The length of this letter calls for another two-pager. You will note from the date that it is during the 1960 election year. It was seldom hard to figure out where Pop stood on things.
Norfolk, Conn.
July 23, 1960
Mr. Harold Lufkin, V.P.
Newton Mfg. Co.,
Newton, Iowa.
Dear Mr. Lufkin:
Am sending your clipping back and thanks a lot for sending it along. I TRY to be objective but guess I am not sometimes so thought I would wait until I cooled off until I sent it back.
You see I am one of the many million “who think Ike has or can do no wrong.” Why? Well in the first place the people of this Country asked for Peace and Prosperity and they have had JUST that. They also have a billion dollar budget surplus.
I know there are those that say that we have had it at a terrific price, but you just CAN’T give the people everything they want. Labor for instance has made it so costly for us to defend ourselves that we can no longer afford the “price of defense.” Right now at this critical Stage, Pratt & Whitney’s 33,000 workers are on STRIKE, and I believe that I read that someplace some 4000 workers on some Missile Base were also on Strike. That of course comes as no surprise to me as DURING THE WAR, when we were fighting for our lives, I personally had to throw Navy Yard workers out of the bunks of some of my Sailors on the Battleship Iowa and they were getting double and triple time for doing nothing, while we were getting some hundred dollars a month for offering our lives to our country.
And I of course do not subscribe either to the fact that the Japanese situation is Ike’s doings. It was and is a Communist raid and inspired thing, and it is not part of our National Heritage to lower our dignity to such an extent that we put on such demonstrations ourselves. As befits us we welcomed Mr. Kruschev here and although not approving, we stood silently by and let him pass through our parks in peace. So much for that.
Also although there is a little Hypocrisy in all of us, I don’t like one who goes all the way as does your writer. He says, “we all like Ike but,” and then proceeds in thirteen paragraphs and two cartoons to tear the man down. This to me is the worst kind of a Hypocrite. If the title had been, “We have had enough Ike” or something like that, then I could have at least understood his feelings. He is as repetitious as Hedda Hopper and has just about her ability I should say.
Then you see with all due respect to the Farm States. I came from a Potato State, and when we had a bad crop we rode in a Model T, and when we had a good crop we rode in a Stutz Bearcat. But at NO TIME did we appeal to the State, County, U.S. Government for a place to cry on their shoulder. We tightened our belts and ate fish and potatoes in the bad years, and drove the Stutz Bearcat and ate Steak in the good years. Nobody plowed under the Corn, Potatoes, Pigs, Etc. I KNOW that population, times Etc have changed, and thus have the values Etc. changed, but I’m damned if I still don’t think old Ben Franklin was right when he said “A penny saved is a penny earned,” and I DON’T THINK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE EARNED ANY HONEST MONEY FOR A HELL OF A LONG TIME.
