Applause for a Fraud

It was most curious. To New York newspaper offices last week came a telegram signed by Eleanor Roosevelt and charged by Western Union to her privately listed telephone number. It denounced Democratic Secretary of State Dean Rusk for his description, made during a Madrid stopover, of Spain's Dictator Francisco Franco as "an ally of the U.S. in the fight against Communist aggression.'' Said the telegram: "That a member of this Administration could praise a Fascist tyrant who has violated every basic precept of freedom and decency is indefensible just as General Franco is indefensible."

Next morning Mrs. Roosevelt denied that she had sent any such telegram; it apparently had been called into the telegraph office by an impostor. Said Eleanor: "While the sentiments might not be far away from what I think, I would never send a telegram of this sort to the Secretary of State." Just as curious as the episode itself was the editorial applause given to the fraud by the New York Times. Wrote the Times: "The Italians have a saying, 'Se non e vero, e ben trovato,' which roughly translated means: 'Even if it wasn't true, it was a good idea.'

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