282. Memorandum From Hugh Moore, Director of the Population Policy Panel of the Hugh Moore Fund, to John Rielly of the Vice President’s Staff1
Dear Mr. Rielly:
You may have noted that all the polls show the American public to be overwhelmingly in favor of birth control. This goes for Catholics as well as non-Catholics.
People are increasingly concerned by the rapid deterioration of living conditions in our country. Over-crowded cities, slums, mounting crime, traffic congestion, polluted air and water, loss of space for recreation, etc. Too many people!
And let us not overlook the fact that the burgeoning billions of hungry people abroad will affect us here at home. We are feeding many of them right now and the appeals today are as nothing compared with the demands upon us in the not distant future when millions may be starving.
It is therefore fortunate that Catholic laymen generally do not go along with the recent Bishops’ injunctions against birth control quoted in a reprint from The New York Times enclosed.2
It is fortunate also that official Church attitudes do change, however slowly. Masses may now be said in English, meat eaten on Fridays, nuns’ clothing modernized, etc.
Conscientious public servants meantime should realize that the people at large applaud their efforts to stem the tide of humanity which threatens to engulf us.
Sincerely,
- Source: Minnesota Historical Society, Hubert H. Humphrey Papers, Vice Presidential Files, 1965–68, 150.E.14.10(F), Box 933. No classification marking.↩
- Not found; see footnote 5, Document 279.↩