Hussein & the Arabs

Sir: Thank you for demonstrating that the motives of Jordan's King Hussein [July 14] are realistic and forward-thinking. He is the only leader in the Middle East who has sane, long-range plans for negotiating with the Israelis. Let's hope he can convince the "heroic" hotheads of Syria and the United Arab Republic to go along.

MARY E. SOMMER Manhattan

Sir: There is nothing to justify pinning the badge of courage on Hussein. On the eve of the Arab-Israeli war, Hussein cringingly entered into a military alliance with his archfoe Nasser. The basis for this groveling was Hussein's miscalculation that Egypt this time would surely annihilate Israel, in which event Nasser would emerge as the supreme master of Arabia. Hussein figured that he had better end his hostility with his master-to-be. This does not show courage; instead, it shows sniveling opportunism.

ARNOLD H. SHAW Cedarhurst, N.Y.

Life Among the Flowers

Sir: It would be encouraging if the hippies [July 7] were all motivated by the love, honesty and desire for independence from material possessions that you attribute to them. It appears, however, that you are describing the extreme minority. The tragedy of the hippies is that the great majority of these mop-haired, dirty escapists are simply overindulged kids who have had too much of everything that an affluent society can provide them. Now they want all the privileges of our society but none of the responsibilities. We are fooling ourselves when we look for the hidden good in them while totally ignoring the obvious evil.

DONALD G. BOULDIN Captain, U.S.A. Fort Polk, La.

Sir: That was a very imaginative piece. What people aren't aware of is that it isn't the hippies who are rebelling; it is society that has rebelled against and turned its back on love, individuality and humanity. All the hippies are attempting is to set the course straight. As for drugs, I am 17 years old and am looking forward to experiencing the psychedelic field. I am already tired of viewing objects from the same patterned angles and perspectives, that is, from bottom, top, sideways --I want to get inside things, in the mainstream, bloodstream--sightsee the system, so to speak. Don't put us down too fast --we merely want to explore countries that you have only sailed around.

TOMMY LINDLOF Winter Haven, Fla.

Sir: As a high school teacher and the mother of two teen-age boys, I am increasingly disturbed by the glorification of nonconformity for its own sake. Your cover story makes dropping out of college sound like the thing to do. It makes drug taking sound like great fun. It reads like a recruiting brochure: "Join the hippies and take a trip. Discover new experiences. No work. No responsibilities. Absolutely free. Just hitchhike to the nearest hippie center."

Sure, growing up is painful. It always has been. But you don't solve the problems of growing up by turning your back on them and walking away. It doesn't take too much courage to resign from the human race. It takes courage to learn to live with it.

JANET W. MONROE Sidney, N.Y.

Sir: The "flower children" have my vote as the cop-outs of the decade.

MRS. ROBERT MORRIS Mundelein, Ill.

Sir: There is a kind of hippie you did not mention, the "working hippie," who works in a 9-to-5 job as a clean-shaven, productive member of society. In his gut, he practices the same philosophy of the more publicized hippies, but he is so unconventional and nonconformist that he doesn't need to wear bangles, beads and a beard to prove that, in spirit, he is a hippie. In time, dropout hippies may realize that they can do as much, or more, on the inside of society as on the outside. Until then, we should be everlastingly thankful to them for reminding us of the values we all are supposed to possess.

AL SHEAHEN Van Nuys, Calif.

Sir: TIME must know that hippies can never relate to Hobbits.

Hobbits are simple, wholesome, neat, fun-loving and appreciative of the good life. They need no hallucinogens to tell them when parties are fun, food good, and life pleasant and comfortable. In pursuit of their affairs they are realistic and responsible. A Hobbit pad is clean, comfortable, beloved and cozy, a good place for a comforting cup of tea. We stay-ins must judge from TIME'S picture that hippies live just a step above animals.

LOUISE LAURENZ Rolla, Mo.

Sir: You're kidding yourselves, just like all straight people who say, "This is the creed of every hippie; they all think the same, talk the same, look the same, are the same." All hippies have a different purpose. Of course, we all love and want to be loved. We see beauty in things that other people take for granted. We love flowers because they symbolize freedom. We want to live as flowers do, sway with the wind, belong to the world in a lovely sort of way. Stop writing articles on us, please. We are not to be studied. We are human beings, even though we have different ideas than you do.

I was a straight person until a year ago. I was so miserable that I decided there must be a better life. I found it, and now I am living with people of my own kind. We are happy and we enjoy ourselves. You should try it some time. I do not take drugs, and I don't smoke pot or marijuana because I don't enjoy it. Some people have pleasant trips and others have baddies. I had a baddie. I do take part in love-ins and demonstrations, though. I am happy, and I wish the world could be the same.

MARY (I have no last name) Chicago

Beat the Drums

Sir: Your Essay on public relations [July 7] is a masterpiece of objective research. Like all other professions, p.r. has its share of phonies. But on balance the wonder is that it's come so far so fast.

WALTER W. SEIFERT Associate Professor of Public Relations Ohio State University Columbus

Sir: You went to great lengths to find a definition of public relations. Yet any good p.r. man can define his trade in three words: cadging free advertising.

CHUCK MORRIS Chicago

Sir: To list social-climbing publicity and sports flackery alongside corporate public relations under "public relations" is tantamount to lumping a circus seal with Sir John Gielgud as "entertainers."

However, more distressing to those of us who have brought graduate degrees in economics, research, marketing and finance, as well as years of corporate experience, to our craft is the misunderstanding of the function of public relations reflected in your Essay. It is true that some so-called corporate public relations practitioners are employed principally as company spokesmen, much as the Government employs its ambassadors as phrasemakers rather than policy-shapers. But in its proper context, corporate public relations has a profound influence on corporate policies. When public relations fulfills this role, it is based not nearly so much on word skills as on sophisticated understanding of research techniques. In brief, corporate public relations today uses a far broader blend of disciplines than the writer of the Essay uncovered.

EVELYN KONRAD Evelyn Konrad Public Relations Manhattan

Sir: As a more than 20-year practitioner of public relations, I agree with much you say and believe that your words will contribute understanding to a pursuit that, unfortunately, still requires too much explaining to too many.

You might have included the late Steve Hannagan among those who helped to found p.r. He, as much as anyone, established the principle that truth is fundamental to good public relations.

ZEKE COOK Zeke Cook Associates, Inc. Toledo

Source of Embarrassment

Sir: TIME owes it to its readers to name the anonymous Governor whom I allegedly told that "Dick Nixon is a loser" [July 7]. It will be especially interesting, since I have never said it or thought it. I am sorry that at a time when Republican leaders are working hard for party unity, TIME would stoop to quoting nameless sources in an effort to destroy that unity.

RONALD REAGAN Governor Sacramento, Calif.

> TIME'S source is not at all "nameless," but we are bound to honor his request that he not be identified--a request with which Governor Reagan, as a political figure, can surely sympathize.

A Word to the Wise

Sir: The reviewer of The Wobblies [July 7] took me through iambic, pentameter, didactic, hortatory, diffident, progenitor, detestation, existentialism, scintilla, quixotic, schematic, protagonist, bourgeois, onomatopoetically, proletariat, crux, status quo, ante, minimal, prosody, recalcitrant, quiescent, ideologically, ascendancy, coalesce, dactyl and elegiac. But what, pray, is a bindle stiff? Is it possible that your man owns all these words as an integral part of his vocabulary?

JOHN S. RENO Bethlehem, Pa.

>Incontrovertibly, and a bindle stiff is a hobo with bedroll, or bindle.

Wrong Bride

Sir: Milestones [July 14] reports that Ronald Searle has married British Novelist Monica Stirling. This is incorrect; I have never met Mr. Searle. He has, I believe, married another Monica Stirling, who is a stage designer. I would be grateful if you would clear up this confusion, as it must be as troublesome to Mr. and Mrs. Searle as to myself.

MONICA STIRLING Paris

SIR: HOWEVER MUCH I MAY ENJOY HER BOOKS, I HAVE NEVER MET MISS MONICA STIRLING, BRITISH NOVELIST, IN MY LIFE AND I AM CERTAINLY NOT MARRIED TO HER.

RONALD SEARLE Paris

TIME'S apologies and best wishes to all concerned.

Rump Meeting

Sir: A pox on Mr. Munson, the building inspector who would force parents to obtain tree-house permits [July 7] for the safety of their kids. And a plague on him for daring to suggest specifications. Shall we add this to the burgeoning list of personality-stifling, scarlet-taped "blueprints for living" that add so much pallor to American childhood these days? Can a boy build his Shangri-la with a mind cluttered by requirements for 1-in. floor boards, two-by-four framing and 42-in.-high walls? Can he grow into the resourceful, inventive, self-sufficient man he's expected to be by the Mr. Munsons of the world when he's told to climb no higher than 12 ft. off the ground? So Mr. Munson fell out of a tree house as a child, and cut his arm. May he do so again--but this time from a 5-in.-diameter hardwood branch! And may he land--rump first --on a 16-penny nail!

ROBERT BESCH Marion, Ohio

For a Longer Life

Sir: About Letter Writer Altman's comment on the "flickering" nova [July 14]: It is accepted in U.S. education circles that "nova" as applied to the Nova complex is derived from the Latin "new." However, we have encountered this ploy of the short-lived star before; the answer is that the "brief" life of a nova may be several thousand years.

HENRY KINNEY Nova University Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow

Sir: With reference to "Auto Racing" [July 7]: Mr. Foyt should remain with those bulky old Offenhausers in the interest of saving the public from other crybaby winners. The U.S.A.C. shows a great lack of imagination if it cannot formulate a scheme whereby the turbine cars, an attempt at progress, can be worked into competition with the now almost obsolete Lotus-Fords. Nothing is so boring as to watch a race between tortoises when there is a hare waiting in the wings to tear up the track.

J. MICHAEL DROITCOUR JR. Philadelphia

After Their Fashion

Sir: Apropos of the People item about Twiggy's posture [July 7]: Did you forget? As the Twiggy's bent, so is fashion inclined.

MRS. EDWARD S. MADARA JR. Gladwyne, Pa.

Sir: Everybody talks about her; why doesn't somebody stop talking and start to feed her? When I came to America, five years ago, I weighed only 98 Ibs. Now that good people have fed me, I weigh 160 Ibs. and I feel very good. Twiggy has nothing on her dinner plate. If I can donate some dinner, let me know.

ERICH DORFNER Helena, Ark.

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