The Antiwar Veterans
Sir: Operation Dewey Canyon III in Washington [May 3] was an excellent illustration of our disgusting situation in Southeast Asia. The actors are veterans. Who should be listened to more attentively? The phrase "They're cowards--they're afraid to go" cannot be utilized here. They have gone. Who could turn his back on a blinded or limbless soldier whose purpose is not evasion of the draft but instruction on the horrifying results of the draft?
JOHN G. POSA St. Clair Shores, Mich.
Sir: This little old lady in dirty white sneakers did not find John Kerry's rhetoric to be either exaggerated or irrational. It's the only sensible speech I've heard in 39 years.
HELEN P. SIMMONS Clinton, Md.
Sir: I find it damn discouraging to believe that the young ex-Navy lieutenant crying his heartfelt convictions out before a congressional ad hoc committee represents the majority feeling of America's youth. His fervent belief to be the "first to defend this nation should its shores be threatened" represents archaic thinking in a technological world.
Viet Nam, for all its rancor, is far from the "height of criminal hypocrisy"; it is a commitment to help a small country, and it is a commitment to stop Communist domination by force before this nation becomes strategically outflanked.
ROBERT W. FROST Major, U.S.A. Fort Knox, Ky.
Sir: Which is more irrational: the desperate attempt of a veteran to express the frustration, horror and futility of what he has witnessed and participated in, or the policy that demands yet more American and Vietnamese blood to wash away the admitted mistake for which so much blood and tears have already been shed?
JAMES P. COONEY JR. Oswego, N.Y.
Sir: These Viet Nam veterans have surely triggered great rejoicing in Hanoi; they have compromised the men still in Viet Nam (whom they profess to love); they are the biggest bunch of crybabies ever to wear the uniform and a disgrace to the same.
WILSON F. EDINGER Medford, Ore.
Follies Flap
Sir: Follies, a mediocre musical, tried and tested by formula and dipped in commercialized nostalgia, appears on Broadway, and you hail it as a breakthrough composition [May 3]. I am intellectually affronted by this kind of premature journalism, which offers categorical answers to questions not even raised.
MICHAEL TOSCANO San Francisco
Sir: I hereby nominate Alexis Smith for this year's George Blanda Award.
MARGARET FRANKLIN TROFFEY Kings Beach, Calif.
Sir: This melange of skimmed milk is a thorough bore throughout, and the only part I really enjoyed was when I had a short nap. There is no fault to be found with the cast, but the play itself, the plot, the dreary scenery, the monotonous songs and the tinsely imitation of Ziegfeld's gorgeous costumes are not to be believed.
SIMON OTTINGER New York City
Sir: Stefan Kanfer's moving story on Follies evoked images of a shattered dream pieced together again for two brief hours. Here we are seeing the dreams die.
GREGG DAVIS Hollywood
Sir: It's good to see that the pinup girls of our youth are as pinupable as ever.
Lyricist Stephen Sondheim says clever rhyming is easy. Would he rhyme "silver" for us?
FRANK CURRAN Galway, Ireland
> Sondheim would, and did: To find a rhyme for silver Or any "rhymeless" rhyme Requires only will, verBosity and time.
Sir: Your features on nostalgia and Broadway's looking back bring to mind the familiar phenomena of the recall and the anticipation always exceeding the actual event. The grass is always greener some other place, some other time.
JOAN MARY MACEY Binghamton, N.Y.
Sir: If you were really nostalgic, you would remember that until Dec. 7, 1941, the Green Hornet's faithful Filipino valet Kato was the Green Hornet's faithful Japanese valet Kato.
THADDEUS HOLT New York City
Sir: Rita Hayworth was no great innovator in 1944 with her alluring shorts. In the late '30s, Yonkers, N.Y., had an ordinance that banned these garments for street wear. A parody of the day went something like this: "She went out ashopping in short khaki pants, the kind that in Yonkers is a criminal offense."
JOHN ELMER ANDERSON Prescott, Ariz.
Continuing Tradition
Sir: Why the surprise that Vermont has become the first state to grant 18-year-olds full majority [May 3]? It was also the first state to grant universal manhood suffrage (1777). In 1971 Vermont is not only granting voting rights to 18-year-olds but holding them accountable as well. This seems to be in keeping with its tradition rather than a departure.
ESTHER H.M. POWER Cincinnati
United Parents
Sir: Your report [April 5] on the Dalton School was most unfair. Instead of heaping snide ridicule on the school and Mr. Donald Barr, its headmaster, you should have reported that a group of trustees, in utter disregard of the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the parents, has attempted to oust Mr. Barr. The P.T.A. removed Dr. Myron Hofer, the only representative of the parents on the board of trustees, from his P.T.A. offices because he failed to in form the parents fairly and openly of his and the board's actions. The parents will continue to do all that is possible to prevent Mr. Barr's ouster. For although they are of diverse walks of life and of diverse outlooks, they are firmly united in support of Mr. Barr.
MR. AND MRS. HENRY EPSTEIN MR. AND MRS. DAVID E. EVINS MR. AND MRS. JOHN H. FREUND MR. AND MRS. EDWARD MELKONIAN MR. AND MRS. HANS SMIT New York City
Don't Forget Pang
Sir: If you are going to invoke Puccini in "Ping Pong and Reality" [April 26], you might point out that between Ping and Pong, the maestro had another character, Pang. The three were always together, I don't think you can present Ping and Pong without a Pang. And we'd better all watch out for the Pangs.
It is good to see the ball begin to bounce, but we must keep an eye on it.
ROBERT CRAWLEY New York City
Sir: It seems to me that our youth and immaturity as a nation are only too apparent in the excessive and unrealistic displays of optimism generated by the penetration into Red China of the U.S. table tennis team. Let's not be carried away by our collective imagination. It's all right to build castles in the sky as long as we don't start living in them.
DOROTHY Goc Denver
Sir: I can't help comparing Chinese as you describe them ("well fed...organized... generally healthy...universal loose-fitting clothing...drab...abolition of family life... watched") with a small group I was privileged to observe here in the U.S. This description could fit any group of penitentiary inmates.
ERNEST J. LAWINGER Fox Point, Wis.
Bus On
Sir: I am young, 28 years old, a Southerner, East Texan, a woman, white--and I vote with the nine old men on the Supreme Court [May 3]. Bus on!
LINDA DRISKELL BUTLER Dickinson, Texas
Sir: While I do not agree with Martha Mitchell's wish to extinguish the Supreme Court, she is right to this extent: the court is not representative of the nation. And they are nine old men! Maybe we do need Martha.
DON GARDNER Darby, Pa.
Sir: I would be happier with the Supreme Court's decision on busing if it were based on sound educational rather than ideological grounds. The purpose of busing is supposedly not to achieve integration per se but to benefit the children. An enormous amount of money and resources has been spent busing children since 1954.
If, as seems to be the case, there is insufficient information on the effects of busing, Congress should at once provide funds to gather the needed data before millions of dollars are wasted busing children back and forth with no benefit.
E.D. BLEGESDOLL La Jolla, Calif.
Getting Cloned
Sir: I thought I knew a lot of things: of enzymes and mutation, Of cells, the nuclei, RH--electrodes and gestation. But now there's double helix, DNA and ribosomes, With biological syntliesis--and not just one's chromosomes. Instead of simple worries, such as merely being stoned, I've got to face a future now in which I may get cloned. Alas Homo futurus! There's lots more to learn, it seems. I thought one told the boys from girls by lowering their genes.
CHARLES D. PERRY University, Ala.
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