From the Publisher

By Louis A. Weil III

Senior writer George J. Church's second greatest talent is penning musical parodies. Colleagues celebrating milestones in their lives are frequently blessed with a Church ditty, sung by the renowned librettist himself to one of a long list of pop tunes (e.g., I Left My Heart in San Francisco). His third greatest talent, say some, is his unique taste in clothes, which runs to purple ties and gold blazers. But the first thing we all know about George is that he is one of the most prolific and lucid writers ever to grace our pages.

Church got his start in journalism as a copyboy for the New York Times in 1953 and served for 14 years at the Wall Street Journal before coming to TIME in 1969. Since then he has written four Man of the Year cover stories and 91 other covers on subjects ranging from Henry Ford to gun control and from the future of capitalism to Pete Rose's gambling problems. In September, George moved to the World section, where he writes on such subjects as the gulf crisis and this week's sudden turn of events on the Soviet political scene.

One of Church's many gifts is his writing speed. "It's late in the week, news is breaking, correspondents are scrambling, and George has this ability to absorb enormous quantities of material," says World editor Jim Kelly. "He then puts it together in a way that readers can understand and enjoy." Moreover, Church's memory could shame an elephant. "He reads things once, including a correspondent's files, and remembers them damn near forever," a fellow writer, Ed Magnuson, complains cheerfully. While at a baseball game last summer, Magnuson asked Church if he could recall his first visit to a ball park. "Of course he could," says Magnuson. "It was back in high school, and he knew who played and who won. But he was really disgruntled that he couldn't recall the score."

Another of George's gifts is his ability to overcome adversity. Last winter, the award-winning writer entered a hospital for a kidney transplant only days - after knocking out a cover on Pentagon cutbacks. Within three months, Church was back in action, dazzling everyone with his wordplay -- and his horseplay. Once, while attending a luncheon, a straight-suited IBM economist whispered in George's ear, "Gee, it must be great to have a job where you can dress like that." At the time, George was sporting a red jacket, red tie, yellow shirt and gray-and-red-checked slacks. "Believe it or not," says Church, "I thought they went very well together."