To the Editor:
The article by James Rorty and Winifred Raushenbush [“The Lessons of the Peekskill Riots,” in the October issue] refers (p. 319) to “Howard Fast’s . ‘Eye-Witness: Peekskill, ’ a Communist treatment.”
I was chairman of the Westchester Committee for a Fair Inquiry into the Peekskill Violence [which issued the pamphlet]. You will find the pamphlet “Eye-Witness: Peekskill” to be written by Cecil Lubell of Croton. To the best of my knowledge, none of those who participated in its writing and distribution were Communists. The principal agency of distribution was the Methodist Federation for Social Action. I would be curious to know what led your authors to think that Howard Fast, or the Communists, had anything to do with this enterprise.
In view of the serious implications of charges of Communism in the present climate of opinion, I believe that the members of the Committee for a Fair Inquiry into the Peekskill Violence are entitled to a fair and full retraction in your pages.
Goodwin Watson
Teachers College
Columbia University
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