A Letter From The Publisher, Oct. 2, 1978

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No sooner had President Jimmy Carter announced his historic, late Sunday-night summit agreement between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Premier Menachem Begin than TIME'S correspondents were off to report on the consequences for this week's issue. Donald Neff joined Secretary of State Cyrus Vance on a flight to Jordan; Cairo Bureau Chief Wilton Wynn accompanied Sadat on his trip home; Dean Fischer interviewed Begin in New York City and then flew to Israel to await his arrival; Christopher Ogden and Laurence I. Barrett reported from Washington.

The past month has proved to be one of the most challenging in TIME'S history. Three times in four weeks our cover story was changed in the final hours of the weekend to capture late-breaking events: the surprisingly swift election of Pope John Paul I on a Roman Saturday evening, the turmoil in Iran and Carter's Middle East breakthrough. Last week the cover illustration remained the same, but the cover story was entirely rewritten beginning late Sunday night and into Monday's dawn, a time when that issue would normally reach the first newsstands. Before the extraordinary telecast from the East Room was over, TIME'S editors had stopped the presses in Chicago and begun to chronicle afresh their story of the summit's achievements and President Carter's accomplishment.

New photographs and the new six pages of text were sent to press. All but a tiny fraction of the copies of TIME that had already been printed were changed, and more than 6 million copies containing the full story of what had occurred at Camp David were dispatched to newsstands and subscribers. No other newsmagazine attempted the enormous feat of reprinting its total run of copies or delivering around the world a complete assessment of the momentous event. TIME, determined to present the news as it happened, provided for its 26 million readers worldwide the kind of coverage they expect: fast, accurate, insightful.

All told, it was a remarkable performance by our reporters, writers, editors and production staff. And it was evidence of TIME'S continued commitment to bring its readers not only the most colorful coverage of the week but also the most timely and the most complete.