TALENT MAY COME FROM A PIG FARM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74-00115R000300070002-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 6, 2014
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: June 18, 1966
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 50-Yr 2014/02/10: CIA-RDP74-00115R000300070002-4
JUN 1 0 IUD
Declassified
,SYNDICATES
Talent May
Come From
A Pig Farm
SAN FRANCISCO
Talent is where you find it,
submits Stanleigh Arnold, fea-
tures editor of both Chronicle
Features Syndicate and the San
Francisco Chronicle.
And the CFS selection board
composed of Charles de Young,
Chronicle editor and publisher;
Scott Newhall, executive editor,
and Arnold has uncovered a ver-
satile aggregation of creative
people from varied fields.
"Stan" Arnold did not expect
to find writing ability in a for
mer pig farmer who announced
himself as a new member of the
Peace Corps and said he would
like to provide special Chronicle
reports from Ecuador.
A Bad Moment
At the moment the editor had
donned his Chronicle hat and it
was damp with perspiration
from a confrontation with a
very proud father who could not
understand why his six-year-old
son's art was not deemed suit-
able for publication.
His first reaction was to blame
the receptionist for flagrant dis-
obedience in admitting the man
dressed in jeans, blue shirt, worn
and faded Levi jacket and
farmer's boots.
The visitor was short and thin.
His craggy face was lined by the
trials of nearly 50 years. His
name was Moritz Thomsen.
Within minutes Arnold real-
ized his almost unwelcomed
guest was an extremely rare
kind of man, a practical idealist
possessed of courage, wit and an
astounding breadth of knowl-
edge.
Just A Suggestion
The editor explained space
limitations yet suggested he
might send in an article now and
then for selection and possible
use in the Chronicle This World
magazine.
The letters came back and the
editor was surprised to find the
man from the hog farm in the
upper reaches of California's
San Joaquin Valley wrote ap-
pealing copy. Readers liked his
reports, too.
And editors around the coun-
try share this view, it has been
established by amazing results
of a pm-test conducted before
full syndication.
For a dozen editors of the 30
4brovided with conies of the 10- ish.
in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/02/10: CIA-RDP74-00115R000300070002-4
story sequence immediately
ordered the series. A complete
distribution with special art is
under way.
The man who turned to the
Peace Corps when finally on the
verge of bankruptcy because
"with hogs selling at 12 cents a
pound" he "was not making
enough to pay even for their
food" has now become indeed the
"Ambassador in Levis" de-
scribed by CFS.
"In our view, a man like thiu
represents the best American
export?a warm, hard-working;,
selfless and intelligent diplomat'
in blue jeans," Arnold explained.
"His writing is vivid and clear,
his style uniquely his own."
His reports also explain the
Peace Corps to fellow-Ameri-
cans, for Moritz Thomsen
possesses that ability to get
along with people?and with
readers?that Latin Americans
call simpatico.
Trivialities End
In his 10-part report the
writer tells how he finally re-
ceived the Corps' invitation
"over the signature of the direc-
tor reproduced so cleverly it has
every appearance of having per-
sonally affixed" and turned from
"a life of habit, harassed by all
the trivialities of life to a new
kind of life."
Thomsen takes you to Mon-
tana State College, where he in-
vestigated his investigator. Then
he moves on to launching a
piggery in the Andes and a ride
in an Ecuadorian bus "in which
you undergo a personality
change that is truly profound."
He tells of "little things that
sweep the cobwebs out of the
brain," of natives who accepted
death "so calmly it was ob-
scene," his reactions to a strangc
culture and how to learn Span!
And he describes the problem
of being set apart, separated
from the true life of a town so
"even the fact you can't eat those
horrible baked or boiled bananas
makes a sort of freak of you."
The series ends with his
breakthrough to acceptance,
when a fisherman said "I think
you're a good man, let's be
brothers" and said it "so natu-
rally, so sweetly the whole room
blazes with light."
Illustrations for the series
were prepared by William
Wilkerson of CFS. Thomsen's
articles are being assembled in a
book by the University of Wash-
ington Press, with an introduc-
tion by Jack Vaughn, Peace
Corps' director.