Kabul, Afghanistan
December 3, 1945

Dear Dr. Allen,

It is possible that you have had some communication
from the Department of State concerning the following
matter, but inasmuch as I have not heard from you dir-
ectly or indirectly, I shall present it to you personally.

In being in a foreign country, and more particularly,
in being with the youth of Afghanistan, I have formed the
opinion that the basic manifestation of the foreigner'ts
admiration for the American Way is the love of American
sports. They want to try all of them, even though the
health and physical fitness of youths of other nations
are not equal to those of American young men.

It seems to me that the basis of the world peace
and world democracy we hope for might well be sports,
specifically, American sports. I should think that the
sportsmen of America and especially the coaches of America
(if they are not already doing it) are missing a golden
opportunity to show the benefit and usefulness of sports
on a world-wide scale by fostering more ardently the case
for American sports abroad.

From experience in Afghanistan I should say that the
things most desired are pictures and books on American
sports, particularly pictures. Here in Kabul the athletes
would revel in films of basketball (they eat it up), base-
ball, football, boxing, wrestling, in fact, in films of
any sports. We have a 16 mm. projector (with or without
sound, but no sport films--except a very rare one and
usually a rather bad one sent to this part of the world
by the British.

(continued)