Background for a Lady
Sir:
I would love to know what Mrs. Eisenhower thought of your [Jan. 19] cover story. I myself found it fresh, informative and witty, despite all that has been written on the subject in the past few months . . .
ALBERT M. LEACH
New York City
Sir: What a hell of a picture of Mamie!
LAWRENCE FRYE
St. Elmo, Ill.
Sir:
I fail to grasp the significance of the design used as backdrop to the portrait of the new First Lady on your cover ... Is it wallpaper used in the White House? . . .
STANLEY SPRECHER
Cheyenne, Wyo.
Sir:
. . . We noted with pleasure the painting of our new First Lady, with the famous Blue Room of the White House in the background.
You will be interested to know that this background is an empire silk damask, woven by F. Schumacher & Co. especially for the famous Blue Room. It is the third time this design has been specially woven for the wall covering for this most important room. The first time was in 1902 while Theodore Roosevelt was President, the second in 1917 during Woodrow Wilson's term of office . . .
W. N. LEE
F. Schumacher & Co.
New York City
Farewell Wrench
Sir:
In all of Truman's mild words spoken in his last week of office, I have yet to see anything which shows the dignity and intelligence required of the office of President of the U.S. However, in one of his statements--"I could have clotted things up so [Eisenhower] wouldn't get straightened out for a year" [TIME, Jan. 19]--he reveals himself in his true dimensions. Does he actually believe that he is to be congratulated for magnanimously not throwing a wrench into the workings of the most powerful country of the free world? How could he gloat over not using the power which his fellow citizens entrusted to him in 1948 to jeopardize the overall security of the nation? On this basis, everyone who is not a criminal should receive a medal for merit . . .
MRS. STUART M. HAUSER
Richland, Wash.
The Capital Dome
Sir:
Your historical note on President William Harrison [TIME, Jan. 12], who died after reading his inaugural address bareheaded in the rain, recalls that the tradition of baring the head has long been a hazard to men in public life. F.D.R. was laid low for several days following his election because he held his hat in salute to the crowds during most of the motor trip down from Hyde Park. In 1941 he was again incapacitated by one of his few illnesses after he stood for an hour bareheaded during Armistice Day ceremonies. King George V contracted his final illness by standing hatless in the rain before England's War Memorial . . .
President Eisenhower could do a service to the nation by daring to break this precedent, with an explanation of the sound and public-spirited reason for his action.
ERNEST F. HUBBARD
New York City
Let 'em Eat Cake
Sir:
After reading in your Jan. 12 issue about Texas Oil Millionaire Tevis Morrow giving a $25,000 party in Hollywood for a queen, a millionaire, movie stars, etc., who are already overstuffed with caviar and champagne, I came to this conclusion: Mr. Morrow would be a much more admired man had he given the party for orphans, soldiers and the needy, who, I am sure, would have appreciated it more than the elite--with, of course, a different menu.
FREDA GINSBERG
Toronto, Ontario
Naked on the Newsstands
Sir:
... As a member of the public relations committee of the Eastern Sunbathing Association--the regional nudist association--I must protest against the accusation of the Gathings committee re nudist magazines being among the worst offenders [in the survey of] pornographic literature on the newsstands [TIME, Jan. 12]. One thing the nudist movement has been trying to do is to clean up the minds and morals of America . . . The nudists resent the actions of the magazine dealers in placing nudist publications in the same shelf or immediate vicinity of smut, and we feel that the dealers should cooperate with us. We deplore the sale of smut . . . and we honestly cannot see any connection between the two . . .
THOMAS LEE
Cumberland, Md.
Pattern of an American
Sir:
Your Jan. 12 article about Thornton Wilder gives an impression of one whose life and writings are without aim or pattern; and that impression, I believe, is correct. Wilder is the best representative of the American he describes--lonely, nomadic and insubmissive.
I note, however, that this kind of wonder boy-acrobat character seems to have a fatal attraction for journalists. You would think that the American public demanded, not bread, but circuses from its intellectuals.
TIMOTHY O'SULLIVAN
Ursuline College
New Orleans, La.
Sir:
Your treatment of Thornton Wilder . . . will bring to the attention of thousands the talents of this man--certainly one of the truly great intellectual-literary men of our day. His is indeed the catholic mind.
ROBERT E. NUGENT JR.
Kansas City, Mo.
Sir:
. . I should like to express my feelings of regret that editorial demands made it impossible for you to include his most recent achievement as chairman of the American delegation to the UNESCO-sponsored International Conference of Artists held in Venice September 1952, where he served brilliantly not only for the delegation but as rapporteur for the conference.
HENRY R. HOPE
Fine Arts Department
Indiana University
Bloomington, Ind.
Sir:
Your fine story on Thornton Wilder reminded me of the time two years ago when he was the Charles Eliot Norton professor here at Harvard. WHRB, the Harvard radio station, has a tradition of staying on the air 24 hours a day with classical music for about two or three weeks previous to exams. Mr. Wilder heard about this and was disturbed that he had no radio ... He came down to the station one day and asked if he might just sit in the studio. We assured him that this would be possible . . . Thereafter, for the next couple of weeks, he would wander in whenever he pleased (sometimes as early as 6 a.m. after eating breakfast at one of the all-night restaurants in the Square), and listen for hours at a time. Once, when he fell asleep, we put up a sign: "Don't disturb. Mr. Wilder is sleeping to Mozart" . . .
RALPH F. COLIN JR.
Cambridge, Mass.
Spreading the Word
Sir:
Re "Pursuit of Happiness," in which you correctly state that housewives were made happy by the removal of bans in most states on the sale of ready-to-use colored margarine [TIME, Jan. 12]: you refer to margarine as "oleo." As you undoubtedly know, the term, a reference chiefly to margarine made many years ago, is no longer accurate.
Oleo implies the presence of beef fat, from which margarine was made when first developed some 90 years ago.
Modern margarine is made from refined vegetable oils (principally soybean and cottonseed oils) grown on American farms, plus cultured skim milk and minor ingredients . . .
Margarine is legally correct . . .
S. F. RIEPMA
President
National Association of Margarine Manufacturers
Washington, D.C.
Sir:
Mother always told me I couldn't eat my cake and have it too, but she didn't say I'd have to pay for my butter and not get it either.
MRS. FRANK METZLER
Albuquerque, N.M.
A Legion for Korea (Cont'd)
Sir:
Mr. James P. O'Brien's plan to end the war in Korea by forming a Foreign Legion of Japanese [Letters column, Jan. 12] brings to mind some words of General George Patton on the occasion of his taking command of the Third Army in England, a few months before the invasion of Normandy. In explaining to his troops the reasons for their presence in Europe in 1944, General Patton said: "We have to fight because we have committed ourselves to fight at the side of our allies. We have to fight because we cannot live in a world which is half free and half slave. We have to fight because if we didn't fight, as our fathers have fought, we should all be as naked as jay birds."
When America must hire foreign mercenaries to do our fighting for us, then it will be time to invite the Politburo to govern us. Korea is neither Truman's war nor Stalin's war; it is another battle in the continuing struggle for the survival of Christian civilization, like Tours, Lepanto, Guadalcanal, and some lesser engagements like the one at the Little Big Horn. Brass-rail strategists would do well to acquaint themselves with the facts and lessons of history. Imperial Rome withered and decayed and was sacked by her mercenaries.
ERWIN W. SMITH
Lima, Peru
Breakfast with the Bordens
Sir:
Re the breakfast the Borden family ate before Lizzie Borden allegedly took an ax and "gave her parents 40 whacks" [TIME, Jan. 12]: Lizzie gave her father 41.
Lizzie Borden took an ax
And gave her mother forty whacks;
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.
ELIOT JONES
Menlo Park, Calif.
The Queen's Leisure
Sir:
In your otherwise charming article on the Queen in your issue of Jan. 5, you say that the Tories took exception to her having dined with Douglas Fairbanks.
The Queen's leisure hours are all too few, and no one of whatever political creed would presume to criticize where she chose to spend them; but what shocked everyone was the ensuing publicity, for it is an unwritten law in Great Britain that when a King or Queen pays an entirely private visit, no mention of it should appear in the press . .
JULIET DUFF
Wilton, Salisbury, England
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