Franklin, or Teddy?

Sir: TIME'S coverage of the Dominican situation [May 7] was most illuminating, especially the special section on the long history of fear and hate on the entire island of Hispaniola. It is common knowledge that a Dominican rebellion was bound to come. In fact, most political scientists predicted this long before the assassination of Trujillo. Therefore, the necessity for immediate troop movements by President Johnson did not come as a great surprise to Latin diplomats. The protection of our nationals and the prevention of a Communist take-over surely provided enough justification.

CHARLES FREEMAN New York City

Sir: General Wessin y Wessin is not preventing another Cuba. He is creating the conditions for it by preventing the return of the democratically elected President, whom he illegally deposed, and the re-establishment of the constitution, which he abolished. And we are helping him with it! First by recognizing the illegal junta of D. R. Cabral (which, incidentally, President Kennedy refused to do) and now by sending 14,000 marines, who are supposed to be "impartial" but are in practice helping to prevent the return of Juan Bosch.

ANDREW DIENES Pasadena, Calif.

Sir: Sending U.S. Marines to the Dominican Republic is about as tactful as sending the Selma police force to handle a disturbance in Harlem.

MARVIN ROSEN New York City

Sir: Bully for Lyndon! He's growing more like Teddy and less like Franklin every day. Y'all charge now . . . Medford, Mass.

WILLIAM PURVES Tufts University

Sir: Believing that TIME shows as much courage and foresight in being consistently anti-Communist as in being consistently pro-integration, I applaud much of your realism in the Wessin y Wessin cover story. But I do feel that the inconsistencies in our foreign policy, which did so much to force us into the necessary but tragic intervention, are an essential part of the story. Bosch's downfall certainly stemmed from his incompetence, his failure to fulfill campaign promises, and his softness toward Communists; yet had we intervened then rather than now in support of a freely elected constitutional government, no one could accuse us of intervening on the side of a military clique without popular support. If last week's revolt began, as the President says, as "an action dedicated to social justice," why did no word of encouragement come from Washington in the period before the Communists began to infiltrate the rebel ranks? If our foreign policy continues to be mainly "anti" in underdeveloped countries that require drastic social and land reforms, the Communists will always side with the "pros" and, in the end, leave us with no ally but naked force.

SELDEN RODMAN-Oakland, N.J.

Sir: As an ex-Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic, I took rather perverse satisfaction in discovering that even TIME (which was, and is, my symbol of accuracy) occasionally blunders. If that's not former Dictator Trujillo in your *picture captioned "Bosch in Puerto Rico," I'll gladly pay double for next week's edition.

DWIGHT TUINSTRA

St. Paul, Minn.

Reader Tuinstra may keep his money. See cut of the real Juan Bosch whose name, in some copies, inadvertently appeared beneath a picture of Trujillo.

Sir: The "few suspicious Latin Americans" you mention who object to U.S. actions in the Dominican Republic happen to be, unfortunately, those of the "democratic left," for whose support we have been working since President Kennedy took steps toward abandoning a policy of support for dictatorships of the right. Sixty years ago it was "Speak softly and carry a big stick." Now it's "Broadcast it nationwide and send in the Marines!" Let's hope that this time American occupation is not followed by another Trujillo.

ANNE E. KOPF Washington, D.C.

Professors v. the Advisers

Sir: In presenting only McGeorge Bundy's rather hostile reply, you unfairly dismissed our letters as naive [May 7]. The academic community is concerned because the chief advisers to the President have ignored the advice of Asian experts and have shown a lack of candor in calling the complex Viet Nam war a simple case of good guys v. bad guys. If you had quoted my reply to Bundy, you would have noted our belief that former academicians have an obligation to scholarship, just as the Surgeon General is responsible to standards of the medical profession.

ROBERT BUCKHOUT, PH.D. Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Policy Washington University St. Louis

Sir: Why, in a country that promotes freedom of speech and freedom of the press, must there be a conforming opinion on current policy in Viet Nam? Thinking citizens read, evaluate, and react perhaps by joining the army or perhaps by joining the picket lines. Surely, the Administration does not have a monopoly on all the wisdom in the U.S.

(MRS.) PATSY COPPOCK ROBINS Columbus

Sir: Thank God our President and his three top advisers can stand up against the barrage of criticism for their determined action in Viet Nam and in the Dominican Republic. The free world has seen enough "Munichs."

WENDELL O. EDWARDS San Juan, P.R.

The South's Progress

Sir: The recently begun TIME Essay series has been much appreciated, but never more so than the May 7 Essay, "The Other South." As a South Carolinian now living in Pennsylvania, my private campaign has been for recognition of the good though slow progress of integration in the South rather than concentration on its sensational and bad aspects. I hope that TIME has started a trend toward emphasizing the more newsworthy "plus" side to integration.

MARY R. MILLER Harrisburg, Pa.

Steel & Beyond

Sir: Re your cover story on Harold Wilson [April 30]: I know that socialism is an emotive word in the U.S., but may I assure my fellow TIME readers that doctrinaire socialism is as fatuous to an Englishman as sex to a eunuch? Nationalization of the steel industry is not some thing that goes bump in the night, but the simple equivalent to a socialist government of lines of communication to a soldier, a security that is necessary before either can function at its best. It is necessary in England, but not in America, to nationalize the basic industries.

(MRS.) IRIS HARVEY London

Sir: Make no mistake, the renationalization of steel, cloaked under efficiency or national interest, will bring other industries under the shadow of the Red Flag. To imagine that present socialist policies, even though they still bear the mark of middle-of-the-road politics, will continue under a larger parliamentary majority is akin to living like Alice in Wonderland. There is little doubt that the left wing of the Labor party will eventually rise and demand complete control of industry.

L. I. FLEMING London

Sir: Patrick Gordon Walker lost Leyton, not Smethwick, in a January by-election. The latter he lost in the general election in October. Both were "safe" Labor seats.

REED HOFFMAN Enterprise, Kans.

No Special Privilege

Sir: In your mention of the Manhattan Show which includes pictures by Lord Snowdon [May 7], you suggested the pictures of poor and elderly Britons were taken on charity missions, accompanied by his wife, Princess Margaret. This is not true. The pictures were taken on straightforward assignment for the Sunday Times Magazine, and he was only accompanied by one of our writers. On no occasion has Lord Snowdon taken advantage of his marriage to gain access to situations that were not available to other photographers.

MARK BOXER Editor

Sunday Times Magazine London

Campus Individuals

Sir: In your college-acceptance article [May 7], the various young men you mentioned appeared much more eminently qualified than I am. I cannot conceive how Harvard and Swarthmore would accept me and not those others. But that is what they did. At Swarthmore I was told: "I don't want to hear about your grades, your College Boards, or your National Merit scores. Let's just find out what type of person you are." At the end of an hour we had discussed teen-age drinking, Viet Nam, the influence of Christianity on America, and the pennant race. Harvard's interview committee was roughly equivalent: "We want to know if you can express your ideas forcefully, originally and cogently."

Why were those boys turned down, and, why was I accepted? Simple, yet not so simple. In an age where the individual is fast becoming a thing of the past, the college is still looking for him. I hate the Beatles.

THOMAS A. O'DONNELL

Chaminade College Prep St. Louis

Sir: I was one of those "wheels" in an "upper-crusty, hockey-playing school for boys" (St. Paul's), and I came to Duke with the express purpose of getting away from the sham of New England education. I'm not saying that Harvard and Yale are not good schools, but as far as undergraduate work is concerned, nearly every college is a "good school."

ZAN CARVER Duke University Durham, N.C.

Petain's Clean Sword

Sir: I agree. Franco "may never be considered respectable enough in the Western community" [April 23]--of Tito, Brandt, Nenni, Spaak, Attlee, Mendes-France,

Norman Thomas and TIME. But for 25 years "the cleanest sword of Europe" (as Petain called him) has been the same, without ambassadors, United Nations, and economic help. And now, when he is 72, our only problem is to find another competent statesman to follow his path and shun the ways of some sticky Westerners. Meanwhile, the U.S. in it's own interest should wish us good luck.

FERNANDO BONEU Lerida, Spain

From Madness to Greatness

Sir: I am 40 years old and I lived under Mussolini from the time I was born until he was shot, and I never noted all those brilliant performances described by those "rehabilitaters" [April 30]. Nor did I ever feel that Mussolini gave me the awareness of belonging to a great nation. On the contrary, like many Italians, I saw idiosyncrasies and stupidities, blood, tears and frustrations imposed upon the Italian people by the Fascist dictator and his cronies. After the war, when the horrors of the Fascist regime came more apparently to the surface, I felt ashamed, bitter and miserable. The pride in being an Italian stayed with me because there were men like De Gasperi, Pope Pius and Pope John, who reminded me that there is a time when a country can go mad, and a time when it can reach the highest degree of greatness.

LIVIO FRAGIACOMO St. Paul, Minn.

Maligned Group

Sir: Re your article about annual meetings [April 30]: clowns certainly hurt the cause of the stockholder. But of the four groups making up a corporation --labor, management, stockholders, and government (taxes)--the stockholder is the least protected and most harassed and maligned. One day in the not-too-distant future, there must be and will be a union of stockholders to protect their rights against management and legislation on its pre-emptive rights and stock options that take away stockholders' property rights without their consent.

FRED SAIGH St. Louis

Cataract Surgery

Sir: The unidentified photo illustrating 'cryosurgery for cataract" [April 30] was taken at our hospital, and shows Dr. Charles Kelman and his Cryostylet. TIME should let its readers know of Dr. Kelman's pioneering work.

THURSTON H. LONG Administrator

Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital New York City

*Author of Quisqueya: A History of the Dominican Republic, Haiti: The Black Republic, Mexican Journal, etc.

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