A Letter From The Publisher, Mar. 29, 1948

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Last week TIME reluctantly Sent out the following press release, which speaks for itself :

New Orleans — Pressure of the swiftly moving world crisis has brought about a postponement of the international forum, "The Future of Freedom," which was to be held in New Orleans April 14-17. The announcement was made jointly by Rudolf Hecht, chairman of the New Orleans Committee, and James A. Linen, publisher of TIME, the Weekly Newsmagazine, co-sponsors of the Forum.

"Our discussions with Washington and conversations with government leaders abroad," Mr. Linen said, "have made it clear" that it would not now be fitting for us to press our invitations to the heads of state, foreign ministers, and other government officials of Western Europe on the eve of a crisis as grave as the one looming over their countries today. Recent events signal all too unmistakably the fact that April will be a period of crises almost certain to tie top government people to their desks abroad."

Mr. Hecht added, "At a time when the future of freedom is being decided by the swift march of events elsewhere in the world, it would not be appropriate to conduct a forum such as this. We feel sure everyone will recognize that a crisis is near at hand."