The New Team: Rocky's Record

To the Editors:

You state that Nixon's departure "was an extraordinary triumph of the American system" for which the nation can "permit itself some self-congratulation." If Nelson Rockefeller is confirmed as Vice President, the self-congratulation may have been premature, since Rockefeller's record indicates that he is fully capable of continuing the Nixon legacy. Consider that Rockefeller:

> Justified the Attica massacre on the basis of the prisoners' threat to the "sovereignty" of New York State.

> Sponsored a simplistic drug-offender law in New York that sounded fine as a matter of tough law-and-order public relations but in practice has proved ineffective and unenforceable.

> Skirted restrictions against political activities by tax-exempt organizations by using such organizations as a source of political research and personal publicity.

> Attacked the most defenseless members of society ("welfare chiselers") to attract right-wing support.

> Immersed himself so thoroughly in his strategy to be elected President that he could not, or would not, comment on the two greatest issues of the decade--Viet Nam and Watergate.

Nelson Rockefeller is Richard Nixon with a bank account.

J.H. Duffy New York City m

What a great society in which we can have a Ford as No. 1 and a Cadillac as No. 2!

Allen R. Derr

Boise, Idaho m

What America needs is a Roosevelt.

What we have got is a Coolidge. Ford will be immobilized by a massively Democratic Senate, and serves little purpose except to keep the seat warm for Kennedy or (I hope) Rockefeller. It is, though, unfortunate that we have to put millionaires in the presidency to assure that we will not be robbed.

Harold Kempner

Helsinki

Don't Hobble The Presidency

In the aftermath of Watergate, attempts will be made to diminish the power of the presidency. I would caution against any action that would severely restrict the President in effectively leading the nation. There are, of course, lessons to be learned from Watergate, but I believe that there is no substitute for a strong presidency. To suggest that presidential advisers require Senate confirmation and that all presidential discussions, records and documents be subject to congressional scrutiny would, in my judgment, be sheer folly.

Certainly our system of checks and balances is essential and must be maintained. Recent congressional action limiting the President in the exercise of "war powers," prohibiting presidential impoundment of appropriated funds, assuring an adequate congressional role in the budgetary process, along with the impeachment process itself, assures this.

However, it also must be noted that the Supreme Court in its recent "White House tapes" decision recognized the concept of Executive privilege. Of course no such privilege can apply where there are charges of criminality, but Executive privilege must apply to the President's relationship with his top advisers in the conduct of his office.

We must have a strong President who is an effective leader. Throughout our history, Presidents have strengthened the office by utilizing its power to lead our nation, and historians have termed them "great," for they knew, as we now know, that if the President does not lead, there will be no leadership.

Lawrence F. O'Brien

Washington, D.C.

The writer was formerly special assistant to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, Postmaster General and Democratic national chairman. His memoirs, No Final Victories: A Life in Politics from John F. Kennedy to Watergate, will be published in October.

Accepting Responsibility As a conscientious objector in the '60s, I was placed in a hospital darkroom developing X rays for two years, working just above minimum wage. For the same cause, a close friend spent six months in prison, leaving his wife and one-year-old child alone.

The best thing Richard Nixon can do is face the consequences of his moral decisions by going through some kind of trial, confessing his crimes and receiving appropriate judgment. Otherwise we will all learn by example that we don't really have to accept responsibility for who we are and how we act.

Jack Cooper Trondheim, Norway -

Prosecute him quick before he turns up as a Representative from California --or the junior Senator from Florida.

/. Warner Mills Alexandria, Va. -

When the young Roman Republic found itself dominating the world, it became clear that its traditional political system, moral code and institutions were not working properly. Julius Caesar understood this and wanted to act accordingly. That was his genius and his tragedy. Brutus was an honorable man, trying blindly to preserve the virtues of yesterday. When his dagger ended Caesar's vision, inadequate concepts and institutions were partly preserved, contributing to Rome's decadence and fall.

By eliminating President Nixon, the American people, politicians and press have once more used Brutus' dagger, not realizing that America's new world leadership, if expected to survive, has to disentangle itself from the obsolete Main Street morality code now in use.

Ernesto Barreda Malaga, Spain

A New Openness

Watergate raised troublesome questions in the public mind: Can citizens ever really know what is going on in their Government? Can they ever really call it to account? Can they prevent the use of their own instruments of self-government to coerce and harass them? Has the public process been wholly corrupted by the underground link between money and politics? Does the Constitution effectively secure our liberties?

President Ford can set a new tone of openness and accountability at the federal level, but he must do it through specific acts. Congress will soon pass a bill for public financing of presidential campaigns. Mr. Nixon said he would veto any such bill. If President Ford signs the bill into law, that will be one clear sign that he intends to clean up the political process.

He can take a further step by calling on Congress to pass a strong lobby registration law. He can immediately issue an Executive order instructing agency officials to publish a log of every contact they have with lobbyists. If he wants an open Administration, he can ask Congress to join him in a review of the charter of every secret police and intelligence activity in Government, to make certain that they are under effective congressional oversight and operate within rules that protect our freedoms.

These are examples of the concrete steps to be taken. Either we learn the lessons of Watergate or we don't.

John Gardner Washington, D.C.

The writer, chairman of Common Cause, was Lyndon Johnson's Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.

In his remarks on Watergate, James MacGregor Burns states that the nation needs a "much simpler procedure for impeachment--a more expeditious way." Nothing would cripple the presidency more than a simple and expeditious impeachment procedure, a procedure that was designed to be, and should be, ponderous, slow and difficult.

Roberta Kast -Park Forest, III.

How the President Can Beat Inflation

In his 1969 State of the Union message, President Nixon said that our national priorities were Viet Nam, inflation and the cities. American soldiers were out of Viet Nam, but inflation and the problems of our cities were worse, not better, when Nixon resigned. He failed to improve them not because he did not know how, but because he did not deem it politically wise or possible. Our political process is inherently limited by our dependence on crisis to achieve the public understanding and support necessary to gain basic reform. I worked hard for the re-election of President Nixon because I hoped that in his second term he would do what he was reluctant to do hi his first for fear that it would lead to defeat.

Now the reprehensible secret Watergate manipulations have given us a new President. Inflation has reached the crisis stage. President Ford has made inflation domestic enemy No. 1. He has called for a reduction in federal spending, and is convening an economic summit conference. Unfortunately, such conferences have almost invariably been attended in the past by those with a vested interest in outdated policies --policies that originally made the consumer the boss and beneficiary of our economic progress, but now make him the victim of largely unchecked, monop olistic wage-and price-fixing power.

To change this, President Ford's economic summit must include participants who know how to put the American consumer back hi the driver's seat --and I don't mean those who are publicity-minded or politically oriented like Ralph Nader, no matter how many minor abuses they have attacked. I mean individuals who know that there are only two fundamental ways of effectively disciplining the American economy: competition or Government control.

President Ford faces a momentous decision: whether to strive for the modernizing of our competitive-enterprise policies or drift toward a governmentally controlled economy. Unless he fights inflation in the right way, we will go down the road to economic shackles and see an end to our economic superiority and world leadership.

George Romney

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

The writer, formerly Governor of Michigan and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Richard Nixon, now heads the National Center for Voluntary Action in Washington, D.C.

Glory Be to Gloria

The ordination of eleven priestesses will require only a modest change in our liturgy: Glory be to the Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, Bella Abzug, et al.

(The Rev.) Anthony J. Mattes

Aston, Pa.

A Plea for the Yankee Mules

Re your story on the "Yankee mules": I am the mother of a girl imprisoned in the women's penitentiary at Los Reyes, Mexico. My daughter made a big mistake, has endangered her life and has lost the two little children she was trying to support (this was probably one of the reasons she was enticed into this). She was imprisoned in November 1972 and not tried and sentenced until May 1974.

When I visited, I saw swollen faces, tears that would not stop and bodies so sore you could not touch them after their beating by the Mexican lesbians. The consulate's standard reply is to say how much to blame the prisoners are and how little it can do. It is time for the problem to be made the subject of negotiations by high U.S. and Mexican officials.

What will be accomplished by leaving these prisoners (young men and women capable of carrying on a useful, normal life) there without any rehabilitation program, without adequate food, without hope of fair treatment? Will it help that much in stopping the drug traffic? I abhor drugs and anything akin to them, but if someone other than the blase embassy could interview these girls and boys, they would find them most happy to use their energies in any kind of anti-drug program.

(Mrs.) Elina Shirah

Billings, Mont.

The "sad" plight of the drug smugglers will undoubtedly evoke many letters from sob sisters and bleeding hearts, but mine isn't one of them. They deserve everything they get and then some. I much prefer the treatment handed out here hi Iran for dealers in hard drugs. They put 'em against a wall and shoot 'em. Long live the Shah!

Robert S. Speight Tehran, Iran

Blame the Doctors

Your article "Deadly Hospital Food?" [July 22] makes the erroneous implication that the fault lies in the diet kitchen. The fact is that the dietitian can only do what the doctor orders and what the administrative-staff structure permits. My article in Nutrition Today, which you quoted, cites 14 undesirable practices, most of which reflect on the physician, the nurse and the administrative staff. Many of these practices, such as prolonged periods of feeding with intravenous glucose and failure to record body weight, are easily corrected. Others require upgrading nutrition education for physicians and others involved in healthcare. Reorganization of hospital-staff structure and attitude is also important. It isn't hospital food that's deadly--it's the lack of it.

Charles E. Butterworth Jr., M.D.

Director, the Nutrition Program

University of Alabama in Birmingham

Dentists and Hepatitis

Our article in the Journal of the American Medical Association of a mini-epidemic of hepatitis traced to a dental office was inaccurately reported hi "Dangerous Dentists" [June 17]. The initial case occurred in a jaundiced 28-year-old dentist who recovered and returned to practice without sequelae. From this case, hepatitis spread to a dental assistant who was subsequently lost to followup. Five months later, the 59-year-old senior dentist (father of the 28-year-old dentist) contracted hepatitis without jaundice. He has remained a carrier. It was the senior dentist who, we feel, may have been the source who spread hepatitis to 13 additional patients.

Michael L. Levin, M.D. Baltimore

Mama Deserved More

Really now, referring to Cass Elliot as "gargantuan"--what does that have to do with her sad, accidental death? She was a dear, sweet, classy lady who deserved much more from you.

Becky Knox Jacksonville

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