Quality of Murphy

Sir:

A word of commendation for the Aug. 25 article on Diplomat Robert D. Murphy. It was objective, analytical and informative, and surely a fine tribute to the work this man has so ably done in the field of Foreign Service.

KATHLEEN JORDAN

Manhasset, L.I.

Sir:

I hope your article will serve to sweep away the outmoded conception of the diplomat clothed in spats and top hat, fruitlessly whiling away his time at social get-togethers. The Foreign Service officer is a dedicated and hard-working individual.

WILLIAM ORR DINGWELL

School of Foreign Service

Georgetown University

Washington, D.C.

Sir:

For Man of the Year: Robert Murphy, the man with the world's most important job--picking up the peaces.

MARTIN B. PRAY

Palto Alto, Calif.

The Bomb

Sir:

It's not that Americans have their heads in the sand in regard to civil defense [Aug. 25]. Rather, the terror and horror of thermonuclear attack is comprehensible to even the dullest imagination.

When the first siren blows, no shelter for me; I want to be right on target.

ELIZABETH HITZ

Madison, Wis.

Sir:

Your Sept. 1 article on the President's announcement that the U.S. would suspend nuclear testing appears to be somewhat biased.

You could have mentioned that Adlai Stevenson was for the suspension of such tests back in 1956.

M. WODAJO

New York City

Hoffa's Affairs

Sir:

Why not paint Jimmy Hoffa's face black and send him to Arkansas? They will take care of him.

GLORIA GALLO

Raybrook, N.Y.

Sir:

How can the American people sit back and allow Hoffa and his gang to corrupt America's labor and laborer?

ROLAND D. ROPER

Oklahoma City

Are Nudes Sexy?

Sir:

I've just read your Aug. 18 item on the seminude show girls in Las Vegas. I don't think a Roman Catholic bishop has a right to tell night club owners to "dress" their performers. In France (nearly 90% Catholic), seminude show girls have been parading in nightclubs for umpteen years; French bishops don't insist on them covering up.

IRENE MARSHALL

Idyllwild, Calif.

Sir:

Choreographer Ashton says all the show girls along the Las Vegas Strip will be "replaced by nudes." I don't think the human body was meant to be used as a form of such amusement or entertainment.

CHARLENE STAPLETON

La Mirada, Calif.

Sir:

The naked body is not sexy; clothes make it so. There is no such thing as a sexy woman in a nudist camp.

JACK RAAB

Orange, Calif.

Art Is Where You Find It

Sir:

It is interesting to note that the number of outraged letters you are receiving on abstract impressionist art is increasing. Why can't the general public recognize that we are never again going back to painting like Rembrandt, Vermeer and Rubens--or even to Watteau, Poussin and Renoir? I commend you heartily on your display of contemporary art, but let's tell your readers the startling fact that it is here to stay.

MARY LOUISE BATES

Akron

Sir:

Your piece ["American Abstraction Abroad"--Aug. 4] is interesting, and I'm' glad you printed it.

ROBERT MOTHERWELL

Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France

Sir:

American abstract expressionist painting "is not likely to be rubbed out." It just does not exist. That stuff is an effort to paint, which is frustrated by robot ethics--America's interpretation of what culture is. America has no human culture whatsoever.

CHRISTOPHER EVERS

Orama, Australia

Sir:

I predict that history will find the abstract expressionists as dated as the fur-lined teacup.

ERIC JOHANNESEN

Alliance, Ohio

Bridge Tournament

Sir:

I enjoyed your Aug. 18 story and picture of the bridge hand involving Charles Goren.

ELTON S. LIPNICK

% Postmaster

San Francisco

Sir:

Goren goofed in permitting the opposition to steal a game contract. A six-club sacrifice would only cost 300 or 500 set against the minus 650 which Goren incurred.

BAXTOR WEBB

Jacksonville, Fla.

Sir:

The best bridge is played in hindsight, not in tournaments.

LEONARD M. MAJESKE

Oak Park, Mich.

Fists Across the Sea

Sir:

A "well done" for your Aug. 25 report on the impressions of the visiting Soviet students. Although they were wrong many times in their analyses of situations here, they were not wrong in remarking on how little we know about the U.S.S.R.

LUCY POSGATE

Chapel Hill, N.C.

Sir:

What is the beef? Does it hurt our pride to have the hypocritical Commies tell us the truth about our shortcomings?

JOHN T. KLOTTER

Lima, Ohio

Credit Line

Sir:

Since 1940 I have received screen credits-for Waterloo Bridge, Mrs. Miniver, Random Harvest, Command Decision, and others--most of them favorably reviewed by TIME, yet my name was never mentioned. The same omission occurs in your Sept. i review of Me and the Colonel. The screenplay was written by S. N. Behrman and myself. Forgive my vanity, but tell your readers of my existence.

GEORGE FROESCHEL

Beverly Hills, Calif.

Frank Appraisal

Sir:

Although Frank Sinatra is no favorite of mine, I cannot help but feel your Show Biz editor is a bit of a bastard himself for his keyhole comments in your Aug. 25 issue.

DONALD J. FISHER

San Mateo, Calif.

Sir:

Exactly what does your magazine (the finest in its field) have against Frank Sinatra (the finest in his field)?

AL AZOSE

Seattle

Sir:

Just who does Frankie think he is? Thank heavens for those good old Methodists and others who put up a howl in Madison. Frankie Boy has a lot to learn before he is put out to pasture.

WILLIAM G. PATTERSON

Minister

The Canal Winchester Methodist Church

Canal Winchester, Ohio

Coffee Break

Sir:

Why the fuss about Brazil's so-called inflation? If they can sell only 260,000 bags of surplus coffee for an "unexpected $15 billion" [Aug. 15], perhaps the U.S. can borrow from Brazil.

JIM REED

Tokyo

Sir:

$15 million?

E. ROBINSON

New York City

>> Yes.--ED.

Gruesome Scenes

Sir:

TIME should consider publishing two editions: one for those of us interested in the complete story, and the other for your readers who wish to view the world through rose-colored glasses, such as those who objected to your Iraqi assassination pictures.

C. E. RYDER

Saint John, N.B.

Sir:

I suggest that your readers take a look at some pictures of American lynchings, the Hungarian revolt, etc. before pontificating on the capabilities of the Arab masses.

RAYMOND D. SMITH

Pittsburgh

Contraceptive Controversy

Sir:

Should Catholics, when they are in a position to do so, stop non-Catholic doctors from prescribing contraceptives for non-Catholic patients? Most American Catholics would answer, "Of course not." But Catholics are riled when Government funds, i.e., tax payments, are connected with the spread of a device they believe seriously immoral.

WARREN S. QUINN

Chicago

Sir:

The Church of Rome has not changed--only its methods have changed. Political action, subtle legal pressures and blacklisting are used today to supplant the rack and the stake of yesterday.

CHARLES R. GALE

Ann Arbor, Mich.

Sir:

If Roman Catholics wish their women to play the role, and I quote H. L. Mencken, of "mere brood sows," let them. Why do they attempt, however, to force their archaic, medieval, and unscientific ideas on more enlightened peoples?

S. J. LEWIS JR.

Augusta, Ga.

Sir:

In regard to the letter of Ralph Raming [Aug. 25]: if our celibacy disqualifies us from making decisions concerning the marital state, why then do so many people keep coming to us for advice concerning such matters? Does a doctor have to suffer from every conceivable disease before he can prescribe cures for them?

(THE REV.) EDWARD J. NERODA

Immaculate Conception Church

Youngstown, Ohio

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