Picking the Bones of Hoover

To the Editors:

You are no better than the Russians.

You take a onetime national hero, J. Edgar Hoover [Dec. 22], and after he is dead, you dig him up and bury him in a different grave.

Alfred D. Dobson Manasquan, N.J.

Hurray--at last! Why now, after his death? Out of fear?

H. Robert Lind New York City

Where was TIME for over 30 years?

Grayce Torosian

Johnson City, N. Y.

I am astounded that you should stoop to pick the bones of J. Edgar Hoover.

John J. Bradley Wilmington, Del.

You can call me "Archie Bunker" and cram the Bill of Rights down my throat, and in theory, at least, I'd probably agree with you. But I'm one American who was glad to have had Hoover-instigated FBI surveillance and harassment of such groups as the Black Panthers and the S.D.S.

Douglas King Toledo

What good does it do for us to be protected from criminals if our leaders take away our liberties?

Dan G. Kent Plainview, Texas

Heterosexual, homosexual, asexual or whatever--when will we learn it is not really relevant? Unlike Hoover, can we keep our noses out of other people's bedrooms? The only result of such snooping, finger pointing and sexual labeling is character assassination, alienation and damage done to snooper and snoopee alike.

Loren G. Burt, M.D.

Alma, Mich.

I imagine that the only thing that could save Hoover's reputation with most of the press would be the discovery that he was a homosexual and a crypto-Communist.

A. Culver Gordon Wayne, N.J.

In your story about J. Edgar Hoover, I am identified as an "outraged defender" of Mr. Hoover's. You quote me as having said that Hoover "had only one motive. That was to make the FBI the finest investigative agency in the world." To the best of my knowledge, I never made that statement, and if I did I was clearly wrong.

One of Mr. Hoover's motives was to build "the finest investigative agency in the world," but certainly many of the things he did had to come from far less admirable instincts. Because this is so obvious, I saw little use in joining the chorus of self-righteous decriers of Hoover's actions before the Church committee. Instead, I have recommended that we never again place that much power in one man's hands, as inevitably the results will be the same or worse.

William D. Ruckelshaus Washington, D.C.

One of the victims of President Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre, former Deputy Attorney General Ruckelshaus served as acting Director of the FBI early in 1973.

I'll bet you could do a real hatchet

job on Abraham Lincoln or St. Francis.

William Helme, M.D.

Paradise Valley, Ariz.

Madam President?

Your Essay, "New Places to Look for Presidents" [Dec. 15] is filled with your choices of "the best people to be considered for the presidency." Why didn't you point out that many of our best people are women?

Marilyn Seiger New York City

Let us use the Electoral College as it was intended. Elect these men and let them screen applicants for the presidency. Maybe then we would see men of high qualifications apply rather than B-movie actors and football linemen.

Laurence Wellikson, M.D. Irvine, Calif.

Has anyone thought of looking in a haberdashery for a President?

Keith L. McCullough Royal Oak, Mich.

I am sure that Robert Louis Stevenson would have enjoyed reading the Essay, for he penned the following words: "Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary."

David Freeman Pittsburgh

Father Ford

I was fascinated by Cartoonist Conrad's portrayal of Father Ford bestowing a penitential blessing on a kneeling and presumably shriven New York City [Dec. 22]. I wonder if Conrad knows that he has the President of the United States giving the Boy Scout sign and not the ancient Christian gesture (index and middle fingers only) of God's peace. Intentional or unintentional, the bonus of that extra finger for New York serves to heighten the humor.

George S. Rigby Jr.

West Chester, Pa.

Rampant Breeding

Hunger induces women in the Third World [Dec. 22] to produce from eight to ten children with the assumption that only three will live to become breadwinners. The idea that the circle can be broken with family-planning measures is a fantasy of the rich world.

John Grace Montclair, Calif.

In my father's house there were eleven of us--not enough food most of the time. In my house, only four of us--more than enough food.

It is as simple as that.

Nicias P. Reckas Pleasanton, Calif.

Saudi Arabia, with 85% illiteracy, has the largest trade surplus in the world, while the U.S. has only 2% illiteracy but the largest deficit. Perhaps we had better learn something fast before they get educated over there.

Thomas Lee Harris Wilson, N.C.

With regard to your comment that the gains from the Aswan Dam have been swallowed up by Egypt's population, it should be noted that this project was not an unmitigated benefit. Although the dam made possible the cultivation of 1.3 million acres of formerly arid land, it stands accused of several disasters. The Egyptian Mediterranean fisheries have been virtually wiped out because the nutritional sediment washing downstream that formerly sustained sea life is now silting up the dam. In addition, salt water is moving upstream in the Delta, eroding farm land or making it saline. There has been an alarming spread of schistosomiasis. Also, a water weed is growing so fast in Lake Nasser behind the dam that it may endanger the hydroelectric function by increasing evaporation from the lake.

George F. Platts Ormond Beach, Fla.

Israeli Arabs

As you suggest, Tawfiq Zayad's recent election as mayor of Nazareth [Dec. 22] may encourage Israeli Arabs to try to exert political power on a national scale. However, I do not see this as a catastrophe for Israel. In fact, a successful bid for political power by Israel's Arab citizens may prove that Israel's political system works for all her citizens, and that her democratic ideals are honored.

Ronald M. Jacobs Walton, N. Y.

I was surprised by the heading "Red Star over Nazareth" above your account of Mr. Zayad's victory. Ever since Nasser's well-publicized criticism of Arab Communists in 1959, Israeli-Arab support for the Communists has been nationalistic and not Marxist in nature.

Robert J. Feron Cambridge, Mass.

B.B.'s Real Grandniece

While I am full of admiration for Marisa Berenson's pressagent, who scores hits again and again, I must protest the continued reference to Miss Berenson as the grandniece of Bernard Berenson. This is simply not so. She is a distant cousin, and my daughter, Rachel Perry, who is his grandniece, is extremely concerned about the continual repetition of this falsehood.

Bernard Perry Bloomington, Ind.

Love Letters for Sale

I am not at all sure that any widow of anyone--however prominent--should be guaranteed lifelong comfort at her country's expense simply because of her choice of husband. But if governments are in the business of granting pensions to widows, how terrible it is that Dylan Thomas's wife Caitlin is forced to put her love letters on the block [Dec. 15] while the wives of innumerable official killers can watch TV or play solitaire at their compromised ease.

Lydia Edison Elk, Calif.

Off-Road

It is a pity that Correspondent DeVoss never looked carefully at the "lifeless mesquite moonscape" he was helping to destroy in "115-m.p.h. Madness" [Dec. 22]. The American deserts are among the last wild areas remaining in the United States. These beautiful, fragile environments are now being laid waste by the mindless operation of off-road vehicles.

Mark A. Wilson Wooster, Ohio

The "lifeless mesquite moonscape" is lifeless only to those whose 115 m.p.h.

does not permit them to see beyond their "amber cloud of dust." To the rest of us, an abundance of specialized life forms provides opportunity for study and quiet reflection--a re-creation of mind and body that often conflicts with the tumultuous pursuits of off-roaders.

Stanley L. Cummings

Academic Director, Yosemite Institute

Yosemite National Park, Calif.

Glad, Not Sad

In the modern tradition of perceiving "half empty" rather than "half full," you've overlooked the fact that if the U.S. misery index is 14.5 [Dec. 22], the happiness index must surely be 85.5.

Wayne Smith, News Director

WWYN Radio

Erie, Pa.

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