Who's Afraid of the CIA?

Sir: The scandal over CIA infiltration of the National Student Association [Feb. 24] is evidence of our Government's attempt to subvert education. It is disheartening when our leaders display such doubt in our democratic institutions that they feel the need of front organizations to foster the Administration's "line."

ROBERT C. STEINMETZ, '68 St. Anselm's College Manchester, N.H.

Sir: The N.S.A. is a worthy organization, and the Government acts in its own interest by supporting it, just as other countries support their student organizations. But the objective could be accomplished with no scandal if HEW handled the funds. Yet one wonders: If such an expenditure were proposed in Congress, would not Senators Tower and Eastland and Congressman Rivers be among the first to cry "socialism"?

FRED B. CHARY Arlington, Va.

Sir: In 1955-57 while I was senator-at-large and then student-body president of the University of Southern California, I was a delegate to many N.S.A. conventions. I observed the ultraliberal attitude of most of the association's officers, and voted against resolutions that many of us felt undermined our free enterprise system. Citizens who study the N.S.A. record can only conclude that if the "integrity of student organizations" is being subverted by an intelligence agency, that agency certainly must not be an American one.

This seems to be the season for attacking government agencies. Perhaps this is also the time to remember that such agencies as the FBI and CIA are on our side --not the enemy's.

CARL R. TERZIAN Los Angeles

Sir: The furor demonstrates a typically American paranoia. Americans are repelled by the idea of any government connection with an organization thought private. Upon learning of a connection such as the CIA's with the N.S.A., there is no attempt to find out if the N.S.A. was indeed subverted; guilt by association is assumed.

CRAIG W. FRIEDRICH, '68 The University of Wisconsin Madison

Question Answered

Sir: In "The Full Record" [Feb. 24], you raise a question as to whether I was present in the cabin of Air Force One during the swearing-in of President Johnson on Nov. 22, 1963. I witnessed the entire ceremony, standing directly behind Judge Sarah Hughes, who administered the oath.

LAWRENCE F. O'BRIEN Washington, D.C.

Pride in a Leader

Sir: At last, an article about a man in public life (not an athlete) that we can read with pride because he is "An Individual Who Happens To Be a Negro" [Feb. 17]. Edward Brooke expresses the sentiments many of us feel. Adam Powell is not held in high esteem by most Negroes. I became disenchanted with Martin Luther King some time ago. Carmichael is in a class with Rockwell.

McKissick is a bitter man. Gregory seeks publicity. With men like Brooke, Young and Wilkins, Negroes have the leadership they deserve.

ELIZABETH WHITNEY WILLIAMS Memphis

Sir: Most of us ghetto Negroes advocate the position of black self-respect. We do not want to become assimilated into middle class society or to become as white as possible. Brooke has shown that this is just what he wants. He does not even want to be our champion; he helps Israel when there are plenty of newly formed African states with which he should have identified. You can have Brooke. We black folks do not need him. He may be a NASP, but I think there is a more appropriate title: NUT: Negro Uncle Tom.

JERRY LEAPHART Detroit

Of Beagles & Bubbles

Sir: So President Johnson says he chases every peace feeler, just as his little beagle chases a squirrel [Feb. 17]. Every time one comes into view, he either chases it up a tree out of reach or catches it by the neck and shakes it dead. At last the truth about our Viet Nam policy is admitted--in the oblique language of politics, perhaps, but nonetheless what many of us have thought all along.

MARTHA AND MICHAEL ZWEIG Ann Arbor, Mich.

Sir: Anyone listening for bubbles of peace [Feb. 10] while the Viet Cong move 30,000 tons of materiel and commit 370 truce violations is a bubblehead. HARRY PETER KUPIEC Baltimore

Popularity Poll

Sir: Governor Reagan [Feb. 17] is saying that there is a point beyond which you cannot go in asking people to bear the cost of government. While this idea is probably too deep for the comprehension of Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the average voter may be more in favor of Reagan's so-called "unpopular moves" than Schlesinger thinks. VINCENT M. LOVE Manhattan

Sir: People who were raised under liberal Republican and Democratic governors, who became blase about the benefits of such administrations, and who voted for a change are now being awakened--by the closing of unemployment centers, the attempt to charge college tuition, the ouster of University of California President Kerr, and the appointment in all branches of the state government of conservative businessmen. By his actions, Reagan has redefined the word conservative, thus doing more for the Democratic Party than any ten Democratic speakers could do.

ART STILWELL Venice, Calif.

The Morality of Abortion

Sir: From your placement of the story on abortion laws [Feb. 10], it appears that this is a religious question. Then why is it being fought in legislatures? Whatever happened to separation of church and state? Laws cannot be discussed exclusive of morality, but this argument begins to sound like a case of "Well, if we can't enforce our views on morality by theological methods, then we'll enforce them legally." Thanks, but I'll go to hell in my own way.

JOSEPH WILSON, '68 Swarthmore College Swarthmore, Pa.

Sir: Catholic moral theology seems to be based on the assumption that the preservation of human life is the highest value. Catholic veneration of the martyrs, however, indicates that the preservation of personal integrity is sometimes superior to the preservation of human life. The sacrifice of life for a higher value is, in this case, seen as moral. If Catholic moral theology is to be consistent, it ought to distinguish between the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of human personality.

(THE REV.) HAROLD E. RANTON First Christian Church Eureka, Calif.

Literary Bazaar

Sir: You say that Harper's Bazaar "has become less literary and more topical" [Feb. 24]. Yet among the authors appearing since Nancy White became the editor in chief are Cyril Connolly, Jean Genet, Robert Musil, W. H. Auden, Theodore Roethke, Evelyn Waugh, Eugene Ionesco, Nathalie Sarraute, Robert Lowell, Jorge Luis Borges, Heinrich Boell, Donald Barthelme, Susan Sontag, Francoise Mallet-Joris, Pierre Gascar.

ALICE S. MORRIS Consulting Literary Editor Harper's Bazaar Manhattan

Spastic Dancing and All That

Sir: Professor King has been watching the test tubes more than the students. My 37 years in a suburban high school indicate that he need not worry about today's pupil becoming a "tired old man" from "a 17-hour day of classwork, school activities and homework" [Feb. 17]. "Day" should read "week." Tired all right, but rarely from study--instead, from boys, girls, telephone, cars, TV, sports, clubs, spastic dancing, slumber parties, clothes, hair grooming, parties, girls, boys.

HOWARD VAN NORMAN Chairman, Social Studies Department York Community High School Elmhurst, Ill.

Sir: I am one of those 17-hour-day high school students. Tonight's homework: algebra, study for French test, memorize French dialogue, read a chapter on Moliere and answer 16 questions, study for history test, write essay on Brotherhood Week, answer four history essay questions, write ballad for English and composition for Creative Writing. Then I am supposed to have time to work on long-range assignments: reading four books in two weeks, working on a term paper and several compositions. Good grief!

NANCY RANKIN Clifton, N.J.

Monkeyshines

Sir: Man, if I were in front of you, I'd take off your glasses and give you the biggest shiner you ever saw, maybe even two. The Beatles were never what the great and groovy Monkees [Feb. 17] are. You must have a lot of nerve to print such an untrue arctile; an apoligy is a necessary thing, because the Monkees are 100 times greater than the Beatles. If anyone put you through a Xerox machine, they'd come up with a blob of nothing, a wind bag, and a loud-horn. If you don't like this, lump it, or we'll put you on the Last Train to Clarksville and haunt you with I'm a Believer.

KAREN LAMEY Biloxi, Miss.

Shook Up

Sir: I am glad the German handshake [Feb. 17] is on its way out before serious damage is done to mankind and man's property. In West Germany last summer, I remarked on this custom to friends in Preetz-Holstein. One afternoon there was a fire that necessitated fire apparatus from neighboring villages. I bet my friends that there would be a big handshake all around before they got to the work at hand. We stood there and laughed while the fire continued its destruction and handshakes went around the fire brigade.

PAUL L. WILKINS Baltimore

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