Cheers, Jeers & Ears

Sir: Your cover story [May 1] might well have been entitled "A Day in the Life of L.B.J." The five pages devoted to him were certainly as exhaustive (both in covering the subject and in effect upon the reader's imagination) as a book.

STUART J. MAHLIN

Philadelphia

Sir: Witty parries or glittery sophistication would not become this tall Texan who talks like a folksy fellow from the country who made good in the city. He is doing a great job, and that sound earthiness and solidity gave all of us strength at a time when we were badly shaken. The history-minded might recollect similar speech qualities in Abraham Lincoln.

LOIS WILMOT

New York City

Sir: Bustle is not accomplishment. Motion is not progress. With modern means of transportation, a President needs no great talent to cover great distances and make several stops in depressed areas. A whirlwind tour of depressed communities contributes little to an understanding or solution of their problems. Mr. Johnson would better perform the duties of his office by less talk and more study and reflection.

WILLIAM B. PENDERGAST

Director of Research Republican National Committee

Washington, D.C.

Sir: You stated flatly that "no man in the White House has ever moved faster" than Johnson. In the hectic beginning days of the New Deal, F.D.R. announced the Good Neighbor Policy, called the bank holiday, passed the Federal Emergency Relief Act, took the U.S. off the gold standard, and started the CCC, AAA, TVA, HOLC, FDIC, FCA, NRA and WPA. And all that in 100 days, not five months. Johnson is a whirlwind, but Roosevelt was a cyclone.

JOE McBRiDE

Wauwatosa, Wis.

Sir: It is difficult to tell whether our President is a statesman, a skillful politician or a clown. No great statesman could have said: "The one good thing about America is that our ambitions are not too large. They boil down to food, shelter and clothing." To say that our ambitions are not too large is appalling. This is not the spirit that has made the U.S. the greatest industrial nation the world has ever known. This is the spirit of mediocrity.

ROBERT C. BORDEN

Andover, Mass.

Sir: Johnson's brand of political maneuvering, which plays on the emotions and ignorance of the masses, is positively revolting. It should be obvious to everyone that his lavish promises to wipe out poverty and end racial strife are merely vote-getting tactics.

MRS. RONALD E. BOWRA

Wichita, Kans.

Sir: President Johnson must have read Tolstoy's War and Peace: "To have one's ear pulled by the Emperor was considered the greatest honor and mark of favor at the French Court." Beagles aren't French and L.B.J. isn't Bonaparte, but if there is political significance, remember Waterloo!

LEO A. MATHEWS

San Fernando, Calif.

G.O.P. Hopefuls

Sir: Governor Scranton [May 1] offers America the Eisenhower philosophy of moderate Republicanism and common sense. Many Republicans see him as a compromise candidate, even though he has discouraged campaigning on his behalf. It is my hope that the G.O.P. will realize Scranton's voter potential and nominate him as a clear-cut opposite to L.B.J. without the radical undertones of some G.O.P. hopefuls.

BILL COX

Owensboro, Ky.

Sir: Your timely excerpts from Governor Scranton's speech will help citizens to know the philosophy of this Republican. It makes no sense to me to transfer appropriations and authority from the Federal Government to the states. This, in essence, means that each state government would have more control over its citizens. In the final analysis, we would still be subject to more control by "government" which, moreover, would be closer than Washington. One form of authority would have passed away only to be replaced by another, more immediate authority.

RICHARD E. HALE

Omaha

Sir: Your recognition of Senator Goldwater's strength [May 8] is gratifying, despite its tardiness and restrained enthusiasm. You should try exploring the significance of the rising voice of sound, responsible, conservative ideology, because you are going to be living with it.

JAMES B. TUDHOPE

Chicago

Sir: If the Goldwater forces realize "that Barry could still blurt out some remark that would hurt his cause" in securing the Republican presidential nomination, how could he be trusted as President of the U.S. not to blurt out remarks that would hurt the cause of his country?

PAUL MORSEY

Bloomington, Ind.

Gentlemen Terrorists

Sir: Recently, in another city, it was my misfortune to hear the recruiting tape of the Ku Klux Klan [May 1]. I had not, till then, really realized the fantastic lengths to which these people are willing to go to keep the Negro in terror.

CHRISTOPHER TODD

Seattle

Sir: I am a Lumbee Indian, and my anger rises at the very thought of the K.K.K. So now the K.K.K. is turning over a new leaf and turning minority hatred into kindness? All I can say is that I fear it is too late; too many remember past treatment by the K.K.K.

BETTY OXENDINE MANGUM

Otsego, Mich.

Help!

Sir: After a satisfying lunch at the Stork Club, I was set upon and mugged. No one came to my assistance--no one except TIME, which thoughtfully supplied the number to call: CAnal 7-2000 [May 8]. I found there was no CAnal 7, but learned when one dials this number the response is Acme Fast Freight: BArclay 7-2000.

T. H. TRACY

New York City

>Next time try CAnal 6-2000 for New York's fast cops.--ED.

Bishop Kennedy

Sir: TIME'S cover story on Bishop Gerald Kennedy [May 8] was a very fair presentation of "the people called Methodists" and their way of life in the 20th century.

CLARENCE F. AVEY

The First Methodist Church

Westfield, Mass.

Sir: As a member of the Albion College Choir, which sang for the Methodist General Conference on April 29, I had the privilege of hearing Bishop Kennedy speak for a few minutes in favor of the new Methodist hymnal. His was a speech that sparked the entire morning's proceedings; he is an intelligent, progressive man.

CATHY FORD

Albion College

Albion, Mich.

Sir: After reading your story on Bishop Kennedy, I've become convinced that in the leadership of the Methodist Church there are still men with the kind of vigorous faith that sent John Wesley into the streets of England.

JON ALAN ANDERSON

University of Hawaii

Honolulu

Sir: Your account of the Methodist Church and profile of one of our illustrious leaders, Bishop Kennedy, was eminently accurate. The obligation upon the churches to be relevant to the age is rightly emphasized; but that does not mean descending to the secular plane--"softening" its teachings to win acceptance.

It does mean that the individual Christian should endeavor to evince the power of Christ within himself in making this world a better place for all of our Father's children. The efforts of a Christian are most effective when conjoined with those of like-minded believers through the instrumentality of his own church.

PHILIP S. VANHOOK

Frederick, Md.

Chivalry in Pennsylvania

Sir: You said that "Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Michael Musmanno ungallantly declared that his lady opponent was ignorant [May 8]." This statement is categorically and absolutely incorrect. I never said that Miss Genevieve Blatt was ignorant. I also categorically deny that I ungallantly declared anything. I am proud to say that I have always been chivalrous, and am happy to emphasize I will always be respectful and chivalrous, to the ladies.

MICHAEL A. MUSMANNO

Justice

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh

Scholars & Teachers

Sir: The case of Woodrow Wilson Sayre's status at Tufts University [April 24] interests me for a number of reasons. I have been a college president and later a college professor. Along the way I have written several books--none of them "scholarly."

What makes a man a scholar--his ability to turn out monographs liberally besprinkled with footnotes, or his ability to inspire in his students his own curiosity and love of learning?

Two facts are worth considering: it was students who carried banners for Sayre; Sayre's book on his adventures on Everest, published in March, is already in its third printing.

Chapter 15 of that book, "Why Men Climb," contains more philosophical analysis than many pounds of run-of-the-mill theses. Here, if you please, is genuine scholarly research.

ALBERT BRITT

Nonquitt, Mass.

> Professor Britt, 89, was a professor of history at Scripps College in Claremont, Calif., and from 1925-36 president of Knox College in Galesburg, Ill.--ED.

Sir: I received damned good instruction from professors who could not weigh their monographs by the ton. Their production consisted of inspiring students to think. I wouldn't trade my experiences in their classrooms for a thousand monographs.

DICK HARLEY

Instructor of History Howard County Junior College

Big Spring, Texas

Sir: The time has come, I think, for a statement in support of research activities at our universities. Implied in your article about "publish or perish" is that teaching and research are basically incompatible. I believe that research is teaching. No subject or course content can be static today precisely because of the broad research under way in all fields. An educator can better carry out his obligations by challenging and rebutting concepts of dubious value in writing. The cloistered classroom offers no proper audience for professional discourse because the arguments are all one way.

A. W. BUSCH

Associate Professor

Rice University

Houston

Death & Dismemberment Covered

Sir: In "Record Setter Mock" [April 24], you state that even Lloyd's of London refused to underwrite the trip. This is not the case. Through Lloyd's correspondents Leo B. Menner & Co., Inc., in Chicago, Lloyd's issued a $100,000 accidental death and dismemberment insurance policy covering Mrs. Mock during her record-breaking trip around the world.

D.A.T. RICHINGS

Leo B. Menner & Company, Inc.

Chicago

Pirouettes & Kicks

Sir: Your article on the New York State Theater and the ballet [May 1] was a well-written, well-constructed, very colorful and spellbinding piece of work. The pictures were beautiful.

WILLIAM COLSHER

Nashville, Tenn.

Sir: I am outraged at your article likening Balanchine's Ballet to a jewel and comparing it to the Russian Ballet or the Royal Ballet. Balanchine's product is neither beautiful nor profound. It certainly is pathetic that a theatrical product that is morbid and depressing should open our cultural center and almost monopolize it as far as ballet is concerned.

PATRICE McCOY

Artistic Director

The Classical Ballet Foundation

Burbank, Calif.

Sir: We would like to correct the impression that the City Center of Music and Drama has become an "abandoned old mosque." The City Center is now in the midst of its annual light-opera season, and is the permanent home of the New York City Opera.

MRS. EDMUNDO LASSALLE

Member, Board of Directors

City Center of Music and Drama, Inc.

New York City

Sir: Your critic's enthusiasm about the acoustics at the new State Theater compared with those in Philharmonic Hall underscores the subjective nature of listening and the absurdity of the whole recent furor about acoustics. For all his esthetic sensitivity, he apparently did not note that, as opposed to Philharmonic Hall, the State Theater uses amplified sound, and that the metal grille ceiling conceals a whole battery of speakers.

JAMES CORBIN

New York City

> Acoustician Corbin failed to note that the speakers, most of which are located in the proscenium rather than in the ceiling, are used for musical comedy, not for opera and ballet performances.--ED.

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