Cheever's Credo Sir: A garland of bay leaves to TIME for the very revealing insight into the charismatic soul of Author Cheever [March 27] who appears to be basically idealistic as opposed to the majority of the perverted authors on the contemporary scene who advocate nihilism as their credo. I particularly appreciated his succinct and moralistic Metamorphoses. ANN PAPASTEFAN Cudahy, Wis.

Sir: One of the best articles I have read in many months. It was sympathetic, objective, friendly, and expressed a fitting admiration for one of our outstanding authors in the U.S. today. THAYER A. WESTLAKE Chester, Pa.

Sir: All tribute to Mr. Cheever and his sympathetic reviewer, but, dear me, does one have to be a New England moralist to deplore "wife swapping"? MRS. ROBERT H. DARNTON Rochester, Mich.

Sir: All thanks flow from me to TIME. I have never seen such tact and magnanimity in my life. JOHN CHEEVER

Ossining, N.Y.

Coming Campaign

Sir: The New Hampshire primary [March 20] definitely diminished the hopes of Rockefeller and Goldwater, who were considered front runners in the contest. Even though the people of the New England state gave Henry Cabot Lodge their vote, I do not feel that he will be a major factor in the coming election. His life is given to the ambassadorship in South Viet Nam; his campaigning will be done by loyal supporters. Richard Nixon, I believe, is the man who can best lead the Republicans to victory. LUTHER FRETTE Fergus Falls, Minn.

Sir: Henry Cabot Lodge--marvelous! The more I thought about it, the more delighted I became. It's like a breath of fresh air to have a candidate, written in or not, going about his business and not calling any opponents any nasty names. MARY JEAN KALIN La Mesa, Calif.

Sir: Bobby Kennedy's record speaks for itself--he is a fine lawmaker. Putting Hoffa where he belongs restores my faith that there will always be a man around like Bobby Kennedy with the courage to carry out our laws. MRS. JAY SCHULTZ Ann Arbor, Mich.

Sir: I keep reading TIME, trying to find at least one good word for Senator Goldwater. It seems as if you could at least say that he has the wife he started with, or that he was not elected Senator by 202 very late reported votes. PAUL H. MCDOWELL Wytheville, Va.

Ruby or Belli? Sir-However one might feel about the fate of Jack Ruby [March 27] or the state of affairs in Dallas, it is hard not to be gratified by the much-deserved and long-deserved defeat of Melvin Belli. His notorious record of malpractice suits won on histrionics and little or no substantial evidence suggests that justice might be more fairly dispensed by a jury of Texans than by a jury of Californians. JAMES W. MACINNES Chicago

Sir: Jack Ruby's move to fire Belli only goes to prove that Ruby isn't as insane as Belli has claimed. RAOL BIECRET

Ann Arbor, Mich. Sir: Melvin Belli came into Dallas with a large mahogany chip on his shoulder and all but dared anyone to attempt its removal. He blasted this beautiful and friendly city to the deepest foundation before gaining any knowledge of the subject on which he was talking. His tyrannical outburst in the courtroom reminded one of a young child who has just lost at a game before learning the rules of good conduct that accompany sportsmanship. RAY LANDS

Dallas

Sir: Is it necessary to add another murder to the horrible events that occurred in Dallas? Human life is precious, even that of a poor, mixed-up, sad little man named Jack Ruby. LESLIE ANN TONNER Woodmere, N.Y.

Montana's Mansfield Sir-Plaudits for Majority Leader Mike Mansfield [March 20]! His unassuming, straightforward manner of getting things done is a refreshing respite from the bulldozing, holdout and sometimes unscrupulous methods of some of his predecessors and their hired hands. Mike Mansfield exemplifies the best of the Senate. Montanans are rightly proud of their native son. HARVEY L. SCHLIEMAN Beirut, Lebanon

Sir: If Senator Mansfield is so dedicated to the Treasure State, perhaps he could explain his reasons for voting for the controversial wheat bill, when just last year his state voted against Government controls in agriculture. It's my belief that the senior Senator from Montana has forgotten Montana. GAIL RICHARDS Havre, Mont.

Sir: Montana wonders, this election year, if Senator Mansfield represents the constituents of the Orient or the executive branch of the U.S. Government. He has not given the state of Montana the impression that he is theirs. MRS. E. M. KLUVER Forsyth, Mont.

Sir: The outstanding figure was Everett Dirksen. His statement to the press concerning civil rights depicts him as a man of conviction and integrity. Would that there were more political leaders like him. ANDREW J. DONNELLY Captain, U.S.M.C. Woodbridge, Va.

Sir: If the U.S. Senate can finally accept the civil rights bill, I think it will raise U.S. prestige in the eyes of the world, especially in African and Asian countries. And it will do much more than your millions of dollars in aid. If the Senate rejects the bill, call home your Peace Corps, because if you can't make peace in your own home, don't try to make it outside. B. SUSANTO London

Geographical Equality Sir: In reference to Georgia Senator Richard Russell's scheme [March 27] to distribute Negroes equally among the 50 states: Has Senator Russell ever considered distributing white segregationists equally among the 50 states? The Negroes of Mississippi might be happy to have such a concentrated annoyance as the segregationists reduced. And surely the white segregationists deported to Vermont would be happy to find a thoroughly white population. LEO N. FLANAGAN Providence

Sir: After reading the quotes from a statement made by Georgia's Senator Russell, I realized for the first time that narrow-minded people can also be well-educated, attain high offices in Government, and share in the responsibility of ruling a nation.

Somehow I had always felt that prejudice would be eliminated above a certain level in elective offices, but I neglected to realize that the people who would be voting would be as bigoted as the person being voted for. MARY SCHNEIDER The Bronx, N.Y.

The First Volley Sir: In your article on Cyprus [March 20], you state that "the latest battle began when Greeks fought Turks with bazookas," etc. This is a gross distortion of fact. The incident in Paphos to which you refer happened when the Turks started firing from a minaret near the market square at the milling crowd. ANDREAS FRANCOS Embassy of Cyprus Washington, D.C.

>Although Greeks claim that Turks began the latest battle by wantonly firing into the crowded market square in the Paphos suburb of Ktima, British investigators are convinced that neither side deliberately started the fighting. The incident apparently began when a Greek shopkeeper, Kyriakhos Mavros, fired a revolver at a passing Turkish postman, Cevde Mazlum, wounding him in the back and arm. Thus sparked, Turks and Greeks positioned around the market all opened fire.--ED.

Sir: Your map of Cyprus shows that the distance between Cyprus and the nearest point on the Turkish coast is 45 miles, while the distance between Cyprus and Athens is 520 miles. This is misleading to the uninformed because--apart from the indisputable fact that Cyprus is, was and will always be a Greek island in mentality, history, tradition, religion, language, folklore, feelings and atmosphere, literally and metaphorically--the distance between Cyprus and the Greek island of Rhodes is only half the distance from Athens. ALEXIS SOLOMOS Athens >TIME'S map "Danger Point" [March 20] illustrated the proximity of the Turkish fleet as opposed to the Greek fleet, then leaving home port in Greece for Rhodes, and was not designed to indicate territorial allegiances.--ED.

Sir: Since independence in 1960, the Turkish minority (17%) has exercised a veto power over the island's Christian majority, the 500,000 Greek Cypriots who were denied the right of self-determination.

The only solution to the Cypriot dilemma is the repatriation of the 94,000 Turkish Cypriots to the mainland of Anatolia. THOMAS SPELIOS Elmhurst, N.Y.

The People of Pleasantville

Sir: Townspeople all over America should learn a valuable lesson from recent happenings in the operation of public schools in Pleasantville [March 20]--or they too will awake one day to realize they slept through the last election.

Far too many of our school boards--which were once made up of responsible, dedicated citizens--are now being dominated by knuckleheads and prigs. ALICE COWAN Beverly, Mass.

Sir: Superintendent Nus and his resigning teachers ought to be given a good lesson in courage from teacher Hazel M. Flora. It seems to me the most effective way to handle the "unpleasant" situation in Pleasantville is to stay and fight for what they believe. No problem was ever solved by running away (they call it resigning). (MRS.) SALLY-LOU BAILEY Princeton, N.J.

Boom Town

Sir: What's all the racket [March 13] about? Here, near San Diego, the Navy's been shattering our plaster and peace of mind for years. We haven't come to love it. despite the efforts of brass and press to quiet our furor. Let's say we've learned to live with it, as we do with power poles and sillboards, midnight train horns, and conversation censored by afterburner blasts. P. S. BARROWS Del Mar, Calif.

Who's a Pest?

Sir: By using a picture of a snake [March 27] as a danger symbol, the Michigan State Pharmaceutical Association attempts to save the lives of our children at the expense of our reptilian friends. The word evil has been associated with the snake long enough. The snake's value as a pest control far exceeds its alleged reputation as a killer!

WILBUR K. SAWYER Columbia University New York City

CRERTHWTFB

Sir: As president of the Committee for the Reputation of Elizabeth Taylor, I would like to protest your mention of her [March 27] as "Elizabeth Rosamond Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher." This is an attack on the reputation of Mrs. Burton, and CRET takes exception to this type of smart-aleck reporting. NAPOLEON JONES President CRET New York City

Jefferson on Race

Sir: Jefferson's prejudice against Negroes [March 13] has been well exploited by racists, but commonly overlooked has been his later repudiation of that attitude. Writing to Benjamin Banneker, slaveborn inventor and mathematician, Jefferson praised Banneker's Almanac and welcomed "such proofs as you exhibit that nature has given to our black brethren talents equal to those of the other colors of men, and that the appearance of a want of them is owing merely to the degraded condition of their existence . . ."

In 1809, something over 17 years later, Jefferson wrote: "Be assured that no person living wishes more sincerely than I do to see a complete refutation of the doubts I have myself entertained and expressed on the grade of understanding allotted to them [Negroes] by nature, and to find that in this respect they are on a par with ourselves. My doubts were the result of personal observation on the limited sphere of my own State, where the opportunities for the development of their genius were not favorable, and those of exercising it still less so. I expressed them therefore with great hesitation; but whatever be their degree of talent is no measure of their rights." EDWIN D. SHEEN West Virginia State College Institute, W.Va.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.