I hope that all of you who have access to a television set have seen some or all of the eleven episodes of Crusade in Europe that have now been telecast in the U.S. As you know from my Letter in the March 14 issue, the MARCH OF TIME made this documentary film of General Dwight Eisenhower's best-selling book, Crusade in Europe, at the request of 20th Century-Fox, which had bought the television rights from the publishers, Doubleday & Co. It is being telecast in 26 weekly episodes by the American Broadcasting Co., and TIME and LIFE are its sponsors.

For TIME Inc., this venture into the new medium of television has been a very rewarding experience. ABC has informed us that the telecast audience is large, enthusiastic, and growing (as is television itself--to the tune of some 150,000 new sets a month). Reaction from the critics has been favorable, and so has the mail we have received from televiewers--many of whom helped make the history of this filmed and televised account of the war in Europe as Eisenhower saw it.

Others who played a large, personal part in World War II have appeared as guests on the eleven episodes that have been telecast and have talked briefly about the war, the postwar world, General Eisenhower, and Crusade itself. To date, they have included: General George C. Marshall, General Omar Bradley, Lieut. General Walter Bedell Smith, General Lucius D. Clay, ECA head Paul G. Hoffman, Lieut. General James Doolittle, General Mark Clark. Another guest speaker was Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, who said, in part:

"Reading as many papers as I do ... I have been tremendously impressed with the reactions of editors and critics to this remarkable film series. The men and women of LIFE and TIME have added new scope to General Eisenhower's great book and . . . they have given to all of us--the older generation, the young people of today, and our children tomorrow--a view of what millions endured during World War II. We whose sons were under fire in the war suffered enormous strain, but only now can we, through these films, really fully appreciate the burdens that our boys endured for us.

"We suffered a great defeat at the Kasserine Pass. Among the reasons General Eisenhower gave for this setback was the 'greenness' of our soldiers and leaders and the faulty information he had to base his decisions on. But the important thing was that General Eisenhower knew why we suffered that defeat. The point I'd like to make is that today, though the U.N. has not reached all its objectives, we, as well as much of the rest of the world, recognize those objectives. And we know that we are green, too--young in thinking in world terms.

We know, too, that some of our information is insufficient and of doubtful value ... But we will catch up--if the plain people of the world . . . can find ways to overcome our greenness and to get accurate and trustworthy information.

"In this country we have a special kind of head start, for we can usually depend on our American press--newspapers, radio, and magazines--to give us straight facts, to keep us fully informed, to help us understand. Now television, with programs like this one, can add a new dimension: true understanding of our own history and of our future . . ."

This week Crusade's 112th episode, Victory in Italy, will be telecast by ABC on 33 stations in 33 U.S. cities. Your local newspaper has the time and channel.

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