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To the Editor: Congratulations to Charles Snyder for his absorbing article, "Abe's Eyes" (Archives, Feb 1966), in which he describes several interesting reports about President Lincoln's eyes—including Lincoln's probable hyperphoria and exotropia of the left eye, with intermittent diplopia (misinterpreted by Lincoln) and neurological complaints—all perhaps related to a reported childhood head injury (from the kick of a horse). The article is a noteworthy example of historical reconstruction in ophthalmology.
Regarding the eyes of presidents, perhaps readers have observed the apparent fact that President Kennedy also had a unilateral exotropia and hyperphoria.
I first noticed this when looking at a Norman Rockwell portrait of President Kennedy on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post shortly after the assassination. Wondering whether the apparent exodeviation was due to an unexpected lapse by the artist, I checked a photograph and found that Rockwell was right.
This is, of course, of little or no