Where the Money Doesn't Go
Sir:
The eye-opening table, "Where the Money Went" [March 29], arouses both my interest and ire as a long-suffering taxpayer. Is there possibly a nation, large or small, that has not lined up for its share of our largesse? WILLARD A. HEAPS New York City
> A grand total of eight: Andorra, Bhutan, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Muscat-Oman, Switzerland and the Vatican City. --Ed.
Sir:
And then there was the story about the head of a small country who came to Washington requesting $30 million economic aid for his country. When told that $50 million was the minimum aid granted to any nation, he said, "Well, I guess I have no choice!" PHILIP YARNELL
Baltimore
Yon Cassius
Sir:
The cover story on Cassius Marcellus Clay [ March 22] pleased me as I am proud of Louisville's latest contribution to the heroic traditions of sports. The story was extremely well written and generally fair.
The sour note was the remark that the referee's card was absurd. Well the ref was closer to the fight than even those at ringside. Maybe he saw things the rest didn't. There were some sportswriters who thought the judges scored it too close. Yes, some also thought Jones won, but they were in the minority.
The important thing is that Clay deserves the praise. He has helped boxing get nearer to respectability. I feel he may offer as much to sports as another Louisville athlete Harold "Pee Wee" Reese did in recent years. He may even be "the greatest."
MARTIN K. PEDIGO Louisville
Sir:
Certainly one of the most entertaining articles that I've read in many a day. A pat on the back for the writer and a cheer for Cassius Clay, a young man who instinctively knows the only bit of truth worth knowing in this life--never take anything seriously (especially women).
JOHN D. SEPESI
San Bernardino, Calif.
Sir:
It is my belief that TIME is jeopardizing its high standard of respectability by placing Boxer Clay on the cover.
Were you carried away by the excellent job your reporter did on the story?
Since my eight years as a professional boxer was the principal financial means of my getting an education, if I have any prejudice, it is in favor of boxing--but let's keep it in its proper place.
XENY KAKOUROS, D.D.S.
Erie, Pa.
Sir:
Narcissus greeted Cassius Clay Gave him his flower, slunk away.
FRANCIS K. KERR
Minneapolis
Sir:
What a refreshing change! Cassius, a young Negro, but not an angry young man; a fighter, but a colorful addition to the otherwise colorless and, of late, bloody fight game.
I've never been a fight fan, but I'll watch Cassius and enjoy every prediction and nervy remark he makes.
I am not a Negro, but if I were, I'd be really proud of this young man!
(MRS.) MARYANN GENOVA
Kenilworth, N.J.
Sir:
Is Cassius Marcellus Clay the youngest man ever to make the cover of TIME?
RON PRECUP JOHN FRANZ
Georgetown University Washington, D.C.
>No. The youngest person ever to be featured on the cover was Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. (May 2, 1932), who was only 22 months old and whose tragic story was still a mystery on that date. Michael I, King of Rumania (Aug. 1, 1927) was five; the then Princess Elizabeth of England (April 20, 1029) was three; and Shirley Temple (April 27, 1936) was seven. The youngest creature ever on the cover was a blueblooded baby basset hound, who appeared (Feb. 27, 1928) when he was barely dry behind the ears.--ED.
Tight Little Worlds
Sir:
"Three players [harpsichordists] alone," you say [March 22], "preside over the audience of baroque music aficionados," etc. It is, as you say, a "tight little world," but it is not as tight or as little as all that.
Actually, there are upwards of 50 concertizing harpsichordists in the U.S. and Europe today, among the other artists of absolutely first rank such as George Malcolm and
Thurston Dart in England, Isolde Ahlgrimm and Eta Harich-Schneider in Austria, Robert Veyron-Lacroix and Aimee van de Wiele in France, Gustav Leonhardt in Holland, Isabel Nef in Switzerland, Ruggero Gerlin in Italy and Karl Richter, Martin Schneidt, Ingrid Heiler, Hedwig Bilgram, Edith Picht-Axenfeld, Irmgard Lechner and, of course, Virginia Pleasants in Germany.
What makes it seem a tight little world from wherever it is viewed is the great national differences in harpsichord construction, severely handicapping traveling harpsichordists who cannot afford to move their instruments as well as themselves. It requires a couple of weeks of intensive practice and re-registering, for instance, to accomplish the shift from a German Neupert or Sperrhake to a French Pleyel, an English Goff or an American Challis, and vice versa. Primarily for this reason, harpsichordists have a tendency to stay put, with the result that their world is not one tight little world but many.
HENRY PLEASANTS* Bad Godesberg, Germany
Sex & Friends in Britain
Sir:
It may well be that the sexual revolution in Britain (March 22) is nothing more than an expression of what the Englishman has always been practicing. But it is no less clear that in his struggle for a "new morality'' that will square with his promiscuous tendencies he manifestly begs the question concerning the basis of morality.
HOWARD S. DUNLAP Marietta, Ga.
Sir:
As lovers, the English may have preferred simple vigor to finesse, but a nation of shopkeepers and sailors had little time for romantic dalliance.
Admittedly Queen Victoria spread a black cloak over sex, and public lavatories went underground, but in most other times, the English were notably lusty and frank, as witness Chaucer and William Hickey.
What is happening now is surely not a sexual revolution but the blowing away of a smoke screen, and the English are revealed as human after all.
MICHAEL R.L. BARTON Redwood City, Calif.
Sir:
We Friends understand that this "Quaker report" was given by a minority group of the Society of Friends (Quakers). This minority group surely does not speak for all English Quakers, and I know it certainly does not speak the convictions of American Friends.
I would like it known that Evangelical Friends (Quakers) of the central and western U.S. definitely uphold the Biblical standards of morality, stand for the chastity of youth, and allow no premarital or extramarital sexual intimacies as acceptable in the moral and Christian code.
(THE REV.) PAUL W. BARNETT Friends Church Haviland, Kans.
How Prejudice Is Explained
Sir:
Many of us do not realize or perhaps we forget how remarkable is the skill of the trained journalist. This was brought home to me forcibly when I read the report "How Prejudice Is Taught" [March 29]. I had known of Dr. Olson's important project and understood that TIME planned to discuss it. However, I did not believe it would be possible in limited space to interpret such a profound analysis. Obviously I underestimated your writer's ability to absorb the material quickly and present it with clarity.
RALPH BASS
The American Jewish Committee New York City
One Man's Doctrine ...
Sir:
You have the man all wrong! That isn't Eisenhower middle-of-the-road drifting, it is dynamic drifting.
The dangerous Dulles brinkmanship has been replaced by hard-nosed diplomacy. Kennedy does not waste time golfing at Burning Tree--he gets a much-needed rest aboard the Honey Fitz.
He does not merely rock, he plans ways to project the vigorous Administration.
We have not lost the Monroe Doctrine, it has merely been replaced by the Madison (Avenue) Doctrine.
R. P. HAYNES New Bedford, Mass.
Sir:
Kennedy is one of the best Presidents you fools ever had.
JOAO UBALDO RIBEIRO Salvador, Brazil
Ford's View
Sir:
Product decisions at Ford were not the result of "electronics logic" when Robert S. McNamara was an officer of this company, nor are they now. Your notion [March 29] that Mr. McNamara somehow substituted computer data for good judgment in his contributions to our product planning simply is not supportable. Mr. McNamara doesn't permit his considerable intellect to interfere with his common sense.
HENRY FORD II Ford Motor Co. Dearborn, Mich.
Witch's Tale
Sir:
In regard to your interesting Art story [March 22] "Where the Rub Comes In," about headstones and Ann Parker and Avon Neal, may I say that although many of us are burned up in Massachusetts today, none of the supposed witches and wizards of the famous, or infamous, delusion of 1692 in Salem were put to the flames.
Of the 20 persons who were executed, 19 were hanged, and one man, Giles Corey, 83 years old, was pressed to death between large granite blocks.
How this myth of burning Salem witches got started is easy to see, since it was the acceptable method in Europe and England, but in New England we never burn people at the stake.
LEO A. MARTIN
Peabody, Mass.
Pat
Sir:
I wish to thank you for the very excellent treatment [March 29] you gave the occasion of our national convention in New York City.
I very much appreciate the way my personal situation was handled, and I thought the article was a very fair, extremely well-written one.
JAMES G. PATTON
President
National Farmers Union Washington, B.C.
Eilshemius, the Unique
Sir:
Let me voice my thanks to your Art reporter for telling the story [March 15] of my mad granduncle, Louis Eilshemius. For all his many faults, he was a very prolific painter and had reached a remarkable standard in painting skill.
H.K. HESSE Langley, B.C.
Credit Where It's Due
Sir:
Your March 22 story on the identity of Yves Saint-Laurent's angel, Atlanta Businessman J. Mack Robinson, was in fact an earlier exclusive by one of our papers, Women's Wear Daily.
TIME asked for, and was given, our cooperation in preparing its piece but unfortunately and inadvertently all reference to Women's Wear Daily's scoop was dropped. JAMES W. BRADY European Director Fairchild Publications of New York Paris
Savoir-Vivre
Sir:
I read with gusto your [March 29] story, where I learned that following Louis Vaudable, his business-minded wife, Maggie, has learned to fleece the wealthy American upper-crust families.
To my knowledge savoir-vivre cannot be learned; you either have it or you don't. Also, I did not realize that love affairs are considered unmannerly activities. To the contrary, love-making is the very beginning of savoir-vivre.
HANS E. FUHRMANS
New York City
* Longtime U.S. foreign service officer, musicologist (The Agony of Modern Music), and urbane husband of Virginia Pleasants, whose skill on the harpsichord was noted by TIME (Feb. 23. 1959 ).
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