Man of the Year

Sir:

A request from the English wife of a Tan-ganyikan farmer and one of your most ardent readers: Why don't you make Prince Philip your Man of the Year? If you studied his itinerary for the past two years, you would find that in a quieter way than the two Mr. Ks he has worked unceasingly for his country and for humanity in general.

As Albert was to Victoria so Philip is to Elizabeth. We are indeed fortunate to have so excellent a consort for our beloved Queen.

SALLIE BLOOM Arusha, Tanganyika

Sir:

I nominate Roger Maris.

FRANK BARROWS

Martinsville, Va.

Sir:

. . . Russian scientists, because the buttons they have pushed in the field of rockets and atomics have resulted in influencing every political speech, every country's economy, and every citizen's opinion of world affairs.

PAUL OLSON

Reedsburg, Wis.

Sir:

Nikita Khrushchev.

WALTER WIELUC

Milton, Mass.

Sir:

May I suggest Mr. John F. Kennedy--first Catholic and youngest President of the U.S.A.

KEMAL FARUKI Cairo, Egypt

Sir:

Jacqueline Kennedy, America's greatest fringe benefit.

MRS. ED LEMANSKI West Allis, Wis.

Sir:

It should be the Issue of the Year, which is the Common Market. This is the only answer to the threat of Communism that the Western nations have come up with. If it reduces poverty in the smaller nation1--, it will reduce the amount of Communism, since Communism thrives on poverty.

DOUGLAS H. HAMANN Carmel, N.Y.

Sir:

Governor Rockefeller, that modern-day Job. Ma'y he recover the loss of his Picassos tenfold, his wife, his son and his chances for the presidency.

DANIEL L. HALAS

Washington, D.C.

Sir:

Carl Bellinger. Not because Mr. Bellinger ordered Interior Secretary Stuart Udall off his land, but because he showed all the rest of us that we Americans are allowing our personal and constitutional rights to be taken from us. In fact, we are giving them away.

MRS. CHARLES L. WILLIAMS Gallup, N. Mex.

Nehru as "Liberator"

Sir:

Never was a victory more infamous and an aggression more callous. Coming from Mr. Nehru, the greatest protagonist of unilateral goodness and peace next to Jesus of Nazareth, this is the height of paradox.

Perhaps Mr. Nehru would realize some day that Portugal was never a threat to India's security but just a blot on the family escutcheon. The true enemy lurks in the Himalayas, and perhaps closer still in the person of Mr. V. K. Menon.

Now that he has ignited the chain of events that will inevitably lead to Congos, chaos and confusion, and to the ultimate downfall of the U.N., both he and Mr. Menon could discard the roles of emissaries of peace.

I may add that I am an Indian.

PAUL MANI Houston

Sir:

At last we see Nehru in his true colors. Never giving a frank and definite response to questions, Nehru proved a master at evading questions on TV during his recent visit to this country. How fitting that this champion pussyfooter got up sufficient nerve to use brute force against those gentle, timid people in Goa who have lived in their country just 400 years.

MARGARET D. GALLAWAY

Richmond

World & Man at Yale

Sir:

In your Dec. 15 Letters column, concerning the ultra-right groups, Mr. G. Wedberg inquires if anyone has "talked with high school and college students on this subject lately".

I wish to direct his attention to a recent survey conducted here on the Yale campus concerning the U.S. and its stand against the Communist bloc. The usually liberal-minded Ivy Leaguers recognized wherein the threat lies, and a surprising majority (86%) stated that the U.S. should become more aggressive in the cold war. Ninety-five percent thought that the Soviet Union usually assumes the initiative, thus making it imperative for the U.S. to embark upon unprecedented offensive maneuvers. Among the most frequent suggestions as to how the battle should be carried out was through "foreign economic aid and trade." Others stressed intensified propaganda, fomenting revolts and supporting such to the utmost.

It seems that the latter proposals do not indicate "voluntary surrender".

ANDREW A. SPEKKE New Haven, Conn.

Guides to the Holiday

Sir:

Your article on Christmas customs [Dec. 15] is most interesting and complete. It must have taken a great deal of research.

You mention the luminarias, of which we are very proud here in the Southwest. They are festive lights made, as you say, by sand-filled paper bags containing lighted candles. The tradition is that the luminarias guide the Christ Child to every home. The custom is Spanish, and it started when Spain had dominion over our Southwest. The use of luminarias at Christmastime is a custom followed all along the Rio Grande River, from Taos and Santa Fe in New Mexico to the Gulf of Mexico, and also in Texas. Though it is not too important, I think that your readers would like to know the correct spelling of the word: luminarias rather than liminarios, as it was spelled in the article.

H. CRAMPTON JONES El Paso

Sir:

Your Dec. 15 article on Christmas shopping made me more than ever convinced that we must replace the word "Christ" in

Christmastide and Christmas season with "shop." Let the Christmas-card makers print on every card next year "Merry Shopmas Season and A Happy Bill-Paying Time for the Coming Year."

SIDNEY S. HOEKSTRA North Sacramento, Calif.

The Skunk & the Owl

Sir:

I wonder why your review of African Genesis [Dec. 15] goes so aggressively about denying the book's thesis. Of course there are vicious human impulses, which continue to be indulged in widely and are generally condoned--hunting for fun, for example. How can you account for viciousness in civilized man other than that it is an ingrained heritage of primitive origins?

LEE BARRETT Boston

Sir:

Your reviewer states, apropos of Ardrey's African Genesis: "Man, being completely dominant, has no significant enemies among other animals." Considering the enemies we have among ourselves, I'd rather be a skunk. The skunk has only the great horned owl to worry about. Me--I've got Russia. Wouldn't you rather be a skunk--smell and all?

DANNY SACHS

New York City

Post Script

Sir:

Having been a life-long reader of the Saturday Evening Post and other Curtis Publications, I was most disturbed to read in the Dec. 15 issue of TIME that "Philadelphia's proud old publishing company is available." If you had been as thorough in your fact-finding as I have been in mine, you would have found that Mrs. Zimbalist's holdings constitute 3.2% of the outstanding stock, not the 32% you quote.

MARY E. WELSH West Hollywood, Calif.

^TIME should have said that Mrs. Zimbalist is the central figure in a group that holds 52% of the voting stock--a holding that prospective buyers recognize as the Zimbalist block.--ED.

Negro Colleges

Sir:

Thanks and congratulations to TIME for its Dec. 15 story on the present plight of many Negro colleges and, in that connection, the recent proceedings of the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Reasonable, law-abiding Southerners are getting fed up with the irresponsibly excessive coverage--by all news media--of violent extremist activities in the area of race relations.

JOHN L. HODGES

Stetson University DeLand, Fla.

Who's Lost?

Sir:

Re your photograph of Bob Hope in front of the Seal of the President of the U.S. [Dec. 15]. I don't understand this New Deal. Is the Joker wild, or is he a stand-in for a lost Jack ?

ANDRES ALCALDE Santiago, Chile

Closer Look

Sir:

The real erotic beauty of Model Marola Witt will be as anonymous as ever after TIME'S microscopic photograph of her [Dec. 22]. We susceptible men see the girl-goddess inside all those high-fashion cetups. We don't overlook her familiar long finders. !-- n;j le^s, sleek brows, tiny nose, and hoyden's smile. REID GARDNER JR. Los Angeles

>For a closer view of Marola, see cut.--ED.

Oh, Mother!

Sir:

I must congratulate you on your excellent coverage of the current crop of children's books ["The Condemned Playground," Dec. 15]. However, it was the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe who was responsible for the "one-woman population explosion," and not Old Mother Hubbard, whose crimes would more appropriately be brought before the Anti-Cruelty Society.

RAYNA MILLER Wilmette, 111.

Sir:

Now, let's see ...

"There was an old lady who lived in a cupboard--" No ...

"Old Mother Hubbard went to her shoe,

She had so many bones she" --No . . .

Hell, now you've got me confused!

JOHN J. CHAMBERLAIN Charlottesville, Va.

^ There was an old writer who didn't know what to do.--ED.

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