In the Spirit of Law

Sir / Judge John J. Sirica symbolizes the American people's concern for truth. Congratulations on the most appropriate choice in recent years.

D.V. GIRI

Cambridge. Mass.

Sir / This has not been a very good year, so I have no quarrel with the selection of Judge Sirica as Man of the Year except to note that the man chosen was simply performing his sworn duty, which is to uphold the law. However, this, by today's standards, may be enough of a rarity to justify such recognition.

ROBERT HELING

Hollywood, Fla.

Sir / Accolades to TIME for selecting Judge Sirica, who may eventually become Man of the 20th Century in helping rescue a desperate people from an equally desperate and dangerous tyrant.

(MRS.) IRENE COHEN

New York City

Sir / I applaud TIME'S selection of Judge Sirica as Man of the Year.

Judge Sirica is our modern David who slew Goliath Nixon by steadfastly insisting that our country's laws be upheld and respected in the Anglo-American tradition, rather than be flexed and molded to meet the needs of "FixIt Nixon."

Judge Sirica has done our country a tremendous service for which we are grateful.

FRANK R. GAMMARDELLA

Stony Brook, N.Y.

Sir / At a time when we all need some good examples in the higher echelons of Government, you are to be commended on your choice of a man who is not flashy, but is honorable; one who is not a puppet of the powers that be, but instead dispenses justice fairly and impartially.

None of us is above the law and it is time that we Americans realized this.

LUCY L. RANKIN

Lancaster. Pa.

Sir / Terrific. Absolutely no other choice was possible.

MRS. PHILLIP PROULX

Detroit

Sir / If Judge Sirica had solved our inflation and oil-shortage problems, then I would bestow upon him the Man of the Year honors.

PHILIP YARNELL

Baltimore

Sir / I protest your selection of Judge John Sirica as Man of the Year. His handling of the Watergate defendants has been manipulative, punitive and opportunistic, not qualities for which Men (or Women) of the Year should be selected.

RICHARD A. DIERCKS

Mound. Minn.

Sir / I say that Judge John Sirica is a despicable, contemptible, malicious man obsessed by power who should really not have the right to judge and persecute others.

JOHN LANG

Concord, N.H.

Sir / May I say that the selection of Judge Sirica as Man of the Year is as poor a selection as you have ever made.

He is not a good jurist, not a balanced judge and. if you had to select him, the least you could have done was to label him "Chief Prosecutor."

PAUL J. MUNDIE

Milwaukee

Sir / "Judge Who?" That's what people will be saying a few years from now. when they are still discussing Kissinger, Kohoutek, and the Arab leaders whose actions were of international significance during troubled 1973.

MRS. R.H. CRESWELL

Phoenix, Ariz.

Dice in the Tea

Sir / Your nostalgic Essay on radio [Jan. 7] and reference to Fred Allen brought back memories of 30 years ago. How we looked forward to the residents of Allen's Alley and their zany humor. Remember Falstaff Openshaw? "From miles around you could hear the boom, as Mother fell out of the Rainbow Room!" or "Those aren't spots in your sugar. Mother: you're putting the dice in your tea."

PIERRE CALEGARI

Baltimore

Sir / Stefan Kanfer must be under 35 or he would remember that Mr. District Attorney never seemed to "prosecute [criminals] to the full extent of the law." A thoroughly atypical D.A., he spent all of his radio time in the field with a faithful companion, solving crimes and making arrests.

J.D. HARDESTY

Tempe, Ariz.

Sir / As Astronomer Carl Sagan points out in his The Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective, any life on other planets may at this very moment be listening to our old Amos 'n' Andy and Backstage Wife programs, which only now would be reaching them.

I wonder what they'll make of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast when it reaches them!

JEROME AGEL

Manhattan

Sir / When you talk of the radio of the '20s. '30s and '40s, how can you not mention the great comedians? You quoted Fred Allen, but how can you pass up Jack Benny, Joe Penner, Fibber McGee, Eddie Cantor. Easy Aces, Amos 'n' Andy and, for the real old-timers around. Block and Sully?

How can you pass up all of the marvelous crooners? Lanny Ross, Bing Crosby, Russ Columbo, Arthur Tracey, Morton Downey and Kate Smith.

HARVEY GITTLER

Oberlin. Ohio

A Missing Image

Sir / We were dismayed to find no picture of Pablo Casals in your "Images "73" [Jan. 71. This man, one of the greatest musicians of all time, dedicated his life to bringing peace on earth.

ANDREW W. SMITH-MEAD SUZANNE V. SMITH-MEAD

Waban. Mass.

Man for All Seasons

Sir / Your article "Andrew Greeley, Inc." [Jan. 7] was a superb analysis of the man who has probably the best mind and the fin est writing talent in the post-Vatican II American Roman Catholic Church.

As your article pointed out, Greeley very successfully steers a well-balanced via media between the Berrigans on the left and the Catholic traditionalist movement on the right. He has the wisdom of a Cardinal Newman, the Irish wit of a Peter Finley Dunne, and the insight of an Americanized G.K. Chesterton.

If Greeley is in fact an exile from both Chicago's university and its archdiocese, this in no way makes him any less of a man for all seasons.

JAMES P. WARD

Claymont. Del.

Sir / It has been facetiously asseverated by some clerical wags here that Father Andrew Greeley has already published all his thoughts: now he is beginning to publish all his fantasies.

(THE REV.) MARIO DICICCO, O.F.M.

Chicago

Sir / Thanks for your article devoted to Andrew Greeley, Inc. I consider my two years working for Andrew Greeley as one of the outstanding privileges of my life. Catholic theology tells us that part of a priest's job is to "make the bishop present" in the community. When there is no true friendship between a priest and his bishop, both of them suffer.

The priest. Andrew Greeley, suffers because his cardinal-archbishop does not seem to care about him. All of us would benefit if Cody and Greeley could "throw down their arms."

(THE REV.) NEAL W. MCDERMOTT. O.P

Miami Shores. Fla.

Sir / I wonder if I might add a minor footnote to TIME'S gracious and generous account of my corporate activities. All of the eight attempts at full faculty status in the University of Chicago were instituted not by me but by university chairmen and deans. In many of the instances there was a strong majority recommendation from the units in which I would have served. These recommendations were blocked by mysterious forces at higher levels. These forces are not only anticlerical but anti-Catholic. However, they are not typical of the university, and I do not charge the university with either anticlericalism or anti-Catholicism. On the contrary, President Levi is, if anything, pro-Irish Catholic, which shows good taste.

ANDREW M. GREELEY

National Opinion Research Center Chicago

Southpaws, Take Heart

Sir / The Japan Lefthanders League, which seeks to boost the self-esteem of long-suffering southpaws [Jan. 7], will find comfort in an astonishing fact that I noted while working on a book about the Apollo moon-landing program. Of the 29 astronauts who flew the Apollo missions, no fewer than seven are lefthanded: Walter Schirra, Donn Eisele, James Lovell, Michael Collins, Richard Gordon. Edgar Mitchell and Charles Duke.

So, members of the sinister set, take heart. You not only can get along: you can become superachievers.

ROBERTSHERROD

Washington. D.C.

Sir / I salute Tokyo Psychiatrist Soichi Hakozaki and his lefty liberation crusade. A year ago, I found out that all my left-handed guitar students suffered from severe rhythm problems and a general inability to improvise. A specially strung guitar designed to be strummed with the left hand and fretted with the right solved the problem. Those who achieved skill, however, found that professional-quality lefthanded instruments were very hard to obtain. Other lefthanders insisted from the start that they were as good as any righthander and did not want any special favors. The result was that they were unable to develop any skill on their instruments.

NATHAN A. BUCKLIN

St. Paul

Manufacturing Failures

Sir / Your article "They Shall Not Pass" [Dec. 31] implies that we continue to manufacture failures in our public schools. Let us take a look at one of the causes. Since we ask the child to adapt to the system in public education, it seems only proper that we give him a fair chance. Dr. Bakalis thinks that going back to the basics will solve the problem. I would like to suggest making kindergarten mandatory, and testing to determine if a child is ready for kindergarten. Nothing succeeds like success, and "readiness" is the key.

Sometimes the biggest problems have the simplest solutions.

JANICE LAWRENCE

Carbondale, 111.

Sir / Your articles on "pass every student" and the declining scores of our high school graduates as shown by the Scholastic Aptitude Tests seem to show cause and effect quite clearly.

Why should kids study if they are going to pass anyhow?

ALAN POPE

Albuquerque

Sir / What happens in the classroom when students are passed along until "a third of the high school seniors have reading and math skills below eighth-grade level"? The teachers can no longer wjite valid tests or conduct meaningful discussions; the faculty disagree among themselves about the purpose of education; confused students note with increasing frequency that learning is not the name of the game: and the mentally gifted become turned off.

JANE S. WAGNER

Redlands. Calif.

Lost Love Sir / I am sure that I speak for many others when I say that the "romance" with the big car [Dec. 31] was a beautiful thing.

What is the old saying--"It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all"? It surely was nice while it lasted.

SUEFRILOUX

New Sarpy, La.

Sir / A large car is not a matter of choice or status for those of us with four or more children; our families will not physically fit into compact cars. Any time we go anywhere at all with the whole family, a large car is an expensive necessity, not a luxurious frill.

(MRS.) JANET L. HASELEY

Grifton. N.C.

Sir / I know you have considered many aspects of the energy crisis and the hardship people will be facing. But has anyone considered the problems of a family like ours?

We have a handicapped preschooler who must be transported several days a week (90 miles a week) for therapy. We need a large car to transport her wheelchair and a carriage for our six-month-old.

So what happens to us and other families in similar situations if gas rationing goes into effect and prices continue to rise?

MRS. DAVID ANGER

Basking Ridge, N.J.

A Third Choice

Sir / Your article "Murder of the Alter Ego," about the assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco [Dec. 31], concludes with the statement: "The aging Franco had only two choices--to liberalize his regime or face the threat of having his country racked by more violence."

I dispute this statement.

Franco, in my opinion, has a third choice: to seek out and destroy the perpetrators of violence.

PAUL W. HOPKINS

Commander, U.S.N. (ret.) New Orleans

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