Who's Behind Henry?

Sir / Like all miracles in human affairs, the Syria-Israel "miracle" [June 10] was the result of persistent, painstaking hard work. You report Henry Kissinger as pressuring the Israelis. Behind him was another man putting pressure on him.

Richard Nixon is blamed for the misdeeds of his appointees but gets no credit for their accomplishments.

A.H. JOHNSON

Albuquerque

Sir / Kissinger's achievements have, at last, justified the establishment of a new political office, which I sincerely hope the United Nations will consider: President of the planet earth.

MICHAEL NEMO

Hollywood

Sir / Middle East miracle? In my dictionary, a miracle is described as "an event that appears unexplained by the laws of nature, or an act of God." If $350 million in aid (at least) to the Arab countries is a miracle, then money is God, morality is whatever works --temporarily--and truth is whatever you can make people believe.

LOIS SHEARON

Colorado Springs, Colo.

The Art of Delaying

Sir / I am violating the basic tenet of Michael Demarest's great thesis on procrastination [June 10] by writing early.

I have taken reluctant and delayed pride in being one of the practitioners of the art. Some day--s-o-m-e d-a-y--I will cut out the article and frame it for my den wall.

THOR B. GUSTAFSON

Brookside, N.J.

Sir / I apologize for responding so promptly to your Essay "The Fine Art of Putting Things Off." One reality that must be propounded is that only those of us loners (freelance writers, artists, commission salesmen, et al.) are entitled to claim it as an art or skill. For us, risk is involved. We gamble our livelihood against losing work or sales. For people on a salary, it is simply called dishonesty.

TOM KORCHAK

Kansas City, Mo.

Sir / I shall never forget the advice of my favorite uncle as I left home on my first day of school--"Never procrastinate in the middle of the street."

J.P. LA SALLE

Little Compton, R.I.

Sir / Why is it we never put off until tomorrow what we should not do today?

RITA SAFER IDELSON

Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Sir / Any time wasted is time well spent.

LEONARD WARD

Jersey City

Whose Shame?

Sir / Your article "Tule Lake 30 Years Later" [June 10] evoked many feelings that I thought I had worked through over the years. The years spent at our "relocation center" at Rohwer, Ark., are the lost experience of childhood, since I was six months old at the time of internment. But later the puzzlement of why one nationality was so treated haunted me throughout the postwar years. At first I thought that it was a Japanese shame since my parents did not talk about the internment (and one does not speak of that of which one is ashamed). Then gradually I came to realize that it was an American shame and, as such, it was never mentioned.

BETTY YAMATE KANAPILLY

Chicago

Sir / Millions for planes that will not fly, millions to support corporations wracked by dry rot--isn't it time that a California Congressman drafted a bill that would at least restore what was confiscated from the American Japanese community in the summer of '42? After all, it's only the cost of a few C-5A's.

MRS. WILLIAM A. GILDERSLEEVE

York, Maine

Sir / I don't know where you got the impression that the relocation centers for the Japanese Americans were hell. Where else could a six-year-old boy run out to the "backyard" (meaning beyond the barbed-wire fence) to pick up scorpions by the tail to take back to Mother as a present, go around teasing rattlesnakes, and climb up rickety steps to play war games in a 40-ft.-high watchtower?

JOSEPH FUJIKI

New York City

Fundamental Charity

Sir / Hugh Sidey's "We Go On as a People" [June 10] was superb. As a sometimes uncomfortable but staunch Nixon "diehard," I was grateful for Sidey's having caught and preserved the moment of fraternity and kinship among the disparate people attending the Stewart Alsop memorial service. Although I often fulminate privately against TIME for its treatment of the Watergate matter, I applaud Mr. Sidey's having shown that, for the most part, the individuals on all sides in Washington (as elsewhere) want to be, and many times are, fundamentally charitable to their fellows.

WILLIAM F. BEHRENS

Phoenix, Ariz.

Blaming the Victim

Sir / It is hard to understand how continuing upheaval in the one British-ruled province of Ireland [June 10] could have led you to the conclusion that "the Irish cannot run Ireland either." The Irish have not been responsible for the Northern province for 300 years.

The last time the Irish had sole charge of their homeland, prior to the Norse invasions, the country was known as "the island of saints and scholars." To blame the Irish people for the failure of yet another British-imposed arrangement is to blame the victim for the crime.

MARY GIANNINI

Hershey, Pa.

Sir / An example of the blindness and stupidity of the Protestant majority in Northern Ireland is clearly expressed by William (King Billy) Craig.

If Protestants look upon Catholics as a social liability and far from selfsupporting, they should ask themselves the reason why. As long as Catholics are discriminated against with regard to employment and housing and their right to representation in the government, there will be a social problem. This is the 20th century--the minority must have a say.

(THE REV.) ALAN MALONE

Phoenix, Ariz.

Sir / Britain is paying dearly for its occupation of Northern Ireland. I have one word of advice for Britain: Withdraw and leave Ireland to the Irish, or you will face your own Viet Nam.

STEPHEN G. VERICKER

New Milford, N.J.

The Truth About Alger

Sir / Your article on Herbert R. Mayes' Alger: A Biography Without a Hero [June 10] neglected to mention that Horatio Alger scholars for decades have known of the contradictions in his book. It was not until 1972, however, that Mayes publicly revealed that his volume was intended to be a debunking biography. William Henderson, then an associate editor of Doubleday, began corresponding with Mayes, and gradually the author told him the history behind the writing of his book. Earlier this year their complete correspondence was printed in the Horatio Alger Society's newsletter, Newsboy, with Mayes subsequently receiving honorary membership in the society.

JACK BALES

Vice President Horatio Alger Society

Aurora, Ill.

France's Divisions

Sir / Your description of the division of France into two parts [June 3], one monopolizing the bonne vie and therefore voting for Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the other one struggling and consequently backing Franc,ois Mitterrand, is far too simple to be right.

The real split is more elaborate. An example taken from people I know: the caretaker in charge of my premises and an employee of the nearby fish shop, who are both small wage earners, voted for Giscard, while my 23-year-old son, a student with a future and by the way relieved of any worry about money problems, gave his vote to Socialist Mitterrand.

Many offspring of the well-off society did the same.

CHARLES R. DULLIEUX

Paris

Patriotism Defined

Sir / You report that a poll of college students shows that patriotism is only considered important by 16% [June 3]. I think it important to ask how one defines patriotism. If it means "my country right or wrong" and blind approval of war and Watergate, I applaud its downfall. If, however, it means commitment to democratic participation and free expression of ideas without enemies lists, buggings and suitcases full of political payoffs, I then mourn its passing.

A. MICHAEL HOTARD

Houma, La.

Happy Retirement

Sir / As Attorney Martin Weisbrod in his battle to continue working says, some people are not built for retirement [June 3]. My father retired at the age of 61, returned to college, and in the space of nine years received a B.A. (Phi Beta Kappa), an M.A., an M.M. and a Ph.D. in musicology.

Not content to rest, he then packed up my mother and younger brother and moved to The Netherlands. He is now busier than ever writing articles, performing chamber music and generally having the time of his life--at the age of 73.

TOM CALMEYER

Norfolk

Sir / Hooray for Martin Weisbrod and senior lib!

It never has made good sense to have civil service employees mandatorily retired at age 70 when the people responsible for our nation's welfare--like Senators and Congressmen--operate beyond the age of good reasoning.

VIVIAN LEITZELL

Cimarron, N. Mex.

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