Letters, Dec. 31, 1951

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Man of the Year?

SIR:

... I PLACE IN NOMINATION THE MAN WHOSE BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS QUITE LITERALLY MAKE POSSIBLE THE STELLAR ROLES PLAYED BY POLITICIANS AND GENERALS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. A MAN WHOSE GENEROSITY IS ONLY EXCELLED BY HIS DOCILITY. MR. REALLY BIG, THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER.

FRED C. ELLS SANTA MONICA, CALIF.

Sir:

There is no one but General Douglas Mac-Arthur . . .

FRANK T. PRIEST Wichita, Kans.

SIR:

. . . T. LAMAR CAUDLE FOR CINCHING THE REPUBLICANS IN 1952.

MICHAEL REISE

NEW YORK CITY

Sir:

. . . John Foster Dulles.

C. T. HUYSKEN Detroit

Sir:

. . . Senator Estes Kefauver.

(REV.) WILLIAM MCLEAN TWIDDY

Succasunna, N.J.

Sir:

Senator Joseph McCarthy . . .

CARL NESOR

Winnetka, Ill.

Sir:

. . . Surely General Eisenhower? . . .

MRS. RUTH LOUCHS

Bainbridge, N.Y.

Sir:

Hear my plea—Not H.S.T.!

JOHN MORGAN

Bell Buckle, Tenn.

Sir:

That forgotten, imprisoned Associated Pressman William N. Oatir,.

DAN F. SULLIVAN

St. Louis

Sir: . . . Paul Douglas.

JEAN SHEPLER

Litchfield, Ill.

Sir:

. . . Secretary of State Dean Acheson.

ROBERT DONIHI

London, England

Sir:

As runner-up to your Man of the Year, I'd like to nominate a once stalwart gent known as Dollar Bill . . .

LEWIS WILLIAMS Philadelphia

¶Of TIME readers' nominations for Man of the Year, 14% voted for General MacArthur; 9% for John Foster Dulles; President Truman and General Eisenhower, 4%; Churchill and Senator Estes Kefauver, 3%; Dean Acheson, Senator Paul Douglas and the American Taxpayer, 2^%; Senator Taft, 2%; Senator McCarthy, Premier Mossadegh and John L. Lewis, i%%. The remaining 49^% votes were scattered.—ED.

How the Readers Digest

Sir:

TIME [Dec. 10] says: "The Reader's Digest is one of the greatest success stories in the history of journalism." Admittedly, the Digest enjoys circulation superiority. But is that equivalent to success? The real test of success is not size but quality. I regret to note TIME contributing to the American heresy that bigness is the same as goodness, that success can be tabulated on an adding machine.

The measurement of a successful publication is its approximation to the true and the good . . . and a publication which . . . caricatures truth by pretending all truths are not really complex but simple and simply digested ... is only effective in spreading the trite and the superficial.

DONALD MCDONALD

Davenport, Iowa

Sir:

For most young people the Reader's Digest serves as a pleasant introduction to adult reading . . .