Bobby & Ethel

Sir:

One cannot help being impressed with the versatility with which Bobby Kennedy adapts himself to the affairs of state [Feb. 16]. However, with the President abroad last spring and anarchy threatening to sweep the Dominican Republic, what logic prescribed that the Attorney General take over the No. 1 spot of the country? Where, oh where has the vice-presidency gone?

TOM DEVLIN

Los Angeles

Sir:

On my recent trip to my homeland, Japan, I could not help noticing that the image of "Ugly American" is being quickly washed away since appointment of Ambassador Edwin Reischauer.

I am confident that Bobby Kennedy helped to impress America's good will, wisdom, and, above all, her sincerity upon the Japanese minds, young and old alike.

MASATO TAKAHASHI, M.D.

Indianapolis

Sir:

Biggest laugh of the year: Bob Kennedy's denial that he will try to succeed Big Brother Jack in the White House.

Anybody want to bet on that?

MRS. E. N. SYMMS

Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Sir:

I can only assume that Bobby Kennedy wrote his own cover story. An objective report would have at least mentioned the dangers of amateur summiteering by a brash 36-year-old whose big brother appointed him Attorney General, not Secretary of State. The next time one of the traveling Kennedys goes on a diplomatic lark, the Administration ought to have Dean Rusk carry his (or her) suitcases in order to dramatize the complete breakdown in orderly and prudent division of responsibility. Top-level foreign relations in this hydrogen-charged world are far too delicate to trust to kid brothers tired of Washington.

DONALD C. STEINER

Ohio Senate Columbus

Sir:

You were kinda mean to Ethel.

Was it hard work picking out her undiplomatic spontaneities? And besides, what's wrong with hairbows?

PEGGY FASANO

Northbrook, ILL.

Spy Swap

Sir:

Nothing has characterized the naivete of the Kennedy Administration more than its brilliant trade of Rudolph Abel for Francis Gary Powers [Feb. 16]. If one compares the respective worths of the men involved, this action typifies the lack of responsibility of a person who has shown himself unfit to manage a minor-league athletic team.

The result of this deal is the freedom of the two "spies." Colonel Abel, skilled in his field, will probably re-enter the area of espionage and continue his successful career. Gary Powers, unskilled in spying and following instructions, will probably return home to have a nervous breakdown.

JOEL D. GEWIRTZ

HENRY BERGER

KENNETH MATE

New Rochelle, N.Y.

Sir:

On the subject of this callous horse trading, it strikes me that we got the worst of the deal. What Yankee would take a permanently unemployed pilot for an intelligence agent who's willing and Abel?

JOHN C. TIERNEY

Brunswick, Me.

A Leftist Goldwater

Sir:

Your Feb. 9 photo of Margaret Goldwater, it must be a mistake. How could Barry Goldwater have a LEFT-handed daughter?

D. D. REED

Torrington, Wyo.

Catholic Learning

Sir:

Your Feb. 9 cover story on Notre Dame was so excellent that I hesitate to nitpick, but the 1913 Notre Dame-Army game in which Knute Rockne and Gus Dorais made football history was played at West Point.

Yankee Stadium was not built until 1923, and the first Notre Dame-Army game played there was in 1925.

DONALD J. WILKINS

Notre Dame '27

Washington, D.C.

Schwarz & Co.

Sir:

Congratulations for your very fine report on the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade [Feb. 9]. This is an example of thorough and unbiased reporting that is truly admirable.

With no suggestion of complaint, I would like to mention a feature of the report:

I did not sell my medical practice in Sydney. It was closed down. I mention this for the sake of accuracy.

FRED SCHWARZ

President

Christian Anti-Communism Crusade

Long Beach, Calif.

Sir:

I am truly dismayed at the nasty way you degraded Dr. Schwarz in your article.

EVA V. BURNHAM

Hayden Lake, Idaho

Sir:

As an Australian citizen, may I say: would somebody please direct that poor, misguided Aussie, Schwarz, back to Australia, where he will find a much larger group of card-carrying Commies and fellow travelers than there are pinkos and pseudoliberals in all this country's "ivory cloisters."

ALLEN R. SMITH

Western Michigan University

Kalamazoo

Sir:

Just finished reading your article on "Crusader Schwarz," and my only reaction is this: What is he doing in our country? He should be expelled as an undesirable alien!

PALMER B. ROWLEY JR.

Albuquerque

Sir:

What America needs are more crusaders like Dr. Schwarz. He and others like him, who are free from the subversive secrecy of organizations like the John Birch Society, will surely be most instrumental in the final victory over world Communism.

CHARLES A. PIDDOCK

Hamilton, N.Y.

Sir:

I heard Fred Schwarz lecture to the students at Seattle University, drumming up recruits for his crusade. From him I heard such astonishing and rubbery statements as: Boris Pasternak was starved to death; he (Schwarz) was for the progressive income tax and therefore not a right-winger; there are three kinds of mental patients: psychotic, neurotic and liberal; foreign aid and military spending have failed; the Alliance for Progress is doomed because poverty isn't the cause of Communism; Christianity is too uninformed and trusting to combat Communism; and anyone venturing into the world without being "informed" is likely to be molested intellectually unless Mama Schwarz warns them about evil men with candy. In good American idiom, Schwarz is a slippery character.

ARTHUR L. MCDONALD

Seattle

Sir:

As a direct result of Dr. Schwarz's meetings held here in Bridgeport and nearby cities, action groups have been organized and are at work attacking moral decay which, more than anything else, will set us up for a Communist takeover. Look for a more effective program for cracking down on drunken drivers. Expect a surge of public sentiment against lawyers who get fat on fees derived from freeing such criminals through tricky legal maneuvers. There are a great many people in this country who still believe in the Biblical concept of morality.

GEORGE WEDBERG

Bridgeport, Conn.

Sir:

Is it not enough that Dr. Schwarz arouses an intense desire in the American people to learn about Communism for themselves? Your question of what, specifically, Dr. Schwarz "gives" us bears little relevance to his importance. Why must he give us anything? Why not dispense with the chronic American failure to depend upon someone else to tell us what to do?

JOSEPH C. ZENGERLE III

Cadet

U.S. Military Academy

West Point, N.Y.

Ludendorff or Hindenburg?

Sir:

May I point out that in your Feb. 9 review of Historian Barbara Tuchman's new book, The Guns of August, an inaccurate statement is made: "General Erich Ludendorff routed the Russians at Tannenberg before his reinforcements arrived." For some years, I have been teaching my classes that it was General Paul von Hindenburg who fulfilled the dream of his life in leading an army against an enemy in East Prussia, an area he knew as well as his own estate. With Ludendorff as his chief of staff, Hindenburg proceeded to set the trap for the advancing Russian army, and as they approached the outskirts of Tannenberg, his troops enveloped the left flank, destroying the major part of 4 1/2 corps. This was the most complete German victory of the whole war, and Hindenburg was forever idolized in the minds of Germans as the "hero of Tannenberg."

GEORGE HEDGES

Alexander Hamilton High School

Los Angeles

> Historian Tuchman argues that as the commander of the forces that routed the Russians at Tannenberg, Hindenburg became the hero of the nation, lauded all out of proportion to his real role in the battle. It was actually his chief of staff, Ludendorff, who personally directed and deployed the troops. Hindenburg fully approved of Ludendorff's strategies. The two worked closely together throughout World War I. When Hindenburg was made a field marshal he was nicknamed "Marshal Was-sagst-du" because whenever he was asked an opinion, he would turn to Ludendorff and query, "Was sagst du?" (What do you say?).--ED.

Sniffing Glue

Sir: As a teacher in a New York City high school, I wish to protest an article about a new teen-age kick--glue sniffing [Feb. 16]. To go into the exact techniques for enjoying the effects of glue vapors is just short of criminal.

My own students often use model-airplane glue in construction work in art classes. We have always found the pungent smell distasteful. Now I am afraid that your article has planted the seed of something that we may be unable to control.

WILLIAM M. SPILKA

New York City

Sir:

These ill-tempered, truculent, no-good teen-agers will start a fight over nothing at all and then blame it on glue, bennies, or whatever is handy. They need nothing more than a trip into the boondocks with a good Marine sergeant. Teenagers, bah. I'm sick of 'em. And their fads.

JOHN S. CARROLL

New York City

Letter from Bombay

Sir: The letter from Bombay about Mr. Menon's election campaign is phony [Feb. 16] The signatures are not real names, but obscenities in Hindi. They are so bad that you will not find them in a dictionary. I feel ashamed of these my countrymen, who have transformed their anger into vulgarity, reflecting how uncivilized we are.

VINOD C. SHAH

Columbia University

New York City

> TIME accepted the letter in good faith, regrets the offense it might have given to readers with knowledge of Hindi.--ED.

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