CLIMATE OF CONVICTION

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The letter sent to you by two Harvard students can safely be said to represent the viewpoint of about one half of those who did not sign the anti-McCarthy petition.

The position taken by the authors is common and understandable, but it is by no means justifiable. In a free society, when opinions become unpopular and dangerous it is most important that they be expressed. To yield to the "climate of fear," to become a scared liberal, is to strengthen the very forces which one opposes. Courage must complement conviction, for otherwise each man will become a rubber stamp content to spent the rest of his life echoing popular beliefs, never daring to dissent, never having courage enough to say what he thinks, and never living as an individual, but only as part of the crowd . . . J. C. Peter Richardson '56