Lady Justice

To the Editors:

Hallelujah! A campaign promise that was actually fulfilled--and brilliantly [July 20]. Sandra O'Connor's expertise, sharp intellect and experience qualify her for a seat on the Supreme Court regardless of her sex.

Anita Moore Florissant, Mo.

Justice--at last? A woman member of the Supreme Court is not synonymous with justice.

Robert L. Shaw Washington, D.C.

In Uruguay we also try to move forward in women's matters, but not with so much fanfare. Our government recently appointed the first woman judge to the Uruguayan Supreme Court and the first woman dean of our major university. The news media dutifully reported these events, but they did not steal the national headlines.

Juan Garcia Montevideo

Whether Sandra O'Connor is, or is not, an advocate of the ERA is a moot point. Her nomination to the Supreme Court verifies that the ERA is unnecessary.

Chet S. Kaczka

Phoenix

Only in the future can we know if Sandra O'Connor becomes an outstanding or mediocre Justice. But certainly others who prefer a different candidate should be able to express their preference without being savaged and ridiculed in the media or by a U.S. Senator.

Patricia Kennedy Bergheiser Bellmore, N. Y.

In your article "Foot Soldiers of the Law" [July 20] you stated no woman has ever been elected president of a state bar. On June 20, 1981, the Rhode Island State Bar Association named Beverly Glenn Long as president. She is the fourth woman to hold such a position. In 1977-78, Carole Kamin Bellows was president of the Illinois State Bar. Alaska has had Donna Willard, while Karen L. Hunt is currently occupying the office.

Nanci Martin Warwick, R.I.

As a feminist, I am pleased that Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra O'Connor for the Supreme Court. As a pessimist, I fear that he will continue to ignore other women's issues. He will reason that he has now "done something" and doesn't have to do anything more.

Cathy Richardson Mount Pleasant, S.C.

The New Right will never be satisfied with any female appointed to the judiciary. Obviously a woman who respects "traditional family values" would not have gone to law school or sought a career outside the home.

Sheila S. Walker Leadville, Colo.

England's Nights of Rage

Those who are so quick to blame Prime Minister Thatcher and her tight-fisted monetary policies for England's urban riots [July 20] forget that America's riots in the '60s took place during the spending spree of Lyndon Baines Johnson, author of the Great Society.

Franklyn Alexander Evanston, Ill.

With an uncaring right and an impotent left, where can the poor people of my onetime home town, Liverpool, go but to the streets to express their frustration and anger.

Mitzi F. Sandiford Vienna, Va.

Your story on Britain's summer of discontent fails to mention a key triggering element. Britain's frustrated lower classes have had a bellyful of exposure to overweening privilege, particularly during this time of a spectacle wedding.

Thomas J. Bush Pasadena, Calif.

As a lifelong Anglophile, I felt deeply the horrors of the English riots. Yet a certain part of me recalls clearly my 1977 visit, when New York's blackout and looting occurred. My English acquaintances all seemed shocked and proclaimed,."It can't happen here." Can they really have been so blind?

Elizabeth Knajdl New York City

Two Weeks with Pay

The main reason why American workers receive far less vacation time than Europeans [July 13] is that getting substantial money packages is first in the minds of the labor union bargaining units. Fringe benefits always run a poor second to wage increases.

James Stenseth Sioux Falls, S. Dak.

Puny isn't the word for American vacations. It's slave labor. Recall that it wasn't until the '50s and '60s that two weeks' became the norm. I'm for a minimum of three weeks for everyone, and for vacation time determined by how long you've been in the work force, not just with one company.

Joanne V. Zolomij Evanston, Ill.

Nice-So Stories

Frank Trippett's Essay "There Must Be a Nicer Way" [July 20] is pertinent not only to our own time but also to the times when those classics that Trippett jokingly suggests doctoring were written. In the days when literary magazines published novels in installments, writers were frequently persuaded to provide endings acceptable to the reading public. Thus Thomas Hardy was pressured to compose a rather bland finale to The Return of the Native and Dostoyevsky to tack a suitably cathartic epilogue onto Crime and Punishment. Poor Flaubert. He was tried for immorality in Madame Bovary, his first novel, but was reprimanded and acquitted. The court presumably expected him to improve with age.

Jane Hathaway San Antonio

I would like to congratulate Frank Trippett on his Essay. However, there are some major works of literature that he did not include.

In A Tale of Two Cities, why couldn't Mme. Defarge have knitted socks and scarves for the French soldiers? It would have been so much nicer if the Joad family in the Grapes of Wrath, after moving to California, had finally been able to find happiness and prosperity picking fruit.

Richard Tax Purdys, N. Y.

Sara's Choice

Your review of my daughter's book In Shelly's Leg [July 6] made me eat crow, but I enjoyed every bite of it. For years I have been preaching to her, "Sara, why don't you get off that higher education (five colleges) and writing kick? It's about time you married, had kids, lived in the suburbs and followed your old man's advice." As you can see, I was entirely wrong, as usual.

James F. Vogan Bradfordwoods, Pa.

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