his huge drafting room
at Taliesin West, bursting with
new plans, drawings, new works
and projections. It was rewarding
to see him working with his 90
student disciples.
At fourscore and ten he had the
same twinkle, the same irreverent
snort as he poked at institutions,
fads, pompous ideas and buildings.
As we talked for two hours his
mindr grasped securely topics rang
ing from architecture to political
parties, the late Joseph McCarthy,
the Civil War and America’s
culture.
A HISTORICAL SURVEY
What the Laws Really Say on Nudity
By PHIL YEAGER
Contributing Writer
In 1663 an English knight
named Sir Charles Sedley, hap
pily inebriated, decided to recite
obscene poetry from the balcony
of a village inn—while clad in
nothing but his socks. The local
citizenry became so worked up
over this performance that a riot
ensued, and Sir Charles awoke the
next morning in Jail.
From this affair grew the mile
stone case of King vs. Sedley,
which resulted in Sir Charles’ con
viction for indecent exposure and
obscenity. It was the first time in
the history of the English-speak
ing people that anyone was legally
chastised for nakedness.
Since that time, however, the
problem of nudity has been
bounced all around the judicial
arena, alternately experiencing
phases of purltanism and laissez
faire, but never straying far from
the surface of the public con
science.
Today American law is full of
statutes, ordinances, court deci
sions and so on which, under
standably, confuse people in re
•gard to when and where it is all
right to be undressed, under what
circumstances and to what extent.
Controversy Over Painting
The latest legal flareup about
the touchy-but-interesting prob
lem of nudity was between United
Artists Corp. and the United
States Post Office.
The film company sued in Fed
eral District Court to lift an al
leged Post Office ban on the mail
ing of advertisements for its cur
rent movie. "The Naked Maja.”
The film is based on the life of
of the great 18th-century Spanish
artist, Francisco Goya, and the
advertisements in question repro
duced his famous "Maja” painting
which depicts a robust female
nude recumbent upon a mound of
satin pillows. <
Noting that the original "Maja”
hangs in the Prado Museum in
Madrid and is obviously “art,”
United Artists said it could see no
reason to ban the painting from
going through the mails.
Eventually a number of critics
and outside organizations became
entangled in the argument, in
cluding the American Civil Liber
ties Union, before it was estab
lished that the Post Office had not
ruled on the matter and the
court dismissed the suit.
A clue to the way the majority
of Americans view the matter of
nudity can probably be found in
the law, which undertakes to re
strict it in a variety of ways.
Where personal behavior is con
cerned. the law operates mainly
through indecency laws and rules
against disorderly conduct.
Where articles are concerned,
such as books, pictures, films, pho
tographs and the like, the law
works mainly through obscenity
statutes or censorship. But there
are a dozen other ways in which
the law, on occasion, may govern
Ir -apyppiiil*.
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FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
At Taliesin on March 26
“I’m against conformity,” he
saicj. “It’s the lazy man’s way of
getting by.” He spoke on briskly.
“We are in danger of being ruled
by third generation authority.
“The great fortunes of America
are in the hands of grandchildren
of the men who made the money.
These grandchildren have none of
the disciplines which come from
dealing with realities—from the
winning and holding of money.”
Mr. Wright threw up his hands.
“Today with this hand they say
yea. with this hand nay. It’s a
matter of whim; a large part of
our lives are ruled by decisions
that stem from third generation
authority.”
Definition of a Liberal
The old architect was asked his
definition of a liberal.
“A man who can live with, and
flourish amid, diverse and op
posing ideas—somebody who wel
comes the right of others to op
pose him," he replied. It sounded
to me like a capsule autobiography.
A visitor, turning to politics,
suggested that as presently con
structed, the two political parties
do not offer much choice.
“The programs of the two par
ties may seem similar,” said Mr.
nudity. These Include rules
against inciting to riot, disturbing
the peace, unlawful assembly,
contributing to the delinquency
of minors, outraging public de
cency, etc.
All States have laws prohibiting
indecent exposure of the person,
and all but New Mexico proscribe
the distribution of obscene articles
of literature.
The District Code
The District of Columbia code
is fairly typical. It says that any
one in the District who obscenely
or indecently exposes his or her
person is guilty of a misdemeanor
punishable by fines up to S3OO or
90 days in jail or both. If minors
under 16 are present, the fine may
go to SI,OOO and the jail sentence
to a year for each offense. The
sale or distribution of indecent
publications, including promotion
for performances which may be
obscene or lewd, is punishable by
a fine of between SSO and SSOO
plus up to a year in Jail.
Some States write in greater
detail.
New York, for example, says
that “any person who willfully
and lewdly exposes his person or
the private parts thereof in any
public place or in any place where
others are present” is guilty of a
misdemeanor. It further prohibits
nudity on the part of any person
in any place, public or private, if
two or more persons of the oppo
site sex are present and are "sim
ilarly exposed.” California, which
like New York has particular prob
lems involving modeling, theatri
cal productions, and artists groups
is even tougher in that it makes
the second offense for exposure a
felony rather than a misdemea
nor. It is more lenient in that it
limits the locale of the offense to
public places and “any place
where there are present other per
sons to be offended or annoyed
thereby.” This seems to provide
greater leeway for nudity so long
as those present do not mind it.
Controlling personal acts such
as indecent exposure is one thing.
Regulating a person's thoughts is
something quite different; and this
is where the law encounters dif
ficulty as it endeavors to censor
nudity in literature and art.
It runs into trouble, basically,
for two reasons. One is that it
must be careful not to violate the
Bill of Eights which guarantees
freedom of speech and expression.
The other is that it can only pro
hibit those things which are
“obscene," “lewd." "lascivious,”
“filthy,” etc., and these are sub
jective terms which are legally
almost impossible to define.
Sense of Moral Values
As one student of the problem
says: "Regardless of how the
words may be defined, courts must
invoke somebody's sense of moral
values to determine the legal
consequences. Whose sense of
decency or good taste or delicacy
is controlling? Whose morals
must the matter tend to corrupt?”
Other lawyers object to such
Wright. “But the difference is in
the people of the parties. Not in
the labels but in the men who
run and lead the parties, there the
distinction lies.”
Mr. Wright recalled that people
had blamed the State of Wisconsin
for producing an extremist like
Senator McCarthy.
“This shows that people don’t
understand what McCarthyism
was all about,” he continued. “The
problem wasn’t the man, Joe Mc-
Carthy, but the American people.
“This is what worried me, that
the whole country was really so
sick that a fellow like McCarthy
could take hold and dominate our
lives. It had nothing to do with
Joe McCarthy and where he was
from. It had to do with the mental
and moral health of the country.
The Problem of Education
He said education constitutes
America’s primary problem.
“We have allowed education to
be divorced from culture,’’ he
said. “We train people to do spe
cific Jobs, but the human product
is neither an educated nor a free
man.
“We should include architecture,
history and religion. And by re
ligion, I don’t mean imported de
nominational religion, but religion
censorship not on grounds that
the individuals who make the de
cisions are unbalanced, but be
cause their individual judgments
are apt to be conclusive in regard
to what the public will be allowed
to see or read. They regard this
as an infringement of free speech
and press.
Goya’s painting of "The Naked
Maja" may be a case in point.
This is one of the sexiest paint
ings by the old masters, but no
more so than Rubens "Judgment
of Paris” or Poussin’s "Echo and
Narcissus” or Ingres’ “Jupiter and
Thetis.” And what about the
writing of Rabelais and Voltaire?
Or the Song of Solomon in the Bi
ble? These things have acquired
the sanctity of time, and we think
of them as classics. But suppose
they appeared on the market as
contemporary works? Would they
meet the requirements of the law?
We don’t know, but we do know
that a few people would make the
decision as to whether the rest of
us would be allowed to see and
read them. It illustrates the
problem.
How to Set Standard
Government officials have been
wrestling for years with the
question of how to set up a
standard for deciding what mat
ter is obscene. The county prose
cutor in one community based
his decision on whether or not
the article involved was some
thing he would approve of his
13-year-old daughter possessing;
another branded anything ob
scene which was so considered
by the local clergy; still another
based his decision on whether he
regarded the matter “fit for
children.”
Judge Learned Hand described
the dividing line as renting be
tween mere "candor,” on one
hand, and “shame” on the other.
But standards such as these
have been increasingly criticized,
particularly as American society
has become more closely welded
and Federal law invoked more
frequently because of its au
thority over interstate commerce.
Interpretation in Law
The United States Code has
long prohibited the mailing of
any article which is "obscene,
lewd, lascivious or filthy,” and
anyone who “knowingly” mails
such articles or receives them for
distribution is subject to fines up
to $5,000 and/or imprisonment
up to five years. In 1955 the code
was amended to prohibit further
any kind of interstate shipment
of such articles.
Until 1957, however, there was
no definitive interpretation of
"obscene, lewd, lascivious or
filthy.” Then the Supreme Court
met the issue head-on in a case
involving a man convicted of
mailing an obscene publication
called "American Aphrodite.” In
Roth vs. United States, the court
decided that (1) the so-called
obscenity statutes did not violate
the Bill of Rights and (2) the
test of obscenity was whether the
which expresses the ides and spirit
of America. You know, our true
priest was Walt Whitman. Be ex
pressed the soul of America.
“The tragedy of American his
tory is that Jefferson didn’t come
In the middle of the 10th century,
when we were shaping our na
tional personality. I think much
less of Lincoln. He was a hu
manitarian but Jefferson was our
great educator.
“The Civil War was largely a
conflict between Northern manu
facturers, merchants and me
chanics, and the Southerners who
had developed a highly cultivated
society, a real culture out of
their agrarian economy. Now,
Lincoln was concerned with the
moral Issue of the slaves; Jeffer
son would have dealt with slavery,
but he also would have made sure
that the culture of the South was
preserved and expanded, and not
destroyed by the Northern busi
nessmen. We lost a great oppor
tunity when the Northern ma
terialists made It a war of ven
geance and uprooted Southern
culture.”
I commented on his having re
tained his mastery over words.
“I come,” he replied, “from a
long line of preachers. My family
were word men. But I’m afraid
most of what I have said has only
been understood by scholars and
intellectuals. Because the lan
’ guage that I have used has not
been simple enough, I have not
been able to communicate with
the average man.”
“You are,” I said, “soon going
to be in the embarrassing spot of
being universally accepted. Her
esy is but the bridge between two
orthodoxies.”
“No.” Mr. Wright replied, “I will
never be a classic. My work is
too varied, like Beethoven. I can
never be reduced t 6 a style.”
Controlled by Producers
American’s lack of craftsman
ship came in for his scorn.
“Our economy is controlled by
the producer, not the consumer.
As a result advertising and per
suasion put things over that the
public really doesn’t want. The
public is induced to buy the prod
uct by salesmen. Therefore the
public never exerts real influence
over quality or taste. As a result
much of our manufactured prod
uct has been streamlined junk.”
As he talked we strolled down
the stone galleries and arbors.
When I asked him to hold still
for a picture he stood erect and
motionless, his eyes were focused
at something beyond the desert. A
faint smile played on his lips like
an old pagan God who had tasted
life and found it good. As Taliesin
—in Welsh meaning "shining
brow”—fit into the Arizona land
scape so did Frank Llo?d Wright
seem to fit into Taliesin. This was
no accident.
work or article, as a whole, judged
by contemporary standards, would
aopeal to the average man’s
“prurient” interest.
Outlawing Obscenity
The decision has been met with
mixed reactions. Some hail it as a
vindication of morality in the
United States. Others believe it is
actually a restriction in pre-exist
ing powers to outlaw obscenity
Still others. Including some offi
cials of the highly respected Amer
ican Law Institute, regard the de
cision as an compro
mise.
The institute, which has
wrestled with the problem longer
and more deeply than any other
legal entity in the United States,
has tentatively suggested that an
article should be legally obscene
only if it exhibits “morbid in
terest in nudity, sex or excretion,
and if it goes substantially beyond
customary limits. . . .” The dif
ference between this view and the
Supreme Court’s seems to be that
the Court definition brings into
play certain traditional notions
of law that obscenity depends on
whether the painting, book or per
formance "arouses, lustful
thoughts” or "incites to deprav
ity.” The institute's idea is
pegged to current suspicions that
moderate lust is more or less nor
mal and that it is difficult for a
mere picture or magazine to foster
depravity.
Many legal scholars, influenced
no doubt by modern psychology
and anthropology, are convinced
that nudity in the law is simply
a facet of prevailing attitudes to
ward sex and, therefore, any at
tempt to regulate it must be
highly imperfect.
'Thinking Makes It So"
They suggest that there can be
no obscenity without psychologi
cal repression, no “dirt” without
a mind seeking it. In short, they
subscribe to the philosophy that
“nothing is either good or bad,
but thinking makes it so.” They
point that incest, which is totally
taboo in our Anglo-American cul
ture from a legal point of view,
is tolerated good-humoredly by
the Eskimos and* Indians. Some
lawyers even argue that “obscene”
. literature and art. instead of be
ing a social evil, may actually pro
vide a harmless outlet for those
afflicted with abnormal desires.
In this, they disagree with the
FBI that “obscene” literature, of
itself, is a significant contributing
cause of crime.
Whatever the truth of the
situation, it seems likely that, for
the foreseeable future, illegal
nudity and obscenity will be
largely determined by postal
examiners. State prosecutors and
local magistrates. Supreme Court
definitions notwithstanding, their
taste in the matter, together with
the convictions of the communi
ties they serve, are likely to con
trol the legality of dress and un
dress.
THE INDIANS AND THE ALASKANS
A Dramatic Health Story
By ARTHUR 8. FLEMMING
•ocroterr •< Health, education and Welfare
One of the Nation's most dra
matic health stories of our time
has been unfolding quietly and
steadily among American Indians
and Alaska natives.
I have received from Surgeon
General Leroy E. Burney a report
Tki* ftatawant by Secretary slamming,
slightly abridged Sara, wei re leased at
the conclusion of a news conference
last Tuesday.
of recent progress in the Indian
health program covering improve
ments in health and medical serv
ices in 25 States to the 385.000
American Indian and Alaska na
tive beneficiaries.
This report traces health trends
since 1954, immediately prior to
the transfer of the program to the
Public Health Service in 1955,
through facts and figures avail
able in the closing quarter of 1958.
Here are some of the highlights:
• Tuberculosis, once the leading
cause of death among Indians and
Alaska natives, dropped a full 40
per cent among the Indians in the
4-year period ended with 1957.
Among Alaska natives, the de
crease was even greater—63 per
cent in the same period.
• New cases of tuberculosis have
dropped 25 per cent among Indi
ans and about 33 per cent among
Alaska natives.
• The Indian infant death rate
has been reduced by 12 per cent.
• The Indian death rate from
diseases of the stomach and in
testines came down by 26 per
cent.
Much Yet to Be Done
In calling attention to progress
since 1954, neither Dr. Burney
nor I wish to give the impression
that this country’s Indian health
problems are solved. This is far
from true, even with respect to
tuberculosis. That disease still
claims nearly four times more
lives among American Indians
than among the Nation's general
population, and upwards of eight
Firm Berlin Policy Paying Off,
Returning Representative Says
By SAMUEL S. STRATTON
Representative from New York
Berlin is a fantastic city. Four
days there and I came away con
vinced that the status quo can be
beautiful. I returned not only
impressed by the high degree of
training of our troops in Ger
many, but also by the obvious fact
that the American policy of stand
ing firm is the soundest possible
policy and is in fact already pay
ing dividends.
There’s far less agitation about
the Berlin crisis in Berlin than in
Washington. But this calmness is
no accident. It is based first on a
conviction that America means
what it says about standing firm.
Already Berliners are convinced
the May 27 deadline set by Soviet
Premier Nikita Khrushchev will
pass without anything unusual
happening.
That doesn’t mean that the
Berlin crisis will be over. But it
does mean that the firm United
States position has already forced
an adjustment in Soviet policy
and has at the very least post
poned any actual showdown. As
far as Berliners are concerned
every extra week of living success
fully under Soviet pressure with
out cracking is another step in
the right direction.
Also behind this unexpected
calmness in Berlin, as we found,
are some ‘of the finest fighting
troops that America has stationed
anywhere in the world.
Essential 'Shield'
We saw these troops, talked with
them, and watched them carry out
their combat maneuvers, not only
the two battle groups located in
side West Berlin, but also the five
American divisions poised along
the Iron Curtain line in West
Germany and ready to go. if, as
they say in Europe, “the balloon
goes up.”
These ground troops are per
forming a highly essential func
tion in West Germany as impor
tant elements of our so-called
NATO "shield.” Their job is to
keep the .Soviets from overrun
ning Germany in the event of war
until we can bring our superior
nuclear power to bear against an
aggressor.
I came back from Berlin just a
bit concerned about what the cur
rent efforts to economize in the
field of national defense might do
to those NATO shield forces.
Certainly we can’t possibly permit
any reduction in American forces
in Western Germany now. what
ever happens to over-all Army
strengths. Many of us were frankly
disturbed to learn that budget
cutting at home already has forced
some reduction in the regular
training alerts and maneuvers of,
these forces, which is, in my*
judgment, considering the cir
cumstances, a very dangerous
brand of economy. Even our
normal rotation policy has created
some problems; for example, when
a large number of trained soldiers
wind up their two-year hitch to
gether and move back home to
civilian life. New men are moved
in quickly to take their place, of
course, but there is still an un
comfortable delay before the unit
as a whole can be brought back
up to the same combat-ready
pitch.
For mrself, I’d feel a lot better,
and I think some of our field com
manders would too. if we had at
least one and maybe two more
American divisions in West Ger
many as strategic reserve. If our
ground forces are going to play
any role in our defense picture.
Europe is the place they are most
likely to play it. Five American
divisions, even highly trained, still
THI SUNDAY STAR
Writaylte, 0. C., SWay, April 12, I*s*
/li
SECRETARY FLEMMING
Salutes medical men
«
times more Indians contract tu
berculosis. The tuberculosis death
rate among Alaska natives is
more than 10 times greater than
the national average.
Health-problems among Ameri
can Indians and Alaska natives
still are unique and severe. Lan
guage differences combined with
limited understanding by’lndians
of health and disease concepts
still constitute obstacles of con
siderable magnitude. Geographic
and cultural isolation on some 250
Federal Indian reservations and
in hundreds of native villages in
Alaska, combined with an ex
tremely low economic level, are
serious handicaps in the provision
of services.
The health program operates
over tremendous areas. Its hospi
tal at Point Barrow, above the
Arctic Circle, is the most north
erly in the world. In this area, the
Public Health Service had medi
cal personnel who drive their own
dog sleds and fly their own air
planes. Recently, the first opera
tion ever performed in Alaska
involving the transplanting of a
cornea was on a 16-year-old Es
Representative Stratton, farmer Mayor of
Schenectady, has just returned from a
flying trip to Berlin. With nine other
members of the Armed Services Com
mittee, he went to get a first-hand
look at the crisis areo. The Congress
•man is unusually qualified to write this
exclusive report for NANA. He is a
military intelligence expert. A combat
intelligence officer on the staff of Gen.
Douglas MacArthur during World War
11, he was recalled to teach at the
naval intelligence school during the
Korean emergency.
have their hands full facing 20 or
25 Soviet divisions. We need at
least another reserve division to
back up the forces already com
mitted along the border.
Our Dependents Overseas
One question that bothered some
of us when we left Washington
for Berlin was the status of Amer
ican dependents in that exposed
outpost. Shouldn’t we perhaps
evacuate them all well before the
May 27 deadline? After talking
with Army officers, men, and with
many of the dependents them
selves, I came away convinced it
would be a mistake for us to un
dertake any evacuation of Ameri
can dependents, except as a last
minute and extreme measure. In
fact, I was amazed to find that
there's almost no desire on the
part of any of these people to
return home.
These folks are firmly convinced
that the future of our country is
closely bound up with holding
onto this great free city. They
wouldn’t want to be the first to
betray any nervousness at carry
ing out American overseas com
mitments. If we were to begin to
move back our dependents, this
would be an immediate signal that
Americans had decided the future
of Berlin was hopeless, and that
is one thing we certainly don’t
intend to do.
Actually. Berlin is more a war
of nerves rather than a war of
guns. That’s why I am so con
vinced we can win just by stand
ing firm on the status quo. And
yet what about the future? Can
we live with this kind of situation
indefinitely? Even assuming that
the West weathers the May 27
deadline, isn’t there always the
chance of another crisis any time
the Russians feel like crying
“wolf”?
You can get one clear-cut an
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REPRESENTATIVE STRATTON ~
Sees Progress in Berlin Situation.
kimo girl in the Public Health
Service hcapital at Anchorage.
Distances, population disper
sion, and absence of local water
supplies pose severe obstacles for
doctors, nurses, health educators,
and sanitation personnel ih the
Southwest. One PHS dental officer
travels 10,000 miles a year treating
his patients on the vast Navajo
reservation, which covers an area
the size of West Virginia. Con
struction of an urgently needed
new hospital for the Papagos on
the Arizona desert was delayed for
months because of difficulties in
locating a water supply.
Lack of Safe Wafer
Gross and widespread environ
mental sanitation problems—
notably lack of safe water supply
and overcrowded and inadequate
housing—persist as the allies of
excessive disease rates. These are
problems which the Indians are
generally unable to correct within
their own economic resources.
Substantial increases in funds
for Indian health during recent
years have enabled the Public
Health Service to make inroads
against critical disease problems.
Trained professional staff mem
bers. so vital to the success of a
direct service operation such as
the Indian health program, have
been substationally increased in
number. A good start has been
made in eliminating the generally
unsatisfactory condition of Indian
health facilities and the shortage
of modern medical equipment.
Although Indian infant deathi
dropped 12 per cent in the 4 years
ended with 1957, the Public Health
Service recognizes that the pres
ent rate of 57 deaths per 1.000
live births is excessively high. In
creasing numbers of Indian babies
are born in the Service’s Indian
hospitals, and e.s a result the In
dian infant death rate in the first
month of life now compares favor
ably with that of the general pop
ulation. However, because of un
favorable environment, Indian in
fants die at more than five times
the rate for the population as a
whole during the succeeding 1J
months of life.
swer to that question from th«
youthful, able and highly impres
sive Mayor of Berlin. Willy Brandt,
We had an hour’s talk with him.
Mayor Brandt says Berlin’s posi
tion is anomalous, tied in econom
ically, emotionally and (eventu
ally, he hopes) politically, with
West Germany 110 miles to the
west. Yet he points out that there
have been anomalous political
situations like this before which
have continued indefinitely. He
points to Pakistan, divided into
two sections on the continent of
India If Pakistan can survive,
he says, why not Berlin? Indeed,
one thing that keeps Berlin alive
today is the hope that some day
she will again be the capital of
Germany.
Patience Is Needed
But perhaps the best answer of
all to this question of the future
of West Berlin came from an
American officer stationed there.
He put it to me this way; “Let’s
not get impatient and feel that
we’ve got to find overnight some
neat and simple and easy solution
to this Berlin problem. These ap
parently neat solutions, arrived
at around the conference table
with the Soviets, can often spell
disaster. Maybe we’ve spent too
much time reading those fairy
stories where people get jot®
trouble, then somehow resolve the
troubles, and everybody lives hap
pily ever afterward. _ .
“That isn’t the way life goes
these days." my officer friend went
on. “We can’t expect to live hap
pily ever after in today’s world.
Were going to be facing Com
munist tensions and pressures for
a long time to come. Our job is
not to try to find some easy, fairy
land solution that will let us .‘live
happily ever after,’ but rather, to
prepare to live with the tensions
and pressures of this real world of
ours without letting them get us
down.” . ,
I think my officer friend .was
right as we talked that last night
in Berlin. The Russians are bet
ting we can’t stand the heat. But
when you’ve seen Berlin, as we
saw it, you know in your heart
that we can’t possibly abandon
this fantastically attractive out
post of freedom 110 miles inside
the Iron Curtain and continue to
hold up our heads. If Berlin ever
goes, then Western Europe goes
with it. I’m convinced of that.
(North American Newapaper Alliance)
C-3