As the Dominoes Fall

To the Editors:

Where is the spirit of '76? During this Bicentennial of our hard-won freedom, we are searching for meaningful ways to celebrate while we stand by and watch first Cambodia, then South Viet Nam fall to an aggressor [March 31]. As the dominoes fall, will it be Thailand next, then South Korea, Nationalist China on Formosa and so on? These people have fought and are still fighting for the same basic reasons for which we took on Great Britain.

Are we to celebrate with fireworks while rockets are crushing freedom in other parts of the world? What a time for us to deserve a Congress like this. We need a Patrick Henry to stir our blood, a George Washington to stiffen our backbone.

Millard E. Crane Fonda, N. Y.

As TIME'S cover story describes, the human suffering in South Viet Nam and Cambodia staggers the imagination. Clearly, this new crisis demands new initiatives by our Government and an urgent humanitarian response from the American people.

With this goal in mind, on March 21 I urged President Ford to consider an urgent appeal for U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim to exercise his good offices for humanitarian purposes in all sectors of South Viet Nam and Cambodia. I share the strong view of many Americans that, in cooperation with the International Red Cross and the private voluntary agencies, the good offices and active presence of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and UNICEF will help to save lives in Indochina, protect the movement of refugees, facilitate the free movement of relief personnel and supplies to areas of need on all sides, and, hopefully, strengthen needed efforts for peace. Several of my colleagues in the Senate have joined me in sponsoring a bill to provide emergency funds to support this effort.

Millions of orphans and refugees and war victims of all kinds are crying out for peace and relief. We must answer their cries for help--not with weapons to prolong a nightmare of war, but with tools to build a structure for peace.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy Chairman, Subcommittee on Refugees Washington, D.C.

As for the theory that "We should cease supporting the corrupt governments of Lon Nol and Thieu"--no one seems to notice how thousands upon thousands of Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees prefer those "corrupt" governments to the alternative.

Charles P. Minor Ill Lubbock, Texas

Mighty Good Road

The bankruptcy of the Rock Island Line [March 31] is a sad milestone. The human-like wail of a train whistle once meant "Freedom!" to millions of small-town youth, who hopped freights if they couldn't afford to buy a ticket. The clickety-clack of the rails fitted the banjo and guitar rhythms of hundreds of our best folk songs. Neither airplanes nor automobiles ever caught our heartstrings so.

But anyone who thinks railroads are a thing of the past should see what Europe and Japan are proving: high-speed, modernized rail service uses less petroleum per passenger, uses less acreage, and will help give us breathable air again. For intermediate distances it can be cheaper and quicker, quieter and more comfortable. But we need an Administration that really wants to see this come about.

Peter Seeger Beacon, N. Y.

Folk Singer-Composer Pete Seeger has done much of his traveling of late on the ecological sloop Clearwater.

The $25,000 Question

I am more than merely disturbed by CBS's lack of self-restraint and responsibility in spending $25,000 [March 17] to procure news. Without passing on the truth or falsity of the substance of H.R. Haldeman's assertions, I think it is apparent that he used the opportunity to attempt to vindicate himself and the Administration he served.

This is not meant to suggest that Haldeman does not have the right to defend himself or to be evasive. I would suggest, however, that the next time CBS spends $25,000 on news (or history, as they insist), they first ensure the newsworthiness or the historical value of what they buy.

Michael Parson Allston, Mass.

Sexy Psychiatry

In your story entitled "Love Thy Analyst" [March 24], you say, "Some therapists argue privately that sex is legitimately useful in treatment ... " A bashful psychiatrist friend tells me that he is not surprised that some psychiatrists would take advantage of their patients in this way, and both of us wonder if sex therapy is offered to the unattractive patients.

It's more of a treat for the doctor than a treatment.

Matthew Hochberg North Miami Beach, Fla.

Ari's Monument

In ending your article "One of the Last Tycoons" on Aristotle Onassis [March 24], you state that "he left little legacy--no monuments, no great acts of philanthropy, no record of achievement other than a succession of business deals." To you socialists it may indeed seem that he left little legacy, since he did not create mendicants by giving away the wealth he created. Horatio once said of himself, "I have erected a monument more enduring than bronze." Onassis could well have made the same statement because of the thousands of jobs he created.

William W. Morgan Jr.

Uden, The Netherlands

Kalem's Wanting Wont

I believe your astute theater reviewer, Ted Kalem, abandoned his critical faculties in his appraisal of Liv Ullmann's splendid performance of Nora in A Doll's House [March 17] at Lincoln Center. From the testy tone of the piece, it is apparent that Mr. Kalem's upset stomach has more to do with his reaction to the success-goddess aura surrounding Miss Ullmann--not of her manufacture--than with her work on the Beaumont stage.

Had your critic possessed his usual good wits, as he is wont, he would have perceived a stage portrayal of depth and radiance, a meticulously wrought personification of Henrik Ibsen's Nora that would have made the old man himself very proud.

Joseph Papp, Producer

New York Shakespeare Festival

New York City

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.