Man of the Year?

Sir:

It is too early to think of nominations, but I would like you to consider ex-President Truman for his outstanding achievement in the completion of digging his own political grave at the Democratic National Convention. It is a contribution that should be deeply appreciated by every American.

HAZEL BYCK Dothan, Ala.

Convention Aftermath

Sir:

Nobody can say the Democrats aren't good sports. Given the advantage of the worst Republican Vice President in years, they evened things up by nominating the worst Democratic candidate of the top four or five eligible.

FRANK JETER JR. Forest City, N.C.

Sir:

Estes Kefauver said that with God's help the Democrats will win the election. What if God is a Republican?

LEONARD ROSENTHAL Winnetka, 111.

SIR:

ANY AMERICAN FARMER WILL TELL YOU THAT THE MOST INCREDIBLE ACCOMPLISHMENT IN MODERN TIMES WAS THE HERDING OF 1,323 SHEEP INTO A COW PALACE AND MAKING THEM SAY AYE IN UNISON, WITH NOT A SINGLE PROTESTING BAA OR BOO.

AL VANCE

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.

Sir:

Thank you for the fine job you did in covering the Democratic National Convention. It was excellence in journalism. Your Stevenson biography was as the man himself --appealing and thoughtful. It will become a permanent part of my library.

ELIZABETH E. PICKER Philadelphia

Sir:

Harry's so right: Adlai can't beat Ike.

JOHN DE WOLF Denver

Sir:

An old politician never fades away. He opens his mouth, puts his foot in it and chokes to death.

RALPH E. NYE Webster Groves, Mo.

Making Time with Adlai

Sir:

Who's the young girl holding a parasol over Stevenson in your Aug. 20 issue? She's a charmer, as A.E.S. seems to agree.

NORMA FLAXEN New York City

Sir:

Please tell me the name of the startled young lady with Adlai Stevenson. I strongly suspect it is my long-lost wife, last seen taking care of our two daughters before the Democratic Convention.

NEWTON MINOW Glencoe, 111.

Who Said What to Whom

SIR:

YOUR AUG. 27 ISSUE REPORTS THIS QUOTATION FROM ME TO THE HONORABLE JOHN MCCORMACK, CHAIRMAN OF THE PLATFORM AND RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE, NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION: "GRIFFIN WELL UNDERSTOOD. SAID HE AFFABLY: 'THANK YOU JOHN. I'LL JUST TELL THE BOYS THAT YANKEE SONOFABITCH WOULDN'T GIVE ME ANY TIME.' " i DID NOT

MAKE THIS STATEMENT. I COMPLIMENTED JOHN MCCORMACK ON THE WAY HE HANDLED THE

MAJORITY REPORT. AT NO TIME DURING THE CONVENTION DID I USE ANY PROFANITY IN MAKING STATEMENTS.

MARVIN GRIFFIN GOVERNOR

ATLANTA

SIR:

NO SUCH TALK TOOK PLACE BETWEEN GOVERNOR GRIFFIN OF GEORGIA AND MYSELF.

JOHN W. MCCORMACK

CHAIRMAN

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM COMMITTEE BOSTON

SIR:

I DID NOT NOTICE ANOTHER STATEMENT, WHICH APPEARS IN ANOTHER STORY, CHARGING CERTAIN ACTIONS ON MY PART IN CONNECTION WITH THE MISSOURI DELEGATION AND AFFECTING SENATOR KENNEDY. I NEVER TALKED OR YELLED TO SPEAKER RAYBURN ABOUT MISSOURI. I DID ABOUT KENTUCKY. YOU WILL NOTE THAT KENTUCKY SHIFTED TO KENNEDY.

JOHN W. MCCORMACK

CHAIRMAN

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM COMMITTEE

BOSTON

^ Having relied on a secondhand report, TIME must accept Reader Griffin's firsthand version of his talk with Chairman McCormack. But on the Missouri matter TIME'S own correspondents stand by their story.--ED.

Canal Crisis

Sir:

Thank you for your long, detailed Aug. 27 description of Nasser. He is banking on the theory that the West is too busy with the Communists to bother with him right now, and that the Communists will help him along just to make trouble for the West. Perhaps he thought he would be appeased as was Hitler. I hope hindsight has taught us to the contrary.

RALPH M. FREYDBERG JR. New York City

Sir:

Reading your report one has the impression of reading a propaganda leaflet from the British government. As long as Egyptians pay for nationalized property and keep the canal open there is no reason for TIME to jump on the Egyptian neck.

MITCHELL STACHEA Beverly Hills, Calif.

Sir:

The solution is for all non-Egyptian shipping lines to boycott the canal until such time as Nasser's high horse collapses from the lack of financial nutrition.

ED ROTHMAN Scranton, Pa.

Sir:

Nasser's nationalization comes as a much-needed sock in the jaw for the West. We are still laughing over your "astutely timed" and "gambit that took away the breath of the professionals" in describing Dulles' withdrawal of aid for Aswan Dam.

V. V. L. N. RAO

Secunderabad, India

Sir:

Nasser doesn't exactly look the role, but acts like an overgrown Flattop's boy in regretting a murder.

LEONARD STEWART Houston

Sir:

The reaction against Nasser proved how right the U.S. State Department was in not putting up the immense amount of money needed for the Aswan Dam. The eye-for-an-eye policy will only lead to trouble with partners. It is high time for Nasser to learn that what makes a friend is never blackmail.

H. J. BAIDEUMANN Soerabaja, Java

Retarded Children

Sir:

Thank you for your Aug. 13 report on these children. These innocent ones in years past have been the butt of jokes of radio and TV entertainers, with their references to "little pointed heads" and "little moron" stories. Now we hope there is a new future awaiting these children, and parents need no longer have shame added to their sorrow.

ROBERT J. AMBROSE Muskegon Association for Retarded Children Muskegon, Mich.

Sir:

A big vote of gratitude for a well-done article on a subject on which there has been an appalling lack of information. I know, for it took us painfully long weeks and months after our Mongoloid baby was born to learn the facts you presented so well.

N. W. SWAN SON Indianapolis

The Winner

Sir:

Concerning your article on the New York-Florida award to Northeast [Aug. 20]: For the past couple of years we have been pretty generally laughed at, with many people telling us we could never win because we were weak, too small, and other less complimentary reasons. Having done what some claim to be the impossible, it is a little discouraging to find TIME publishing an article that is a little hard to accept by the people to whom your top executives trust their lives as they commute in Northeast's "aging and early model airplanes."

ROBERT L. TURNER Northeast Airlines, Inc. Boston

The Duke

Sir:

A great accolade to you for Peter Kurd's portrait of Duke Ellington on your Aug. 20 cover. The accompanying article was a great tribute to a fine gentleman, musician and composer. He will be remembered as one of the alltime greats of jazz music in America.

HORACE B. FINDER New York City

Sir:

Let us have more by Peter Hurd. His interpretation of Ellington is excellent.

JOHN F. MANNING

Greenfield, Mass.

Sir:

If Ellington had contributed something valuable to all mankind--like George Washington Carver--your selection would have been unassailable. But you have a great responsibility to the vast readership you reach. Just because Ellington and Armstrong and our rock 'n' roll nitwits have a following among people who are moved by the noises of blah-blah and nothingness, there is no reason why you should publicize their worthless causes.

ALEX M. WORTH Durham, N.C.

Sir:

Your article on Ellington was a most welcome diversion from the news of the Nile and the Democratic circus in Chicago. Only one criticism: the shot of the Cotton Club shows the highness of hi-de-ho, Cab Galloway, with the chicks, and not the Duke. Of course Cab spent many moons at that bistro. But please let this not discourage you from printing a shot of Duke at the Cotton Club.

GREN MARSH Regina, Sask.

(& Reader Marsh is right. Says Photographer Max Haas: "I took that picture in the Cotton Club some 25 years ago, thought it was Ellington. The picture has run in publications in the U.S. and all over the world. Until now, no questions were raised." For a picture of the Duke, celebrating his 3Qth birthday at the Cotton Club in 1938, see cut.--ED.

The Mediterranean

Sir:

Enjoyed the marvelous Aug. 20 pages on the Mediterranean, and the article as well. It was an excellent picture of that area of the world, and may make a few people realize that what seems an insurmountable problem has existed many times before, and has somehow settled itself.

HAROLD G. BEGLEY

Kinross, Mich.

Sir:

Why did not my history teachers have your cartographer's brains?

GERALD A. ELLIS

Hampstead, London

Of Human Brundage

Sir:

Your attention is called to the fact that I.O.C. President Avery Brundage was not promoting a new addition to the Olympic oath ["I am now, and intend to remain, an amateur"--Aug. 13]. He was reporting an amplification, not a change, of the pledge which has been in the rule book for years. The object is only to ascertain the intention of the competitor at the time of signing the pledge, there was "no surprise to learn that there might be athletes who could not predict their futures." Moreover, there was no "backtracking," only an explanation. The statement does indicate when "aspiring pros become illegitimate." It is that minute when they become aspiring pros.

AVERY BRUNDAGE Comite International Olympique Chicago

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