The Man Who ...

Sir:

That first debate . . . Certainly we Americans can see through either thick pancake or thin powder! Nixon whipped Kennedy badly.

REYNOLD M. HAMRIN

Youngstown, Ohio

Sir:

We need a man in the '60s who can awaken America and snap us out of our complacency. Nixon couldn't wake a light sleeper!

JAMES S. SMITH Dayton

Sir:

Attractive as Jack Kennedy himself might be as a candidate, his reliance on his brothers gives rise to concern. The thought of Bobby as crown prince is frightening.

MYRNE HOLZMAN

Yonkers

Sir:

We in Europe--especially in NATO--ought really to have a say in the choice of President or rather Secretary of State in the U.S. I venture to cast this imaginary vote for the Democrats with the prospect of having Adlai E. Stevenson taking care of foreign relations. He sounds like a statesman, and they are rare animals in the political forests anywhere.

W. FIRING Oslo

Campaign Dress

Sir:

Regarding the latest political issue--the clothes of Mrs. Nixon and Mrs. Kennedy--maybe the first one to use a spinning wheel would assure her husband's election.

MRS. JOHN R. PANZAK Fowler, Calif.

Sir:

In our milieu of mediocrity typified by false status symbols, development-house suburbia and permanented hairdos, we praise the commonplace, criticize the unusual. Jacqueline Kennedy is a standout, not only for her natural beauty and discerning taste, but for her possession of a lost art in the U.S. today: the art of being an individualist.

ANNE PENNOYER NEWCOMB Gainesville, Fla.

The Best Man?.

Sir:

Sharp-tongued, curmudgeon-like though I am, I never said that some 20,000 fine voters in the 29th N.Y. Congressional District "every four years crawl out of their Hudson Gothic woodwork to vote for William McKinley." The crawling-out-of-woodwork metaphor was an added touch by the New York Times writer; he had an unusually fine prose style, given to flourishes which, as he might put it, bode well for a career in journalism. I did remark, sadly, how certain voters up here seem to pledge fealty every four years to William McKinley, but just as I was about to make an issue of this, I was advised by a relative interested in genealogy that the only American President to whom I am related is that same William McKinley. I now applaud the voters' devotion to a great man.

As for being supported by Mrs. Roosevelt, I could not be more pleased by her kindness to me, even though both of us--together and separately--are often referred to as roving members of the Comintern by our local Grand Old Party's grand old press. As for the election, I expect to win it as surely as the fierce McKinley blood courses in my veins.

GORE VIDAL

Barrytown, N.Y.

Sir:

In reply to the comment [casting aspersion on the Philadelphia water supply]: I'm no bureaucrat; The Best Man is an excellent play; Playwright Gore Vidal still should delete the line slurring our drinking water. ABE S. ROSEN Deputy City Representative Philadelphia

East Side Rockets

Sir:

In reference to your cover illustration showing Khrushchev leading his gang: Khrush (and the others) aren't wearing their golf caps in the approved style for gangsters --namely: visor of cap drawn down over one eye, snap button undone from its catch, and bag top of cap pulled hard backward, sideward, and downward over one ear--all indicating that the wearer is as tough as tar and twice as nasty.

THOMAS L. SULLIVAN

W. Roxbury, Mass.

Sir:

Just what kind of respect does Mr. Herblock expect this cover to command from Mr. K. and company? Or is this perhaps under the heading of "U.S. propaganda"? LINDA WUNSCH Boston

Sir:

Best damn cover you ever had!

DAVID ORMONT Los Angeles

Sir:

Your coverage and cover picture for the 15th Assembly of the United Nations are worth a journalistic prize. Nothing better than what you have done could even be imagined. It's complete from every side.

INDOOMATI PANDIT Kolhapur, India

Sir:

Please, can we have the goodies on the front page next week, i.e., "the West Side Scouts" (or are they cubs?).

R. J. CRANE Hastings, New Zealand

The Man Who Wasn't There

Sir:

Since I do not know Fidel Castro and have never had any sort of contacts with him or communications from him, I would very much appreciate a retraction of the statement in the October 3 issue of TIME to the effect that "LeftWing Poet Langston Hughes dropped in" at the Theresa to pay respects. I have not been in the Hotel Theresa for several weeks, and was certainly not there during Mr. Castro's stay.

LANGSTON HUGHES

New York City

Freedom Demonstrators

Sir:

In the Oct. 3 issue you published a conversation between Khrushchev and Tito, in the course of which Mr. Khrushchev says the following about our groups which demonstrate against him: "Little groups of loudmouths come around the embassy, mostly the same ones over and over. They pay them wages for doing it. One of our embassy employees went out and mingled with the group. Along came a man and handed him a placard and $8 to hold it."

Most of our people are former political prisoners and freedom fighters who had to flee their country and have to work hard in order to earn a living.

Our cause has millions of sympathizers, but, unfortunately, no financial contributors. We paint our own signs as we cannot afford to pay for a professional job. We couldn't even pay 8-c- to anyone, let alone $8.

BELA FABIAN

Chairman

Federation of Hungarian Former Political Prisoners New York City

Willie & Joe

Sir:

It was good to read again (Sept. 26) about Bill Mauldin. When I was an infantryman in Europe during World War II, his Willie and Joe cartoons were deeply appreciated. I haven't seen my old wartime friends for many years, and was overseas at the time of General Marshall's death [when Mauldin drew his last Willie and Joe cartoon]. How about reproducing the 1959 cartoon for those of us who never had a chance to say a proper auf Wiedersehen to those old dogfaces?

GUY A. HAMLIN New York CityP: See cut.--ED.

Sir:

I quote Mauldin: "As for poor old Willie and Joe, they are gone."

I beg to correct Mauldin. Willie and Joe are immortal, as are the "dogfaces" they were patterned after.

RAYMOND S. THOMSON Invercargill, New Zealand

Absolute Pitch

Sir:

My husband and I feel we must correct your assertion that London has no first-class orchestra. This week we go on a tour of West Germany with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (I say we, rightfully, as I am the honorable excess baggage). This London orchestra is plus que excellent, as are the Philharmonia and the London Symphony Orchestra, with which my husband has made many records which have won citations, marvelous criticisms and prizes--even a gold medal. I cannot stand injustice, and I feel my husband to be a pretty good judge of orchestras, after nearly 70 years of making music with them all. Therefore this protest.

DORIS G. MONTEUX

(Mme. Pierre Monteux) Hamburg, Germany

Mrs. Minister

Sir:

Speaking as a "Mrs. Minister," I find the article "Mrs. Minister's Troubles" highly exaggerated. I've been a parsonage wife for three years and have reaped many rich rewards. Who else finds people coming to the door with extra baked goods; who else has people offer to baby-sit when you want to go away for the day; who else's children get extra presents at Christmas, as well as surprise birthday parties; who else has the joy of knowing people intimately, sharing their moments of joy and sorrow--and who else can share the enthusiasm of a small group of people as they build a new church?

ANN SCHROER

Warren, Ohio

Sir:

Re your article "Mrs. Minister's Troubles," I say amen and amen.

I live in one of those fish bowls.

ESTHER D. DOELLEFELD Dunkirk, N.Y.

Sir:

The wives of business executives have a harder lot in many cases. They have lots more money, but it can't buy happiness. Ministers' wives know where their husbands are and what they are doing. A lot of executives' wives would give plenty to be certain of their husbands' whereabouts.

JANET LUNDBERG Los Angeles

Environment v. Man

Sir:

In reference to your article on stream and air pollution, I offer this suggestion: to help clean up our streams, require each city, town and industry to discharge its wastes upstream of its own water intakes.

WALTER M. CULKOWSKI Oak Ridge, Tenn.

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