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However, more distressing to those of us who have brought graduate degrees in economics, research, marketing and finance, as well as years of corporate experience, to our craft is the misunderstanding of the function of public relations reflected in your Essay. It is true that some so-called corporate public relations practitioners are employed principally as company spokesmen, much as the Government employs its ambassadors as phrasemakers rather than policy-shapers. But in its proper context, corporate public relations has a profound influence on corporate policies. When public relations fulfills this role, it is based not nearly so much on word skills as on sophisticated understanding of research techniques. In brief, corporate public relations today uses a far broader blend of disciplines than the writer of the Essay uncovered.
EVELYN KONRAD Evelyn Konrad Public Relations Manhattan
Sir: As a more than 20-year practitioner of public relations, I agree with much you say and believe that your words will contribute understanding to a pursuit that, unfortunately, still requires too much explaining to too many.
You might have included the late Steve Hannagan among those who helped to found p.r. He, as much as anyone, established the principle that truth is fundamental to good public relations.
ZEKE COOK Zeke Cook Associates, Inc. Toledo
Source of Embarrassment
Sir: TIME owes it to its readers to name the anonymous Governor whom I allegedly told that "Dick Nixon is a loser" [July 7]. It will be especially interesting, since I have never said it or thought it. I am sorry that at a time when Republican leaders are working hard for party unity, TIME would stoop to quoting nameless sources in an effort to destroy that unity.
RONALD REAGAN Governor Sacramento, Calif.
> TIME'S source is not at all "nameless," but we are bound to honor his request that he not be identified—a request with which Governor Reagan, as a political figure, can surely sympathize.
A Word to the Wise
Sir: The reviewer of The Wobblies [July 7] took me through iambic, pentameter, didactic, hortatory, diffident, progenitor, detestation, existentialism, scintilla, quixotic, schematic, protagonist, bourgeois, onomatopoetically, proletariat, crux, status quo, ante, minimal, prosody, recalcitrant, quiescent, ideologically, ascendancy, coalesce, dactyl and elegiac. But what, pray, is a bindle stiff? Is it possible that your man owns all these words as an integral part of his vocabulary?
JOHN S. RENO Bethlehem, Pa.
>Incontrovertibly, and a bindle stiff is a hobo with bedroll, or bindle.
Wrong Bride
Sir: Milestones [July 14] reports that Ronald Searle has married British Novelist Monica Stirling. This is incorrect; I have never met Mr. Searle. He has, I believe, married another Monica Stirling, who is a stage designer. I would be grateful if you would clear up this confusion, as it must be as troublesome to Mr. and Mrs. Searle as to myself.
MONICA STIRLING Paris
SIR: HOWEVER MUCH I MAY ENJOY HER BOOKS, I HAVE NEVER MET MISS MONICA STIRLING, BRITISH NOVELIST, IN MY LIFE AND I AM CERTAINLY NOT MARRIED TO HER.
RONALD SEARLE Paris
TIME'S apologies and best wishes to all concerned.
Rump Meeting