Hope and Terror

To the Editors:

The cover painting [Oct. 11] by Bob Peak is eloquent. It seems to capture a suspended moment in an evolving world fraught with terror, illumined with hope.

Arthur R. Botham

Great Barrington, Mass.

The warm amber glow on Mr. Smith's face and its pivotal position suggest the erroneous concept held in Western nations of the great white lord who brings vision and hope to the faceless, amorphous masses of natives.

Velandy Manohar, M.D.

Boston

How ironic that during the Bicentennial, an American Secretary of State, in collaboration with Prime Minister Vorster of South Africa, should be the catalyst that has forced Prime Minister Ian Smith to bow to world opinion and agree to majority rule in two years time.

The American Indians must sorely regret that there was not a Dr. Kissinger around in 1776!

(Mrs.) Theresa McEnearney Gwyn

Trinidad

America has too many domestic problems to continue Secretary Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy. If the Secretary is hooked on world travel, he should be "shuttlecrafted" to Skylab. Then he can orbit the world every two hours.

Colin E. Autrey

Baton Rouge, La.

In the face of repeated Marxist guerrilla attacks from neighboring Mozambique, the Rhodesian government has stood fast in its resolve and the Smith regime has remained one of the few in Africa free of Soviet penetration.

If the government of Rhodesia follows through with the Kissinger proposal, the possibility of terrorist and so-called liberation groups' mounting offensives could pose a major threat to the free world nations.

Harold R. Moroz

Elmont, N. Y.

If you think the momentum of justice, democracy, majority rule and true African liberation can be stayed by pious, self-serving pronouncements of conversion to "the true faith" made by diplomatic poker players like Kissinger, Callaghan and Ian Smith/John Vorster, you are crazy. More to the point, you are demonstrating to the Third World tunnel vision and psychopathogenic shortsightedness characteristic of a ruling class that is fading from the mainstream of man's historical evolution.

Kwau al-Khifi

The Afro-American Bureau

Washington, D.C.

You made no mention of Donal Lamont, the Roman Catholic Rhodesian bishop. Lament just received a prison term of ten years for encouraging his medical staff to offer assistance to everyone, black or white.

As Bishop Lament said: "He who is silent is condemned."

(The Rev.) Raymond J. Richards

Washington, D.C.

Justice, Syrian Style

The gruesome photograph of the bodies of three Palestinian guerrillas [Oct. 11] and the general apathy in response to their summary trial and public hanging bring to mind what might have happened if this had been Israeli, not Syrian justice. Undoubtedly we would have heard cries of outrage from the Third World, accusations of barbarism from Moscow, criticism from Secretary-General Waldheim and perhaps even a muted protest from the Pope.

William Kaplan

Wilmette, Ill.

Perhaps our "civilized" society could learn from the barbaric, not so civilized Syrians their effective and just method of dealing with criminals.

Carla Amparan

Redondo Beach, Calif.

What a costly error on the part of the unfortunate Palestinian terrorists. Didn't anyone tell them the U.S. is the place to commit a crime? A mere week or so of deliberations, a possible term in jail, then out on bail in no time, ready to kill again.

Cathy Kahn

Los Angeles

Sending a Message

Mexico's President Echeverria in his "Message to America" [Oct. 11] calls for an end to American "open or clandestine intervention in the domestic life of other countries." At the same time he implores the U.S. to "resolve to use its enormous strength to root out the poverty of millions of people" on an international scale. Should we continue to pay the world's bills, while the recipients of our benefits spit in our face?

Dale Schatz

Pacific Palisades, Calif.

John Dean Rides Again

Earl Butz's celebrated remarks [Oct. 18] were neither official nor public, but rather made aboard a plane returning from the convention in Kansas City. If a man can't sit with friends over a drink and exchange a few off-color jokes without some opportunist like John Wesley Dean III turning him in, then we had better start worrying about what is happening to private speech in this country.

As a Catholic, I would much prefer to shrug off a few tasteless jokes about the Pope or the church than to interfere with the right of people to express their opinions or views in private.

(Mrs.) Catherine Boyle

Edwardsville, III.

I'll tell you what Earl Butz has: a tight mind, a loose tongue and a warm place in his heart for vulgarity.

Stephen C. Listfield,

Washington, D.C.

Come on, America! Archie Bunker is a hit and considered funny. A real Archie Bunker shows up and it's dead serious. I thought the double standard was what we were fighting against.

Gwen G. Hays

Baltimore

Earl Butz as Secretary of Agriculture should have known better than anyone else that you reap what you sow.

Harold Jordan

Elsah, III.

Watch out, Rona Barrett! John Dean is after your job.

Beth Horton

Randallstown, Md.

Anyone Home?

Bravo! Thank you for your Essay, "A New Idea: Leave the Family at Home" [Oct. 11].

While I am weary of Jerry and Jimmy, I have had it "up to here" with Betty, Rosalynn, Liddy, Joan, Jack, Jeff, Chip, Jack, Aunt Sissy, Miss Lillian (have I forgotten anyone?).

Joanne Geiser

Greensburg, Pa.

Follies of '76

Dole says Carter is weird. Part of Carter's strangeness is his tendency to talk of Jesus in normal conversation as if Jesus were real, like President Ford or the family automobile. Heavens! How could Carter ever fit in?

Frank Belker

St. Louis

I still can't make up my mind. Can Jimmy dance, or does Jerry sing?

Linda J. Galati

St. Louis

If vicious, venomous, vituperative Carter is an example of one who has "taken Christ as his Saviour," I'll take my chances in hell.

Phyllis Jaquett

Pennsville, N.J.

Deft Sidestep

President Newell of Wellesley deftly sidesteps any responsibility as a college administrator for the excessive number of graduates vis-a-vis appropriate job opportunities [Oct. 11]. Many institutions of higher learning are almost criminal in their behavior, educating students for fields already overcrowded instead of discouraging them.

Morton Kanter

Villanova, Pa.

Law-and-Order

The policemen of New York City should drop the "Benevolent" from their association's title.

The members of the mob described in your article [Oct. 11] cannot be expected to uphold the law they obviously do not respect.

Kathleen Zeitz

Grissom Air Force Base, Ind.

Rudd on Wry

All the to-do about the comings and goings on the Today show [Oct. 11] galls me no end.

Those of us who want the news in the morning, without the peripheral pap on Today and its ABC counterpart, watch Hughes Rudd on CBS. I like my news on wry, as Hughes delivers it.

James D. Anderson

San Francisco

Hijackees and Hearst

Your recent article "The Hijackee Syndrome" [Oct. 4] said that many people identify with, and sometimes even love, their hijackers. Psychiatrist David G. Hubbard says, "It is as common as dirt."

If these facts are correct, why do so many people refuse to believe that Patricia Hearst could have undergone a similar experience?

Nancy Pajersky

Dayton

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