Who's in Charge?

To the Editors:

I wish Jimmy Carter could have read your story on leadership [Aug. 6] aloud on his Sunday TV talk after returning from the mountain, instead of giving us that "peanut butter and jelly" saga.

Will Rogers San Francisco

Your concise and rational analysis should be required reading of every student, every elected official, indeed every citizen of this country. Perhaps then, when the man on horseback finally does arrive, he will be in the tradition of Jefferson, not Hitler.

Gordon M. Hochberg Port Chester, N. Y.

America's quest for a strong leader is oddly reminiscent of Nietzsche's memorable adage: "Said the sheep: 'Leader, guide us, so we won't be afraid to follow you.' Replied the leader: 'Sheep, follow me, so I won't be afraid to guide you.' "

Gunther Volk

Marburg-Dagobertshausen West Germany

The people are not following because they are in a state of denial. We are about to lose a part of the American dream and to follow Carter is to accept rather than deny. When they perceive the paucity of paths before them, Americans will support the President's efforts.

Roger Venable, M.D. Fort Gordon, Ga.

Of the 50 faces for America's future listed, 45 are from east of the Mississippi. Is there really such a dearth of brains and leadership in the vast Midwest and West?

Robert K. Garrity

Newbury Park, Calif.

Why no future leaders from the conservation or environmental movement?

Norman B. Wood Delafield, Wis.

Your list contains not one member of this nation's finest school of leadership, the military.

CWO2 Dean M. Thompson

Officer-in -Charge

NALF, Alice/Orange Grove, Texas

Incredible. You ignored Muhammad Ali, the world's best known American.

Lawrence Martin Washington, D.C.

What about Kate Millett? Angela Davis? Jane Fonda? Crystal Lee Sutton?

Greg Dillensnyder Pittsburgh

Peace Corps Boss Richard Celeste?

Larry S. Pollak North Canton, Ohio

Clamma Dale, the new Beverly Sills?

Louis A. Baer

Pikesville, Md.

I am both humbled and challenged by your surprising selection.

Sister Elizabeth Morancy, R.S.M. Providence

Rosalynn's Role

It is a joy to know that Rosalynn Carter is quietly counseling Jimmy [Aug. 6]. She has probably kept him from making many more mistakes. How many wives have you seen put a restraining hand on their husband's arm, be it ball games, barrooms or business, and say "Now, dear." It says a lot of good things about Jimmy that he gives Rosalynn the credit that she is due.

Georgia Perkins Memphis

It scares the devil out of me to think Rosalynn is her Jimmy's closest adviser. There's not a general or admiral alive who would be allowed to let his wife sit in on "commander's calls," much less help to devise a battle plan. A First Lady? Yes! A copresident? No sir.

Luverne P. Hinson Augusta, Ga.

Israel vs. the Bedouins

The Israeli government proposes to resettle forcibly these nomadic people in industrial townships, completely against their will and without right of appeal [Aug. 6]. To me this smacks of the Warsaw ghetto. Will there be barbed-wire-topped walls to keep the Bedouins in their new "homes"?

Cynthia A. Carrington Lawrence, Kans.

Bedouins have always prospered under Israeli rule, having full rights, free medical and social services, educational opportunities, etc. Some will have to move, but so will even more Israelis and from more permanent and established homes--that is the price of peace.

Aaron Seruya San Francisco

A Note of Sympathy My comment concerning the President being all alone and naked as a jaybird [July 30] is juxtaposed misleadingly with another concerning his request for the resignations of his Cabinet. In fact, it concerned an entirely different point, meant to be sympathetic: namely, that the various parts of our political system are functioning to produce fragmentation instead of a mutually reinforcing whole, and that he is not being helped at all--by Congress, Cabinet parochialism, regional partisanship, and various diverse interests --in forging cohesive national policy.

Jonathan Moore

John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

St. George in Ohio

Your gnat's-eye view of Mansfield, Ohio [Aug. 6], implies that Editor Martin Yant's misfortunes were somehow caused by a vengeful community. Actually, his crusade against Sheriff Weikel was widely popular. His elaborate innuendoes against numerous prominent people were read with great interest at first and then with amused skepticism. A light began to dawn: In order to be St. George, Yant had to paint Mansfield as a dragon. And the phony pigment would not stick. D.K. Woodman Editor Emeritus, News Journal Mansfield, Ohio

CH2H5OH Oops

Even before it was considered a way to run a car, I used grain alcohol as "wonder fuel" [Aug. 6]. But no matter how you tank up--automotively or anatomically --the chemical formula is CH3CH2OH.

Neither my liver nor my carburetor is familiar with CH2H5OH.

Michael duBois Bellemead, N.J.

Writing a Wrong

I am grateful for Paul Gray's generous notice of The Duke of Deception: Memories of My Father [Aug. 13]. I admire the excerpt attributed to my book, but it in fact belongs to The White Album by Joan Didion.

Geoffrey Wolff Warren, Vt.

Because of a production error, what was to have been the excerpt in the following week's review of Didion's book appeared in place of an excerpt from Wolff's work.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.