Saving Hearts

Sir: Men like DeBakey, Ravdin and Gibbon seem to take on the proportions of demigods [May 28], especially to those of us who are now studying to take a crack at medicine. I recently had the privilege of hearing Dr. DeBakey speak on his work in cardiovascular surgery. The work that he described is nothing short of amazing. In times such as these, when so many advances are being made in surgery, it is difficult to remember that these men are not gods but mortals. This work is not a cure-all for all occlusive artery diseases, but one must admit that it is still quite impressive. Your article was indeed succinct, informative, and impressive in its scope.

JAY LEONARD LICHTENFELD University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia

Sir: We are proud of the contribution to the work of the illustrious surgeon DeBakey that was made by members of the staff of the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science. Dr. Thomas Edman, chairman of the knitting department here at the college, played a significant role in the research and development of the knitted Dacron and Teflon arterial replacements. Dr. Edman is currently working on additional prosthetics that include heart valves and abdominal patches utilizing man-made fibers and knitting technology.

ALAN M. RICHTER

Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science Philadelphia

Sir: The cover story on artificial hearts and Dr. DeBakey was both interesting and informative. In it you make brief reference to the possibility of using a nuclear source to power these devices. The possibility is not so remote as your brief reference would make it seem: the National Heart Institute of the National Institutes of Health will be giving serious consideration to the feasibility of using nuclear power for the complete artificial heart it hopes to have developed by 1970.

ROBERT J. MCCLUSKEY News Editor Nuclear Industry New York City

Trade as a Weapon

Sir: In the Letters column of your issue of May 28, Mr. Murray Baron calls me one of the "articulate pleaders for diplomatic and economic intervention by the U.S., insofar as recognition of and trade with Red China are concerned . . ." May I say that this is a complete misrepresentation of my position. As late as March 2 of this year, I submitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee a statement opposing indiscriminate trade with Communist countries, especially China. I have always held, and so stated many times in print, that we must use trade with Communist countries as a political weapon in the public interest and not as an instrument for private gain.

HANS J. MORGENTHAU University of Chicago

Chicago

Jerk, Dog, Swim & Frug

Sir: That was such a fabulous, super, gear article on our music--pop, rock 'n' roll, or whatever you want to call it [May 21]. You just don't know how fabulous it is to live in an age of Beatles, Zombies, Kinks, Hermits, Pretty Things, Dreamers, Rolling Stones, Rockin' Berries, Mersey Monsters, Animals, and all the other people and groups who keep us so happy.

TERRI PLUMB Lafayette, Calif.

Sir: TIME greeted the return of Vladimir Horowitz with a meager 150 words. Yet in the same issue you poured no fewer than 4,500 words on rock 'n' roll. Shame on you!

I. BRANJEAnn Arbor, Mich.

Sir: When I received my copy of TIME with the photomontage of rock 'n' roll stars on the cover, I immediately thought that TIME was going to slam the entire teen-age generation's music and have some old fogy who has only heard the Beatles on Uncle Ed Sullivan's show write it. Instead, it was a thoroughly comprehensive study of modern music.

EDWIN KAPINOS Ludlow, Mass.

Sir: I appreciated the article on rock 'n' roll because I am the mother of the bass-guitar player with Barry and the Remains. Vernon Miller Jr. is a student of serious music at Boston University, where he is finishing his sophomore year. He is a tuba specialist and is truly a student of good music. However, he is also good at rock 'n' roll. Vernon was only 19 when he came home with his contract from Epic records. His father had to make a very big decision and sign for him. It was pretty difficult. After much thought, we decided that rock 'n' roll was a part of our century. We don't care for the haircuts, but I'm not ashamed to go anywhere with these boys, hair and all.

MRS. VERNON R. MILLER SR. Livingston, NJ.

Sir: Honestly, if one more finky psychiatrist tries to tell us why we do the frug, the monkey, etc., we'll go off our nut. KERRY-JEAN LANDRY PAM GILMORE Gorham, N.H.

Good Hex

Sir: You had me scared for a moment. I thought you might put the whammy on me by liking my latest novel The Source [May 28]. You pooh-poohed South Pacific and it became a great hit. You ridiculed Hawaii and it was purchased by nearly 4,000,000 readers. You blasted Caravan and it stayed near the top of the lists for half a year. Please spell my name right in your Best Seller box in the long months ahead.

JAMES A. MICHENER Madrid

>TIME did not "pooh-pooh" Tales of the South Pacific, did not even review it, but did say that the "fine, simple Tales" were better than Michener's second book, The Fires of Spring [Feb. 14, 1949].

Our Preoccupied Ally

Sir: There is a danger that must be nipped in the bud, otherwise it might destroy all of the gains against Communism in South Viet Nam. It is the decision of the provisional Legislative Council to authorize new citizens of Chinese origin to stand for provincial councils and for Parliament only five years after acquiring Vietnamese citizenship. Under Ngo Dinh Diem's regime, the Chinese here were at first prevented from practicing dozens of professions. Such a prohibition was soon neutralized by a decision to give masses of them Vietnamese citizenship, thus making deeper and steadier Chinese control over the Viet Nam economy. There is no proof of the devotion of new Vietnamese citizens of Chinese origin to our cause. If there is no change in the decision of the provisional Legislative Council, South Viet Nam might become identical with Singapore, which is thoroughly under the control of people of Chinese blood. A Chinese member of Parliament might be able, by merely voting, to destroy entirely the result of the common struggle of Viet Nam and the U.S. against Communism.

DO QUANG GIAI

Saigon

Explanations & Ruminations

Sir: While your story on the Government's attempts to explain America's position to university critics may seem discouraging, it should be noted that these State Department efforts are not confined to American universities. Here at Goeteborgs University. Ambassador Parsons, an ''old Asia hand" and now the U.S. envoy to Sweden, spoke to a university audience on this topic. His talk and the answers he gave to many difficult and challenging questions were both enlightening and clarifying. Even though the audience reflected a wide range of political views and backgrounds, both Eastern and Western, I do not believe anyone left without a greater understanding of the implications and complexities of this problem. Such efforts do not go unrewarded, and their effects are far-reaching despite some disappointing and juvenile demonstrations on a few campuses.

EDWARD Z. LIEFF Goteborg, Sweden

War's Reality

Sir: As a medical student. I have seen the human body in every state of mutilation. Never, however, have I seen anything so horrible as that photograph of a beheaded man [May 28]. It is certainly more than reasonable to occasionally stun the pacifists with a well-aimed piece of absolutely realistic journalism. Viet Nam is not pretty--neither is death. Both are real. But the bloody details of both are about as necessary to the layman as the fine print in a laxative advertisement. JUDITH A. GRAEBNER Washington, D.C.

Sir: TIME must be commended for having the courage to print a picture that will undoubtedly have an unfavorable reception. Perhaps now some people will wake up to just what is going on in Viet Nam.

DAVID LEVINE Cheltenham, Pa.

Intellectuals

Sir: The essence of your Essay "The Flourishing Intellectuals" [May 21] would surely delight the heart of many a so-called "impractical idealist" of the past. Perhaps now that the advancement of science, engineering and technology have resulted in an abundance of industrial production, the contemporary intellectuals will have a better opportunity to devote their study and research toward the humanities, especially, I hope, the arts. For, as Author Alexander Lenard states in the same issue of TIME: "The only significant achievement of civilization (thus far) is its art."

MORRIS LIEBERMAN Las Vegas, Nev.

Sir: I appreciate very much being singled out with Professors Walter Heller and J. Kenneth Galbraith as a "flourishing intellectual." However, I should point out that I am not now nor ever have been a vice president of the United Fruit Co. At one time in the recent past, I was a vice president and technical director of one of its many small subsidiaries, known as the "United Fruit and Food Corporation." I have had no connection, however, with this organization since December 1963. Incidentally, I am not a nutritionist.

SAMUEL A. GOLDBLITH Professor of Food Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Mass.

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