Fairest of the Fairs

Sir: The stunning photographs of Expo 67 [May 5] and the informative article on the exposition have created an impression most of the press has failed to relay. I am sure many people are now convinced that Expo is a show that will never be duplicated and shouldn't be missed.

GARY WESTBY-GIBSON Glen Rock, N.J.

Sir: As a Canadian working in the U.S. I read "Canada Discovers Itself" with interest, enjoyment and inner laughter, for the piece portrays the feelings of most Canadians factually, humorously, and with candor. Expo 67 will accomplish in one giant stride what Canada has struggled to accomplish for so long: to become a fully recognized country on her own merits as a power in the world's arena.

J. W. ALSOP Wilmington, Del.

Coup & Counter-Coup Sir: Your cover story on Greece and its besieged King [April 28] was excellent--objective in treating the King and the decent men who decided to save their country from Communism. The free world will be happier if fewer Castros take over; the Papandreous are worse than Fidel.

P. PANTAZOPOULOS, M.D. Manhattan

Sir: As a friend of his for years, I do not recognize the man you describe as Andreas Papandreou. If you knew Andreas or his writings, you would know he is no more a "leftist" than the younger Hubert Humphrey, in whose alma mater Papandreou taught economics between Harvard and Berkeley. By this semantic smear you justify another U.S.-subsidized rightist regime rejected by the populace in national elections. Your version of the coup imperils the life of Andreas Papandreou in a cynical "treason" trial.

(PROFESSOR) ROBERT J. CLEMENTS New York University Manhattan

Sir: The statement that "Greece today has not retained much of its ancient legacy of moderation and temperance" reveals ignorance. Scholars have long taken pains to show the absurdity of this view of 5th century Athens. "The most civilized society that has ever existed," wrote "Nothing in Excess" into its marble because it needed the reminder. It was prone to extremes because it cared. Like today's Greeks, 5th century Athenians were intelligent, thoughtful and energetic, so they were concerned, argumentative and politically active. Like George III, TIME has been viewing these people as a rabble, a mob; their political demonstrations (when the polls are denied them) are called "riots," and every spokesman for the people is a "politician"--with sneer.

GEORGE KACKLEY Alexandria, Va.

Who's a Radical?

Sir: Your attempt to present the philosophy of the New Radicals [April 28] is commendable--and an impossibility. There is probably not even one so-called New Leftist who possesses all, or even most, of the beliefs you attribute to them. There are doubtless many members of this amorphous but growing segment of U.S. society, who, for example, have never even heard of Bob Dylan; there are certainly some who never "sing, when in doubt"; and there are many more than you have indicated who have made it to middle age and past.

The heroes of the New Radicals, as you rightly pointed out, are not turned-on, tuned-out dreamers like Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg. They are tuned-in humanists with the social conscience and the guts to speak out against what they know to be monumental wrongs.

KENT SUTHERLAND La Quinta, Calif.

Sir: Students for a Democratic Society has reared its silly head here, with plenty of noise and the usual draft-defiant, carelessly coiffured protesters.

The rest of us are more actively involved: S.D.S. members are not in student government or other positions of leadership. It was we squares who spearheaded and supported the first "Festival of Ideas," which brought, among others, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Robert Theobald and John D. ("Jay") Rockefeller IV so we could seek further than just kick at the status quo. Our head football coach's interest in the students transcends the goal post. At a leadership conference, Jim Carlin said, "Don't be against something, be for something."

But S.D.S. wasn't around.

And for me, they never will be.

BETTIJANE CHRISTOPHER, '68 West Virginia University Morgantown, W. Va.

Sir: As I read TIME'S Essay, I had the feeling I had read these things before. We, the classes of '37, '38, '39 and '40, could have been the subjects. We were just as idealistic and insufferable but with one large difference--no one paid much attention to us. Now, as I gag on the reams of print, the albums of pictures the news media give these youngsters, one consoling thought comes to mind--they, too, will grow up.

EILEEN ROBL St. Louis Park, Minn.

That Lady from Russia

Sir: Svetlana Stalina's comments [April 28, May 5] are truly inspiring.

We in America can take heart from her comment: "In recent years, we in Russia have begun to think, to discuss, to argue, and we are not so much automatically devoted any more to the ideas which we were taught."

By her own admission, religion has had a great influence on her. God is still alive and at work in our world.

JENNY DARLAND Hutchinson, Kans.

Sir: A woman who has had three husbands and abandoned her children to go searching for God couldn't get a security clearance to sell hamburgers in a base PX. I hope our system doesn't need approval from the likes of her.

FRANK W. VAN LEW San Francisco

Preferred Spelling

Sir: That was a fine article [April 28] on Governor Tiemann of Nebraska, who has done many courageous things since taking office, with more yet to come. Nebraska's new slogan should be "TIEMANN, Nebraska's New Way to Spell Leadership."

KEN NICKOLAI JR. Papillion, Neb.

Sir: The slogan "TIEMANN, Nebraska's New Way to Spell Governor," has been changed to "TIEMANN, a New Way to Spell Taxes!"

JOAN STORA Omaha

Swinging Doors

Sir: As dean of admissions at a "white" college with a high proportion of "black" students, I was disappointed that "Courting the Negro" [April 28] neglected to mention the immeasureable wedge of two agencies in opening college doors. Negro students from poverty backgrounds are enrolling in integrated colleges because of the 20-year effort of the National Scholarship Service and Fund for Negro Students. And the National Achievement Scholarship Program, funded by the Ford Foundation under the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, has uncovered and financed several thousand students in the past few years. Without the talent search of NSSFNS and NASP, the colleges would probably have continued in the various states of complacency still characteristic of the majority of our institutions of higher learning.

JOHN C. HOY Wesleyan University Middletown, Conn.

Sir: As the anguished mother of a girl who is rated 25th in a class of almost 700 students, received in the 690's on College Boards, and was put on the waiting list of two Ivy League colleges, I was helped by your story to understand the situation. In her retirement next year, my daughter can devote her time to writing a book entitled 1 Was Born White.

MRS. PAUL T. OWENS Agawam, Mass.

Still Mad

Sir: In "The Churches' Influence on Secular Society" [April 21] you espouse the curious dichotomy of separation of church and state while at the same time you accept taxpayers' aids to religion.

Churches could not exist in America today if they relied solely on their members. Only one out of every five persons attends church even irregularly. If church donators were not given deduction benefits on their income tax, if church property were not subsidized by a free tax ride that punishes all real estate owners, if church organizations paid full postage, if church business paid corporate-profit income tax, if church schools were built with church money only, if church "head start" programs did not get federal handouts, if radio and television did not give time free and then deduct it from their income reports, thus penalizing taxpayers, religion could not exist.

Thomas Jefferson was right: "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."

MADALYN MURRAY O'HAIR Austin, Texas

Dissenting Opinion

Sir: "Pocho's Progress" [April 28] is a parochial assessment of the Mexican-American minority.

That Edward Roybal is the only Mexican-American in Congress is incorrect. Eligio de la Garza and Henry B. Gonzalez represent Texas in Congress. Joseph Montoya represents New Mexico in the Senate. As for use of contraceptives, the Mexican people are not only "Catholic inspired," but also hampered by poverty and lack of information. "Tawdry taco joints" are everywhere in Southern California. The comment about "ebullient oles and accurately hurled wine bottles" stretches literary license. The word cholo is pejorative and equivalent to "nigger," "kike" and other racial epithets. Pocho is also derogatory, and so are pachuco, gringo-landia, and agringado.

RALPH GUZMAN, Assistant Director Mexican-American Study Project University of California Los Angeles

> For a non-pejorative response to Pocho's progress, see THE NATION.

Sir: As a teacher of Spanish and as one who has lived in Mexico, I found your article authoritative. These people do have problems, many caused by their inability to adapt to a different environment while maintaining their own culture. Many are school failures because they work to help support large families irresponsibly brought into the world without consideration of ability to raise them properly. For every Mexican-American who makes good, several more are doomed to failure. Girls miss class to care for younger children while mothers are ill, at work, or bearing more children.

HOWARD J. LEAVITT Riverside, Calif.

Sir: We are appalled that you treat such a large and varied group in such a shoddy and unfair manner. The article was filled with inaccuracies. There are closer to 200,000 Mexican-Americans in East Los Angeles than to 600,000. Furthermore, little was said of the increasing social mobility of many Mexican-Americans. A recent U.C.L.A. study, for example, revealed that 27% of Mexican-American females and 24% of the males took Anglo-American spouses. These figures would certainly indicate that the group is far less isolated than you indicated.

The article was informative in the main, but insulting to a large group of Americans. It is bilge to use such blanket statements. What about the 99% of the Mexican-Americans who are not tattooed pachucos and are leading decent lives?

LEE E. HELLER and 15 other East Los Angeles teachers Los Angeles

Sir: You err in stating that Bravo "vivified the 'Viva Kennedy!' drive in 1960, which helped win the state for the Democrats against Nixon." Kennedyites may have shouted "bravo!" for his work, but it didn't win the state for them. The G.O.P. won (3,259,722 to 3,224,099). But bravo for an interesting piece anyhow.

DON ANDERSON Los Angeles Times Los Angeles

Cast No Stones

Sir: Bravo for "The Baddies" [April 28]. Why must youth follow a code of behavior set forth by partisans of drug addiction and perversity? The Rolling Stones are overpaid, bad examples who degrade decent society.

LYNN TOONEN, aged 20 Brownsville, Texas

Sir: Though the Stones' personal lives are hardly exemplary, you have neglected to point out several less sensational but important facts about them. Jagger is recognized as one of the most authentic "white blues" singers. It is unfair to condemn him because he "bumps, grinds and jiggles" onstage--anyone who has seen James Brown work up himself and his audience into an orgasmic frenzy will realize that Jagger is merely playing by the rules of the game. Some Stones' songs may be suggestive, but not any more so than, for example, Mississippi John Hurt's classics Salty Dog and Candy Man, with their blatant phallic references. The Stones' talents are not exclusively "leeric" oriented. They can also write such songs as the tender As Tears Go By, the haunting Play with Fire, and the baroque Ruby Tuesday.

DEAN NILES Chicago

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