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¶ At the time of the invasion, Ramón Barquín was the military expert of the People's Revolutionary Movement, one of the autonomous organizations with representation on the council.—ED.
Sir:
It can do no harm to constantly remind Mr. Kennedy and his staff that one overly enthusiastic error in calculation could make him the vigorous President of a radioactive crater called America, to whose wretched survivors the word Kennedy would be the supreme obscenity.
L. R. NICHOLL Colorado Springs, Colo.
Sir:
As a member of the younger generation, I say it's not all right to be second in space, to lose Cuba to Communism, and to appear foolish to the world. What do we have to do, wait to be blown from our rocking chairs?
MARY CONNOR
New York City
Sir:
One seems to hear nothing but breast beating mea culpas, and what a bunch of fools you all are. You have the courage and ability to lead the world. In heaven's name, get on with it.
The free world looks to you for leadership, not a demonstration on how to make a public confession. Away with the sackcloth and ashes. You have much for which to be thankful.
JAMES F. BROWNE
Toronto
The Real Yo-Yos
Sir:
The subjects of Strombotne's painting, Yo-Yo, were easily recognizable as Pablo Picasso and Kathy (his stepdaughter since his marriage to Jacqueline). The photographs he used as models can be found in The Private World of Pablo Picasso, by David D. Duncan. The "Lolita-like" girl is Kathy, the figure for the man is, of all people, Gary Cooper, and the face of the "sinister" old man is Picasso.
PATRICIA HEARD
Whittier, Calif.
¶ Painter Strombotne says that the figures were indeed inspired by Duncan's photographs of Kathy and Cooper, but denies that the face is Picasso's.—ED.
No Columbus, He
Sir:
Gagarin was named hero. But Gagarin was only an experimental object whom the scientists placed into a cabin for a flight around the world, not unlike what they did to dogs and monkeys. What a shame to compare him to Columbus. Columbus was the leader and explorer who sailed on his own with full responsibility for himself and for his men.
O. TARNAWSKY Philadelphia
Top Teacher
Sir:
Mrs. Mullen of the Mill School in Whittier, Calif., was the best second-grade teacher I saw in almost three years of visiting classrooms. I am distressed to find her portrayed in your article about my book as the prime example of the teacher who underestimates the children in her class.
Your writer is certainly justified in his fury against the wretched bell that calls seven-year-olds away from writing when they want to write. But of all the evils introduced by the bureaucratic organization of schools, the fixed schedule for rest periods is probably the most necessary. The point of the episode as a whole was Mrs. Mullen's success in stimulating these children to want to write, as part of the Whittier schools' success in building reading skills through writing.
MARTIN MAYER New York City
Anyone for Urdu?
Sir: