Letters: Aug. 17, 1962

(2 of 3)

Thank you, TIME, for an enlightening final tribute to Marilyn Monroe. This scholarly talent, imbued with maturity and good taste, was I'm sure a boon to her many friends and fans here in the golden land of sunshine and yellow journalism.

WALT DAVIDSON Beverly Hills, Calif.

For & Against Humanity

Sir:

The article on Sherri Finkbine and her desire for a legal abortion [TIME, Aug. 3] appears to be written very objectively, to my great amazement. Could it be possible that TIME condones her desire for an abortion?

As a human being, I ask you not to approve of Mrs. Finkbine's efforts but to criticize them. To me abortion is an act against humanity.

ALBERTA SABATINO

Brooklyn

Sir:

Nuts to your biased approach to the Sherri Finkbine case. As mother of none, may I present another angle? I would be only too glad to be given a fifty-fifty chance to bear a normal child. I would gratefully accept a deformed child.

After several fruitless years of visiting specialists, my husband and I have little sympathy for the Finkbines.

(MRS.) ANNE DIEFENBACHER Dubuque, Iowa

Sir:

Re the Finkbine business: the late Dr. Lansing Wells was born with flipperlike arms and only a few fingers on each hand.

How fortunate for the U.S. Bureau of Standards that its distinguished scientist was not murdered before he was born !

RICHARD W. NAGLE

Lieutenant, U.S.A. APO, New York

>— Dr. Wells (1892-1954) received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Illinois in1919, joined the Bureau of Standards in 1930 as a mining production chemist. He lived a full and active life using both of his "hands" for writing, swimming, smoking and playing golf. At his job he deftly manipulated the tricky analytic balance, the chemist's scale. At the time of his death, Wells had become a chief chemist and consultant for the bureau, is remembered as a "useful contributing scientist."-ED.

Sir:

Every grateful American should acclaim Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey Woman of the Year.

LYNN TOWNSEND River Vale, N.J.

Wrong Clue

Sir:

Your article about the first successful Nike-Zeus interception of a special target vehicle borne aloft by an Atlas ICBM [TIME, July 27] stated that "the onrushing Atlas ICBM actually carried a transmitter to clue the slender, 48-ft. Nike-Zeus bird on the target.''

This statement is not true. Equipment carried by the target vehicle was completely incapable of affecting, favorably or unfavorably, the performance of the Nike-Zeus.

ARTHUR SYLVESTER Assistant Secretary of Defense. Washington, D.C.

> TIME erred. The Atlas device was a "miss distance indicator" to enable ground stations to tell how close the Nike-Zeus came to the target during the intercept.-ED.

Gulbenlcian's Money

Sir: