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EZRA POUND 321
"Look up Lavater, 1741-1801, 'inventor of physiognomic
studies,' esp. criminal TYPES.
"my impression that he set almost at lowest level the foetus
type . . .".
I promptly did some research, and found, to my surprise, that a
number of great leaders in recent years could be classified as the
foetus type, or those who have not been fully formed in the womb.
Such people seem capable, indeed fated, to cause great harm to
others. These atavistic types are characterized by slight development
of the pilar system, low cranial capacity, great frequency of
Wormian bones, early closing of the cranial sutures, and a lemurine
appendix. The type is round-faced, with slightly protruding eyes
and a vacant grin.
Ezra's interest is purely anthropological, and he shows no personal
animus, even though he endured six years of imprisonment
during the Eisenhower regime, and seven years under Truman.
There was definitely a bi-partisan policy toward Pound. He is in
possession of a critical estimate of Eisenhower as a military leader,
contained in a personal letter from one of the leading British authorities
on strategy, which I leave to him to make public. He did
venture a passing comment on Eisenhower in 1952. We were
sitting in the madhouse, listening to the results of the Republican
convention, when he remarked, "Well, if this doesn't finish off the
Republican Party, nothing else will."
Although Ezra was conscious of the importance of representative
government, he had his lighter moments concerning our servants.
One afternoon, a visitor in the ward asked why the flag over the
Capitol was being flown at half-mast. Another visitor gravely informed
her that one of our Congressmen had passed on to that
bourne from which no traveler returns. Ezra leaned back in his
chair, his eyes dancing with impish lights, as he exclaimed, "What
the heck—we've still got 497 of 'em left, haven't we?"
As one of Pound's early critics wrote in The Little Review, "The
Ezras know too much." The shibboleths by which the press and
the public maintain their existence are unimportant to him. He
once remarked to me, "There are always two sets of lies—one for
the people who will believe anything, and another for the people