East-West Chess
Sir:
I hate to see the Communist successes in China. At the same time I feel that many of the ideas in "Aid from Asia" [TIME, Dec. 6] are based on emotions rather than cold logic . . .
The place to destroy Communism is in Moscow--not China, Malaya or the Dutch East Indies. Through Western Europe and Germany is the path to Moscow. The present battle for Germany may well begin the battle for Moscow . . .
We do not have the manpower or dollars to fight Communism singlehanded wherever it is found. We must use our strength for the attack upon Moscow . . .
G. TRUXTON RINGE
Redondo Beach, Calif.
Sir:
Your analysis of the China Nationalist position is a masterpiece. When it is fully realized that the East-West situation in Europe is merely the feint, it may be too late to prevent China from being our "coup de grace" in this world game of chess.
STUART H. BREHM JR.
New Orleans
Bill of Fare
Sir:
Your article regarding Childs was absolutely correct in saying 1) "Childs could not have picked a better man than Hennessy," and 2) that we plan "to improve Childs's fare" [TIME, Dec. 13]. I am happy, however, to advise you are mistaken in saying that "this year's sales have dipped below 1947." In spite of the fact that we are operating two less stores, our food sales are running ahead of last year and our liquor sales only slightly behind last year.
As to the taste of our food, I suggest you ask one of the 26,170,283 guests who visited our stores during the past twelve months. Or better still, come in and have wheatcakes and coffee . . .
EVERETT FRANK
New York City
>With maple syrup?--ED.
Pump Room Pump
Sir:
NORMAN BEL GEDDES IS MORE GIFTED IN DESIGN THAN HE IS IN OBSERVATION. THERE IS A PUMP IN THE PUMP ROOM [TIME, DEC. 13], BUILT IN AT THE LAST MOMENT BY SAM MARX, ARCHITECT. IT IS AT THE ENTRANCE AND IS OVERSCALE. TRUE, IT PUMPS NO WATER, BUT WE ARE NOT PARTICULARLY KEEN ABOUT PROMOTING WATER IN THE PUMP ROOM.
ERNEST BYFIELD
Chicago, Ill.
>Says Designer Bel Geddes: "I thought that overscaled gimmick at the entrance to the Pump Room was a statue of Ernie Byfield by Noguchi."--ED.
With Full Knowledge
Sir:
. . . In TIME of Dec. 13 . . . after stating that Whittaker Chambers produced certain papers during the course of depositions taken by me as attorney for Alger Hiss, you say:
"Lawyer Marbury and Federal Judge W. Calvin Chesnut took an appalled look, secretly turned the documents over to the Department of Justice."
The use of the word "secretly" might give rise to the inference that I acted without the knowledge of my clients . . . It was with the full knowledge and unqualified approval of Mr. Hiss that I brought these papers to the attention of the Department of Justice, after first having notified counsel for Mr. Chambers of my intention to do so and after having obtained the approval of Judge Chesnut . . .
W. L. MARBURY
Baltimore, Md.
Rx for His Majesty's Foot
Sir:
Your comments on King George VI's condition [TIME, Dec. 6] show that the disease is essentially psychological in origin . . . The disease is a variant of the Oedipus affliction, from which so many men suffer. Your comment upon the preponderance of male victims is relevant here.
The Greek character of Oedipus (Swollen or Wounded Foot) has been employed in modern times to illustrate and to symbolize this affliction. There are very sound psychological and biological reasons why the legs should be affected by the relations between a man and his parents, which is the essence, superficially, of the Oedipus situation. The King's stammer is also relevant here, especially in connection with the right foot.
The fact that the disease is generally accompanied by epidermophytosis (skin disease) is further confirmation of its psychological nature, for skin diseases are found to be closely concerned with the infant relation with the mother, which relation is also implicit in the oedipal material.
The King could be cured by psychological medicine. It is my opinion that he could be cured in no other way. This does not mean, I hasten to add, that there is anything mentally wrong (in the ordinary sense) with a victim of Buerger's disease. Indeed, the disease is an expression of the repression of the emotional elements below the mental level.
FRANCIS J. MOTT
Mark Beech
Edenbridge, Kent, England
Three Strikes Against Hokum
Sir:
Quoting your review of the movie Fighter Squadron [TIME, Dec. 6]: "When O'Brien parachutes from a crippled plane, his wingman brashly lands in enemy territory to rescue him. This threadbare sort of hokum is fairly hard to take."
No hokum this. In early 1945, Major Wyatt ("Rat-top") Exum, then deputy commander of the 325th Fighter Group based at Lesina Airdrome in Italy, while returning from a fighter sweep over German-infested, mountainous Hungary, brashly landed his P-31D, wheels down, on a handkerchief of flat land bisected by a deep ditch, to rescue an uninjured squadron mate who had crash-landed his ship with an overheated engine . . .
By stripping themselves of parachute packs and leaving the canopy of Exum's undamaged ship open, both pilots crammed themselves into the cockpit with Exum at the controls seated on the other's lap. With full power, luck and plenty of flaps the plane jumped the ditch, cleared the mountains and rejoined the formation circling overhead . . .
DONALD F. LYNCH
Syracuse, N.Y.
Sir:
. . . In the summer of 1944, on a shuttle mission to Russia, Captain Richard E. Willsie's P-38 was so badly shot up that he was forced to land in a Rumanian pasture. Lieut. Richard T. Andrews, seeing Willsie go in, landed his P-38 in the same field, and after the damaged fighter had been set on fire took off again . . . with Willsie sitting on his lap. They made a safe landing in Russia . . .
RICHARD S. GRIFFITH
Captain, U.S.A.F.
Washington, D.C.
Sir:
Usually I find it hard to stand up for Hollywood's interpretation of fighting in the war, but I must in this case . . .
Major Pierce W. McKennon, one of the great aces of the war, was rescued from a German wheatfield in just this manner by his wingman Lieut. George Green . . . Lieut. Green even went so far as to strafe and kill the German soldiers who were attempting to capture McKennon before he landed, picked him up and flew out with McKennon sitting on his lap, having thrown away his parachute in order to make room in the cockpit.
G. I. STANFORD JR.
Southport, Conn.
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