Whittledycut in the Bluegrass

Sir:

It was an extreme pleasure to see my favorite Senator make the July 5 cover of your magazine. As long as men of Senator John Sherman Cooper's caliber have a hand in running our Government . . . we will never lose our prestige in world leadership . . .

NORMAN L. GIRDLER M/Sgt., U.S.A.F. Denver

Sir:

. . . No one can find fault with Senator Cooper and his record. His trouble lies in the class of field he's running in. It's Correlation Cooper, a fine horse, up against Hasty Road Barkley, and that's too much horse. With a regretful bow to John Cooper, it would be wonderful to have Alben Barkley . . . back on the track . . .

One fine and fortunate fact: If only a single voter went to the polls next November, neither Kentucky nor the nation would lose.

ALANSON W. EDWARDS Washington, B.C.

Sir:

A native Kentuckian . . . I was puzzled with "Hot as hackydam" and " 'whittledycut' --which in Kentucky means a real fine horse race." Would it be unkind to suggest that such expressions may have been used by infiltrators of the Pennyroyal . . . or that your correspondent had been investigating that special flavor the limestone imparts to the bourbon?

AUSTIN ADKINSON Charlotte, N.C.

TIME'S reporter, a seventh-generation Pennyroyal native, stoutly denies both suggestions.--ED.

In the Ditch

Sir:

Due to the fact that I did not have TIME, May 31, I missed seeing the piece [on Prince Bernhard's auto accident: "Trying to pass a road truck . . . he zigged when he should have zagged"]. I now am receiving [copies of it] from quite a few friends in the U.S. with a certain amount of biting comment, which I would gladly accept if it had been my fault. However, I enclose an eyewitness report (American), and in view of that, I don't think it is fair to write as you did, as it apparently gives me the reputation of a b.f.*

BERNHARD Soestdijk Palace The Netherlands

P: Reports the U.S. Army's Lieut. Colonel Hugh G. Martin Jr., who happened to be driving behind Prince Bernhard's black Lincoln: "Close to 100 yds. ahead of my car was a large truck . . . The Lincoln was in the left lane of the highway about 15 yds. behind it attempting to pass, when the truck drifted slowly to the left without signaling. The driver of the Lincoln applied the brakes strongly . . . The truck continued to move to the left, [and] the Lincoln was forced off the highway with the left wheels going into the sand. The truck continued onward. The driver of the Lincoln attempted to turn back . . . apparently to avoid a cement post, and the left front wheel of the vehicle dug into the sand, flipping the Lincoln on its top upon the highway.

"I stopped my car and went over to assist the occupants . . . After assuring myself that no one was injured and being told by the gentleman who had been driving . . . that I could not be of assistance, I left my name and address and departed . . ."--ED.

Unbrave New World

Sir:

Those happy-go-lucky anti-blues pills, Meratran [TIME, June 28], will set civilization back a thousand years. No more worried people, no unhappy love affairs, no discontented workers. Have a pill, friend! No war, no peace talks, no useless trips to the doctor, no kicking the dog around and no teeth knocked out. If this is a preview of heaven, count me out . . . The Creator was wise in creating the discontented human species . . . Under this pill system, people will shoot themselves just for the hell of it.

BILL STALNAKER Houston

Caricatures & Monstrosities

Sir:

Who is your Art editor, and why? I always wonder, when you show caricatures like [De Kooning's] Woman [TIME, June 28] . . . My taste is, no doubt, bourgeois . . . but I don't see why we must be affronted with these things in the public prints. Thank goodness the citizens of Salem, Ore. had the spunk to eject that monstrosity of a statue from their courthouse lawn. What if we had to see things like that everywhere ? Please don't palm them off on us as art . . .

AUDREY TROUT Turlock, Calif.

P: Renoir's Venus Victorieuse (see cut), rejected by Salem's citizens, is now in Portland's Art Museum.--ED.

Sir:

. . . No artist's work can be fairly appraised by anyone but himself. No other artist, critic, museum curator or layman can temporarily adopt the character, personality, frame of mind and point of view the artist possessed at the time he was painting a particular picture . . . I highly respect the work of Ben Shahn and Willem De Kooning . . . They are both exceptionally capable men . . .

DOROTHY R. MYERS Paoli, Pa.

Reappraisal (Contd.)

Sir:

For sheer petulant arrogance, your July 5 article, "Alone," would be hard to equal. But when you add to it a charge of timidity against a nation that has in its time fought and beaten (usually at unfavorable odds) the French, Dutch, Russians, Spaniards, Italians, Chinese, Japanese and Germans and burnt down the White House, your essay in self-righteousness is the utmost presumption . . .

In Britain, America has her strongest ally and a true friend, but if she wishes for a satellite, she must look elsewhere.

EDWARD STORER London

Sir:

. . . Our Government leaders knew well that whether the Communists sneered or smiled, they were out to kill. But your former Government was of the belief that coexistence with the Communists was possible, and tried every means for a settlement between the Chinese Nationalists and the Communists. As a result, China was lost. Today, Britain is doing the same thing to the U.S. . . .

TSENG YING-CHU Hong Kong

Sir:

Summing up on our loss of friends among nations of the world, TIME did not take the opportunity to call attention to the insensate despot that now rules the U.S., Russia, France and England. This despot is the H-bomb. Its power is so great that it can cause mutual destruction . . . I believe most Americans (except Senator Knowland, et al.) would regret very much to have this happen.

OTTO McFEELY Oak Park, Ill.

This Other Eden

Sir:

I have never read anything so refreshing and heartening as John Eden's maiden speech in the House of Commons [TIME, July 5]. Plainly, what the nations need is to kick out the old, overcautious mossbacks and put youth at the helm . . . Every great enterprise is built by adventurous spirits. These are the young men . . .

WALTER S. SWISHER Orr's Island, Me. (aetat. 72)

Sir:

. . . If England is to have an Eden as its next Prime Minister, it would probably fare better with Nephew John than with Uncle Anthony.

J. LINCOLN GALE Rio de Janeiro

The Wicked French

Sir:

Re your July 5 article, "Billy in Germany": Mr. Graham, never high up in my estimation, has now reached rock bottom. The old, old cliche about the French being sinful was used by Hitler and his associates. Is this why Mr. G. brought it up in front of a German audience? Not too wise either way for a Christian.

Billy Graham should practice some of the less lucrative and self-glorifying virtues; there is something about not casting stones.

JANET DOWNS Chicago

Mission to Spain

Sir:

Whatever the shortcomings of Claude G. Bowers' My Mission to Spain, your review [June 21] of it disgusts me. The Bowers thesis, you say, was this: "Only Franco bombs and bullets ever kill women and children, only Franco soldiers ever murder their prisoners, only the Franco side ever lies." I would ask whether in your own coverage from Korea or Indo-China--or World War II--you have endeavored to delineate an involuted situation in tones less completely black and white . . .

PAUL MOOR Paris

Sir:

. . . I am just as anti-Communist as TIME, but . . . all this footie with Franco . . . is giving me a pain . . .

MARTHA L. HART Detroit

Sir:

I would like to express my appreciation to TIME for its review . . . It demonstrates that some people at least have learned something about the realities of politics since the days of the Spanish civil war, even if Mr. Bowers' book would seem to indicate the contrary. Your treatment of this book is all the more welcome and necessary in view of the uncritical reception it got in other quarters.

HENRY REGNERY Chicago

Theological Thoughts

Sir:

Please never again dignify in print Jane Russell's flippant and too earthy observations concerning God: "He's a Livin' Doll" [TIME, June 28]. It is the most tasteless comment, theological or otherwise, that I have ever heard . . .

AKRON GORBY Brownfield, Texas

Sir:

. . . Is there nothing sacred ?

MARY Q. AASTERUD Milwaukee

* I.e., bloody fool.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.