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As you say, Mr. Kennedy may yet become a great President, but the idea that his delayed reaction to the presidency qualifies him to the title of Man of the Year seems more than a little ridiculous. True, he has been good news copy, for various reasons, but his ''indelible mark" is yet to be left on history. In baseball the sportswriters do better with two awards, The Most Valuable Player of the Year, and the Rookie of the Year.
GUY MONTHAN Altadena, Calif.
Sir:
It is abundantly clear that the artist is no court sycophant. It reminded me of Oliver Cromwell's roaring rebuke to his 17th century artist, "Paint me as I am, warts and all."
FRANCES HOUGH St. Louis
> In 1650, the stern-faced Cromwell admonished the young painter Peter Lely to "use all your skill to paint my picture truly like me; but remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts and everything as you see me, otherwise I will never pay a farthing for it." For the result, see cut.—ED.
Sir:
I am full of admiration for TIME'S splendid cover of President Kennedy, and for Annigoni for his masterful taste and urgent brevity. The portrait is astonishingly truthful.
Though at first glance it tends to perplex, it quickly engages scrutiny, and you are left with a feeling of unrestrained respect for the artist. No question, this is your finest cover.
THOMAS J. GOLDTHWAITE Bloomington, Ind.
Sir:
Annigoni has probed beneath the smiling and immaculate exterior to reveal a man who holds the loneliest job in the world.
PAULA MUSTER Sherman Oaks, Calif.
Singular Difference
Shin referring to the new Russian ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Dobrynin, as a "Soviet-style New Frontiersman" [Jan. 5], you should have used the singular not the plural in the Russian translation. Instead of Liudi novykh granits, it should have been chelovek novykh granits. Liudi means men; chelovek: a man. You need a Russian language expert.
IZRAEL TAUBENFLIGEL Skokie, 111.
> Says TIME'S embarrassed Russian expert: "I na starukhu byvaet prorukha!"—ED.
What They Do
Sir:
All here at St. Anselm's were pleased with the RELIGION section [Jan. 5]. Your accurate and well informed survey of U.S. Benedictinism will be appreciated by Benedictines throughout the country. It is sometimes difficult to answer the layman's query, "What do you do in the monastery?". TIME'S balanced reply points up the present situation and indicates the course of our deepening development. We thank you for it.
(RT.REV.) ALBAN BOULTWOOD, O.S.B.
Abbot
St. Anselm's Abbey Washington, D.C. ,
Sir:
As a member of a less than affluent monas tic community whose school enjoys only a regional reputation, may I voice a quiet demurrer to the notion that monasticism in the 20th century is likely to solve the ancient antinomy, action-contemplation, by the efforts of pressagent monks or by an exodus from our monasteries to search for activity in the world at large.
PLACIDUS RILEY, O.S.B.
St. Anselm's Abbey Manchester, N.H.
Sir: