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\address 
Professor S. M. Lipset
Hoover Institution

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Dear Marty:

	It occurred to me that the most politically influential magazine
in America might be the New Yorker for the following reasons.  It
has a larger circulation (a million) than any frankly political magazine.
Most of its subscribers don't get any frankly political magazine.
Its political statements are made ex cathedra, usually without any
hint that other views are possible.  It prints no letters or other
indications of dissent from the views expressed in its lead article
or its long opinion pieces.  Both kinds of political statement are
written in an attractive literary style.

	I wouldn't inflict this remark on you except that it occurs
to me that propositions of this kind may be subject to a certain
kind of confirmation.  Namely, because of the literary style, new
phrases are often coined.  If these phrases are found elsewhere,
a chain of influence is indicated.

	Two examples - unfortunately neither from the New Yorker.
In a 1963 paper I coined the term ``abstract syntax''.  When I see
the term in a paper today, I imagine a chain of influence.  Once
in Moscow I saw a Pravda headline "PERVAYA MYAGKAY POSADKA NA LUNU"
which literally translates as "first soft-landing on the moon".  The
phrase "soft-landing" is, I think, American in origin.  Native Russian
speakers have confirmed to me that it isn't a natural Russian expression.
Therefore, I presumed that although the headline referred to a Russian
achievement, the Russian writers and perhaps the Russian scientists
were influenced by American writings on the subject.

	My question is whether this method of tracing influence is
in use.  Naturally, it will become more and more feasible as more
and more printed text becomes available in computer scannable form.


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Sincerely yours,

John McCarthy    
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%cc: Matthew Kahn
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%P.S.: whatever you wish to say here

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