Letters: May 19, 1961

Man in Space

Sir:

After all the national acclaim for Commander Alan B. Shepard Jr. is recorded in history, America now awaits an announcement from Secretary of the Interior Udall: “After all, President Eisenhower and his Vice President conceived this plan. They started it; they, I suppose, in effect handed it on to the President.”

RICHARD H. RYAN

Phoenix, Ariz.

The Young Man’s Troubles

Sir:

We Americans seem to have an infinite capacity for doing the wrong thing. The recent fiasco in Cuba is a perfect example of the folly of sending a boy to do a man’s job. The American Indians were smarter in this respect. They let the young men do the fighting but reserved policymaking for the old men of the tribe.

Kennedy’s domestic program also is all wrong. His plan to spend lavishly on schools, medical care for the aged, road building, slum clearance, etc., plays right into the hands of the Soviets. Their strategy in the cold war is to needle us into spending our way to national bankruptcy. In that manner they can take us without firing a missile.

MAX F. CORNWELL

San Marino, Calif.

Sir:

It appears we could ill afford the democratic luxury of electing a brash and youthful visionary without top-echelon experience to lead the free world in these critical days.

C. R. BENSON

Charlottesville, Va.

Sir:

Here we have a man of the highest integrity and intelligence, full of good will and intentions, who has inherited a state of affairs that will take years of effort to untangle.

J. H. KERN

Houston

Sir:

It looks as though the Cuban beachhead was lost on the playing fields of Harvard.

EARL G. TALBOTT

New York City

Sir:

I hear that Kennedy is demanding a recount in the hopes that Nixon made it after all.

MRS. HERBERT W. GUENTHER

Hartford, Wis.

Sir:

The political haymaking of the Democrats during the U-2 affair fares ill when compared with the firm support Republicans are giving the present Administration during the Cuban fiasco. We venture to say that there was a good deal more presidential wisdom involved in the planning of the U-2 flights than in the Cuban invasion.

WILLIAM GILMORE ROBERT STREITMATTER

Evanston, Ill.

The Case of General Walker

Sir:

When a general officer of the U.S. Army can be made a public spectacle through Government officials’ investigating him—or even taking any notice of such accusations by a second-rate publication—it is beyond my understanding. Let us ask what are the influences that backed the said weekly against Walker.

CHARLOTTE T. WALKER

General Walker’s mother

Center Point, Texas

Sir:

I thank you for allowing my brother, Major General Edwin A. Walker, the attributes of loyalty, capability and courage. You have overdone his anger, but that is minor compared to a man of solid principles.

His world maps showed the West in blue, Communism in red. Maybe red is all that he will need. Now he can scratch out the blue for Cuba and Laos and paint them red. GEORGE P. WALKER Center Point, Texas

Sir:

We have certainly developed a double standard in America. If a right-wing conservative makes an accusation of a left-winger, no matter how much evidence can be produced, the cry of the day becomes “guilt by association,” and the conservative is the one smeared and accused. On the other hand, if a left-winger makes an accusation of a right-winger, the accused is automatically guilty as well as all who have participated in any way and at any time with him. We must all shield and protect a man like Linus Pauling and expose a patriot like General Walker.

CAROL BOWERS

St. Louis

Bird in the Mouth

Sir:

Your April 28 story on the Auerhdhne calls for comment. In the eastern part of Norway and the western part of Sweden, quite a few Auerhdhne are left. Shooting during mating season is no longer permitted, but my father, now 86, tells me he has bagged up to 100 during his lifetime.

It is excellent table fare, when treated right. Dress the bird, brown in sweet butter (about two pounds) in a large, cast-iron pot. When brown, add one quart or more of thick, very thick, sour cream. Simmer for at least five hours—add good stock if required—salt and pepper. Then carve, placing the meat in a deep dish. Thicken the gravy with brown Norwegian cheese. If this is not available, use liver paste prepared without anchovies. Serve sprinkled with finely chopped, crisp smoked bacon. Not exactly free from cholesterol.

PER HEIBERG

Haga, Sweden

Poor Philomena

Sir:

May I commend you on your lucid and informative account of the Vatican’s action regarding St. Philomena. Having felt very much like Sister Marie Helene [who cried when she heard of Philomena’s desanctification], I was pleased that TIME felt this was a news item worthy of being the lead article in the April 28 Religion section.

MARIANNE MILLER

Philadelphia

Sir:

It would seem prudent for Pope John XXIII to get the desanctification of the other impostors over with as soon as possible; otherwise good and devout Catholics will be hard pressed in coming days to know whom they should pray to. It must indeed be difficult to explain after all these years that the miracles attributed to St. Philomena were just natural phenomena. I am certain that if enough people prayed often and long enough to the Washington Monument, certain miracles would also be wrought that would be difficult to explain.

P. J. FREDERICKS

Silver Spring, Md.

Despairing

Sir:

In your April 28 issue, telling of extraordinarily despairing news (Laos, Cuba, Algeria, etc.), I was despaired most by an account of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission.

The very existence of such a body in your country, constituted of so much “political muscle,” is curious enough; its declared aims and alleged activities provoke a stunned disillusionment.

G. L. MINIFIF

East Kew, Victoria,

Australia

Mayer & Teachers

Sir:

Reading your article about Martin Mayer’s new book, The Schools, has made me hopeful that someone has not only uncovered but lucidly stated the basic malady of American education. I am afraid that the teaching profession is a haven for many insecure, dissatisfied, egotistic individuals who cannot succeed in any other area, yet need success as fish need water. Who should be blamed for giving public schools such teachers? Part of the trouble lies with teachers’ colleges, many of which breed mediocrity and substitute “method” for knowledge.

Yet this malaise is not confined to these colleges; it seems to be everywhere, in all institutions, in all businesses, in all levels of society. People are afraid of being ostracized from their group; in psychological terms, they are afraid of having to think individually.

MRS. SUE WOLF

(A Teacher)

Ames, Iowa

Sir:

We veterans in the battle against human inertia welcome Martin Prager Mayer to our newly formed club, called TUMS (Temporary Ubiquity on Matters of Schools). To this club, where the money is, we have also relegated such notables as Why-Johnny-Can’t-Read Flesch. Author Mayer’s reportage job displays the same adroitness for negative discoveries, puerile insights and amateurish overgeneralizations as his predecessors.

Mayer’s conclusion about IQ is pure poppycock. How did he possibly turn up the fiction that there is “general agreement” that “only a small fraction of children are truly educable on the secondary level”? Experienced teachers consider a student with an IQ of 90 workable material in secondary school, and this comprises the vast majority. No such general agreement exists, unless it exists among the minority of chronic complainers in teaching who excuse their inabilities by misquoting research.

I now supervise student teachers at Rice University, Houston and see at least 20 different classes in operation regularly.

JOHN SANDERS

Houston

Rotund Darling

Sir:

In reading your review of the Ernie Kovacs show, I noticed mention given to an “immense, grossly fat ballerina staggering to the crashing chords of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.” The gross ballerina mentioned is Miss Muriel Landers, who is a legitimate and trained dancer. Nightclub goers will remember the rotund Miss Landers as the dancing partner of Ray Bolger—also, she is my darling wife !

ERNIE RICHMAN

Van Nuys, Calif.

Corbu

Sir:

May I congratulate TIME for the inspiring article written on Le Corbusier? It is so seldom that men of his caliber are given the recognition they deserve. Perhaps your article will make a few people aware of architecture, a field ignored by the masses, and also make them aware of the importance of “beauty” in their surroundings in this growing world of dreary cities. We need more men, such as Le Corbusier, who keep their ideals and strive to make this world a more beautiful place in which to dwell.

(MRS.) BARBARA BLACK

Los Angeles