Trouble With the Neighbors
Sir:
While we all sympathize with Vice President Nixon and admire his courageous and dignified conduct in the humiliating affair, does not this incident illustrate only too clearly what happens when you cast your pearls before swine? Why did Nixon go out of his way to place himself in a situation where it was not only highly probable but practically certain that he would be insulted and humiliated?
W. K. AILSHIE
La Jolla, Calif.
Sir:
For Latin Americans in general, Public Enemy No. 1 is the government. Regardless of which government, it is blamed for everything that is bad or wrong, from droughts or earthquakes to the price of bread and the lack of roads. The U.S., in its overwhelming desire to do things fairly, deals with Latin American republics exclusively through official channels, thus is the direct and basic cause of the "hate America" epidemic.
The Germans, during Naziism, were masters at understanding and courting South American public opinion by subtly identifying themselves with the mass antigovernment feeling, or at least maintaining the strictest independence. The Soviet Union has simply copied the German pattern, with magnificent results.
LEONIDAS PLAZA
Ambassador
Embassy of Ecuador
London
Sir:
As an American, married to a Peruvian, I am indignant at the outrage committed against Vice President Nixon. The U.S. Government should not attribute the action solely to Communist agitation. It comes from a deeply rooted feeling of inferiority and the resentment of the poor, weak man toward the rich one, who is generous and can afford to hand out charity. Nobody wants charity.
KAYE MACKINNON
Lima, Peru
Sir:
Instead of blaming the U.S. or Nixon for their depressive economy, lack of industrialization, or inadequate educational facilities, South Americans should place the guilt for these conditions closer to home. Rocks should be bounced on the heads of a few Latin American imperialists and their helpers.
RICHARD A. WEST
Los Angeles
Sir:
I'm truly envious of the South Americans who have done what so many of us lack the courage to do. Nixon no more represents the U.S. than the "Cadillac crowd" of Dallas represents Texas.
WILLIS SCHOLL
Milwaukee
Sir:
Nixon's courage will be very beneficial to him in the next election. If there is one thing Americans want in a President, it's guts.
DAVID A. ROOT
San Leandro, Calif.
Sweet & Sour Notes
Sir:
What a wonderful development it would be if. America could only make the whole world--including the U.S.S.R.--our kin with more American musicians instead of nuclear bombs. Your "All-American Virtuoso" story [May 19] could be the psychological key.
MRS. THOMAS H. ROBERTSON
Magnolia, Ohio
Sir:
The case of Van Cliburn would seem to indicate that the U.S. is the latest country to become a Russian satellite. Other American artists have won important contests in Brussels and elsewhere, and the only perceptible reaction in this country was a dull thud. Now Moscow has endorsed Cliburn, and the same man overnight becomes a national American hero. Are we to understand that American artists will henceforth have to pay their obeisance to Khrushchev before they can hope to be recognized in their own country?
HENRI TEMIANKA
Los Angeles
Brigitte's Ouch
Sir:
Re Mam'zelle Pigalle: You criticize the people who make English subtitles for imported films. Granted, some of the idioms need to be made presentable, but are we being subjected to a panel of doting old hags and eunuchs? Surely the translators could have found a more appropriate translation for "Merde!" than "Ouch!" Ouch!
GEOFFREY H. RAYMOND
Haverford, Pa.
Portrait With a Punch
Sir:
I hotly resent those anonymous "art critics" who dismissed British Artist John Merton's portrait of Lady Dalkeith [May 12] as mere "craftsmanship." I have noted an identical reaction to any realistic painting. Precisely what constitutes "art" to these learned judges of others' work? Would their favorite "primitive" cease to be artistic if it was, instead, a photographically true representation? I salute Merton's superb achievement, in having shown us beauty and elegance, and I say damn the critics.
JOHN J. NORTH
Annapolis, Mo.
Sir:
The old-fashioned notion that the British have no sense of humor is amply disproved by Punch's May 7 spoof of Merton's painting [see cut).
J. OLIVER
London
Na zdorovie!
Sir:
If our dear friend Nasser continues to drink in all the flattery plus vodka that Russia throws his way, he is sure to explode. Keep up the good work, Russia!
KAY KEEGLER
San Leandro, Calif.
Obie's O. K.
Sir:
I was thrilled by the story of Lieut. James Obenauf's courageous action in bringing a doomed B-47 in for a safe landing to save the life of the navigator-instructor Major Joseph Maxwell [May 12]. I have no idea in what school or college Obenauf received his education, but if he is a product of our American family life and our educational system, I say pfui to TIME, LIFE and other advocates of the Russian educational system.
GEORGE WERNTZ JR.
Gladstone, N.J.
P:Lieut. Obenauf went to the Lake Zurich, ILL. High School, did not go to college.--ED.
Sir:
It is the opportunity to fly and fight alongside men like Obenauf that keeps most of us strapped into that oxygen mask.
R. F. BRADBERRY
Lieutenant, U.S.N.
Cecil Field, Fla.
Toward Togetherness
Sir:
Concerning the Pentagon reorganization plan: One would think from the testimony of General Pate [May 12] that the personnel of the Marine Corps are more in favor of defending the corps than the Constitution. But are we going to sacrifice the effectiveness of the defense of our country to preserve the fraternity of the corps? The corps was created by men to do a job, not ordained by God and to be preserved as such.
JOHN W. KRIENKE
Gainesville, Fla.
Sir:
The Navy seems to be displaying the same narrow-mindedness today as did their 1926 predecessors when Billy Mitchell received the bum's rush. To hear the Navy talk, you'd think they invented the airplane.
WILLIAM B. HOLLOWAY
Abilene, Texas
Sir:
What I cannot understand is why Americans are getting into such a tizzy about a single chief of staff. We have had one in England for a long time, and he has never shown the slightest predilection of becoming a czar.
IRIS HARVEY
London
Eire Air
Sir:
Apropos TIME'S May 19 article about international airlines, it should be pointed out that the inauguration of Irish Air Lines' transatlantic operation is a route extension for Ireland's flag airline which has been operating for 22 years between Ireland, the United Kingdom and the European continent. In 1957 it carried more than 457,000 passengers over its routes, operating a fleet of 20 aircraft and serving more than 20 major cities in ten nations.
A fleet of three Super-H Constellations is the number required to operate daily transatlantic flights in each direction--first step in the Irish blueprint for the expansion of its air service network to the West, and fulfillment of Ireland's role in air travel as the gateway to Europe.
H. W. HELD Vice President
Irish Air Lines
New York City
Tips for Detroit
Sir:
TIME'S most eloquent commentary on the Detroit automobile situation was the photographic line-up of the "look-alikes." In indulging the people's childish delight in their world of imitation (imitation rocket ships, imitation speedboats, etc.), the big shots have likewise denied our citizenry the right to individual taste.
ARCHIE MUSICK
Colorado Springs, Colo.
Sir:
After the boxiness, the unattractive utilitarian interior, the bumps and various other discomforts, the effort to do anything over 40 m.p.h. of a small European car, the 1958 U.S. cars, chrome and all, are perfection.
B. A. WOOD
Walla, Walla, Wash.
Sir:
Labor has its incentive systems, its ruby-studded 25-year pins, its bowling leagues, ad infinitum, but no pride of workmanship. My blood boils every time I drive to the auto dealer and am questioned: "What's wrong with it?" If I don't know, they don't either. I'd settle for a do-it-yourself book in the glove compartment of the new car.
DOROTHY J. HUMPHREY
McDonald, Ohio
Sir:
Girls, why starve to shrink your derrieres
When Cadillacs are flaunting theirs? You never thought the day'd come, didja, They'd glorify steatopygia?
RICHARD MATCH
Great Neck, N.Y.
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