Man of the Year
SIR:
CONGRATULATIONS FOR YOUR SELECTION AND SPLENDID ARTICLE ON JOHN FOSTER DULLES, TIME'S MAN OF THE YEAR [JAN. 3]: NOW WE, THE U.S., ARE GOING SOMEWHERE. GOD BLESS DULLES . .
ALBERT CONTI
HOLLYWOOD
SIR:
MY GOD ! HAIR ON THE CHEST, PRESBYTERIAN MEMBERSHIP, GOOD STANDING IN WALL STREET, AND AN ETHNOCENTRIC DIPLOMACY ARE NO CRITERIA FOR MAN OF THE YEAR.
L. E. SHAEFFER
COLUMBIA, MO.
Sir:
. . . You had an excellent subject to portray, and you have done justice to all that Dulles stands for . . .
VERA A. LAWTON
Washington, D.C.
Sir:
An excellent selection. If I may flatter myself, I'm glad TIME concurs.
C. WALLACE BOURNE
Collingswood, N.J.
Sir:
How dull can you get ? Surely, Dulles takes the cake for the worst compounder of confusion of the year.
G. C. COVERLEY
New York City
France & Mendes-France
Sir:
I have appreciated your forthright reporting on the bumblings and stumblings of the milk-drinking Mendes-France [June 21 et seq.], but . . . why do we get so upset about every French crisis? What would we lose if the French did not ratify the Paris agreements? As I see it, we would lose one fickle and militarily useless country that could only hinder an alliance. Furthermore . . . we should keep in mind that in the event of a Communist attack on Western Europe, we and our allies would have to occupy France militarily, simply to protect our installations . . . Diplomats and diplomacy may attempt to maintain the fiction that France is a great power, but reality certainly points out the potential loss of the lives of millions of people who have only the fiction of French divisions to assist in their defense. Why don't we face reality and write off the French as allies before we are lulled to believe they can help us defend Europe? . . .
C. EKKER
Baton Rouge, La.
The Mouse that Walt Built
Sir:
As much as Disney's imagination is to be admired, how dare you compare his ingenuity to that of Henry Ford, much less, of Edison [TIME, Dec. 27]? I sat twice through the beautiful, imaginative and relaxing Fantasia, but I am still more thankful for those very wonderful moments to the incomparable genius of the man who made possible the projection and recording of such a tremendous motion picture than to the clever businessman who put it all together . . .
RUDOLPH A. FACCINI
Bogota, Colombia
Sir:
It is unfortunate that TIME said Disney's Fantasia "is not culture." Stokowski, Taylor and Disney knew what they were doing when they created this masterpiece of culture . . . When the histories of art of the future are written, Fantasia will be recorded as Disney's motion-picture masterpiece and one of the greatest of all motion pictures . . .
WARNER WILLIAMS
Culver, Ind.
Sir:
TIME'S review of Walt Disney is one of the best bits of Americana that has ever graced your pages. After going along with Walt since the birth of Mickey Mouse, today I like him better than ever. But . . . I walked out on Fantasia. As a lover of Bach, and especially the Miltonic grandeur of the D Minor Toccata and Fugue, the paraphrasing of this musical earthquake with a series of silly moving-color patterns was too much--pure humbug . . . It deserved to be a flop . . .
MARGUERITE M. CROLLY
Jacksonville
Sir:
. . . If I knew anything of publishing, I would make that delightful little piece "The Mouse that Walt Built--and that Built Walt" into a sort of Christmas card to be read to children and grownups . It is much more fascinating than Cinderella or Dickens' Christmas Carol. The latter should be read to stuffy old men in clubs
GERTRUDE C. HANCOCK
San Francisco
Solid Comfort
Sir:
As an ex-Methodist who now occasionally relaxes with an assist from moderate portions of "demon alcohol," I would like to suggest that the Methodist Board of Temperance and the W.C.T.U. take a little time off from their worries about ex-Southern Comfortman King and Vice President Nixon [Dec. 27] and read the writings of a good Christian, namely St. Thomas Aquinas. He made the point that not only do those sin who drink too much, but also those who drink too little.
EDWARD J. BRENNAN
South Bend, Ind.
Sir:
I read with great interest and national pride of Vice President Nixon's choice of Robert L. King as an administrative assistant. King is not only an able administrator (as are most FBI agents) but has a keen knowledge of the inner workings of the Communist Party, such as few in high Government positions have. I used to work for him when he had the Commie desk in the San Francisco FBI office . . . and I am sure the bureau hated to see him go, after the war, to administer the Southern Comfort Corp., but the bureau was a discouraging place in those days--you couldn't bring a Commie to trial if he could swing five votes for the Roosevelt Administration regardless of how flawless the case. I, for one, have more confidence now in Nixon and the present Administration for showing excellent judgment in picking an excellent man . . .
ALYS SELFRIDGE
Portsmouth, Va.
Great Scots
Sir:
Re your article [Dec. 20] showing Scotland's industrial position today: you are well justified in showing the many disadvantages we have to contend with, and it cannot be too strongly emphasized that the greatest of these is undoubtedly the English government . . . Though our country is not often mentioned in your columns it is good to read a periodical which is not full of the pious hopes of those trying to hold together England's disintegrating empire.
JAMES H. GLENDINNING
Editor
The Scots Independent Stirling, Scotland
Sir:
In your excellent review of Scotland's contribution to Britain's prosperity, it might not have been out of place to record a truly remarkable fact concerning three men of outstanding achievement in 20th-century science: John Logic Baird in television, Sir Robert Watson-Watt in radar, and Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin. All were born and bred north of the Tweed. This makes them British, but never English . . .
ROBERT B. MYLES
Aberdeen, Scotland
Ivory Flophouse
Sir:
I was quite amused at Robert M. Hutchins' comment on America's institutions of higher learning: "U.S. colleges are no more than 'high-class flophouses where parents send their children to keep them off the labor market' " [TIME, Dec. 20]. As former chancellor of one of the better "flophouses" in the country, I imagine that Mr. Hutchins must be quite proud of himself. After all, a man is no better than the house he keeps. And this man hopes to become one of the managers of our government?
JACK GRAHAM
Valley Stream, N.Y.
Sir:
The assertion by Robert Maynard Hutchins . . . is in remarkably poor taste. Fortunately for Mr. Hutchins, one needn't possess a good sense of humor to become a U.S. Senator from California.
JOSEPH W. MOSSER
Seattle
Sir:
The phrase "high-class flophouses," which you attribute to me, has never crossed my lips. It comes from the colorful vocabulary of the charming young reporter on the Austin Statesman who interviewed me before my lecture at the University of Texas.
ROBERT M. HUTCHINS
Pasadena, Calif.
P:Reporter Bob Sherrill of the Austin American-Statesman remembers clearly that he had never heard the colorful phrase until it crossed Dr. Hutchins' lips.--ED.
The Wisdom of Solomon
Sir:
Re the blast by the gynecologist who was appalled by the effect of the Hollywood influence on the display of the female bust, or, as he termed it, sex appendage [TIME, Dec. 27]: I do not believe that it is as much the Hollywood influence as the trend or style established by our doctors, who, for the past 25 years or more, have failed to insist that their patients use that appendage for what nature intended it for--nursing their babies . . . Had this appendage been given as much publicity on what it is really intended for . . . we'd have less psychoses today in mothers and babies . . .
Jos. F. Tozzi
Seattle
Sir:
Re Dr. Goodrich C. Schauffler's strident disapproval of "the modern U.S. preoccupation with the female bust": it might be helpful to suggest--solely in the interests of science, of course--that the mid-century American is not the only one who has been mammary-directed--see The Song of Solomon 8: 8, 9, 10.*
GERALD P. ROSEN
North Hollywood, Calif.
The Seat of Intelligence
Sir:
I read William Faulkner's letter on the recent Idlewild disaster [Judgments & Prophecies--TIME, Jan. 3] with mixed annoyance and surprise . . . Let Mr. Faulkner ask any qualified pilot whether he would prefer "the seat of his pants" or ILS for a landing with a 200-foot ceiling . . . It seems useless and senseless to blame a "gadget" for such a disaster, especially in view of the evidence, unless of course one is subject to an artistic antimechanical bias. Although it is possible that the thesis of man's superstitious dependence on his more complicated tools might be worthy of some literary development, this instance should not have provided the stimulus . . .
DAVID B. HANCOCK
New York City
Sir:
Author Faulkner should stick to novels. Nobody connected with "gadgets" thinks that they are infallible. That's why we don't land completely blind . . . and one can only speculate on what went on in the pilot's mind.
I grieve for Author Faulkner's momentary invasion of the electronic field and hope he does not drive a car.
PETER ROSENBAUM
Flushing, N.Y.
The Color Line
Sir:
After reading Senator Walter Givhan's speech in TIME, Dec. 20, I am mystified as to how such a man can drop his guard so low and then invite the world to retaliate. Senator Givhan's statements against the Negroes can and should be taken as an insult to the virtue of the white women of the South . . . When are the gallant Southern gentlemen going to learn that the color of the skin is no criteria of the purity of the heart? Isn't it about time that this misguided section of the country quit dragging its feet and pay more than mere lip service to the ideals of our Constitution?. . .
JOE McKINNON
Ada, Okla.
Sir:
Senator Givhan's bigmouthed driveling is ridiculous. He seems to assume that no "white" man ever forced "open the bedroom door" of a Negro woman . . . The American Negro has come a long, long way in a very short time. Let us take that as a starting point, and go forward . . . to an era free of unChristian, undemocratic prejudice . . .
ROBERT R. MACMURRAY
Indianapolis
Sir:
The fear of the ascendancy of a Negro to our presidency, as expressed by the benighted and misled Givhan, is reaching into the gutter for an excuse to justify Givhan's intolerance toward his fellow Americans . .
F. R. COYLE
Zanesville, Ohio
Sir:
. . . Why shouldn't a Negro be Vice President or even President of the United States, if he is capable of the job? . . . Aren't we supposed to be living in a country where men are equal and have the same opportunities?. . .
ELIZABETH ANNE NICODEMUS
Millersville, Pa.
The Midget & the Dog
Sir:
Americans are classified as sentimental rather than emotional, and distressed more by a starving puppy than by a starving child. At the risk of being classified as a sentimentalist, I will say that the story of the German circus stranded at Manzanares, Spain [TIME, Dec. 20] is one of the most disturbing things I have ever read . . . The midget Grutzius deserves the praise of everyone who has ever cared for animals . . . One hopes that the owner and manager of the circus Willi Holzmueller have the decency after this episode to earn their living in some other manner.
E. ANGELL, M.D.
New Haven, Conn.
*We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.
I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.
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