(3 of 4)
Thanks for an unbiased, nonpartisan appraisal of James Hagerty, one of the most bitterly criticized men holding an official position in the U.S. He is a hornet's nest under the donkey's tail.
FRED D. JOHNSON St. Paul
Sir:
I was distressed to learn that my old friend Jim Hagerty, after more than 17 years, still "writhes" when he recalls his experiences on the Willkie train in 1940. We did lose one reporter who had ventured far afield in a wide-open Western city; but the local sheriff was alerted and had already assembled a posse in true western tradition to find him (which he did later). On another occasion, an autoload of reporters were inadvertently left behind on the prairies of a Midwestern state. Their driver, however, raced the train on a parallel highway, and after some signaling from car to train they were brought safely back. I'll make book that Jim Hagerty never had as much fun on a campaign train as he did on the Willkie train. From then on he was running the show instead of just going along for the ride.
LEM JONES Press Secretary "Mismanaged Willkie Train" Mamaroneck, N.Y.
Sir:
I am glad we have a White House press secretary so humble that he only sends for Cabinet members when he has to, only speaks for the President when he thinks he knows what the President would say, and only attacks those who question his right to all this when his ulcers are acting up. I am so damn glad he is helping to run the country that I can hardly see straight.
STEPHEN G. CADY New York City
Sir:
You laud Hagerty as "a professional presidential press secretary—the first of his kind." I hope he is the last to do such an all-out snow job. He is "the abominable snowman."
MRS. H. G. ALSTON Duncan, Okla.
No Red Haven
Sir:
Your Sept. 9 article shocked me. There may be a colony of wealthy Communist expatriates in Mexico, but they are not in this town and certainly not in my home. Indeed, I have never met any of those whom you named except Maurice Halperin, whom I barely met when serving for OSS during World War II and have not seen since. I am not and never have been a Communist. I do not and have never kept open house for Communists or fellow travelers. I would not dignify your story by a response but for the incalculable harm which you have caused to me and to Institute de Allende, famed art school here in San Miguel.
STIRLING DICKINSON San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
¶ TIME erred. There is no support for any assertion of connection between Mr. Dickinson, his school or his town and Mexico's colony of wealthy Communist expatriates.—ED.
Irish Stew
Sir:
Concerning the letter from Marion A. Trozzolo on Irish character traits [Jan. 27]: If centuries of fighting for their freedom and independence isn't perseverance and tenacity of purpose, what is?
MRS. E. R. LACHAPELLE Seattle
Sir:
We thank the Lord that Irish self-deception and escape from reality is a quasi substitute for the "tenacity of purpose" some people realize in a Klan or a Mafia.
ANDREW J. MULLIGAN Somerville, Mass.
Sir: