Regrets

"Maybe I can come to TIME'S next anniversary dinner," cabled Jordan's King Hussein somewhat wistfully. After first accepting the invitation, the young King found the political climate at home too hot to leave. He was one of at least a hundred cover subjects who wanted to attend but found that some circumstance in the schedule of their busy lives kept them away. Among them was Germany's Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who also accepted but then found the pressure of events too great. He wrote: "It would have afforded me great pleasure to be able to thank the American people once more from all my heart and on American soil for the readiness to help and the friendship which it has shown us immediately after the war and during the following difficult years." Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, presiding at the birth of a new nation, regretted that "with Malaysia in the offing, my presence in Malaya is very necessary." One guest who was scheduled to speak sent regrets at nearly the last moment. New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, honeymooning in Venezuela, wired that he knew "those present at this dinner constitute a substantial profile of mid-twentieth century history," then added: "I feel sure that all present will understand why even Harry Luce could not get me to the Waldorf tonight." Congressman James Roosevelt was at his usual Monday night occupation, teaching political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. "Much as I enjoy being a part-time professor," he wrote, "there are times when the line of duty interferes with personal pleasure." Declining his invitation more than two months ago, Martin Luther King Jr. said prophetically: "Unfortunately, I have a longstanding commitment in another section of the country on that date." General Paul D. Harkins, U.S. commander in Viet Nam, was "busy as we can be trying to find solutions to our many problems. We're on a three-shift basis now, and with the coming good weather, we hope to add another shift, if we can stretch the days and nights." Two U.S. astronauts were busy with space: Commander Alan Shepard Jr. was readying as back-up man for this week's scheduled flight by Astronaut Gordon Cooper, and Lieut. Colonel John Glenn was taking up a station in the Pacific to help monitor the flight. Jacques Cousteau was working underwater in the Red Sea and felt that he could not surface long enough for a trip to New York.

Missouri's Painter Thomas Hart Benton had a longstanding date with several canoes. He wrote: "Last autumn, after a canoe trip in the Ozarks, I asked an official of our Missouri State Conservation office to set me up a spring survey of our major clear water streams. As I initiated this venture, as canoes have been assembled at various points, guides and camp equipment hired and plans made for meetings with area groups, I cannot very well ask for a postponement."

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