Bombs Rain Down
Sir / Re "More Bombs than Ever" [Jan. 1]: The American people have been forced to suffer through a decade of broken promises from their Government. It is apparent that as the years pass, the Administration's ability to mislead only seems to improve. As tons of bombs rain down on the Vietnamese people. President Nixon speaks of a "generation of peace." One is left to wonder what generation the President is talking about.
ERIC R. PACHT
Madison. Wis.
Sir / America has got scores more men for whom to wear P.O.W. bracelets. There are several hundred fresh graves in North Viet Nam. All of this is part of the continuing drama of imminent peace.
In 1972, as in 1968. the American people bought an illusion instead of reality.
WILL COLLETTE
Providence
Sir / Nixon: four more years . . . of war?
SUSAN E. WOLF Highland Park, Ill.
Sir / The peace talks are deadlocked: bombing and mining in North Viet Nam have been resumed. Peace is at hand? We need McGovern now more than ever.
SHELLEY COHEN
Waltham. Mass.
Sheer Sensual Skiing
Sir / Re your cover story "Holiday on Skis" [Dec. 25]: I do not argue with doctors who deny that the ultraviolet rays encountered while skiing have an aphrodisiac effect. However, the sheer sensual experience of the warm sun, snow spray in the face, weightless microseconds on a mogul, the symphony of wind blowing through pine forests, thrills of speed, danger and precision and not insignificantly, the form-fitting nature of ski clothing create in this skier a desire for more than a quiet evening with a good book.
JACK MOORE
Stanford. Calif.
Sir / Back in 1918, when arctic conditions prevailed in Ithaca and the snows were 3 ft. and 4 ft. deep, my friend and I donned our oak skis with leather straps and went cross-country through the most beautiful hills in central New York. Every now and then there would be a stretch of farm land where you could travel a mile or more, dropping 500 ft. in the process. It was very exhilarating, exciting and healthy. No "dogging." jumping, or stunting, just wonderful movement over sparkling snow. This was skiing as I remember it!
A.E. ALEXANDER
New York City
Sir / When the Mammoth Mountain people read your story, you will have a lot more than a fractured tibia. It will take a dozen St. Bernards to sniff you out from under an avalanche of critical mail for ignoring that great ski resort.
MARVIN J. KELCH
Los Angeles
Sir / You rich skiers can ski your lives away, but kindly think of nonskiers like myself before you take to the slopes. You are encouraging a sport that causes mountainsides to be razed and hundreds of condominiums and hotels to be built in once virgin valleys. You are destroying the landscape that belongs to all of us just to enjoy a "sensual experience."
PEGGY GIRSHMAN
Ann Arbor. Mich.
Sir / I enjoyed reading your story. Reading is one of the few pastimes left to me since I broke my ankle skiing three weeks ago.
MICHAEL BODNER
New York City
Sir / A good story but ski touring deserves much more than a brief paragraph. Besides being much more economical and easy to learn, touring is an outdoor activity suitable for nearly all ages and levels of physical ability. A family can find real togetherness in touring.
WENDELL FUNK
Grand Lake. Colo.
Food Face
Sir / The "food face" by Stanley Glaubach on TIME'S cover [Dec. 1
MALCOLM CAMPBELL
Chairman Department of Art History University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia
Sir / Whether it was intentional or not, the resemblance between the food face and that of our President was really incredible. Especially the nose--a hot dog! Terrific!
JOSEPH J. SARKEES
Niagara Falls. New York
Rights for Children
Sir / The horrible details of the Johnny Lindquist child-abuse case last summer brought to a shocked Chicago the realization that thousands of children have been brutally abused and shamefully neglected, with little or no recourse at all. One hopes that your article on children's rights [Dec. 25] will further emphasize the need for all states to re-evaluate their juvenile codes.
SALLYAN RUSNAK
Highland Park. Ill.
Sir / You refer to the Massachusetts Bay Colony statute of 1646. which decreed that if a man had "a stubborn or rebellious son" of at least 16 years of age, he could bring him to the magistrate's court where "such a son shall be put to death." It is interesting to note that this was copied directly from the Old Testament. Of significance is the fact that this early Hebrew practice recognized the fallibility of parents and left the decision to the elders of the town.
JEROME L. RUDERMAN
Philadelphia
Thieu's Political Prisoners
Sir / "Thieu's Political Prisoners of War" [Dec. 25] omits the fact that we Americans are blamed by many South Vietnamese for the widespread imprisonment and torture of innocent people. In a private meeting General Duong Van (Big) Minh told me that "the political prisoner situation has become a scandal which is driving non-Communists into the arms of Communists." One woman who had been tortured almost to death asked me: "Why do the American people do this to us?" I was sick with shame, as all of us would be if we knew the whole story. Commendable as it is, your article barely scratches the surface.
HAROLD WILLENS
National Chairman Businessmen's Educational Fund Los Angeles
If the Army Suits You
Sir / Hurrah for your article "You're in the Army Now . . . If It Suits You" [Dec. 18]. The Army needs a few more Sergeant Klapps to protest what can only be described as fraudulent re-enlistment gimmicks.
(SP4) THOMAS P. GORSKI
Ft. Leonard Wood. Mo.
Sir / The Army should tell it like it is and accept only those recruits who are men enough to take it.
We taxpayers deserve a hell of a lot better than what we're getting. We pay for a fighting force to defend us, and we get a social club.
J.W. SLATTON
Bowling Green. Ohio
Opus Dei and Politics
Sir / It was with great interest that I read your article related to Spanish politics, "The Unsolved Problems of Succession" [Dec. 11]. In speculating about the political future of Spain, you suggest that "a possibility is a coalition between the army and Opus Dei."
The possibility of such a coalition just does not make sense, for the simple reason that Opus Dei has nothing to do with politics, as its ends are exclusively spiritual.
Your so-called definition of Opus Dei as "a mystical network of Catholic laymen and clerics whose members combine spiritual discipline with temporal progress" is not only unfortunate, but it is also unfair to me personally since I belong to Opus Dei I have never aspired to combine this "cocktail" of the spiritual with temporal progress nor am I subjected to any kind of discipline or connected with any "mystical network.' Belonging to Opus Dei concerns only my private life and does not affect at all my opinions or my political activity for which I alone am responsible.
LAUREANO LOPEZ RODO
Madrid
sb TIME is pleased that Senor Lopez Rodo, Spain's Minister for Economic Development, had the opportunity to read the story discussing the problems of the succession, since the Dec. 11 issue was banned in his country. An estimated 25,000 copies of the story were circulated by private groups, however, including the politically influential Opus Dei.
White's Hope
Sir / TIME'S story "White's Great Hope" [Jan. 1], referring to the job accomplished by S.E. ("Bunkie") Knudsen since his election as chairman and chief executive officer of the White Motor Corp. is timely and well deserved. One inaccuracy, however, demands correction. Although stockholders may hope TIME is prophetic, a reading of current New York Stock Exchange quotations would indicate White's price range, as TIME reported it, was in error.
SAM PETOK
Vice President Public Relations White Motor Corp.
Cleveland
sb The price of White Motor stock at last year's end was $14.50.
What Broadway Needs
Sir / The article on the current Broadway season [Dec. 25] really neglects the heart of the problem. Gigantic new theaters, like the Uris, have enormous overhead and operating costs that almost assure us that a show must be artistically dead before a producer dares take it on.
What Broadway needs is a lot of 199-seat theaters that can be operated at a reasonable overhead, theaters where playwrights, directors, and actors can work, grow, and develop new audiences.
LOUIS PHILLIPS
Department of Humanities Maritime College New York City
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