Who's Who for Whom

Sir / I'm all choked up about that list of "A Show Business Who's Who for Whom" [May 1]. Of all the inanities! What am I supposed to do with this helpful guide to picking a candidate? Do I look at McGovern's list, note that it is longer, and vote for him because he has more show-biz appeal? Am I supposed to see that Cyd Charisse, whose legs I admire, is for Nixon, and opt for him on that basis? Is Ed Muskie my man because "Little Caesar" is his? Do I pass up Hubert Humphrey because I am not turned on by Percy Faith's music?

I guess that the electorate gets what it deserves but your publication of such a list doesn't help raise the level of campaigning.

RICHARD F. BURNS

North Wilbraham, Mass.

Sir / Someone has made a terrible mistake! That wasn't the list of show-business supporters of Richard Nixon. Not that collection offer-gotten Hollywood has-beens.

Somebody crossed you up. What you printed is actually the complete cast of Broadway Melody of 1938!

ROBERT A. JURAN

San Diego

Sir / George McGovern certainly has an impressive field of celebrities backing him. It is too bad for him that President Nixon has the backing of millions of less impressive working Americans.

JAMES STAFFORD

Fort Smith, Ark.

Jews in Russia

Sir / In your article "The Jews" [April 10] you say. "Some critics have felt that in pressuring Moscow to allow Jews to emigrate to Israel . . a privilege of free movement is being sought for Russian Jews that no other citizens enjoy." Certainly the Soviet government unjustifiably denies all its citizens the rights of free movement. But your readers should understand the difference between the situation of Jews and of non-Jews in the Soviet Union. That difference entitles Jews to claim the right to emigrate.

The Soviet Jew lives in a country where the newspapers, magazines and broadcasting service daily cast sickening aspersions on Jewish people, Jewish traditions and Jewish religion. (To cite a recent example, a Moscow radio commentator, speaking about expulsion of Israelis from Uganda, claimed that Israelis had robbed Uganda in the same way that their ancestors had robbed trustful Egyptians ) Here recognition of Jewish nationality exists merely as an entry in a passport.

Moreover, today young Jews are finding it increasingly difficult, sometimes impossible, to get decent jobs. And this year the quota for students has again been reduced--instead of 2% at Moscow University, it is now 1 % And just recently, on the first evening of Passover, Jews who gathered outside the Moscow Synagogue after the service were violently dispersed and beaten by police.

Also, in seeking the right to emigrate, many Soviet Jews feel they are helping in the wider issue of human rights for all Soviet citizens.

VITALI RUBIN

Moscow

Beyond Redemption?

Sir / In the article "Proportions of War" [May 1 ], you describe Viet Nam as having "long since reached the point that no future--win, lose or stalemate--can redeem the present " I agree. As for America, no future will redeem its past, but we can hope that the future is what the present ought to be.

L. LAMONT WILTSE JR.

Long Beach, Calif.

Sir/The trouble with Richard Nixon is that he stubbornly remains a cold warrior in a world that has drastically changed. It may well sink him as it sank Lyndon Johnson. Such is the price of rigidity and lack of vision.

JACQUELINE PELLATON

Princeton, N.J.

Sir / As one who has felt for a long time that we should get out of Nam but leave it able to defend itself, I resent the hypocrisy of the North Viet Nam "peacemakers," who harangue us at the peace table and attack when we withdraw.

What we should do is give North Viet Nam 48 hours to withdraw to the DMZ or suffer the complete destruction of its industry in all its cities by saturation bombing.

GEORGE R. CLIPNER

Kansas City, Kans.

Sir / I agree with the position President Nixon took on the invasion of South Viet Nam by the North Vietnamese. There was no other decision to be made but to bomb the Hanoi-Haiphong area instead of the U.S. sending troops to push them back into North Viet Nam.

JOE JURKENS

Albuquerque

Sir / Who is the U.S. trying to kid?

If your country was as powerful as you Americans claim, then you would not have taken any notice of demonstrations at home and abroad. The U.S. should have seen this business through to victory. My grandfather was a cannibal, my father is a gardener and I am a member of the first generation of educated New Guineans. If a person like me can analyze your grave blunders, just imagine the image of today's U.S. in other peoples' minds.

People of the U.S., please, please change your methods, change your attitudes and get back on top before we all perish with you.

WISARAMBU KAIWANATU

Wau

Territory of Papua and New Guinea

Sir / TIME quotes Americans in Viet Nam as saying, "If things get too bad, we'll just bomb the hell out of them," then labels as "impassioned overreaction" Anthony Lewis' statement that "the U.S. is the most dangerous and destructive power in the world."

If the U.S. doesn't hold first place in that category, just who in hell does?

HERBERT R. COURSEN JR.

Brunswick, Me.

Important Ally

Sir / TIME has painted a totally unfair and wrong picture of my colleague and friend Harry Dent in the May 1 piece entitled "Dirty Harry."

As a black in the Administration, I can tell you that Harry Dent has been in the forefront of opening Republican Party organizations to blacks, has played a major role in the recruitment of blacks for top-level jobs in this Administration, and has led the way in seeing to it that the resources of the Government are equally shared by all Americans. In fact, Harry has long been considered by black Nixon appointees as an important ally and supporter.

ROBERT J. BROWN

Special Assistant to the President

The White House

Washington, D.C.

What Monsters?

Sir / With absorbing interest and deepening wonder, I read your story of ITT [May 1]. It left me with a creeping sensation of fear. What dedication to the almighty dollar! What price success? What monsters possess us? I can now better appreciate the revolt of young people against the Establishment.

MATTHEW A. VANCE

Dexter, Me.

Sir / Could Mr. Geneen hold his next management meeting at my home in Puerto Rico, where ITT owns the telephone company? They might then solve the difficult problem of repairing my telephone, which has been out of order since December.

T.F. GEARY

Rio Piedras, P.R.

Sir / In your article about ITT, you state that I took part in a meeting with Connecticut Insurance Commissioner William Cotter, Mr. Geneen, local politicians, and others prior to Mr. Cotter's approval of the acquisition of Hartford Fire by ITT.

This is to tell you that I have never attended any meetings with Commissioner Cotter in Hartford or any other place. I have never met Commissioner Cotter, and, to my knowledge, I have never met any Hartford politicians in Hartford or anywhere else.

FELIX G. ROHATYN

New York City

.TIME erred in placing ITT Director Rohatyn at the Hartford meeting.

Voice of a Ghost

Sir / I can't tell you how much the article on the death of Hiram Scott College [May 1] touched me. You see, I am one of the "ghosts."

I can remember the times we used to joke about the buildings being designed like motels so that they could be sold easily if the school ever went bankrupt. But no one thought they would be.

H.S.C. was more than a school. It was a whole philosophy of life. It gave us a chance not only to get an unconventional education but to challenge and experience life. It was a synthesis of human beings who cared. The college will continue as long as its students are alive and living its philosophy.

SANDI SCHRADER

Tyrone, Pa.

Sir / The article on Hiram Scott College may have given your readers the erroneous impression that Parsons College is still an unaccredited college headed by Millard Roberts. Parsons was reaccredited in 1970, and Dr. Roberts has not been president since 1967.

Parsons College has survived the Roberts-created satellites because it has abandoned the Roberts method of operation. It has diversified its curriculum, added innovative new subjects (for example, aviation administration), reduced unnecessary expenditures, and received consultation from experts in college management.

ROGER A. LUND

Chairman, Board of Trustees

Parsons College

Fairfield, Iowa

Boohooing with Eliza

Sir/"Ah-ah-ah-ow-ow-ow-oo!" Eliza Doolittle might cry out upon reading your reviewer's statement [May 1] that "there is not a. . . genuinely appealing . . . female character in all of [Shaw's] plays." A few million of her admirers, who have found her vastly appealing, might join in her "detestable boohooing," as Henry Higgins called it.

Having savored the adulation of these millions through the years, Eliza (never at a loss for words) might say of the reviewer what she first said of Higgins himself: "He's off his chump, he is."

(THE REV.) E.J. MATTIMOE, sj.

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

Sir / C-plus actress indeed! Ingrid Bergman's appearances on stage and screen have always elicited the highest praise from important critics and audiences alike.

TIME Critic Kalem's condescending review of Miss Bergman's deliciously droll performance as Lady Cicely Waynflete in Shaw's Captain Brassbound's Conversion inadvertently provides a fine evaluation of Kalem himself--a D-minus critic writing for a C-plus magazine.

CHARLES ENGEL

Philadelphia

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.