A Note for the Keynoter

Sir: In regard to Tennessee's Governor Frank Goad Clement's comment [July 23] on the Eisenhower Administration: "A fantastic political Disneyland . . . half-informed, with a half-thought-out program, half-carried-out, half in the hands of a halftime, half-hearted President." Governor Clement left out one important "half" statement: that the Eisenhower Administration is just nearing its halfway mark.

MICHAEL J. O'CONNOR Birmingham, Mich.

What's an Issue?

Sir: I'll vote for Eisenhower, but I'm getting thoroughly disgusted with the way lily-livered Republicans hide their heads in shame and horror every time the Democrats make an issue out of what shouldn't amount to a row of pins.

C. THORNDIKE Warwick, R.I.

Health & the Presidency

Sir: Now that the Democrats have ruled that good health is the prime requisite for a candidate for the presidency, how about letting the public see the complete and detailed physical examinations on Mr. Stevenson, Mr. Harriman and Mr. Kefauver? They all look a little run-down to me. Ike has passed his physical; let's see how these other candidates stack up.

BILL MORROW Hollywood

Sir: It is unfortunate that in your July 16 discussion of regional ileitis and the President's outlook after his operation you did not mention the extremely important factor of age. My own recent book on regional enteritis (ileitis) cited, with approval, [Dr. Ward] Van Patter's figures from the Mayo Clinic to the effect that the rate of recurrence is less in patients 51 years of age and older.

FREDERICK F. BOYCE, M.D. Tulane University New Orleans

The President & Prestige

Sir: I am completely bewildered when confronted by the statements of Mrs. E. W. Einhellig ". . . Ike is one of the poorest excuses for a President we ever had. Our (U.S.) prestige has never been lower [July 16]." Had Mrs. Einhellig seen, as I did, the shock and apprehension that blanketed Copenhagen, Denmark when Mr. Eisenhower was stricken, she would have realized that true prestige, of a country or a man, is not created by a bellicose attitude or a palm full of silver.

HAROLD ROBERT CARTER Paris

Sir: You just can't know what a comfort it is to those of us living out here in the world today to have folks like Mrs. Einhellig in such key spots as Greeley, Kans. to keep us informed of our world prestige.

MARY MARGARET LEWIS Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland

Sir: I agree with Mrs. E. W. Einhellig of Greeley, Kans. wholeheartedly.

(MRS.) HAROLD SCHONEMAN Edwardsville, Kans.

That Portrait

Sir: May one compliment you on the outstanding painting for your July 16 cover? Apart from my strong personal prejudice in favor of your subject, I, as a painter, am intensely appreciative of the very fine work by your artist James Chapin.

MONIQUE BAYLIN New York City

Sir: I like the cover portrait of Adlai--kind of blurry and dreamy-eyed like what he stands for.

ELIZABETH BAWDAIN St. Helena, Calif.

The Company They Keep

Sir: I was quite interested in the results of the survey of college professors who read TIME [July 23]. I would be even more interested to learn how many died-in-the-wool Democrats like me read TIME each week, writhe in silent anger, vow to cancel their subscriptions, and then camp by the mailbox waiting for the next issue.

FRANCIS T. BRESNAHAN Newburyport, Mass.

Recognition

Sir: Your July 16 issue said goodbye to Harvard's Mr. Chips, witty University Professor

Zechariah Chafee. Perhaps you would not have been quite so kind if you had been aware of "Zach's" goodbye to you in one of his last classes at the Law School. In describing LIFE and TIME, he said: "Everyone knows those two magazines--you know, the one for people who can't read and the one for the people who can't think."

ELLIOTT H. STONE Harvard Law School Cambridge, Mass.

Math & Ticktacktoe

Sir: Having taught college mathematics for several years, the writer is familiar with the situation described in your July 28 article and heartily approves any attempt to improve it. One of the illustrations is not clear: "For every x and y, if the cost of a book is 2y -- 3 dollars, then the total cost of 7x such books

is____ dollars." No relationship between x and y is given, and the question is impossible both abstractly and concretely. Or are we to assume that x = 2y --3? It looks as if your Education editor might be among those for whom it is proposed to reform the teaching of mathematics.

F. A. LEE JR. Lynchburg, Va.

P: TIME'S Education editor points out that the equation is an exercise in literal notation. The answer is: 14xy--21x dollars.--ED.

Refreshing Omission

Sir: Many thanks for your omission of that highly overrated hole in the ground, the "Grand" Canyon, from your July 23 spread on National Parks.

MARK LIEBERMAN Paterson, N.J.

Live to Be 100

Sir: Thank you for the fine article on the medical aspects of old age [July 23]. I wish now you would put your experts on another phase of the problem: When Should a Person Be Retired ?

CHESTER WARREN QUIMBY Wickliffe, Ky.

P: For "The Older Worker: The U.S. Must Make Better Use of Him" see TIME, Oct. 19, 1953.--ED. Sir: Gerontologist Cowdry's warning, "Don't fall for that old vegetarian routine; it'll kill you!" may be sound, but comes too late to save me. I am 76, blood pressure 120/80, never felt better and I have only eaten meat twice since 1885.

DON H. DUFFLE, M.D. Central Lake, Mich.

How to Handle an Actor

Sir: Thank you, TIME! Both your article on Rex Harrison and cover picture covering My Fair Lady are perfect likenesses. Reading the article is to renew exactly the same warm and happy feeling one had on leaving the theater that, after all, this is a good world to be in and we are lucky to be here.

J. A. LLOYD HYDE New York City

Sir: "Jose Ferrer, then playing in The Silver Whistle, went to six matinees in a row, explaining: 'I've been in this business a long time, and Rex Harrison is the only actor doing comedy that I can learn from.' " At the time Rex Harrison was playing in Bell, Book and Candle, I was not playing in The Silver Whistle. I have only seen one performance of Bell, Book and Candle, and I have never, at any time in my life, said anything remotely resembling the quote attributed to me. My admiration for Mr. Harrison is unbounded, but as for being the only actor from whom I could learn comedy, I like to think I learn something every time I set foot in a theater.

JOSE FERRER Universal City, Calif.

Turkey & Cyprus

Sir: I have just read "Another Country Heard From" in your July 16 issue. No human or divine law can give Turkey's totalitarian-minded Adnan Menderes the prerogative to object on grounds of security to self-determination rights being granted to 400,000 people living on an island more than 40 miles off Turkish shores. By the same, strange logic, suggestive of Adolf Hitler's Lebensraum dogma, France should object to the geographical proximity of the British Isles and the U.S.S.R. to Turkish sovereignty over the Dardanelles.

And if it be true that "the day may come when Turkey and Britain will want to act in the Middle East, and Greece will not," would it not be more to the mutual interests of Turkey and Britain for Mr. Menderes to invite Sir Anthony Eden to build a base on the secure soil of Turkey ?

HOMER W. DAVIS President Athens College Athens, Greece

Sir: The statement of Premier Menderes of Turkey is absolutely right in that "British retreat from Cyprus would cause international disaster." The withdrawal of Britain from the island will create an immediate disaster which is what the Soviet wants.

ALI R. NIJASI Phoenix, Ariz.

Dublin's Mayor (Contd.)

Sir: A George A. Floris of London suggests that, because Christian Dublin has elected a Jew as its lord mayor, Israelis should "stop campaigning against the . . . Christian missionaries in their midst [July 30]." Has it occurred to Mr. Floris that perhaps one reason why there is such good will in Dublin is that there are no Jewish missionaries in Ireland trying to convert the Christians to Judaism?

AVRAM DAVIDSON

Yonkers, N.Y.

Sir:

I wonder if Dubliners would have selected Mr. Briscoe had he been a Protestant?

JAMES NICHOLSON New York City

Monroe's Rival

Sir:

As an addendum to your May 14 cover story on Marilyn Monroe, you may be delighted to have brought to your attention that the 18th century had its own Monroe, Dorothy, a beauty of the day celebrated for similar endowments. In thanking his friend Lord Clare for the gift of a haunch of venison, Oliver Goldsmith licked his chops and said:

Of the neck and the breast I had

next to dispose; 'Twas a neck and a breast that

might rival Monroe's . . .

WALTER E. ANDERSON Sarasota, Fla.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.