Telephone Murray Hill 6-4986
OPERATION DEMOCRACY, INC.
369 Lexington Avenue New York 17, N. Y.

August 20, 1948

Mrs. Velma Carson
Morganville, Kansas

Dear Mrs. Carson:

I was delighted to get your telegram this morning and am dispatching Mr. Sonkin post haste to the wilds of Morganville. For your information, Mr. Sonkin is a young professor at the College of the City of New York and has been doing a good bit of work for us in connection with the Voice of America and. World Wide Broadcasting programs. He will arrive with a recording machine and the material he bring back will be assembled here and sent out over the air to France. The people of Feves will be notified so that they can hear exactly what happened in Morganville. Mr. Sonkin and I raided the French Railway offices and the French Tourist Bureau here in New York yesterday and he is bearing a number of beautiful French posters, maps, booklets, etc. which should lend color to your show. He is very much up on France, speaks French very well and served in the area around Metz during the war, so if you wish to use him for any talks, he will be at your service.

Incidentally, I sent a note on Morganville to a friend over at LIFE magazine the other day and if it is not too late for their assignments, you may have a LIFE photographer dropping in.

We are very much excited about what you are doing for many reasons, mainly, I think, because of your own wonderful letters. I believe Morganville can claim the distinction of being the smallest community in America to do an adoption program. As you doubtless realize, it is just the kind of thing that appeals to the American public and also to our Government officials whose efforts toward peace are so rarely attended by so much warmth and enthusiasm.

Regarding your little town of Feves: I am afraid you are going to have to be patient for a little while regarding complete information about it. It is a tiny place and does not even appear on most maps. Also, it is in an area that is rather difficult to reach. Once the thing gets rolling, however, I am sure there will be no end of excitement for all of you.

Your question, or the question in the minds of some of your friends, is a very good one. All I can tell you is that we have never yet had any unhappy experience wherein we felt the French people were using us solely for their own gain. Once they understand the simple objectives of these programs, they enter into them whole-heartedly. Sometimes, of course, the gifts take a long while to arrive and one is apt to find the recipients a little cautious with their enthusiasm until something concrete has happened.

These people have lived through periods of hopelessness and sheer terror which few Americans can ever appreciate and they are sometimes apt to hope for too much. Your first contact with them, therefore, should be very restrained. Tell them all about your own town and emphasize the fact that your own people have problems too. You will have documentary evidence of the success of your program as soon as you begin to hear from individuals in Feves and receive the inevitable pictures of your gifts being handed out and used.

All of us here in the office wish we could join Mr. Sonkin in Morganville and we are awaiting his account of what happens with great enthusiasm. Good luck to all of you and please telegraph, telephone or write if we can be of any further help.

Very sincerely,

Charles L. Todd
Executive Secretary