A Stillness in South Viet Nam

To the Editors:

The charade in Viet Nam [May 5] is over. The lesson for us should be that puppets do not make lasting friends.

James P. Kinney

San Jose, Calif.

What do you mean by titling an article "The Last Days of Phnom-Penh"? Phnom-Penh is still there.

Larry Feign

Berkeley, Calif.

I cannot understand why no one has commented on the simple fact that the U.S. would have been spared more than $200 billion, more than 50,000 lives, and all the present tragic and so stupid horror of evacuation of Americans, and these poor wretches to whom we owe nothing in any way, shape or form, had our allied air power been permitted to proceed with all-out pinpoint bombing of the Viet Cong's power and supply depots, thus bringing them to their knees and terminating the action long before the year 1967!

Rudy Vallee

Hollywood

It is not difficult for us in Israel to read Jerusalem instead of Phnom-Penh, and Tel Aviv instead of Saigon.

Is it really so surprising to the average American that Israel refused to put its neck into the noose that was offered to us by President Sadat of Egypt through the good offices of your Secretary of State?

Max Riebenfeld

Tel Aviv

The U.S. about-face in Viet Nam has hurt American credibility. American Air Force bases here were regarded as an aid to Spanish security. Now there is a consensus that they are a threat to our security because of the decline of American power and influence in the world.

Martin Eady

Madrid

The credibility of the U.S. has not only been hurt; it has crumbled.

Who still trusts the U.S. today?

Chao Kuo-chang

Taipei

It is not that Americans are cowards; they are not. It is not that they are lacking in intelligence either. Their trouble is that they are always ruthlessly provincial. They have never understood or really liked foreigners.

This explains why they are so unconcerned with the coming slaughter of their allies, the South Vietnamese.

This country is going to go through what the Vietnamese are going through right now. This will be the price the world will have to pay for its hypocrisy about facing the threat of Communism and trying to appease the unappeasable.

Hari Dharana

Los Angeles

Our national leaders who now strain to assure us that our boys did not die in vain in Viet Nam are only trying to salve their own guilt, and all of us who long for that assurance are doing the same.

The very finest thing we could say for those boys is to confess that we sacrificed them to our pride in a losing battle, that we Americans have wasted our human energies trying to play God and win forever.

Gordon Dalbey

Newton, Mass.

Taiwan Rip-Off

Your article on President Chiang Kai-shek's death [April 14] must have contained truth and insight, but I could not read it. Every TIME in Taiwan had that page torn out. It must have hit home.

John Stewart

Taipei

Primary Concern

New Hampshire became the state with the nation's earliest presidential preference primary [April 28] in 1952. For more than two decades, the state and its primary have proved to be a reliable testing ground for presidential candidates.

New Hampshire is a small state with a relatively small population. Thus it does not greet prospective candidates with expenses which might be prohibitive in the more populous states.

The Granite State also provides a unique cross section of America. It offers a blend of economic and social bases that include industries ranging from textiles to space-age technology, recreation, services and agriculture.

One of New Hampshire's attractive features as a measurement of the electorate is its absence of machine politics. A regional primary would destroy this fine balance and would so dilute the results as to make any voting meaningless.

As have our leaders of the past, I will do all I can to protect the state's position from future challenges.

Meldrim Thomson Jr.

Governor

New Hampshire

Lethal Love

I believe that if 70% of my fellow Americans wanted gun control [April 28], more than two of the 50 states would have tough laws. If I ever stop reading about murders, rapes and other demonstrations of man's love for man, then I might consider giving up my right to purchase a firearm to protect my family, myself or my property.

Jimmie E. Shaver

Colorado Springs, Colo.

National Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, please note that the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights says: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." In short, keeping and bearing arms was contingent upon being in the militia, as almost all able-bodied men were when this was written. It is a far cry from anyone's supposed "right" in 1975 to buy a "Saturday-night special."

Mrs. Joseph Harrington

Wenham, Mass.

Years from now, when the question involving who first appeared, the chicken or the egg, is finally answered, someone will then ask, "What came first: anticrime laws or antigun laws?"

Michelle Williams

Woodside, N. Y.

Pregnant Issue

Hooray for Bishop Maher [April 28]! I wish there were more men like him to deal with this obscenity called abortion.

(Mrs.) Lenore Weber

Elk Rapids, Mich.

What Bishop Maher doesn't seem to realize is that unquestioning obedience is passe. Get with it, Rev. Maher.

Josephine Sheehy

Farmington Mills, Mich.

Much of the momentum behind today's feminists' abortions could have been removed years ago if the Catholic clergy had resolutely heeded the plight of their married laity--especially the poor--and sanctioned birth control.

M. Elaine Keranen

Burlington, Vt.

No, Ms. Gleason, Bishop Maher has never been pregnant, but he has been a fetus, as have we all.

Rosemarie Slavenas

Genoa, Ill.

Jimmy Superstar

Jimmy Connors [April 28] is the Joe Namath, Muhammad Ali, Wilt Chamberlain and Johnny Bench of the tennis court--cocky, confident, a superstar, able to back what he says. He belongs.

Ken Prouty Bristol,

S. Dak.

I fail to understand why you devote such extensive coverage to athletes, a group of individuals known for their intellectual dullness and lack of contribution to society.

I am tired of narcissistic boy-heroes whose only claim to fame is physical prowess or injured self-righteousness.

Jennifer Philips

New York City

Tennis matches like the one between Jimmy Connors and John Newcombe will always have an appeal. There is an excitement about the game when two fine players are contending.

I am pleased to see the increased interest in tennis, which started in 1968 when professionals were first allowed to play at Wimbledon. It is healthy for the game that more good players can make a comfortable living from it. I do have reservations about some of the directions that tennis is taking. I do not enjoy watching one-set matches. Even the best player can lose a set. Also, I do not like what they are calling audience participation. The language sometimes used between players and spectators is embarrassing and tends to bring the game down to a mediocre level. Still, tennis today is superior, and I am sure that the problems can be worked out.

Donald Budge

Acapulco, Mexico

Grand Slammer Budge was the first player to win the Australian, French, Wimbledon and U.S. championships in the same year (1938).

Tukar Garahagi

The graffiti-prone students of M.I.T. have a more accurate name for the 17-year-old Guru Maharaj Ji [April 28]. He is known as Tukar Garahagi.

Bob Mohr

Wellesley Hills, Mass.

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