Anchorman Dan

To the Editors:

Walter Cronkite is stability and security, an anchor in the storm. Dan Rather [Feb. 25] is aggressive and provocative; he will battle the storm. And yet, the CBS choice is certainly commensurate with the Cronkite tradition because Dan, like Walter, is excellence.

Joanne Wikling Medina, N. Y.

Mr. Integrity Sr. steps down. Mr. Integrity Jr. steps up.

Gladys Magrum Lima, Ohio

The Great American Way: hire a newsman for $8 million so he can tell us about all those starving, homeless people around the world who don't even have enough money for a bowl of rice.

Joseph Pentick Kingston, N.Y.

Rather's name should be Mudd.

Robert A. Spelman Washington, D.C.

Dan Rather rates a "10" with me, and if anyone comes close to being worth $8 million, he does. But in The Camera Never Blinks, he says of Barbara Walters, "If anyone comes close to being worth a million, she may. But in my own view, no one in this business is, no matter what or how many shows they do, unless they find a cure for cancer on the side."

Has Rather found that cure?

Jeanette West St. Louis

The Solzhenitsyn Debate

In characterizing Solzhenitsyn's views as perhaps "too" harsh and "too" chilling, TIME [Feb. 18] ironically illustrates what Solzhenitsyn is ultimately talking about: the West's continued reluctance to face the facts, whether out of "spiritual impotence" or in the name of so-called intellectual detachment. How much more evidence do we need before admitting what the Communists are after? Those of us who grew up in one dictatorship can easily detect the evils of another.

Frederic Pellisser Barcelona

Solzhenitsyn pleads with us to distinguish the Soviet people from their government. Such a separation is not, however, easy for Americans to make, since our habits of political thought run in different channels. For us, the government, however much we grumble about it, is an unmistakable expression of our aspirations, fears and confusions as a nation. Our difficulty in seeing things as Solzhenitsyn wants us to see them is one more sign of the chasm between our society, with all its failings, and the society of Solzhenitsyn's long-suffering compatriots.

James R. Pinnells Heidelberg

The West is a willing host to defectors from Communism, knowing too well what these people are escaping from. On the other hand, it always strikes me that the West willingly nurtures Communism, while realizing the consequences in doing so. Something doesn't make sense.

Chris M. Warning Cape Town, South Africa

Olympic Views

Your report from Lake Placid [Feb. 25] was exciting, balanced and moving. Despite organizational and political problems, the surprise of Leonhard Stock in the downhill and the withdrawal of Gardner and Babilonia in pairs are poignant examples of the drama only the Olympics can produce.

Timothy J. Reynolds Green Bay, Wis.

The Olympics took up two weeks of my time, and caused tears, laughs, tensions and above all excitement. I truly felt the patriotic joy that all Americans are supposed to have. Now that the Games are over, I will miss my gorgeous hockey team, incomparable Ingemar Stenmark and incredible Eric Heiden. I wasn't there, but I have new friends and heroes.

Tweet Carlson New York City

Savage Life in Prison

I can think of nothing but the savagery that occurred at the New Mexico State Penitentiary [Feb. 18], less than ten miles from my home. Good Lord, no human being deserves to have limbs severed by a blow torch or a steel spike driven from one ear to another, no matter what crime brought him to prison.

There will be cries from across the country that there is no money for prison reform; yet now the taxpayers of New Mexico are faced with a $20 million bill to rebuild the facility in which the violent crimes of our state multiplied and festered and brought shame upon us all.

Rosanne Piatt Santa Fe, N. Mex.

Every time prison violence erupts, people attach a kind of mystique to it all. There is no mystery. The American penal system is traditionally unresponsive. Prisoners' grievances often go ignored until some act of violence, or even death, results. For example, overcrowding, one of the constantly reappearing ingredients that lead to violence, does not develop overnight, but is a gradual process.

Dan L. Rea # 138537 Maryland Penitentiary Baltimore

The Iranian Way

We have permitted Iran its commission [Feb. 25] without ascertaining linkage to hostage release. The Iranians will keep the hostages for months while enjoying an orgy of vilification of the U.S., to which we will not dare even to reply.

America had better prepare for its Gethsemane. The crucifixion will not be far behind.

Rose A. Thompson Albany, Ore.

According to an old Persian proverb, "There are three things I have never seen--the eye of an ant, the foot of a snake and the charity of a mullah."

Panos D. Bardis Toledo

Forced to Build a Wall

The Pink Floyd album The Wall [Feb. 25] is a statement of how hard it is to be an artist in the face of overwhelming criticism. The world wants to bend you into its mold, and if you're a nonconformist, people force you to build a wall to protect your identity, your inner being. No one wants to have to build the wall.

Kevin McCurdy Oakdale, N. Y.

Fantasy Under Control

I hope no man ever tries to do me a favor by fulfilling what you stated to be one of the most common sexual fantasies of American women--the gentle rape [Feb. 18]. I wish you had at least added that a woman daydreaming of such a forced sex act is in control of her fantasy, and therefore suffers no threat of actual danger. Not so in real life, no matter how "gentle" the rapist may be.

Paula Eastman Sutton Tallahassee, Fla.

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