How to Entertain a Dictator

Sir:

Congratulations to Senator Dodd for his forthright expression of what must certainly be the views of the overwhelming majority of thinking Americans [Aug. 24].

Why must our great nation lower itself to the position of consorting with thugs of Nikita Khrushchev's ilk? Since when did we condone oppression, murder, genocide and every other heinous crime known to civilized man by wining and dining the living symbol of tyranny? Why must we risk the integrity of our great nation by staking our Chief Executive to a game of poker with an opponent who is dealing from his own marked deck?

DONALD H. COLLINS Columbia, S.C.

Sir:

Senator Dodd put in just a few short words the real feeling of the American people, and also he has in a way shown us how to accept Khrushchev's arrival. The one thing the American people should avoid is mass cheers and greetings.

JOAN HAAS Baltimore

Sir:

Let us pray that the American in the street puts his prejudices in the closet for a few days and treats Mr. Khrushchev as an honored guest. Mr. Nixon seems to have been treated very well during his visit. Let's repay with our best manners.

EARL C. COOK Buenos Aires

Sir:

I hope Mr. Eisenhower will not forget to invite Mr. Khrushchev to church.

MRS. VICTOR W. LINCOLN Lancaster, Pa.

The Long Ball Hitter

Sir:

Re your Aug. 24 cover: Rocky Colavito may be first in the hearts of his young fans here in Cleveland, but he isn't first in American League batting, runs batted in or home runs, and the team isn't even in first place. Thought people who "rated" covers on TIME were supposed to be noteworthy.

A. R. CARPENTER Cleveland

Sir:

Another grand slam homer for TIME !

EDWARD W. SCHMIDT Chicago

Sir:

At last I have "made" the cover of TIME. I am the Adonis to the left of the Indian directly behind the left shoulder of Cleveland's Colavito [see cut]. My wife recognized the likeness at a glance and was relieved to know I really did go to see the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians play in Boston that day.

W. H. RICHARDSON Wakefield, R.I.

P: Artist Boris Chaliapin also was at the ballpark that day, included the evidence for his wife (see cut).--ED.

Sir:

Your selection of Rocky Colavito was a good one. But a better choice would have been Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs, the finest clutch player in the game today. And that's a tribute coming from a Pittsburgh fan.

DAVID D. WAKEFIELD Chatham, NJ.

Sir:

Please inform that fathead (doesn't rhyme with anything) of yours that the Tigers of Detroit are still in the American League. Possibly he will find out for himself in September.

JIM ASIMAKIS Detroit

Oil, Sand & Politics

Sir:

TIME'S Aug. 17 cover story on the Sahara is an enlightening and timely article. With the public support of the U.S., France could quell more quickly the fanatical, marauding minority in Algeria, and could concentrate on opening the riches of Algeria's Sahara for the entire population's, and the world's, benefit.

GEORGE C. KENNEDY JR. Philadelphia

Sir:

Congratulations to Jacques Soustelle, France's dynamic Minister of the Sahara. Soustelle's "folly" may well prove to be the redemption of France.

WALTER S. DENNY JR.

Trenton, NJ.

Sir:

Any exploitation of another people's land and resources is doomed to failure. Many big nations have tried and eventually have had to relinquish their mercenary, "white man's burden" technique. Does France really believe that she can get away with using another people's oil for her own benefit?

MAY MANSOOR Dalton, Ga.

Sir:

Your map tends to give the impression that the Sahara is not a part of Algeria, adding the prestige of your large-circulation magazine to the latest French myth. This myth is: Algeria is France, the Sahara is not Algeria, but it is French all the same!

A. CHANDERLI Permanent Representative of the Algerian Front of National Liberation New York City

The Count of San Francisco

Sir:

Your Aug. 17 characterization of Columnist Spinelli's candid newspaper articles on sexual behavior in the home as "sewer" writing is the most ridiculous example of Victorian prudery since Postmaster General Summerfield banned "the Lady" from the U.S. mails. When will Americans learn that sex is a natural part of life ?

WILLIAM G. HALBY New York City

Sir:

TIME, what makes your nose so blue? Count Marco finally justifies the slogan, "Brighten your morning with the Chronicle."

NINA DUSHECK San Francisco

Sir:

The women of San Francisco must be a puny lot--to let the likes of Columnist Spinelli and Editor Newhall get away with printing trash and making money on it.

If they had any guts they'd have Spinelli out on his ear in no time. All they would have to do is stop buying the paper.

MARY KOUMJIAN Watertown, Mass.

Fabian & All That Jazz

Sir:

We wouldn't want TIME readers to be left with the impression that to all teen-agers Fabian is "a great teen-age idol" [Aug. 17]. The fact that he might be a "nice, handsome boy, and comes from a good family" is no excuse for him, Ricky Nelson, Frankie Avalon or Sal Mineo to blast the nation's eardrums with off-key wails. And that background music of overtwanged guitars, boom-la-la-boom-las and thin soprano voices echoing the asinine lyrics--oh, brother!

KAREN BENKER (15) BARBARA BENKER (17) Quaker Hill, Conn.

Sir:

Too bad Reader Love and his contemporaries (with all respect) can't understand what a wonderful equalizer the waltz is--its magic can turn a square with two left feet into a Fred Astaire with the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi in his arms.

SUNNY ERWIN SHAFFER Northbrook, Ill.

Sir:

I wail, man, every time someone refers, as one of your correspondents did, to "the days of Rudy Vallee" as if he were a historical daddy-o like Betsy Ross. Being a good friend of Ellie and Rudy, I can report he is very much the contemporary comedian and as good a nightclub monologuist as anyone extant and sober.

ROBERT FONTAINE Springfield, Mass.

Expose

Sir:

Since your reviewer noted Eva three times denuded in my book Eva [TIME, Aug. 24], let me make it four by disrobing her as Mrs. Ida Lev of Ramat Gan [see cut]. It was a publishing decision to present Eva as a novel, but nowadays truth is no stranger to fiction.

MEYER LEVIN Tel Aviv, Israel

P: Before World War II, Ida Lev was a teen-age member of the Polish Girl Scouts. When war came, the young Jewess became a "survivor"; she "survived everything," including the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Now in Israel, Mrs. Lev selected Meyer Levin to be her biographer.--ED.

It Is, or Is It?

Sir:

You failed to understand the works of the artists represented in It Is [Aug. 10]. There is discovery, surprise and beauty in most of their best shows that I have so far seen. And from this distance let me add that the European looks with favor upon the new challenge of Tenth Street artists.

DOMINIC B. TARTARO Madrid

Sir:

The comments of Guston, Ferren, Resnick et al. on art were pure unadulterated hogwash. These so-called artists are certainly free to amuse, but let us certainly not be taken in by their psychopathic antics and pronouncements.

CHARLES M. LEACH Corvallis, Ore.

Sir:

Anent the publication It Is and abstract expression as "playing tennis without a net." Pause a while. To play tennis properly without a net demands a sense of distance, space and proportion more acute and an honesty and moral purpose more severe than playing with a net. Try it.

JOHN FERREN East Hampton, N.Y.

The Datum Seeker

Sir:

In your issue of Aug. 17 I note that TIME now accepts the horrid practice of turning the Latin plural "data" into a singular noun. Ugh! And what are we going to do for a plural ?

UPTON SINCLAIR Buckeye, Ariz.

P: Let Reader Sinclair shoot his "Ugh!" at Webster--and for a plural, let him use data.--ED.

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