Battle Fatigue

The San Francisco Chronicle's resident humorist, Arthur Hoppe, was in a rare, melancholy mood. In his column, Hoppe wrote: "The radio this morning said the Allied invasion of Laos had bogged down. Without thinking, I nodded and said, 'Good.' And having said it, I realized the bitter truth: Now I root against my own country. That is how far we have come in this hated and endless war."

Some of Hoppe's syndicated newspapers, including the Atlanta Constitution and the Boston Herald Traveler, refused to print the column. Hoppe had obviously touched a nerve. He wrote of his love for his country in World War II and his feeling now that "I have come to the dank and lightless bottom of the well." Of the 941 letters that Hoppe had received last week about the column, 923 praised it. Wrote a housewife in Hollister, Calif.: "I asked my 12-year-old son to read it aloud and had to quickly leave the room because some kids cannot understand what makes otherwise steady grownups burst into tears." A former Army colonel found himself harboring the "nightmarish feelings you've put down about wanting the enemy to win."

Such thoughts, which could scarcely have been admitted a year or two ago, still sound treasonable. Yet it is not basically a matter of treason, but a deep, almost nihilistic weariness. Since it long ago became clear that an American "victory" in Viet Nam is impossible, the overriding desire now is for a clear-cut finish.

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