Letters, Aug. 20, 1945

Historical Appraisal

Sirs:

I think Richard Barringer did an excellent job in ranking the U.S. Presidents in TIME [July 23]. He places Washington and Lincoln in the first class in achievement and moral stature. In the second rank he places Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and Wilson. A third category includes Jefferson, Jackson and Franklin Roosevelt. . . .

With all this I agree, except that I would place Franklin Roosevelt in the cellar with Grant and Harding. . . . Grant was a great soldier, even if he was a bad President; Harding achieved success as an editor, starting at the bottom in American tradition. F.D.R. had no personal achievement of any kind, being born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

JOHN ALLISONGrangeville, Idaho

Sirs:

Richard W. Barringer thinks “it is not too soon to make historical appraisal of the great Presidency recently ended.” Mr. Barringer is mistaken. Better to have left the job to his great-grandson. By that time this great man will be rated as the one President in all time who made the world America-conscious; the one man who, had his health permitted, would today be leading the world out of the fog of disunity and uncertainty. . . .

We who rated Woodrow Wilson the greatest man of his day had to wait 25 years for most of America to find it out. . . . Mr. Barringer had better wait till those of us who were contemporaneous with Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt and “F.D.R.” have passed on and world historians have given Franklin Delano Roosevelt his niche in history. Maybe then some Americans will have learned to rate him fairly. . . .

M. R. SKUCE Redlands, Calif.

No Graft in Ecuador?

Sirs:

Your issue of July 23 contains these words about Ecuador: “. . . looted for centuries by ‘practical’ rulers.” Allow me to protest. You have been badly misinformed. Not a single president or dictator in my country has taken advantage of his position to enrich himself. Every one of them . . . has been an honest man. Dr. Velasco Ibarra, indeed, speaks frequently about graft from his predecessors as a political trick to impress the mob. It is one of his many low political tricks.

FEDERICO PÁEZ Former President of Ecuador Quito, Ecuador

¶ From 1830 to 1930 Ecuador had 13 constitutions and 30-odd rulers, most of whom had to be removed from office by force. Reader Páez, Ecuador’s President from 1935 to 1937, suspended the Constitution and ruled by decree for more than a year, suppressed several uprisings by supporters of Dr. Velasco Ibarra, and, in 1938, took refuge in the Chilean legation when his Government ordered his arrest on charges of misusing public funds.—ED.

“I’ll Take Elsie”

Sirs:

… I would like the privilege of replying to Sergeant Bundenthal’s eulogy on the beauty of German women as contrasted with his harsh criticism of other European women and American girls [TIME, July 16]. . . .

‘Tis said, the best-fed cats are the sleekest. Can it be that the systematic starvation to which the master race subjected the people of Europe and the stolen plenty in which they themselves wallowed may have been responsible ?

Is the cue, perhaps, to be found in the soldier’s observance of the non-fraternization order, forbidden fruit appearing more attractive?

Rejoice, Sergeant, rather than deplore the fact that the American girl has not let any Hitler curtail the flourishes of her lipstick. In spite of it, American girls are the most wholesome, the most natural and healthy, the most attractive in the world. . . .

Remember, Sergeant, “Handsome is as handsome does.” . . .

LUCILLE SYLVESTER

New York City

Sirs:

We girls in the U.K. are getting somewhat swelled-headed from all the bouquets handed out to us now by a few of the returned G.I.s. We never really believed we were as devastatingly beautiful as our ex-boyfriends (the line-shooters) made out, but we did not realize we were “weather-beaten, shapeless, etc.” We would like to see a photograph of Sergeant Jay G. Bundenthal and judge if we would have endured him in the interim, during which, from our personal experience, G.I.s were only too glad to go out with “shapeless” English girls. . . . [16 ATS GIRLS]

Leicester, England

Sirs:

… It is just possible that G.I. Bundenthal proved to be a flop with the British girls, French girls, and others, but was welcomed with open arms by the sexy German girls, who are taught to make a fuss over anything in pants. . . .

J. J. MOORE Salt Lake City

Sirs:

… So the Nazi women have far more style than the rest of us. So the female body is created just to please the likes of the self-esteemed Sergeant. . . .

If this is the sort of man American women have waited and prayed for; worked to save money for; suppressed natural biological instincts to an unnatural degree for, I think we have been betrayed. The German Fräuleins can have him, and welcome!

(MRS.) DORTHA EVANS MCKNIGHT Salt Lake City

Sirs:

… If Brother Bundenthal in “all his days has never seen more comely, well-dressed, well-developed females than here in Germany,” then he hasn’t been around much.

True, the German girl is comely—and well-developed … is right. I’ve seen legs here that make Nagurski’s legs look sissified. I’ve seen behinds that a hippo would envy.

How the hell can Bundenthal dare say the French gals were drab? The Paris girls had us raving for months, they were so well-dressed and groomed. . . .

When Bundenthal claims to speak for the average G.I. and tries to wish the gaucheness and grossness of these German women on our American women, I protest.

I’m afraid the Sergeant has been influenced by these Nazi pushovers, and they are just that. If Bundenthal likes this “natural, Godgiven beauty,” I’ll take Elsie the Cow. She couldn’t be dumber, she’s got more personality, and she gives milk too. And all the boys here in the RAT Bn. agree.

IRVING E. PAPE

c/o Postmaster New York City

Not in Stock

Sirs:

Say! Last week [TIME, July 30], in “A Letter from the Publisher,” TIME was boasting that you keep a reserve of portraits of “49 probable future newsmakers.” Ahem. Did you not expect Clement Attlee to become British Prime Minister?

ALBERTO A. LAGOMARSINO Arlington, Va.

¶ TIME confesses to a certain degree of surprise.—ED.

Thanks to Frankie Sirs: TIME [July 23] reports that Frank Sinatra got a cuffing from Stars & Stripes, which re sented disparaging cracks he had made about the shows put on by the Army’s Special Services and the U.S.O. In the 26th of July issue, Stars & Stripes devoted the entire mail call section to G.I.s who agreed with Frankie that “If you can’t give them a good show, then don’t give them none at all.” The “Sinatra Show” played here in Casa, and the crowd was so tremendous that two shows had to be scheduled. After the second performance of the troupe, no G.I. (who had seen the show) could be found who wouldn’t say it was one of the best, if not the best U.S.O. show that he had ever had the pleasure of seeing. Thanks to “Frankie” for telling the people back home what the G.I. really wants.

(CPL.) ROBERT B. HEATON

Casablanca

Catholics & Communism

Sirs:

Re letter from Army Sergeant’s Name Withheld in TIME [July 23] in which Sgt. Withheld intimates that the Catholic Church is responsible for the disunity between the Americans and the Russians:

Catholics have been brought up to fear and dislike Communism because of its avowed ungodliness. As Catholics we are indeed convinced that Christianity and Communism are irreconcilable in the same way that as Americans we believe that totalitarianism and democracy are incompatible.

And too, it is high time that a distinction be made between hating Communism and hating Russians, hating Naziism and hating Germans. We hate no individual; we only hate his ideals.

Nevertheless, insofar as such an action does not interfere with our own way of life, we heartily ratify the action of our Government in joining hands with a state, no matter what color its banner, if such a union will further our aim of beating Japan. Few Quixotes still proclaim that this war is being fought for ideals, and I believe there is no American—Protestant, Catholic, etc.—who is unwilling to welcome any type government into an alliance which will cooperate in preventing future wars.

WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. Lieutenant, U.S.A. Camp Gordon, Ga.

Fireproof Corporal

Sirs:

In your July 23 issue you say a Fort Benning corporal “picked up a 57-mm. cannon . . . aimed it as casually as a shotgun . . . demolished a cordwood target 800 yards away.” Secret of the kickless cannon: a backward powder blast through the breach—”a fiery column 12 to 15 ft. long, about 4 ft. in diameter.”

Far more important to a lot of your readers would be the secret of Fort Benning’s fireproof corporal.

GORDON FLINT Los Angeles tj Simple. The bazooka-like blast blows over his shoulder.—ED.

Unabandoned Highway

Sirs:

In TIME [July 23] you refer to the Pan American Highway as a “reckless” project which was “abandoned.”. . . In truth, the Army turned the work over to the Public Roads Administration in the fall of 1943, and that agency is continuing where the Army left the project. It is hoped that the highway will be opened for travel in 1947 on a tourist basis. . . .

C. Y. SLOBICKI Washington

Presidential Shuffle

Sirs : President Truman is serenaded with the Missouri Waltz (TIME, July 30),but I’ll bet he would grin all over if he was greeted with I’m Just Wild about Harry! from the famous colored revue, Shuffle Along.

HUBERT M. ARMFIELD Pasadena