Man of the Year

Sir: In tribute to our late President, the man who loved peace and sought to bring peace among all nations, 1 nominate John F. Kennedy Man of the Year.

RABBI SIMON MURCIANO Louisville

Sir: I suggest a combination Man of the Year, both named John: Pope John XXIII and President John F. Kennedy. Two men with one goal--world peace.

BERNARD A. CONWAY Detroit

Sir: Jacqueline Kennedy took the native intelligence, adventurous courage and quiet bravery of the pioneer women of the old frontier and gave these attributes an elegant refinement. I nominate Mrs. Kennedy "Woman of the Year."

MRS. ROBERT CHARLEVOIX Ontonagon, Mich.

Sir: Women of the Year: Mrs. Medgar Evers and Mrs. John F. Kennedy.

MRS. R. F. UREN Bowling Green, Ohio

Sir: For 1963's Man of the Year cover I suggest three-year-old John-John saluting the coffin bearing his father's body. It would symbolize the eternal light, the resurrection of a new year, a new future, and new hopes in our children.

ALEX S. EINSTEIN San Francisco

Sir: Lee Harvey Oswald--if your selection for Man of the Year is still the person who has most affected the world in the past year--for good or evil. In one terrible moment, Lee Harvey Oswald made a devastating mark on the pages of history.

DIANE MORRISETT New Orleans

Sir: Officer J. D. Tippit. In saluting him you will salute all police officers.

R. BOURQUIN Pittsburgh

Sir: I nominate for the Man of the Year Lyndon B. Johnson. The man who is now pur President must face terrific odds. President Johnson is fortunately able to meet the challenge.

H. J. HOPPE, D.D.S. Cleveland

Sir: My selection for Man of the Year: the American Negro. Need I say more?

Gus CAPPOS Wilmington, Del.

The New President

Sir: While the entire world is speculating as to what type of President Lyndon Johnson will make, permit me to relate a prophecy concerning him made 15 years ago by one of his longtime close friends.

In 1948 I talked to Dr. C. E. Evans (now deceased), at that, time retired president of the Southwest Texas State Teachers College. Among many other things, we talked about Lyndon. I shall never forget one statement Dr. Evans made. Said he: "I have no doubt whatever that Lyndon will one day be the man of destiny. Yes, Lyndon will be the man of destiny."

We Americans should thank our lucky stars that Lyndon was in the position to take over the reins following the ignominious assassination of Mr. Kennedy. Lyndon, who has long had his finger on the pulse of the nation and the world, knows better than any other American what the score is. John F. Kennedy was, undeniably, a great President, but I have less fear for our country with Lyndon leading it than I have had in many a year. If we will just LET Lyndon lead, we will see a feat of government such as the world has never known--and if I know Lyndon Johnson, it will not be a defeat of liberty.

WALTER E. WILLIS Division of Humanities The Texarkana College Texarkana,Texas

Sir: Like everyone else, I was deeply shocked at the cruel murder of President Kennedy. However, that is no excuse for the political chicanery of President Johnson in asking Congress to put over the Kennedy legislative program in toto, regardless of its merits, or lack thereof, as a "living memorial" to the dead President. Johnson, in effect, asks Congressmen who have opposed certain measures to set aside both conscience and Constitutional oath so that the Democratic Party can make capital of the assassination.

Certainly the program's virtue or shortcomings are not altered by the untimely death of President Kennedy.

WILLIAM A. COOK West Palm Beach, Fla.

The Bodyguard

Sir: I believe Rufus Youngblood, who was guarding then Vice President Johnson at the time of the assassination, is the same man with whom I served in World War II. I would like these additional facts to be known if he is the same man.

On his 14th or 15th birthday, he, was flying combat missions over Europe. At 18, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. Rufus Youngblood was already willing to lay down his life for his country even before he was a man.

ROBERT S. PICHA formerly Captain, U.S.A.F. Alexandria, Minn.

>Rufus Wayne Youngblood was not quite as young as Reader Picha remembers, but almost. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps at the age of 17 in 1941, telling the Air Corps that he was 18. As an aerial engineer he flew combat missions in B-17s over Brest, Romilly and Saint-Na-zaire, earning a Purple Heart and an Air Medal. He was discharged as a second lieutenant in 1945 at the--finally admitted --age of 20.--ED.

Nehru's Sympathy

Sir: While assessing the reactions to the tragic assassination of President Kennedy, you stated, "Nehru could not resist remarking that the murder gave evidence of 'dark corners in the U.S.; and this great tragedy is a slap for the concept of democracy' " [Nov. 29].

Prime Minister Nehru did not at any time make this remark attributed by you to him. In fact, the Prime Minister on several occasions expressed shock and sincere sympathy. In a nationwide broadcast on Nov. 23, he said: "President Kennedy's passing away is a terrible tragedy for the world, and our popple in India share with deep sorrow the grief and general feeling all over the world, especially in the U.S. To the people of the U.S., who have lost suddenly and so tragically their great leader, we offer our respectful sympathy." JANKI GANJU Principal Press Attache Embassy of India Washington

> TIME erred. The remark was made by another Indian official and mistakenly attributed to Nehru because of garbled transmission from New Delhi.--ED.

Premarital Assignment

Sir: I can bet from now on that TIME'S "The Presidency" columns will not be as lively as they have been since 1961.

I have all the back issues of TIME since October 1959, and I have vowed to make my fiancee read all of the issues beginning with a cover story on the Kennedys before our marriage.

SHUAIB MIRZA Karachi, Pakistan

Pure ou Impure?

Sir: I cannot say merci for your having ridiculed in your numero of novembre 29, the campagne now launched by the Academic Francaise to eliminer English paroles from the French langue.

If it makes a lot of bon sens to use English mots in French vernaculaire, then the oppose must also be vrai.

PIERRE BEAUDRY Montreal

Sir: I agree with Professor Rene Etiem-ble that the French language is a "treasure." I have been teaching this treasure for 27 years. But I cannot agree with him that English, which is also a treasure, could possibly violate and degrade la belle langue. On the contrary, I believe that borrowings in general tend to enrich and refine a language and that our treasure is having precisely this effect on his.

May I remind Professor Etiemble that we have been speaking and writing "Frenglish" for some 900 years, since the Norman Conquest. (The number of French-loan words in English is far greater than the number of English-loan words in French.) To my knowledge, we have never considered this a violation or degradation of our beautiful language, nor have we ever drawn up any black lists.

I thank Professor Alain Guillermou for his concern over my job, but I can only reply that I am not worried. I doubt that during the past nine centuries any French teacher of English has ever lost a job because of "Frenglish."

JAMES E. IANNUCCI Chairman Department of Modern Languages Saint Joseph's College Philadelphia

Sir: So, in the 17th century, France " 'purified' its language, striving for utmost clarity and 'incorruptible' syntax." I would be hooted out of the classroom if I were to tell my students that.

French is perhaps clear, but like all languages has its drawbacks. For instance, why isn't there a simple rule enabling a person to reason the gender of a noun? Why are there irregular feminine adjectives, exceptional rules for the formation of feminine adjectives, and exceptional rules for rendering nouns plural? Why are there three conjugations when one would do just as well? Why weren't the irregularities of irregular verbs ironed out? Couldn't verb endings be streamlined? In short, why are there exceptions that could be so easily brought into agreement?

These are questions for which I have been unable to find satisfactory answers to set enquiring minds at rest. The best I have been able to do is to point out that English is not free from idiocy and to mumble something about living languages.

JON M. BARCASKEY Coraopolis, Pa.

Rime of the Ancient Prep School Boy

Sir: Re: the perishable poem you quoted about "Big Mac" Bundy [Nov. 15]. 'Twere just to note: 1) Groton, not the Harvard Lampoon, first found the mark. I wrote the ditty there in response to my sixth form history master whose wont it was to intersperse brilliant lectures on Toynbee with exhortations to excel a la Mac, "the school's brightest alumnus." It was later printed by the Lampoon; 2) you omitted the initial and final line ("This is/was the life of McGeorge Bundy") which a) enclasped the denouement, b) anchored the anagogy firmly in the corpus of English literature ("Solomon Grundy"), and c) rendered the rime "cool."

A. E. KEIR NASH Resident Tutor in Government Harvard University Cambridge, Mass.

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