Khrushchev & the Presidency

Sir:

The best answer Americans can offer to Mr. Khrushchev's attempt to dictate to us the choice of our next President is to nominate and elect Mr. Richard Nixon. Furthermore, in view of Mr. Nixon's excellent qualifications, any other course by the Republicans, including the supporters of Mr. Nelson Rockefeller, would constitute a tragic blunder.

C. JOHN GREGORY

Boston

Sir: For those who are worried about Jack Kennedy's Roman Catholic faith, let us remind them that it should be a good reason to vote for him for the presidency. As a devout Catholic, he would be an enemy of Communism. Every American wants his country to stand up to Moscow. Who then would be better for this job than a Catholic --or Jack Kennedy ?

RITA TROILO FRANCIS TROILO

Ashtabula, Ohio

Sir:

As Explorer Dwight Eisenhower finally reached the windswept Summit, he saw to his dismay that the snow had been badly trampled, and disappearing down the snowy slope trundled a short, squat figure, the broad backsides, the large roll of fat clearly discernible between the ears. It was the Abdominal Snowman! Thus ended another episode in the series, "Explorer Eisenhower's Gullible Travels."

ERNEST F. WILMSHURST

Altadena, Calif.

The Duty of the Opposition

Sir:

While reading your coverage of the infamous U-2 incident in the May 30 edition, I became highly incensed at your rather partisan coverage of the political implications. I feel sure that Governor Stevenson and others of his party were'not simply throwing American unity to the wind for the sake of pure political advantage. Has it not always been the duty of the opposition party to criticize and attack policies that it feels are not in the best interests of the U.S.?

GEORGE G. HANCOCK JR.

State College, Pa.

Sir:

What in the history of this country did Adlai Stevenson do, other than criticize and lose elections?

JACK FOSTER

Dayton

Sir: UTu, Adlai?

H. E. HAWLEY

Troy, N.Y.

Interview at Libertyville

Sir:

I suppose that it is too much to expect TIME to be fair to Adlai Stevenson; but more balanced journalism would surely have pointed out that the remarks ascribed to Governor Stevenson by Robert Boulay I June 61 correspond to nothing anyone else has ever heard Stevenson say publicly or privately. Governor Stevenson is fully and explicitly on record on the question of Ber lin. It might conceivably strain the credulity even of TIME to suppose that he would sud-denlv choose to confide to an itinerant French newspaperman views on Berlin which are incompatible with everything else he has said on the subject.

ARTHUR SCHLESINGER JR.

Cambridge, Mass.

P: TIME is glad to learn that Historian Schlesinger knows "what anyone else has ever heard Stevenson say publicly or privately."--ED.

The Word

Sir:

I have long wondered why Michelangelo's "Moses" has horns see cut]. When I came upon a photograph of another statue of Moses which also displays horns, my curiosity deepened. No one I have asked can answer my question.

AMELIA WESTON

Los Angeles

P: The Scriptures underwent many changes at the hands of the early scribes, so much so that in the 4th century, Pope Damasus commissioned the Bible scholar Jerome to do a definitive version. In his version, the Vulgate, Jerome translated Keren, the Hebrew word for "ray, horn" as "cornuta," Latin for "horns." Thus, "when Moses came down from the mount Sinai, he held the two tables of the testimony: and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord" (Exodus 34:29}. While scholars have since determined that Moses was not literally horned but rather surrounded by luminous rays, pre-Renaissance and Renaissance artists generally depicted him with horns.--ED.

The Defense Minister

Sir:

Many thanks for the May 30 cover story of Soviet Defense Minister Malinovsky and especially for TIME'S "timely" reporting of Paris Reporter Blunden's 17-year-old notes. I am now looking forward to your staff's coverage of Abe Lincoln's assassination.

MARION PURCELLI

Chicago

You Pays Your Money . . .

Sir:

Re the article in the May 30 edition on Hong Kong: please explode the myth that any tailor in Hong Kong can get out a well-made garment for $25 or less in 24 hours. Of course, there are those who will do it, but the majority here prefer more time, charge more, and produce, consequently, better quality goods. Having lived here for over a year I cannot praise the place enough, but as for the bargains, and there are plenty, real quality is never dirt cheap.

SANDRA MACTVER

Hong Kong

Sir:

You mentioned that the King and Queen of Nepal had to be accommodated in a third-class hotel.

This is entirely erroneous as the American Express Co., which handled the King and Queen's world trip, accommodated them on one floor of the Peninsula Court, the best hotel in the colony.

NOBLE SMITH

The American Express Co., Inc.

Hong Kong

P: TIME erred.--ED.

More Than Danger

Sir: May I suggest that your May 30 piece on Sterling Moss errs in emphasis? Sterling Moss is no more obsessed with danger than TIME'S editors are obsessed with deadlines. Danger is only a factor in his profession, and not to him by any means the biggest factor. Moss is simply a complete professional--and incomparably the best driver living--whose primary concern is unattainable perfection. If Moss is ever obsessed with anything connected with motor racing, I think it will be with that idea. But I can assure you that he does not love danger best; he does not love danger at all. No driver who does can last in Grand Prix competition.

KEN W. PURDY

Wilton, Conn.

The Ax?

Sir:

As any experienced ax man will tell you, if Floyd Patterson doesn't handle his right hand more sophistically on June 20 than he docs in his wood-chopping exhibition, Ingemar "will chop him down again."

ED MACKAY

Seattle

Bedder Than Ever?

Sir:

I never expected to be sorry that our children read TIME when it comes every week, but after seeing the picture of Anita Ekberg in the May 30 issue, and reading the article about the Cannes Film Festival, it seems that even TIME needs expurgating.

ESTHER LILLY

Wethersfield, Conn.

Sir:

I'm convinced the slogan should more correctly be "Movies are bedder than ever." These films which pleased the critics and "the professional cinema crowd" were based on sex and sex alone. I'm certainly no puritan, but I think we've reached the saturation point with this sort of thing. Frankly, I'm sick of being shocked !

ARLINE M. APFEL

Shrewsbury, Mass.

Sir:

Anita Ekberg is a lovely, lovely thing; but when did sex become a spectator sport?

GERARD STODDARD

Ithaca, N.Y.

The Great Plan

Sir:

Your attention is called to an unfortunate and unwarranted implication in the article headed "Big Brother" in your June 6 issue. According to the article, I first attempted to interest the University of Oklahoma in a curriculum improvement plan and that, getting nowhere, I then proposed the idea to Oklahoma City University.

This is completely and absolutely false. "The Great Plan" idea originated within the board of trustees of Oklahoma City University, and therefore, it was never contemplated that officials of other schools in Oklahoma would be approached, nor were they.

The quotation about the recruiting of scholars is out of context and the inference made is completely erroneous. Never at any time have I said or implied anything which would "cast a bit of sarcasm at the University of Oklahoma."

DEAN A. McGEE Chairman

The Great Plan Committee Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City

P: TIME admires the ability of Oilman McGee, partner of Oklahoma Senator Robert Kerr, to carry water on both shoulders.--ED.

Sir:

The students of the University of Oklahoma are justifiably proud of their football team. They are also justifiably proud of the scholastic achievements of their university and its continuous quest for academic excellence.

JED JOHNSON JR. President, Student Body University of Oklahoma Norman, Okla.

Mothers' Lament

Sir:

Re your May 23 story about the importance of dreams to health: I've often pondered why, after a night of answering the children's intermittent needs, I feel as though I have been up all night even though the time spent out-of-bed-and-awake only totals ten or 15 minutes.

I'll say I'm irritable and upset during waking hours! Extracting one's groggy self from a warm bed is maddening enough but when one fails to get to the last page of half a dozen or more dreams, small wonder that a mother's sanity is threatened. Aye, even to a "catastrophic breakdown."

Methinks Dr. William Dement has discovered another contributing cause of the Tired Mother disease.

MRS. JAMES D. ANDERSON Thousand Oaks, Calif.

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