The Beard & the Bear
Sir:
Congratulations on what must have been one of your most rapidly produced cover stories in history [Nov. 2].
Admiral George Anderson, with whom I have been privileged to be closely associated for the past several months, is indeed a giant among men. The confidence he instills in these around him in times of crisis is a sight to behold, and you have done our country a great service in giving your readers a chance to share our trust and confidence in him.
Your coverage definitely caught the subtle but powerful implications of this classic use of sea power by a maritime nation in pursuit of an urgent foreign policy objective.
FRED KORTH
Secretary of the Navy
Washington, B.C.
Sir:
Admiral Anderson has a worthy predecessor in his war on profanity, one who was equally adamant about "that unmeaning and abominable custom, swearing." His name was George Washington.
BECKY NOLAN
Purchase, N.Y.
Sir:
As an American citizen traveling in Anatolia last week, I realized the magnitude of President Kennedy's decision. In all the world, no country's destiny depends more on the outcome of that decision than does Turkey's. In spite of the implications of our official attitude toward Cuba now--or, probably, because of our stand--the Turks are ready to support our President to the utmost.
Standing up and saying "No!" to Khrushchev has done more for American prestige in this part of the world than 20 American spacemen landing on the moon. Turks--"fiercely anti-Russian"--have complete confidence in the wisdom of America's attitude toward Khrushchev and Castro.
HENRY ANGELO-CASTRILLON
Istanbul
Sir:
I am disgusted with those chest-thumping, flag-waving Americans, TIME included, who reacted to the Cuban "victory" as if it were a baseball pennant. Bravery is not an absence of fear but the ability to do what must be done even when afraid. TIME quoted David Heffernan as being able to hold his head up because of the blockade. It was necessary to blockade Cuba, but there is a difference between being right and being righteous. Would Heffernan hold his head up even higher if, come war, we could kill 100 million Russians at a loss of only 50 million Americans ?
JOEL KIBBEE
Santa Monica, Calif.
Sir:
Speaking of "restraint," it seems the World Council of Churches did not exercise much in expressing their "regret" about the U.S. quarantine of Cuba. They attacked President Kennedy's decision within 24 hours after it was announced.
The Rev. Dr. Fry's letter [Nov. 9], far from vindicating the W.C.C., shows that their action was, at best, rash. Their statement was issued "before there was any response from the Soviet Union or from Cuba."
In other words, the W.C.C. condemned the U.S. before Russia had a chance to admit that she had offensive missiles in Cuba.
HENRY L. YOUNG JR.
Atlanta
Sir:
The article "U.S. Bases Abroad" [Nov. 9] refers to Okinawa and says in part: "The U.S. holds its bases under an agreement with Japan that runs until 1970."
The U.S. gained the right to administer the Ryukyus as the result of the Japanese peace treaty signed in 1951. The treaty places no time limit on the U.S. administration of the islands. In President Kennedy's budget message to Congress for the fiscal year 1963, the President restated the U.S. position: "The U.S. will continue responsibility for the administration of the Ryukyu Islands as long as conditions of threat and tension in the Far East require maintenance of military bases in these islands."
ROBERT PROSSER
Editor
Morning Star
Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands
Sir:
After reading your article on the Cuban crisis [Nov. 2], we girls have only one question: Just what kind of sandwich was House Democratic Whip Hale Boggs clutching when he was whisked back to Washington?
MARY ANN BUDZINSKI
KATHY BETJRET
South Bend, Ind.
> Roast beef on white toast.--ED.
Unpeaceful Existence
Sir:
At a time when we in India are learning firsthand, though rather belatedly, the Chinese Communists' respect for peaceful coexistence, it is encouraging to know from the U.S.'s action on Cuba that democracy has taken a decisive stand against international Communism.
F. DAN GONSALVES
Bombay
Sir:
India stands exposed to the Communist interpretation of noninterference and peaceful coexistence. We should have been suspicious when the Chinese first started road-building on the borders. Instead of merely chanting the hymns of peace from atop the Himalayas hoping to enlighten Peking, we should have thrust the Chinese back right then with all our might without giving them time to strengthen their aggressive designs.
S. PRAKASH SINHA
Urbana, Ill.
Sir:
Serves Nehru right.
DAN G. KENT
De Leon, Texas
Sir:
We wish to clarify the information that you printed in the Nov. 2 issue concerning the evacuation of Baptist missionaries from Assam, India. Our missionaries have not left their places, nor have those of the Baptist General Conference of America (headquarters in Chicago) left their posts, which are located north of the Brahmaputra River. We and the Baptist General Conference have received cables from Assam, dated as late as Nov. 1, stating that all missionaries are at their places of service. Plans to cope with an emergency have been drawn up, but there is no necessity to use these plans as of Nov. 8.
(THE REV.) RICHARD CUMMINGS
American Baptist Foreign Mission Society Valley Forge, Pa.
Stamp of Disapproval
Sir:
Perhaps if your readers could see this rather lovely Christmas stamp from New Zealand, they might be encouraged to demand something better from the U.S. Post Office and the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee [Nov. 9].
GEOFFREY WILLIAMS
London
Sir:
It should be recorded that the outraged opposition within the committee to this grotesque vulgarity went unheeded by the Post Office Department. It (note I refuse to call it a design) repudiates all the art influence the committee is trying to use in its effort to improve U.S. stamp design.
NORMAN TODHUNTER
Stamp Advisory Committee
Gladstone, NJ.
Sir:
I might as well slap a grocery-store trading stamp on my Christmas greeting-card envelope as disgrace it with that utterly tasteless, uninspired label offered.
In protest I am going to buy nothing but sheaves of one-cent stamps to put three on my unsealed envelopes.
TILLY M. MERRITT
San Diego
In Defense of Steinbeck
Sir:
Only a few months ago I reread some of Steinbeck's books. I was deeply moved by The Crapes of Wrath and delighted by Cannery Row. Probably compassion, humor and good characterization are unsophisticated or passe to the writer of your Steinbeck article [Nov. 2], but a few of us still enjoy them. There are also some of us, incredibly enough, who do not worship at the shrine of Hemingway.
(MRS.) FRANCES DAVIDS
State College, Pa.
Sir:
In your completely unjustifiable tirade against Novelist John Steinbeck you fail to mention his major work East of Eden, which, alone, justifies his choice as recipient of the 1962 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Surely the fact that The Grapes of Wrath has survived its time and place, together with the fact that his books have been translated into 33 foreign languages is proof enough that Steinbeck's work has the power and popularity that very few of the other American winners have been privileged to enjoy.
REG GUSH
Ranger
Mkuzi Game Reserve
Zululand, South Africa
Sir:
TIME has nothing good to say of John Steinbeck and stresses his "flawed talent." What talent or genius is not flawed? Even Shakespeare is full of flaws.
(MRS.) ROSAMOND C. MOREHOUSE
Brooklyn Heights, N.Y.
Worth the Price
Sir:
Many thanks for the wonderfully succinct article on Artist Andrew Wyeth [Nov. 2]. His statements--so direct and forceful--are unchallengeable.
Whatever the price paid for a Wyeth, the collector gets his money's worth.
LAURENCE R. WEBSTER
Ashland, Mass.
Sir:
I know of all the magazine pages I have turned and looked at and read I have for the first time seen something I most truly want--one of Andrew Wyeth's paintings. Thank you for these two small reproductions.
(MRS.) SALLY BURRILL
Eastham, Mass.
Sir:
How I envy the janitor or the gallery cat that might slip in after the crowds disperse to view this man's work.
For Andrew Wyeth--America's poet-painter--whose every brush stroke defines the poignancy of man's condition, comforts him in turn with beauty wrought from dried grass and chilling winds.
MARY Risch
Connersville, Ind.
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