Man of the Year

Sirs:

Amen! Reader John McGuigan in Letters [TIME, Oct. 15] certainly hit the nail on the head. General Douglas MacArthur for Man of the Year by far.

H. M. FISH

Aberdeen, S.D.

Sirs:

Let's eliminate some of this hero worship and make some progress toward thinking peace into our lives.

Man of the Year is G.I. Joe. . . .

FRITZ KAESER

Carmel, Calif.

Sirs:

Reader McGuigan does not read his TIME. There were a few marines, and the Navy, in the defeat of Japan.

The Man of the Year is Harry S. Truman, who changed horses in midstream and most successfully too.

THOMAS MACKLIN

San Francisco

Sirs:

Man of the Year is the Atomic Bomb. . . .

ETHEL ROTH

New York City

Sirs:

May I nominate the word of the Year? ATOMIC!

SIDNEY FELDMAN

New Bedford, Mass.

Sirs:

Let me nominate for TIME Cover Face of the Year, a Woman of 1945, Dr. Lise Meitner, the Austrian Jewish woman scientist who developed the formula that broke open the atom. Many of your readers, no doubt, will be nominating Roosevelt or Truman or Stalin, and each of these is a worthy choice, but Dr. Meitner's contribution, I believe, will far outweigh the contributions that the others have made. For, as TIME has repeatedly pointed out, this is the atomic age, and the bomb will play a tremendous part in deciding whether the world of the future will have peace or war. Roosevelt and Stalin with Churchill won the war; Truman and Stalin may win the peace; the atom will determine the future of mankind. . . .

JOHN HENRICKSEN

Spokane, Wash. J

Sirs:

The Man of the Year--General George Marshall--The Brains behind the Acts to Victory!

MRS. CHARLES T. DOLE MISS E. G. FAWTHORPE

Andover, Mass.

Sirs:

Texas born. Kansas reared, World famed, Man of the Year Next President, "Ike ' Eisenhower. Non nations closed.

F. B. PUTNAM

Hollywood

Sirs:

The Man of the Year, of the Hour, of the Century, and for the Ages, Robert Rutherford McCormick.

Transcendent military genius, scholar, historian, statesman, our much beloved Colonel has counseled our legislators, our executives, our admirals, our generals in a most wise and kindly manner. Always humble, modest and self-effacing, he has never boasted of his own great learning and accomplishments. Yet upon his guidance has rested the safety and the greatness of our country. He, and he alone brought victory for America.

WILLIAM A. DEAN

Chicago

Likable, but Somewhat Confused

Sirs:

. . . The American soldier has been handsomely gypped by almost every shopkeeper, bartender and shady lady in Europe, for the simple reason that he's asked for it! He'll pay a thousand francs for a bottle of third-rate cognac, if there's none to be "liberated." Then he'll get squiffed to the ears and bed himself down with a fire-sale harlot for another thousand francs, if she's pretty enough and smart enough to ask for it. ...

The American too easily forgets that he's a foreigner when he's outside of his own country. . . . Suppose our own country had been overrun by a horde of liberating foreigners who drank everything within reach, made passes at everything that wore skirts, and sneered at our "backwardness" because we were different from them?--Something tells me we'd have treated our "liberators" a lot worse than the French and Belgians treated theirs. . . .

The sooner we realize that we're not necessarily the most marvelous people that ever walked the face of the earth, the sooner the rest of the world will give us credit for what we are: an industrious, likable, somewhat confused and intensely ambitious nation of run-of-the-mill people in an astoundingly lucky environment. . . .

JOHN P. STREET

Rochester, N.Y.

Horrible Mess Sirs: ... I have just finished reading TIME, Oct. 15. I feel confused, disgusted, and disillusioned. Everything seems to be in a horrible mess: these strikes about petty matters and nobody taking the initiative about them; the atomic bomb, which everyone seems to be afraid to do anything about; the diplomats at the London conference acting like head strong kids ; and Europe confused and muddled, struggling for the barest necessities of life.

After reading all this, I am well on the way to becoming a pessimist at 16. Would you advise sticking to your lighter articles like Cinema, Theater, etc., from now on?

MARY LEE HOGUE Pennsboro, W.Va.

P: Let Reader Hogue grit her new wisdom teeth; there's no hiding place.--ED.

Moral Leadership

Sirs:

I wish to speak as an ex-pilot in the Eighth Air Force.

Whatever we may say about our policy regarding the atomic bomb, however we may belittle the significance of keeping the scientific know-how to ourselves, we cannot say that we are trusting our brothers. We may prate about the end of all wars, about assuming moral leadership to make that end a reality, but we may also say that we are afraid to take that first step.

It is true that we may not trust because we are not trusted but nevertheless it is our duty to continue to trust. It is the job of those in high places to see that we do not trust blindly. But we must trust, trust in God and in the Tightness of our faith. And withholding the atomic bomb speaks loudly of fear and distrust.

Let us give our weapons to the world and claim our right thereby established to guide, to conciliate and to dare other nations to give as we give. We are a great nation materially, but how great are we proving morally?

DUSTIN P. ORDWAY

Battle Creek, Mich.

"Admirals by the Nose?"

Sirs:

Yeoman Jason's letter [TIME, Oct. 8] seems another "sour-grape" sneer by a male unable to adjust himself to changed social conditions; back in the States he may have had dates gratefully accepted at moment's notice. Overseas his type probably can't compete. . . .

We, too, stand in chow lines, sleep in heatless barracks, work in icy offices--and our promotions are subject to approval by WAC officers. We don't wish to detract from G.I. glory or to minimize their sacrifices, but we have shared some of their loneliness and privation and the least we expect from gentlemen is respect.

(T/3) ELS A WENDT

% Postmaster

New York City

Sirs:

In reference to the letter, "Admirals by the Nose?" by Yeoman Henry Jason, truer words were never spoken. Just one mistake --this also applies to Stateside WACs, WAVES and Red Cross girls (?) !!! !!! !!!

(AMM 1/c) RAYMOND J. MCKENNA

(AMM H 3/c) JOE T. BRADY

(S 2/c) W. M. EASLEY

(SKV3/c) G. M.Lupu

(OAM 2/c) W. R. KIEFER

(S 1/c) J. R. BOWDEN

(AMM 3/c) R. C. DURHAM

(AM 2/c) J. J. STEC

(AMM 3/c) RAY BARBER

(AMM 2/c) H. R. SWEEZEY

(AMM 3/c) WALTER BARBY

Meacham Field

Fort Worth, Tex.

Sirs: ... As a former Red Cross Recreation Worker, overseas in the Southwest Pacific Area for 18 months, I say we were strictly "G.I." Regarding our love affairs, does Mr. Jason know that 75% of the R.C. girls in the SWPA married enlisted men ? ...

HENRIETTA SCHOON Gary

Sirs:

. . . There should be no mistake made about it, these girls are forcing themselves to make the same sacrifices here in the States as they do overseas. They can be seen almost any night, enduring long evenings of dancing, cocktail parties, and other forms of unbearable gaiety. . . .

It would not be fair to the girls though to omit a very important point: enlisted men who own automobiles are sometimes considered. . . .

[SAILOR'S NAME WITHHELD] Pensacola, Fla.

Sirs:

Being a WAVE and having been stationed in Charleston, S.C. 16 months and Parris Island four months (also South Carolina!)--and having put up with every kind of rudeness from the enlisted man on the streets and elsewhere--I can't help but admire said WACs, WAVES and Red Cross girls in their own built "aristocracy" overseas.

(SP. [S] 2/c) LAURA-ANN NORTH

Parris Island, S.C.

Communist TIME?

Sirs:

TIME'S current cover [Oct. 15], balancing the lunch box of labor against a silk hat, is an expression of a falsehood--a falsehood that constitutes the gravest threat today to America's freedom and the very survival of our way of life as we have enjoyed it for the past century and a half.

The truth is that our system of free enterprise cannot long endure on the 2% of capital (capital with a capital "C") furnished by the silk hat. To furnish full employment under our system of free enterprise there must continue to be invested in our mills and mines and factories the other 98% that has been hitherto so invested by those symbolized by the lunch box.

The falsehood propagated by your current cover is fast sapping our industry of that other 98%.

Are you turning Communist?

A. C. GRANT Oakland, Calif.

P: Hell, no.--ED.

Hall-Hiring in Washington

Sirs:

Since so much free publicity has been gained for Hazel Scott and against the D.A.R. in regard to the use of Constitution Hall in Washington, B.C. by Negroes [TIME, Oct. 15, Oct. 22], I should like to call to your attention certain facts which were given to me at the time Marian Anderson publicized this same situation a few years ago. Will you please corroborate these facts for us. Is there not a statute of long standing in the city of Washington specifying that Negroes cannot hire the use of public halls designated for white people? Does not the D.A.R. lease the auditorium of Constitution Hall ... to a management agency which has complete authority in matters of renting the use of this auditorium? . . .

(MRS.) RUTH W. Yocco Los Gatos, Calif.

P: Constitution Hall is a private building--owned and operated by the D.A.R. No Washington statute forbids leasing public halls to Negroes, but prevailing custom is against it.--ED.

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