Vel Phillips Papers (Correspondence, Box 6)

[Congress of the United States Periodical Press Galleries Washington, D.C.]

Dear Vel:

I thought you might enjoy this from the New York Herald-Tribune of November 5.

All best wishes.

Rags

[Newspaper Clipping: Jimmy Breslin Peace Pipe Room]

[Newspaper Clippings: About the GOP; Another Memory; The Press Room; Back to the Pool].

L plus 32

Dear Vel:

Attached are two items I though you might be interested in.

Incidentally, I am arranging in a subscription for you and will have it sent to your home; if you don't care for it, you can send it out with the trash. There will be things in it, from time to time, with which you do not agree. But as a lawyer, you know that one should be familiar with the other side of every question. By and large, however, I think you will find that it is more factual than is any other publication in the field. That is one of the reasons why I work for it.

There is another reason. It is this: It would be very hard for me to find a publication whose views coincided completely with my own. If I could find such a publication, it would have a circulation of, maybe, 100,000 or less. It would be a tiny outfit whose readers were people who agreed entirely with the views expressed. So what good would that do? You do not make any real impact if you write only for people who agree with you.

Here, however, I can write a balanced story. In my own field, I can set my own course, make plans, carry our projects. I always can get a hearing and--without any sense of self-promotion--I can and do have some impact upon policies. There are at least half a dozen of us who fight continually for a middle-of-the-road course.

I think this is worth fighting for. I think it is better to get a fair presentation of facts than it is to preach either a liberal or a conservative cause. Once you begin to slant your facts, you become suspect--by all people. And at that moment, you lose any influence you might have. Moreover, I think it is better to have some influence upon a big and important publication than to get out crusading on a little one that reaches no influential segment of the people.

Or am I rationalizing? Maybe so.

All best wishes.

[Raeys?]

[Newspaper Clipping: Negroes to Hold off on New Rights Bills].