Senator from Massachusetts

Sir:

I am a Methodist and I give Senator John Kennedy my full support; this young man has a brilliant mind and a fine congressional record. It is the duty of every citizen to raise the declining prestige of America in the eyes of the world by overlooking racial and religious differences.

ELIZABETH HUPP

Springfield, Ill.

Sir:

If Jack Kennedy's presidential aspirations are realized, what guarantee will the American people have that he will not follow the lead of his church in waging war against our tradition of religious freedom through church-state separation?

ALEC RANDALL

Bogota, Colombia

Sir:

Jack Kennedy is the answer to slick Dick Nixon, who will almost certainly be the Republican candidate. It's only a matter of time now until Kennedy's enemies begin circulating the stories about building a tunnel to the Vatican or bringing the Pope to Washington, but Jack's religion makes no difference to me--he gets my vote in 1960.

JOHN T. WHITEMAN

Lewisburg, Pa.

Sir:

Senator Kennedy is barking up the wrong tree when he accuses the Eisenhower Administration of lack of initiative in the space war. Our country fell behind in the rocket race while the Democrats were playing footsie with the Commies back in the '40s. Kennedy is not the "soaring satellite" TIME dubs him; he's more like a Roman candle.

CHARLES H. MGUIRE

Brooklyn

Sir:

To the millions of women voters in this country I will concede that John Kennedy is a cute kid, if they will, in turn, grant that a high AMI (appeal to the maternal instinct) does not sufficiently qualify a man for the presidency of the U.S.

GEORGE JONES JR.

Woonsocket, R.I.

Reactor Progress

Sir:

Under the heading "A Baby Is Born," there is an excellent description of the Shippingport reactor in which, however, the following expression occurs: "The nation's sluggish atomic energy program will show its first practical results." Four atomic power plants have been completed this year and are delivering civilian power; the Shippingport plant will be No. 5. One of these plants has been financed entirely by private capital, and seven other full-scale plants likewise are scheduled to be built by private capital without any direct Government financial contribution. Fifteen other atomic power plants, for civilian use, are presently under actual construction, or contracts have been entered into and design work is under way. All this has come about in 4 1/2 years.

LEWIS L. STRAUSS U

.S. Atomic Energy Commission

Washington, D.C.

The DEW Line

Sir:

After reading your article on what the U.S. is spending on NORAD and the DEW line, wouldn't it be more appropriate to call the whole system the American IMAGINOT line?

FRED E. BRETH

Hobart, N.Y.

Cover Men

Sir:

For a while, your cover choice was disappointing (e.g., Faubus, Hoffa). Recently, you have gone back to your high standard--Teller, Erhard and White. Keep up the good work.

C. M. HUGHES

Detroit

Missile Men

Sir:

The Administration's decision to arm our NATO allies with IRBMissiles seems another hasty jump out of the frying pan into the fire. England and France have demonstrated in the Suez affair how sorely our allies may be tempted to take impulsive, independent action. Our eagerness to bolster the pride and might of our allies should not cause us to forget that the first atomic-armed missile fired by any NATO finger will shoot the U.S. into an all-out nuclear war.

RICHARD C. PLATER JR.

Thibodaux, La.

Sir:

You say the U.S. Air Force needs "six more bases right now, and another 100 as soon as Tommy White can get them." Each, no doubt, complete with schools, TV repair shops, PX's, officers' clubs, noncoms' clubs, hobby shops, etc. It seems to me that every bureau in Washington is using the Sputniks as an excuse for a return to the big spending that, only a year ago, we seemed to have defeated. One good place to start economizing would be to cease building missiles which are almost duplicates of one another.

EDWARD V. KILLEEN

New York City

Still Life

Sir:

Do you have to print such monstrosities as Clyfford Still's Red and Black and Okada's Dynasty and call it art ? They are nothing but nightmares. Give me a Corot or a Bonheur. Their trees and horses look like trees and horses.

B. F. RANDEL

San Diego

Sir:

Albright Art Gallery's coup of the year in acquiring Clyfford Still's Red and Black reveals a direction that should catch on--artist selecting museum instead of the old-hat method of museum selecting artist. As for the Museum of Modern Art's having to cool its heels for two years in order to own Still's work--good. They're such an impulsive group.

KARL E. FORTESS

Boston

Sir:

I have a small duplicate of Clyfford Still's Red and Black painting in my studio. I created it when I spilled some cadmium orange on my linoleum tile floor. I will be happy to sell it for 5-c- or 7-c-.

BEN SUNDAY

Davenport, Iowa

P: Cost of the original: $5,000 to $7,000--ED.

Man of the Year

Sir:

No debate necessary--1957 is Khrushchev's year. It was a better year for the Reds than for us.

W. SNYDER

Evanston, Ill.

Sir:

Leave it blank for the Western scientist who should have been there.

GEORGES HEGEDUS

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Sir:

Young King Hussein of Jordan, who had the guts to rear up on his hind legs and smash his enemies, saving his country and his throne. Courage is one of the most needed attributes in the world today.

S. M. STROUS

Savannah

Sir:

It's Krupp von Bohlen--symbolic of the age of realism.

PHILIP FLINT CONNELL

Portland, Me.

Sir:

Dr. Wernher Von Braun and his entire missile team in Alabama.

NANCY C. BECK

New Albany, Ind.

Sir:

Congratulations to TIME for its article on the Duke of Edinburgh. He is the obvious choice.

NICHOLAS ROMANOFF

Melbourne, Australia

Incident at Sasebo

Sir:

After reading your Nov. 18 letters on Sergeant Barbuti's court-martial, I find it necessary to answer. I am the "species of animal" they call the U.S. marine. I have run across men who actually had to be treated like Paul Basom, Jeffrey Cohee and the others. The people to blame are their parents. If these parents had taken their sons into the woodshed once in a while, the "grown" men would never be in the brig in the first place.

(SGT.) CHARLES CRESSON

U.S.M.C.

Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Sir:

About the outraged cries of motherhood in your letters section: it is high time the Moms of America realized that sonny isn't the darling he is thought to be. A realistic view of the problem of discipline in the U.S. armed forces indicates that if sonny kept his nose clean, there would be no necessity for brigs or for guards.

W. A. J. MACLEOD

Oxford, Ohio

Offside Kicks

Sir:

I hope Protestants who root for Notre Dame noticed Nick Pietrosante's statement on why the team wanted to beat Oklahoma. "We did it for all the Catholics in Oklahoma." Thus are all Protestants bluntly informed that Notre Dame wins football games for the Roman Catholic Church.

FRED ENGLE

Richmond, Ky.

Sir:

You quote our fullback, Nick Pietrosante, as saying that our team won the game for all the Catholics in Oklahoma. As far as I can ascertain, Nick did not say this, but it is quite possible that someone else did. My only observation for the record is that at Notre Dame we consider football a game, not a religious crusade.

THEODORE M. HESBURGH, C.S.C.

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, Ind.

Traitor or Patriot?

Sir:

Your Nov. 25 indictment of Roger Casement could have been written by an overzealous Colonel Blimp employed by the British Foreign Office, circa 1916.

WILLIAM A. HAINES

San Francisco

Sir:

Your book reviewer's anxiousness to add his weight to those who would blacken Roger Casement's character is most disgusting. How dare he suggest that Roger Casement, an Irishman, was taking up someone else's injustices when he took up the cause of Irish freedom?

JAMES J. BALLANTINE

Carrick-on-Suir, Ireland

Sir:

So England has found in TIME an ally to keep the name of Sir Roger Casement blackened. For your offensive use of the epithet "traitor," you deserve to be boycotted by Irishmen at home and abroad.

S. O'BOYLE

Avoca, Ireland

Sir:

An Englishman's appraisal of an Irish patriot usually counts for very little.

M. O'DALY

Verdun, Montreal

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