The Death of the Invisible Man
To the Editors:
It is ironic that Billionaire Howard Hughes [April 19] suffered from malnutrition.
It is sadder still that he never really looked at the world in which he lived and made his fortune. The world of nature, of which he owned a great many acres, is a beautiful and fascinating place, which he seems to have overlooked entirely.
He was indeed a poor creature.
(Mrs.) Helen Miller
Rochester
Your article has certainly disproved the saying that "you can never be too rich or too thin."
Elaine C. Farrell
Hamden, Conn.
The psychological instability of Mr. Hughes makes one wonder what the other rich and influential corporate leaders of this country are like.
Paul Miley
Joliet, Ill.
I would like to see Howard Hughes' estate used to establish an institute for the study of megalomania. Perhaps we could learn what makes men so obsessed with money and power--and with enough research, we could learn how to help them.
Bruce Watson
Berkeley, Calif.
Mr. Hughes, one must admit, was most worth our notice when he was dedicated to making himself unnoticeable. His was not a life with much substance in it, having been most conspicuous for his dream of floating large bodies not quite airworthy, such as Jane Russell and that plywood transport.
His trick was in his silence, since he understood how valuable that is to someone who had nothing much to say anyway.
Philip Schacca
West Hempstead, N. Y.
If Terry Moore was validly married to Hughes and no legal divorce was obtained, she is Hughes' widow and entitled to dower or widow's interest. Hughes could not have divorced her simply by destroying a ship's log.
Norman L. Zemke
Southfield, Mich.
TIME reported Howard Hughes' holdings as being worth $2.3 billion. If you converted this to cash and then invested it in municipal bonds yielding 7 1/2% tax-free interest per year and started spending $100 per day to lease a home, $100 per day for servants, $200 per day for living expenses, gave $1,000 per day to charities, and bought and gave away six $70,000 homes every day and six $10,000 automobiles every day, and did all of this 365 days every year, you would be broke at the end of 55 years and four months.
Wilson H. Jennings
Seal Beach, Calif.
Possibly Hughes should have spent less time accumulating his billions and more time learning to spell. He added, in an excerpt of a memo TIME printed, a final e to the words "negro" and "potato." Money can't buy everything.
Stephen J. Coughlin
Iowa City, Iowa
Carter's "Purity"
I am afraid that Jimmy Carter's ill-advised "ethnic purity" remarks [April 19] will not destroy his campaign, as did the public crying for Muskie or the "brainwashing" for Romney. A significant, albeit sad, majority of the American public has not yet lost its sympathy for racism.
James Burling
Clinton, N. Y.
Black leaders have unfairly interpreted Carter's remarks in a manner that cannot be justified in the light of his actual deeds. The man's whole public and private performance demonstrates conclusively that he is not a racist--closet or otherwise.
Thomas Smith
Missoula, Mont.
We who know Jimmy Carter have been laughing up our sleeves at the Yankees who call him a conservative. But all this fuss over his "ethnic purity" statement is getting unfunny. Northern liberals have been insisting that ethnic awareness is to be valued. Why is it that when Jimmy says it he's racist?
Hilde L. Robinson
Athens, Ga.
Ethnic purity, ethnic treasure, ethnic heritage. What a goo of cognitive slipperiness! And we can expect another six months of this presidential punditry.
Mangesh R. Gaitonde, M.D.
Kansas City, Mo.
Subtle Racism
Five Spaniards are shot and the world reverberates in protest. Half a million Cambodians are liquidated [April 19], and I have yet to hear about a single campus commotion. Is it perhaps because of subtle racism? Doesn't condemning misdeeds in South Africa and not in Burundi imply expectations of higher standards of behavior on the part of the white regime? Yelling at Chile and dismissing non-Caucasian genocidal exercises hardly indicates an even concern. Yellow Cambodians seem to count for precious little.
Otto Vic
Binghamton, N. Y.
Market Basket
Your food-price article [April 19] implies that farm prices are the exclusive factor in determining retail food prices. Please note that the farmer's share of the retail cost of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "market basket" of foods is only 40%. Further, the farm-to-retail spread (marketing charges) increased 36% between 1973 and February 1976, while the farm value of those foods increased only 10%.
Carl Shafer
College Station, Texas
Postal Rates
You are to be commended for your efforts to bring into the public forum the need for Postal Service subsidies by the U.S. Government [April 19].
After all, the largest single user of the service is the U.S. Government --postage free.
My own experience with federal agencies and departments leads me to conclude that the degree of use by the U.S. Government has to be measured, not by the number of pieces, but by the number of tons daily.
Donald E. Field, Executive Director
Overall Economic Development
Committee of Cape Ann, Inc.
Gloucester, Mass.
Aplastic Anemia
Your article concerning Teddy DeVita and aplastic anemia [April 19] seemed to imply that if a victim was not kept in an isolated room or did not mysteriously recover immediately after the onset of the illness, he would promptly meet death.
I am a 20-year old student at Indiana University and I acquired severe idiopathic aplastic anemia in October; my condition has not improved since. I am, however, living in a fraternity here and leading an active academic and social life. Of course, I am periodically examined and transfused at the I.U. Medical Center, but I am by no means living in a "glass cage."
Earl S. Wolfe
Bloomington, Ind.
Porno Chic
It has long been obvious that pornography [April 5] carries with it the seed of its own acceptance--that each new depth plumbed by the smut merchants makes the previous outrage seem a bit more acceptable. Porno chic gives way to sadomasochistic chic, which gives way to God knows what form of subhuman behavior.
As one who is in constant touch with antipornography forces throughout the nation, I can assure you that we are now closer to victory than at any time since the Warren Court opened wide the floodgates of obscenity upon an unprepared nation of decent citizens.
Charles H. Keating Jr., Chairman
Citizens for Decency Through Law
Cleveland
Oscar Grumbles
Robert Hughes' review of the 48th annual Academy Awards [April 12] bemoans the fact that Jacqueline Bisset is not Ava Gardner. Time passes, Mr. Hughes, and each decade must be judged on its own. Bogart, Cooper and Marilyn Monroe are gone. Let us enjoy Matthau, Nicholson and Elizabeth Taylor.
To say that "presumably no one believes that awards have a more than fortuitous connection with quality in film" is to insult the 3,200 voting motion-picture professionals in the academy, and the great films and artists that have won awards.
The Awards are the motion-picture community's peer recognition of significant achievement, not only for acting, but for cinematography, screenwriting, art direction and other arts and sciences that are necessary to create an artistically successful film.
We're sorry TIME'S reviewer did not write about the awards as they are, but judged them against what he would like them to be.
Walter Mirisch, President
Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences
Beverly Hills, Calif.
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