It is a cruel paradox that in the midst of general prosperity, America has spawned a hard-core group of disaffected people--an all but lost generation of men and women almost permanently without jobs, without education, and without hope of getting either. Our cover story, written by George Russell and researched by Nation Reporter-Researchers Anita Addison, Edward Adler and Agnes Clark, examines this under class and the overwhelming problems that set it apart even among the poor.

For this story, 16 correspondents in eight bureaus took to the streets to interview hundreds of poor people, as well as the social workers, job-program administrators and academics now trying to find some way of helping them. They spent days and nights in sections of cities--Los Angeles' Watts, New York's Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant, Chicago's Humboldt Park and Garfield Park, and Miami's Northwest Side--already infamous for poverty and crime and desperation. For most the assignment was profoundly saddening. Says Boston Correspondent Jack White: "I'm sick of singing this same old saga. I wish we could move on to a story that could say how poverty was finally and absolutely purged from the system."

For 15 years James A. Linen signed this letter. Those were the years--from the end of World War II to 1960-- in which TIME'S circulation doubled and advertising revenues grew from $14 million to more than $50 million. The man under whose business leadership TIME became a substantial international in stitution has now retired from Time Inc. at age 65.

Except for his service with the Office of War Information, Jim Linen spent his entire working career with Time Inc. He came to the company in 1934, and was made publisher of TIME in 1945 at the age of 33. In 1960 he became president of Time Inc.; during his nine-year tenure in that position, the company expanded its horizons, and its revenues more than doubled.

Linen was often Time Inc.'s ambassador to the world. He started international news tours for American businessmen coordinated aid to refugees from the Arab-Israeli wars, and worked for numerous charitable organizations. For three years he was president of the National Urban League. Future publishers of TIME may perform similar roles with similar distinction, but they will always hold in respect--and use as a measure--the contribution of James A. Linen.

Ralph P. Davidson

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.