A Powerful Need for Leaders

To the Editors:

There is in human nature a powerful need to look up to leaders of honor, elegance and integrity and to feel reassured by family solidarity and continuity. This need is partly met by the royal families of Europe [May 3]. Too bad America has to settle for rock and movie stars, athletes and tarnished politicians.

Penny Johnson

New Haven, Conn.

At ten I wanted nothing more than to be a princess. At twelve I wrote Elizabeth II asking to be Prince Charles' pen pal. From twelve on I cut out every article I could find on Britain's royal family. Older but not wiser I still feel the magic. No presidential family has made me feel that way.

Elizabeth Havey

Homewood, Ill.

Congratulations for presenting a cover picture of European royalty on playing cards. That's where they belong.

Fred S. Mott

Cincinnati

Persons of royal blood know how to look into cameras and wave to the masses with pleasant smiles. They also wear expensive clothing and they look good. But as long as there is widespread hunger in the world, I cannot be interested in royalty.

David A. Annett

San Pedro, Calif.

In this Bicentennial year, we of the Monarchist Front hope to convince many that we can get advantages by going back to the system we had from 1609 to 1783.

The kings portrayed in your article have done at least as good a job as the 38 Presidents we've had since Washington was inaugurated and almost given the title of His Majesty the President. Besides, kings (and queens) are much more colorful, durable and economical than the most frugal Chief Executive.

Gordon D. Wiebe

Daly City, Calif.

Oh, the Gullibility...

To place Barbara Walters [May 3] in the company of such reporters as Cronkite, Reasoner and Chancellor is unforgivable. For these are men who are now the only really eloquent voices in that otherwise insipid area known as "broadcast journalism." They have the touch of a poet in their prose, the sagacity of a seer in their assessments. To them, the world we live in is something more than merely a matter of headlines.

Oh, the gullibility of network presidents. She and they are to be pitied.

F. Joseph Bowen

Brookline, Mass.

Take the money, the limousine, the Jamaican cook and run, Barbara Walters, before Alan Greenspan catches on to who is really ruining the economy.

Pamela Gerloff

Woodstock, Ill.

Precisely because of women like Barbara Walters, New York State does not need passage of any ERA to guarantee equal rights. She accomplished more by just being good at a job than all the protesting ERA supporters together.

(Mrs.) Marguerite H. Sanzone

Rome, N. Y.

Whose Hot-Seller?

Most surprised to find one of my newest swimsuits (for Lily Of France), which is not yet on the market, used as the lead picture in your "Look, No Straps" story [May 3]. I am particularly upset about the fact that in your story a reference is made to a Calvin Klein Lycra maillot as his "coolest hot-seller." Certainly looks as though my suit is his bestseller--is that a way to treat a trend?

Rudi Gernreich

Los Angeles

Designer Gernreich has indeed caught TIME with its straps down.

A Disgusting Wage Gap

U.S. Commissioner of Education Terrel Bell says he had to resign his $37,800 job because he could not educate his sons on that salary [May 3]. We struggle to live on $10,000 a year, trying to make ends meet and give our children some kind of education. This country is rapidly becoming a place for the rich only. It isn't a generation gap that causes the misunderstandings--it's the wage gap that is so disgusting to many of us.

(Mrs.) Hazel MacKenzie

Wakefield, Mass.

My parents barely earn $5,000 a year; yet, out of eight children, four have recently graduated from college and a fifth is on his way. Perhaps it is not the "high cost of learning" but the high standards of living that cause this problem for many Americans.

Jim Torok

Tucson, Ariz.

I would like to be burdened with Terrel Bell's salary. Having nine children, two in college, and living on a bricklayer's salary of $13,500 (seasonal work), I wonder whether his old job might still be available.

Patricia Silvia

Middletown, R.I.

My sons work for their tuition and upkeep--a time-honored American custom that does wonders to ward off the temptations of hippieism, yippieism and other forms of juvenile parasitism. Mr. Bell should encourage his sons to try it some time. Perhaps if he did, he might not need to switch from one public trough to another.

Kenneth A. Laband

Lompoc, Calif.

Watch for Falling Rocks

Re your story about the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, "Putting Trivia Ahead of Safety" [May 3]: On a recent visit to our city hall, I noticed a small rock, placed for decorative purposes on a ledge above a doorway. Over it was a sign proclaiming: WATCH FOR FALLING ROCKS.

An OSHA inspector had ruled that the rock's presence constituted a hazard unless a warning sign was posted.

I chuckled, but was it worth $117 million?

Bob Warnock

Cerritos, Calif.

Deep Throat

I was surprised to find my candidate for Deep Throat missing from your list [May 3]. This true hero of Watergate was not a card-carrying member of the President's coterie. But he did have to work in the White House prior to June 17, 1972, and remain there through the disclosure of the Nixon tapes. Who else fills the bill as well as Alexander Butterfield, the man who blew the whistle on Nixon's tapes in the first place?

Bruce A. Deresh

Syracuse

You listed several possibilities for Deep Throat, but you omitted one of the most obvious--Henry Kissinger.

H. Bobby Simpson

Newton Grove, N.C.

The evasiveness on the part of Woodward and Bernstein in refusing to identify Deep Throat smacks of self-righteous hypocrisy. If the public has a right to know about governmental corruption and conversations with portraits on the wall, then the public has a right to know who supplied much of the information and for what reasons.

Steven B. Rennie

Houghton, N. Y.

Deep Throat is almost certainly J. Fred Buzhardt.

Dick Blow

Mercer Island, Wash.

Maybe it was Hal Holbrook all the time. Or possibly Linda Lovelace.

Emile Barrios

Baton Rouge

No Junglebunnies

Hurrah for Secretary Kissinger's realistic and moral position on behalf of Africans' efforts in Rhodesia [May 10]! It won us a lot of friends. A black Rhodesian of moderate social position once asked me, "When will all of you understand we are not Junglebunnies; we are capable of thinking, speaking and determining for ourselves."

Lawrence H. Fuller

Victorville, Calif.

Henry Kissinger talks of "African majority rule" as being essential in Rhodesia. Does he mean African rule or majority rule? The two terms are not synonymous as far as Rhodesia is concerned. In a free election (without intimidation), a white government would still be in power. The local Africans look north and are generally horrified at the results of Uhuru.

Yvonne Dance

Durban, South Africa

Kissinger tells us that time is running out for the white regimes of Southern Africa. What he should really be saying is that time is running out for the white regimes of the world: "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."

Valerie Dixey

Cape Town, South Africa

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