A Letter From The Publisher: Oct. 10, 1983

When TIME first appeared on newsstands in March 1923, not even the brash, energetic 24-year-olds who had co-founded the magazine, Henry R. Luce and Briton Hadden, could have predicted that it would spawn one of the world's largest communications empires. As Time Inc. Editor in Chief Henry Anatole Grunwald has noted, "Not many institutions launched 60 years ago have survived, thrived and become part of folklore."

To mark the magazine's 60th anniversary, TIME this week is bringing out a separate, special issue that recalls the years since 1923, perhaps the most astonishing six decades in history. Now in the mail to subscribers,...