You may have seen the cover of Rolling Stone. It shows the Boston bomber (the surviving one, that is). It’s kind of a soft, pretty picture. The title of the article inside is “Jahar’s World.” “Jahar” is the nickname of the bomber — affectionate, apparently.
Yesterday, John Bolton mentioned to me a much different cover. It was Time’s cover, when they made Hitler their Man of the Year for 1938. He was the one, said Time, who had had the biggest impact on events, like it or not.
The cover showed Hitler as a tiny figure, with his back turned, playing the organ in a desecrated cathedral. Above him was a giant breaking wheel, from which his victims hung. The caption read, “From the unholy organist, a hymn of hate.”
That, perhaps, is how to put a monster on a magazine cover. Now, I’m not comparing this little Boston bomber to Hitler, and neither is John Bolton. That would be too flattering to “Jahar.” Still, Time’s judgment in the matter is striking.
By the way, the artwork was done by Baron Rudolph Carl von Ripper — who had escaped Nazism after his parents were killed, from what I can glean. He dedicated himself to bringing down Hitler. He was highly decorated in the U.S. Army (and intelligence, I believe). He died in 1960, age 55.