A Letter From the Publisher

By Richard B. Thomas

A copy of the magazine you are now holding in your hands is destined for a time capsule, a green-tinted 18-inch steel cube, to be deposited in the museum of the Statue of Liberty. In addition to this week's TIME, which contains memorable photographs of 1986 and a letter to the people of 2086 by Senior Writer Roger Rosenblatt, the capsule will include high-quality original prints of the pictures in this week's Images section, as well as next week's Man of the Year issue. When the container is opened, the contents should help explain much of our age to the children of children who have not yet been born.

The capsule's contents reflect the theme of freedom and liberty in 1986. ABC will donate tapes of this year's Liberty Centennial celebrations. The Associated Press will compile the year's wire service stories dealing with the motif; United Press International will develop a chronology of 1986 events that reflects the concept of freedom. There will be taped greetings from President Reagan and U.S. Interior Secretary Donald Hodel, essays by children from 50 states and memorabilia from the 1986 Liberty extravaganzas.

When the idea for the capsule was conceived by Secretary Hodel this fall, his department asked Ralph Davidson, chairman of the Time Inc. executive committee and a member of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Commission, if TIME would participate in the project. TIME accepted the invitation and selected Rosenblatt as the writer of the letter to the future, which became this week's cover.

It was, of course, a dream assignment; seldom is there so probable a guarantee of a measure of immortality for one's prose. Says Rosenblatt: "The more I thought of the audience, the more fascinated I grew. Here I was writing to people not yet born, who would feel so much older than us and look back on us as museum exhibits. How could I tell them how alive we are?" We think you will find it lively reading and a memorable, moving meditation on our times.

Beginning this Saturday, Dec. 27, and continuing through Jan. 11, a syndicated TV network of 114 stations in the U.S. and others around the world will broadcast a 30-minute special called TIME's Man of the Year. The program, produced by Reeves Communications, will have Edwin Newman as its host. He, along with TIME editors and correspondents, will review the year's major news events and the candidates for Man of the Year. The program will conclude with TIME Managing Editor Jason McManus announcing the final choice for the honor.