Agents of Deceit

Sir:

Your Aug. 21 cover story about Jacob Malik is the only one which I have read in any publication which clearly portrays how the agents of deceit from Russia conduct themselves. In other words, you come to the point and say that this current U.N. representative is nothing more than a liar.

It certainly is good to know that someone is not afraid to brand them what they are . . .

NED F. MORRIS Louisville, Ky.

The Stalin Myth

Sir:

TIME [July 17] gave the following definition of "The Cat in the Kremlin," that is, of Mr. Stalin:. "Better than any other Bolshevik he got hold of the essential principle of Leninism. The principle: anything for the sake of absolute power over men. Stalin is the No. 1 Communist not merely because he has the top job but because he himself is in a notably advanced stage of Communism . . . It is not true, as the Trotskyists and Socialists say, that he sneaked into power. He got it because he deserved it--by the standards deeply imbedded in Communist philosophy" . . .

[This] is a fact of considerable importance. For not only Trotskyists and some Socialists disdainfully treat Stalin as a traitor to the true Marxian-Leninist world-proletarian revolution and as a common nationalistic dictator--another Hitler. Many of the most powerful Western statesmen and military leaders accept this escapist myth . . .

Some practical deductions from this false interpretation of Stalin's personality, doctrines and aims are pregnant with tragic misunderstandings between Americans and the Russian people--the best potential ally in the struggle for freedom.

The Russian people were the first victims of the totalitarian yoke. They dream not of expansionism but only of the restoration of human freedom ... As to Stalin, he "spits," as Lenin once said, on Russian interests, because Russia must merely be "used as a base for world revolution."

Stalin . . . and all his international henchmen fanatically believe that "the capitalist system as a whole is already ripe for revolution." They fanatically believe, as Lenin proved, that "the importance of war as a midwife of Revolution can scarcely be exaggerated" . . .

ALEXANDER KERENSKY New York City

Authentic Display

Sir:

I was among the 6,000 listeners in Hollywood Bowl who could hardly believe their ears when the exotic [Peruvian singer] Yma Sumac stepped upon that platform and displayed what the critics later so aptly described as "the most phenomenal voice of the generation" . . .

It was with great surprise that I found your Aug. 28 story accompanied by the most vulgar picture I have ever seen in TIME . . . Let's keep the "television gown" in its proper place . . .

JUNE STARR Hollywood, Calif.

Sir:

. . . We in the hinterlands may still have doubts as to the authenticity of [Yma Sumac's] "four-octave-range" voice. Fortunately, your newsphoto of Miss Sumac leaves no doubt as to the authenticity of at least two reasons for her success in Hollywood . . .

H. O. FOLLANSBEE San Jose, Calif.

Sir:

. . . We were especially fascinated by the two beautiful braids of hair. We were wondering--are these lovely braids really her own or has something been added. In the photograph it looks as though they hang clear to her waist, or then again it might be an optical illusion caused by the unusual lighting on the photograph.

Let's have more interesting pictures like this.

RANDY BIGELOW Hollywood, Calif.

"We Must Talk to the People"

Sir:

I would like to compliment John Osborne for his excellent report from, Korea [TIME, Aug. 21]. I think the people of the United States should realize that the only way in which we can defeat Communism is by proving to the people of the world, and to the Communist people themselves, that the democratic way of life has more to offer than the dictatorial way of life. "We must talk to the people," as Mr. Osborne so aptly puts it ...

PETER WOLL Newtown, Pa.

Sir:

John Osborne did a fine piece of reporting in "The Ugly War" ... by giving us a sympathetic report on our young fighters in a rough country, among "people whom they don't like"--and, let us admit it, whose people do not have any great love for us ...

To one who knows Korea, it comes as no surprise that South Korean police are as savagely inhuman as their bloodbrothers fighting in the ranks of the North Korean army. Many of them undoubtedly were tutored in Japanese police methods before the liberation in 1945 . . . And let us be frank about it; all Orientals are alike in their contempt for human life and dignity. They are cruel where we have pity; they are brutal where we show compassion; they are ingratiating to those they fear or think superior, but merciless with the weak or inferior who fall into their hands.

Osborne commends the South Korean army for bravery and effectiveness, and exempts its soldiers from the accusation of cruelty heaped upon the police ... It may perhaps, in a measure, be due to the three years' training of the South Korean soldier under capable and understanding American officers and noncommissioned officers. Possibly some faint idea of--I will not say democracy--human fellowship may have seeped in.

Under the subheading "War & Politics," Osborne touches on a weak point in our armor. Americans, great globe-trotters that they are, have never shown any great capacity for trying to understand the people among whom they traveled or worked in foreign countries . . . For three years, and even up to the time of the North Korean invasion, we had a "considerable staff" of military and civilian officials in Korea. But it is dollars to doughnuts that only a pitifully small number of them learned even the rudiments of the language, to say nothing of the country's history and culture . . .

We sent men undoubtedly well equipped technically for administering whole industries, men who could issue properly worded orders or directives from a comfortable central office, but whose faces seldom, if ever, would be seen by the workers or their immediate superiors. It takes more than just words to teach anything, it takes examples and repeated demonstrations of right methods, even the correct use of a shovel or wheelbarrow, tools which many Koreans have never seen . . .

C. S. ANDERSON

New York City

The Old Testament as News

Sir:

Your July 31 story regarding Jerusalem Chronicles, edited by Polly Van Leer, was especially interesting to me because of a similar experiment I conducted in 1914. It was, I believe, the first attempt at a portrayal of historical events as though they were current happenings reported by a modern press . . .

Some newspaper men were discussing how certain great stories of the past would have been handled had there been a press with modern facilities. I decided to toy with the idea. The result was seven editions of the Jerusalem Herald, a daily newspaper supposedly published in Jerusalem at the time of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, and subsequently up to the death of Herod the Great. It covered not only the feature story, but current happenings, society and sports news, advertising, weather reports, editorials, etc., as they supposedly occurred at the time . . . Although only 5,000 sets (seven papers to the set) were published, the publicity it received in newspapers and magazines indicated an interest far beyond expectations . . .

Every line was written by myself, and none of the material was checked by an authority for accuracy. On the other hand, Mrs. Van Leer, in telling Old Testament history, has the aid of students and professors at Jerusalem's Hebrew University in research work, and of Israeli journalists as rewrite men. That should make her publication very authentic for educational purposes, as well as interesting reading. I hope she has great success with it ...

TOLBERT R. INGRAM Hot Springs, N. Mex.

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