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PURSUIT OF PEACE
SIR,—When I read that the Spectator, found my views on defence strategy in the nuclear age 'laugh- able' I was reminded of two lines in The Deserted Village, when Goldsmith wrote :
The watch-dog's voice that bay'd the whispering wind, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.
Your sense of . humour is not shared by (for example) Field-Marshal Lord Alanbrooke or Captain Liddell Hart. They are both on record as saying that although they are doubtful about the practica- bility of my conclusions the arguments of my case must be considered. Captain Liddell Hart calls my proposals 'a challenge which deserves the fullest con- sideration and cannot be ignored' (in his latest book, Deterrent or Defence).
I have lectured twice to the Imperial Defence Col- lege on this subject and the Council of the Royal United Service Institution has just honoured me (also for the second time) with an invitation to read a paper on my views about defence. The Commandant of the IDC will be in the chair. The RUSI and IDC are responsible bodies specialising in defence matters and I do not believe they ask me along for the sake of having a good laugh. I think they appreciate that, to quote Einstein, 'The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thought and thus we drift to unparalleled disaster,' and that unorthodox ideas which the Spectator finds 'laugh- able' must be included on the a'gcnda of the great debate on defence. In the hope of persuading so im- portant a publication as the Spectator to stop laugh- ing, may I arrange for it to be represented at the forthcoming discussion at the RUS1?—Yours faith- fully,
King-Hall News-Letter, STEPHEN KING-HALT.
162 Buckingham Palace Road, SW I [We did not disparage Sir Stephen King-Hall's views on defence strategy: we actually praised them as realistic. What we called laughable was his notion that the Communist world is ripe to be impressed by a war of ideas and propaganda—for at this point, Sir Stephen strays from his Defence brief and takes to evangelism.—Editor,S'pectator.]
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