A Letter From The Publisher: Oct. 18, 1968

ATLANTA Correspondents Arlie Schardt and Roger Williams, who have spent the past six weeks traveling with George Wallace, have listened so often to the basically unchanging content of the candidate's one speech that either man could probably deliver it himself without notes, But much more was needed for this week's cover story, written by Gerald Clarke and edited by Michael Demarest. It was difficult to collect the material because Wallace is a peculiarly uncooperative subject for an interview. Most of the time he is friendly enough; the trouble is, he volunteers little beyond "The Speech." The best part of the assignment, says Williams, "is the outdoor rallies: the signs, the shouting from both sides and this week, the fine fall weather. Wallace, his supporters and his hecklers, turn one another on. That's when a reporter gets a chance to talk to both backers and opponents. That's when he gets real clues to the depth of feeling behind the Wallace movement."

Most of TIME'S contacts with the demanding variety of talent and temperament nurtured by our cover artists are the responsibility of Researcher Rosemary Frank. In four years on the job, Rosemary has become a remarkably efficient travel agent, capable of shipping an artist off on assignment in style and comfort. She keeps track of them on their travels, serves as assistant customs broker when they return from abroad, translates their imaginative notes into reasonable expense accounts. In between times, she keeps busy collecting the photographs that some artists work from, finding background symbols (the insignia for Soviet Admiral Gorshkov's uniform, Feb. 23, 1968; the collection of birth control pills, April 7, 1967), or arranging sittings when our artists paint from life, as they sometimes do.

Along with all those chores, Rosemary scouts the galleries for new artists and screens the dozens of unsolicited paintings that are submitted every week. Most important of all, she listens. Artists rely so much on their own eyes, says Rosemary, that someone else's listening ear seems an absolute necessity. She listens to —and sometimes translates—artists' ideas and suggestions. She also audits their philosophies, criticisms (frequently of other artists) and complaints. And she has learned to be patient with artists' egos, which very frequently turn out to be alternately fragile and overpowering.

For the past few months, Rosemary has also been helping to select and prepare the material for a traveling exhibition of TIME'S cover art. The show, containing 75 examples of portraiture, sculpture and caricature, opened in Tulsa's Philbrook Art Center last week. During the next 15 months it will travel to at least nine other U.S. and Canadian cities.