A Letter From the Publisher

By Richard B. Thomas

With her address to students at New York University last week (see WORLD), Philippine President Corazon Aquino became the fourth major figure drawn from the personalities in the news to participate in the TIME Distinguished Speakers Program. Initiated by TIME three years ago as part of the festivities marking the magazine's 60th anniversary, the purpose of the program is to provide the outstanding men and women who have appeared on TIME covers with a platform from which to address students at colleges and universities across the country.

The series was inaugurated in February 1984 by President Reagan, who spoke at Illinois' Eureka College, his alma mater. Celebrating his 73rd birthday and the 129th anniversary of the college's founding, the President spoke on the need for a historical perspective in evaluating the changes that have transformed the U.S. over the past five decades. Later that year former Vice Presidential Candidate Geraldine Ferraro addressed students at the University of Wisconsin at Madison on the importance of adhering to liberal principles within the Democratic Party. And last December, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney selected the University of Chicago as the forum to drive home his views on the dangers of protectionist trade policies.

"There is an old debate in academic life between those who believe that the world is moved by individuals or heroes and those who believe it is moved by abstract and faceless forces," said Editor in Chief Henry Grunwald during his introduction at N.Y.U. last week. "We at TIME have always sided with the former school, and President Aquino, who has been on our cover four times, is a prime example of that conviction."

This week's cover portrait of Mafia Chieftain John Gotti is Artist Andy Warhol's fifth TIME cover since illustrating "Today's Teen-Agers" in 1965. The others: the Fonda family (1970), Michael Jackson (1984) and Lee Iacocca (1985). Like all TIME cover art, the Gotti print will be donated to the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. The final selection was chosen from 30 different versions prepared by the artist, who tempered his affinity for vivid hues. "The colors Warhol used are rather somber and threatening," says Executive Art Director Nigel Holmes. "Unlike with Michael Jackson, you can't use bright colors with Gotti."