A Letter From The Publisher, Jul. 23, 1951

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The TIME jinx legend is something like the old baseball taboo — never, before the last out is called, tell the man on the mound that he is pitching a no-hit game (as if he didn't know it). If anybody gets a single, the informant is accused of jinxing the pitcher. Not only sports figures, but many other top news personalities (such as politicians, businessmen and generals) are engaged in highly competitive enterprises. They may, like Thomas Dewey, two weeks after an October 1944 cover, get knocked out of the box. They may, like Marshal Stalin after eight different cover portraits, keep right on throwing the same old curves. Win, lose, or draw, they are news.

Cordially yours,