Olympic Fever

To the Editors:

Your articles and photographs of the Olympics [SPECIAL REPORT, July 30] were magnificent. It was wonderful to see and read about young people who are vibrant, healthy and beautiful. We should have the Olympics every year.

Donna Langsam

Chattanooga, Tenn.

Thank you for the beautiful photographs of the Olympic athletes. I smiled all day!

Terri Kollar

North Miami, Fla.

Like the birth of a baby, the Games are a statement of hope. They symbolize the pursuit of excellence and the essential goodness of life.

Richard W. Zalar Jr.

Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.

The deceptive simplicity of Neil Leifer's knockout photographs is a perfect metaphor for the beauty and meaning of the Olympic Games. To the untrained eye, Leifer seemingly had only to step up and snap off a few frames to get the shots he wanted. We know better.

Bruce Rogowski

Norwalk, Conn.

If the world can bring off an Olympics with 140 countries from every continent participating, in spite of the pullout of a superpower, then perhaps we are learning to survive.

Edward Henry

South Orange, N.J.

Even in ancient Greece the Olympics were used as an instrument of international politics. Plato wrote that an ideal Greek state "should send as many athletes as possible to the Games, and the best that can be found, for they will make the city renowned at holy meetings in times of peace, procuring a glory which shall be a counterpart to that which is gained in war; and when they come home, they shall teach the young that the institutions of other states are second-rate when compared to their own."

John W. Welch

Provo, Utah

After you convincingly demonstrated the absurdity of the amateur/professional classifications, I was stunned by your conclusion that "major leaguers" should be excluded from playing in the Olympics. If track athletes with seven-digit earnings can compete, why exclude pro-basketball players? Both play full time at their sport; both are paid to show up for competitions, win or lose; both should be allowed to compete in the Olympics.

Wendy Ellison

Seattle

When you say that "the U.S. is not yet able to produce an international fencing star," you are forgetting Norman Armitage, saber champion for the U.S. at six Olympics and flag-bearer in both 1952 and 1956.

Robert C. Schnitzer

Weston, Conn.

It is misleading and unfair to compare Carl Lewis and Jesse Owens. As a world-class competitor in the 1930s, I know that today's tracks are faster, shoes are better and training methods superior. I have seen both Lewis and Owens in action, and would say that they would be dead even in the sprints. Lewis might rate a slight edge in the long jump.

Richard L. Lacey

Clearwater, Fla.

Democratic Bash

TIME'S coverage of the Democratic Convention was terrific [NATION, July 30]. The Democratic Party is the party of the people, and the people in the party had a wonderful convention in San Francisco.

Noble E. Freden

Topeka, Kans.

Three factors have come out of the San Francisco convention that make a Democratic victory in November much less a long shot than it was before the primary campaigns: the nomination of Geraldine Ferraro, the expectation of increased minority-voter turnout, and the improvement in Walter Mondale's newly impassioned delivery. The person responsible for all three is Jesse Jackson. He made the gender of the vice-presidential candidate a key issue, so that Mondale's choice seemed politically astute rather than eccentric. He got minorities to register and then endorsed Mondale, and he awakened depths of emotion and color in his fellow candidate that even Fritz did not know were there.

James Mendelsohn

Atlanta

First it was Chrysler's Lee lacocca, then Continental Airlines Chief Frank Lorenzo; now it is Mario Cuomo and Geraldine Ferraro. From this, should we conclude that when an organization is floundering, an injection of Italian-American spirit will save it? I hope there are enough of us to go around.

Michael J. Cevera

Houston

So Mario Cuomo and Jesse Jackson are the heirs apparent after their "electrifying" speeches to the delegates. Since when does an individual who can write a good speech make a good President?

John R. Maestrelli

Fair Oaks, Calif.

Cuomo, Jackson, Ferraro and Mondale, the Four Horsemen who ride under the banner of the New Deal, promising enough things to enough people to get enough votes to win. They promise the nation a future containing all the better things of life, and will send the tab for that future to the welfare state.

Charles L. Foley

Bryantown, Md.

I could not believe Gary Hart's stand on the deployment of American troops abroad. He would use our military only after all negotiations have failed and only if U.S. security is at stake. Does he not realize that the placement, movement and threat of troops are a form of negotiation? If Hart does not know this, he shouldn't be a Senator, much less a President.

Robert L. Wendt

Lewisville, N.C.

How sad that a Democratic loss will be interpreted by some as a vote against a woman on the ticket.

Mark N. McKelvey

Chicago

Why all this fuss over Ferraro? After Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher, you guys are not "breaking through." You are catching up.

Louisa Miller

Melbourne, Australia

Tough Choice

Hugh Sidey's "Mr. Inside vs. Mr. Outside" [NATION, July 30] was a brilliant delineation of the differences between the presidential candidates. To Mondale, Government is the solution whenever something hurts. To President Reagan, Government is the problem. Four more years will allow Reagan to put the individual in a position of strength and thus gain for our nation the world's respect.

Joan B. Hall

Park Ridge, Ill.

How can a man who has been President for four years, who oversees the largest deficit in the nation's history, who is responsible for the deaths of 240 American Marines in Lebanon and who, by cutting social programs, has thrown half a million people into poverty be viewed as an innocent outsider? There are many Americans who wish that the President were an outsider. We will have to wait until November for our wish to come true.

Kelly A. Greene

Brookline, Mass.

Ex Miss America

The self-righteous pageant officials who demanded Vanessa Williams' crown [PEOPLE, July 30] should have supported her and instead gone after the source of the problem-publishers of pornography.

Barbara Shaloo

Tinton Falls, N.J.

Williams has been the best Miss America in my memory. In her appearances throughout the country, she has conducted herself with grace and dignity. I shall always consider her Miss America, regardless of the actions of a few narrow-minded people in Atlantic City.

Cynthia C. Bates

Louisville

Whether Williams was right or wrong in posing for the nude pictures is a judgment each individual must make for himself. But the behavior of Photographer Tom Chiapel and Penthouse Publisher Bob Guccione can best be described as sleazy, uncaring and self-serving.

Linda C. Barton

Norwood, Mass.

We use sex to sell everything from cigarettes to toothpaste. If we demand comercial sexuality, let us not point a finger at those who supply it. Our judgment of Williams is a judgment of our society and, more important, ourselves.

Phil Tinsley

Clayton, Calif.

Williams should take responsibility for her immoral actions instead of placing the blame on Penthouse magazine and pageant officials.

Anna Torrez

Williams, Ariz.

Murder at McDonald's

The mass murder at a McDonald's in San Ysidro [BEHAVIOR, July 30] was brutal and horrifying. However, it is pertinent to remember that two years ago California had a,gun-control proposition that was defeated by a 2-to-1 vote. If Americans really want a memorial to those who died in the restaurant, they should pass a stringent gun-control law.

John Baker

Hyattsville, Md.

Armor-piercing ("cop killer") bullets were in the possession of Mass Killer James Huberty. What more will it take for Congress to enact HR 5835 or S 2766? These bills would ban the sale of such ammunition to licensed gun dealers and would limit possession to local, state and federal agencies.

Steven L. Kendall, President

Washington Citizens for Rational

Handgun Controls

Seattle

When Huberty announced to his wife that he was going to hunt humans, did she notify the police? If she did nothing, she must bear some of the responsibility.

Diana Taylor

Hampton, Va.

James Huberty was not "a grim drifter" at all but a serious family man. It was apparently his inability to support his family, his failed machismo, that finally drove him over the edge.

Richard J. Kavanaugh

Shreveport, La.

The people of San Ysidro are trying to deal with their unspeakable sorrow. Your reference to their city as "seedy" was unnecessarily cruel.

Kathleen McCord

San Diego

Trend Toward Androgyny

Your discussion of androgyny in our society misses the point entirely [SEXES, July 23]. What would you say about a man who wears velvet pants, lace collars, silk stockings, a purse and a perfumed handkerchief? Would you consider him part of the breakdown of civilization as we know it? No, he is Louis XIV of France. History repeats itself, especially fashion history, and that is all this manifestation is, fashion regression.

Lin Hartwell

Santa Monica, Calif.

After thousands of years, we are finally discovering that men and women are more alike than different. Our acceptance of characters like Boy George and Grace Jones is proof of a new sexual tolerance. This trend is making our society more egalitarian and humane, not to mention more interesting and colorful.

Christine M. Bichler

Grand Rapids

Infallible Skier

Concerning the Pope's ski trip [PEOPLE, July 30]: of course he did not fall! He is infallible.

Alfred J. Verstreken

Downey, Calif.