Oh, How We Cheered

Sir: I recall that, not so long ago, a young President stated that "we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." And oh, how we cheered.

Let history record that on Oct. 15, an alarming portion of my generation and a significant number of an older generation who ought to know better, converged on Washington to finally repudiate those words because, alas, in a remote corner of the globe, the price had indeed become too high, the burden too heavy, the hardship too great and the foe too strong.

And so the demonstrators march, and work for a peace in the spirit of Chamberlain, while many of my friends fight and die in the only spirit America has really ever known--that of self-sacrifice, courage and determination--for a hard and bitter peace, dare I say, a peace with honor. It will be a sad day when, as a nation, we can be satisfied with less.

CHARLES J. MYSAK, '72 George Washington University Washington, D.C.

Sir: I wholeheartedly agree with those who demand an immediate, 100% withdrawal of our troops from Viet Nam. The war has been lost. Lyndon Johnson's capitulation in March 1968 merely served to punctuate the defeat. From that day forward, the future of the people of South Viet Nam was no longer at issue.

The Communist victory was not won at Chu Lai, Danang or Bien Hoa, or at any of those now not so strange sounding places. The victory was won exactly where Ho Chi Minh had known and said it would be won, in the hearts and minds of the American people: "The people of the United States do not have the determination to persevere in the struggle in Southeast Asia. When they grow tired of fighting, we will still be here."

Yes, I join in the protest. I protest in the name of those who have given their lives in vain. In the name of those who believe all men have the right to self-determination, in the name of those who believe that no man is free until all men are free.

CHARLES M. FREELAND Dyer, Ind.

Sir: When I arrived at Yale for the beginning of the academic year, I said to myself, "Marty, in no way whatsoever will you let yourself be affected by the new coeds." Thus when Mr. Nixon rephrased my sentiments in regard to the Oct. 15 Moratorium, I could sympathize with him. But demonstrations, like girls, have their own particular warmth and, I might add, their own effect. It's going to be a long year for both of us, Mr. President.

MARTIN FEIGENBAUM, '72 Yale College New Haven, Conn.

Sir: How about the class of '73? Glance through TIME and read about the war, Judge Haynsworth, the Green Berets, the Chicago trials, the hippie hunting, the Russian Jews and the Czechs. Then see if you don't feel a little disgusted with the status quo and the people who make the policies that determine how the rest of the world will live, if at all.

BILL ABBOTT, '73 Michigan State University East Lansing, Mich.

Mood of the Middle

Sir: For Mr. Hugh Sidey [Oct. 10] to assume that President Nixon was elected by his clever "use of cosmetics and electronics" is to assume that we "middle Americans" (whom you newsmen like to champion) are too dull of wit to comprehend the issues that confronted us in the recent election.

Perhaps it follows that we are also too dull-witted to comprehend his subtle disappointment that Nixon's troubles "have been modest in scale"--no Bay of Pigs, no Cuban missile confrontation, no Tet offensive, no major domestic riots. We "middle Americans" might just like the "mood of calm" Mr. Nixon has evoked.

The "superficiality" of the presidency really lies in the superficial analysis accorded it by Mr. Sidey.

(MRS.) HELEN WHITWORTH Midland, Texas

Put the Blame on Mame

Sir: Aedes aegypti has indeed changed the course of history more effectively than any other animal, as your excellent "Hanoi Fever" story implied [Oct. 10]. Alexander the Great is only one of the mildly illustrious millions it has felled. But your illustration showed a male mosquito, and it is the female who is more deadly, being the "biter." I recently photographed a nonfatal femme Culex just emerged from its pupa, proboscis and all. After the

session, she followed me to the loft where I slept and in the darkness I heard the blood-cry of her wings. One hour old, right on schedule, she extracted her photographer's model fee.

WALLACE KIRKLAND Oak Park, 111.

Crumbling Foundations

Sir: Thanks for accurately portraying one of the atrocities taking place in our country every day ["Atlanta: The Great Hippie Hunt," Oct. 10]. It seems that one of the great foundations of the U.S., the concept of individual freedom, has fallen by the wayside.

TIMOTHY JELINEK Platteville, Wis.

Sir: I have never before felt comfortable with the word pig used to describe members of our police forces, but if the living caricature--nightstick and hippie in hand --shown with your article is an example, I now can accept that appellation.

Harassment based on mode of dress, cut of hair, or a person's unwanted (unwanted by whom?) presence in a public park cannot be justified in this country.

DALE F. LYTTON Laguna Beach, Calif.

Child of Nature

Sir: Congratulations to Ian McHarg for his comments on the arrogance of man [Oct. 10], which is fostered by Christianity and capitalism.

Man's view of himself as the favored child of the universe has only led him to poison, pollute, exploit and overcrowd this earth. Man must realize that he is a part of nature; it does not exist solely for his benefit.

MRS. JOHN H. HICKS Austin, Texas

Sir: McHarg's Design with Nature is a welcome revamping of America's ticky-tacky sluburbs; but there is a tragic flaw undermining his philosophy: "The 100 million more people we expect in the next few decades could be settled in 100 new cities." Imagine America absorbing 100 more Baltimores and Clevelands!

America used to be a magnificent land because its vast natural resources were lavished on a small population. Today our shrinking stock of resources is reaped and raped for the "benefit" of a big population. If we tacitly accept more bloating of our population, we will smother this great land and its cherished goal of quality in human existence.

STEVE ARNO Missoula, Mont.

Antidote for Poison

Sir: Hooray for Senator Gaylord Nelson's conviction that the "hottest growth in U.S. protest is conservation" [Oct. 10]. I can sympathize with housewives who get up in arms over pollution. After trying to cook some vegetables that I could smell the insecticide in, I began to grow my own--without the poisons. My sympathy to those who do not have the time and space to do the same.

MARGILEE JOHNS ROZELL Tyler, Texas

Sir: The parody on America the Beautiful in your article needs two more verses: O beautiful for bug-filled skies

For weevils in the grain For apple scab, and stable flies Please bring these back again!

Malaria! Malaria! Red blood cells harbor thee!

And graveyards know you make them grow From sea to shining sea.

Where Rocky Mountain fever thrives

Where babies have T.B. Where parasites take human lives Why that's the land for me!

Malaria! Malaria! My spleen will welcome thee!

Restore the sickness grandpa knew, By banning DDT!

THOMAS H. JUKES Berkeley, Calif.

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