Unanswered Questions

Sir: Ted Kennedy on TIME'S cover [Nov. 29] and "Could He Win in 72?": It is really an American tragedy that such a man could be even considered for President.

If people forget so quickly the many unanswered questions of Chappaquiddick, then democracy is indeed finished.

SUSAN S. COFFIN Scottsdale, Ariz.

Sir: No single individual has the capacity to unite our country today; however, Senator Edward Kennedy comes closest.

I hope that his eight-year appointment with destiny will begin this decade.

CHUCK TAIT Houston

Sir: My heart goes out to Senator Kennedy; my vote, never! He too is the victim of a terrible accident. I wish him peace of mind. Americans are for the most part compassionate people and bear no ill feeling toward the youngest Kennedy brother. I know I don't. I just don't want another Kennedy in the White House. MARGARET MCCARTHY MCEACHERN Beaufort, S.C.

Sir: I must protest your lengthy story on the "non candidacy" of Ted Kennedy. I counted and read six full pages of empty sentences about the Senator. Also mentioned (once more) was the popularity of Kennedy with the younger generation. I am a high school student, but I see only a facade of the Kennedy face. Ted Kennedy is merely a boy masquerading with the face and accent of an honorable family that before has produced real men. BARBARA J. VERVILLE Tulsa

Hardhat v. Intellectual

Sir: If there was bad taste at the Bal Harbour meeting of American labor [Nov. 29], it was not from the forthright Mr. Meany, but from the President, who demagogically sought to pit hardhat against intellectual. PHIL CLARK Chicago

Sir: I never expected to find myself on the side of George Meany, but to anyone with an understanding of economics, it is ridiculous to try to make big labor unions a whipping boy for inflation. The money supply, the only cause of inflation, is controlled by Government. Wage and price controls to combat inflation are useless. A. LYNN PORTER Houston

Sir: The events of the past few weeks have provided Mr. Meany with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fulfill the promise of his past accomplishments and become the statesman that labor so desperately needs. Regrettably, he chose not to seize that opportunity, proving once again by his childlike performance the business maxim that a man should retire at age 65.

G.I. PLATT New York City

Macomber on Thomas

Sir: Whenever a person takes his own life, it is a great tragedy. It is deplorable, therefore, that in your recounting of the tragic case of Foreign Officer Charles W. Thomas [Nov. 15] and in describing the

Foreign Service personnel system, the record has become so distorted.

That Mr. Thomas was the victim of a misfiled report is untrue. After the report in question arrived in Washington, it was part of Mr. Thomas' file every time a promotion panel could have considered him for promotion. The brief period it was misfiled was thus irrelevant to his failure to be promoted. Given the competition that Mr. Thomas faced, it is no derogation of this able officer that none of the panels reviewing his record during his eight years in rank recommended him for promotion.

Contrary to what you stated respecting another Foreign Service officer, Willard Brown, he was not selected out and was considered for promotion every year. In fact, he was given an extra year to win promotion since one panel did not have his complete personnel file. (Mr. Brown was recommended for promotion last year, and has the option to return from retirement as a Class 1 officer.)

I am concerned by your condemnation of Howard Mace. Congress has established the requirement for the selection-out system in the Foreign Service. Mr. Mace takes his guidance for the administration of this system from the Director General of the Foreign Service, who in turn takes his guidance from me.

A particular disappointment was that you failed to mention that the Department of State is in the midst of the most far-reaching modernization and reform effort of its history.

WILLIAM B. MACOMBER JR.

Deputy Under Secretary

of State for Administration

Washington, D.C.

Head-On Collision

Sir: The obvious solution to the small car v. big car in head-on collisions [Nov. 29] is to eliminate the big cars, having everyone drive small cars. And think of the progress toward solving traffic congestion, pollution and the run on our resources.

JIM ROBERTSON Berrien Springs, Mich.

Sir: Do you think I could possibly get my insurance rates lowered if I bought a locomotive?

TOM SMULL Bethlehem, Pa.

Dispatching the Rats

Sir: Sorry to dispute the World Health Organization people on the effectiveness of cats as rat catchers [Nov. 29], but I discovered a rat in my basement last night and while I was setting traps and spreading warfarin, my obese Siamese and tiny Abyssinian located the rat, pulled it out of its hiding place and held it down while my husband dispatched it with an old fencing foil. WHO can keep its baits. We'll bet on untrained cats such as our own.

MRS. JAMES LUCAS Mineral Ridge, Ohio

Sir: You overlooked the most hopeful development that has appeared to date--the discovery by Dr. AJ. Stanley and co-workers at the University of Oklahoma of a mutant gene which confers sterility upon male rats. After mating with a male possessing this gene, the female refuses to mate again during a period of pseudo pregnancy. Introduction of these males into a colony of wild rats has been shown to greatly decrease the reproductive rate of the colony of rats. The expense of such a method must be less than that involved in present efforts.

CHARLES A. WINTER Salford, Pa.

Tired Flesh

Sir: In your story "Insurance: A Fat Policy" [Nov. 22] several words were used --fatties, mountainous and hippopotamine --that are indicative of the lack of common courtesy afforded fat people. You have no idea how this ubiquitous attitude has destroyed us and has rendered the "jolly fat man" the most depressed, deprived, depraved and desperate human being in existence.

I am only 19 years of age, but I am old. My 300 Ibs. of flesh are already tired.

BERTINO MARRO New York City

What the Bishops Said

Sir: Did the U.S. Catholic bishops in their call for an end to the Viet Nam War [Nov. 29] really say "whatever good we hope to achieve through the war is not outweighed by the destruction of human life . . ."? I would think that "not" should read "now."

(MRS.) BETSY W. PITHA Lexington, Mass.

It should. It was a typographical error.

Quid Pro What?

Sir: In your Nov. 29 review of political campaign contributions, you cite three examples of quid pro quo: 1) dairy farmers' self-interested donations linked to an increase in milk-support prices; 2) a bribery attempt to dismiss fraud charges; and 3) my proposed 1968 donation (never given) to Hubert Humphrey if he could promise an early end to the war in Viet Nam.

By listing jointly examples of financial opportunism, bribery and altruism, and failing to distinguish between them, you do a grave disservice to those of us in the U.S. who spend our money to express a point of view that we believe to be for the good of our nation--money that has no selfish motivation whatsoever.

STEWART MOTT New York City

Pope John as Nuncio

Sir: Your Nov. 22 issue says that the late Pope John XXIII was Archbishop of Paris. Angelo Roncalli, before his election to the papacy as John XXITI, served as apostolic nuncio to France with the title of archbishop. But he was never Archbishop of Paris.

(THE REV.) G. RALPH DUFFY Washington, D.C.

For Man of the Year

Sir: For Man of the Year: the American P.O.W.

MIDSHIPMAN RICHARD ROLLINS Annapolis, Md.

Sir: My choice is Bobby Fischer--simply because he is the first person who could convince the rest of the world that some of us Americans actually are fully capable of cerebration.

ROBERT P. STRENIO Erie, Pa.

Sir: My nomination for TIME'S Man of the Year is he whose name has been on the lips and in the hearts of more people in 1971: Jesus Christ.

DARTHE J. TWOMEY Los Angeles

Sir: The rebels and refugees of Bangla Desh. Clearly, their suffering has affected the whole world, and reignited the fires of war on the subcontinent.

ROBERT A. LEWIS Winlock, Wash.

Sir: We nominate the Emancipated Woman for Woman of the Year for helping us to re-examine our attitudes and values, our actions and roles.

MR. AND MRS. ARNOLD Ross Detroit

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