When There's Hope, There's Life

Sir: Reading your cover story on Bob Hope [Dec. 22] was like opening the very best Christmas gift. In a world torn by war and famine and racial tensions, it's gratifying to know that we can still have hope--and Hope. WILLIAM DOWLER San Francisco

Sir: Adlai Stevenson once said, "I venture to suggest that patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." Surely no less can be said of Bob Hope, an American among Americans.

(SGT.) K. WILLIAM AVERY, U.S.A.F. Chanute A.F.B., Ill.

Sir: Your excellent story on Bob Hope, one of the world's greatest humanitarians, did not mention that for the past nine years he has served as honorary national chairman of the National Parkinson Foundation. He has been a staunch supporter in our continuing quest for the cause of, and cure of, Parkinson's disease. Not content with giving us his valuable time and talent, Bob has for a number of years given us an annual personal check for $10,000. When the big breakthrough comes through research on Parkinson's disease, as surely it will in the not too distant future, much of the credit for financing that research must go to our friend Bob Hope.

(MRS.) JEANNE LEVEY National Chairman National Parkinson Foundation Miami

Not When, But What

Sir: "What Negotiations in Viet Nam Might Mean" [Dec. 22], is one of the most realistic and constructive analyses of the present situation in Viet Nam that I have read.

For too long we have been overly preoccupied with the question as to when, whether and how we can get to a negotiating table. All of this discussion tends to persuade the enemy that our position is weaker than it is and creates suspicions as to our motives, as he feels he received the worst of the bargain struck in Geneva in 1954.

Looking beyond when we will negotiate to what is negotiable, and talking in specific terms about the kind of points that can and should be resolved, might even help bring about discussions and cause both sides, the South Vietnamese government and the V.C., to see that some gains can be made as against the terrible price being paid by endlessly continuing a conflict that cannot bring total military or political victory to either side. CHARLES H. PERCY United States Senate Tel Aviv

Sir: Your Essay raises some serious questions about a political compromise with the Viet Cong. You suggest a coalition government and recognition of the V.C. as a political party, indicating that we might be able to "use" the V.C. to stabilize South Viet Nam and to transform the military struggle into a political one. The greatest mistake of the past in Viet Nam has been to underestimate the Communists, whether Viet Minh or Viet Cong. They are widespread and militarily strong --why should we think they would lay down their arms to become the "loyal opposition" in a republican government in "the unliberated South"? Only a strong and stable government and a politically mature people can successfully compromise with the Communists and incorporate them into the regime. Only when the Communists have no weapons, or have been disarmed, will they be forced to compete in the political arena. And only one completely ignorant of the writings of Chairman Mao--who urges that the village and countryside must be captured and controlled before the city may be attacked--would advocate allowing the Viet Cong to administer legally, in the name of South Viet Nam, the vast rural areas it now controls.

MARK E. SULLIVAN Gambier, Ohio

The Eyes Have It

Sir: Perhaps politically the protesters are right, we shouldn't be here in Viet Nam [Dec. 15]; but morally we are right. Anyone who has been here and seen a village headman's death by V.C. terrorism knows it. And we can feel it communicated through the attitudes of the Vietnamese people and in the eyes of the children. Those who haven't been here can't know these feelings. But ask any of us over here, especially those of us in the hospitals to whom this war must mean the most, and the answer will invariably be the same: "We are right." The Communists have chosen this as a battlefield, and we will defeat them at their own game, in their yard. Peace is beautiful, but we've had to fight for it before, and we're fighting for it now. The only way out is to fulfill South Viet Nam's request to live in freedom and peace. Have they asked too much?

(L/CPL) ANDREW D. WOLL, U.S.M.C. F.P.O. San Francisco

Equal Time

Sir: Really! Devoting almost an entire page to John Sparrow's TIME-honored but otherwise discredited defense of the Warren Commission Report [Dec. 22]. When I lectured at Oxford, Sparrow refused to debate with me, stating that he was unqualified to defend the commission despite his many efforts along these lines. When I completed my two-hour talk, I asked him if there was anything to which he could take exception and he said, quite publicly, that there was not. He then remained silent for more than a year. Now he has again repeated his "conclusions" in support of the commission.

Oh, yes: he has now added to his previous statements his new finding that the death of John F. Kennedy was not so bad as the fact that some are trying to discover who killed him.

His reckless, ill-informed assaults-- based almost exclusively upon his abysmal ignorance of the facts and his own prejudice--are quite transparent to those familiar with the evidence.

MARK LANE Nykobing, Denmark

He Was There

Sir: On behalf of the people of Australia, I would like to thank your President for his generous gesture on short notice in attending the funeral of our late Prime Minister, Mr. Harold Holt [Dec. 29]. The messages of condolence from your Government and the people of your great nation at such a time is an inspiration to the people of Australia. There are still people and indeed nations in this world that from time to time do appreciate the generosity and the repeated acts of good will that generate from your great country.

MURRAY BYRNE, M.P. Ballarat, Australia

Sir: President Johnson demonstrated something more than a presidential duty. He showed that warmth and friendship can play a part in international politics. Can a mourner lessen one's grief? Perhaps not, but for some inexplicable reason he helps somehow. He doesn't do anything, he's just there, that's all.

R. A. CLANCY Melbourne

Unrest & Recrimination

Sir: Your article on rest & recuperation for servicemen [Dec. 22] was interesting, but the pictures were heartbreaking. How horrible for a wife to see full color pictures of what is available to her husband on an R & R. My husband is a rated major in the U.S.A.F. and will be in Viet Nam this time next year. A year of separation is hard enough in itself, but to have it rubbed in as to what he could be doing is enough to cause depression and worry on our part. Granted, they need a rest and recuperation period and are fortunate to get one, but the wives could use one too.

WINNIE POTEETE Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Sir: Were it not for my twoscore and four years (and those six other little mouths to keep filled), I'd be sorely tempted to trot down to the nearest recruiting center right now. To those critics who may shrill against such pastimes in the middle of a messy war, I say it's a real delight to get a glimpse of the lighter side of the deadly serious and dangerous business with which these boys are otherwise occupied.

R. F. JEFFERIS Dayton

Sir: TIME accurately reported what the U.S. Government pays Pan American Airways for its services in providing air transportation to U.S. servicemen in Viet Nam for rest and recuperation trips. However, it should also be noted that Pan Am provides this service at cost and as a non-profit public service to U.S. military personnel in the war zone.

JOHN L. STEELE Washington, D.C.

Don't Stop the World

Sir: Hey, listen! In TIME Letters [Dec. 22] are the following people: a farmer who resents not being allowed to go on relief like his city cousins; a blast at sonic booms; a "misunderstood" college student who smokes pot, drinks, and makes out on dates because her parents committed the unforgivable sin of loving, "not listening"; and another college student lamenting the state of the world.

I grew up on a farm which showed an income of considerably less than $3,000 a year, now live five blocks from an airport where jet flights depart and arrive, had parents who also loved but with five other children had little time to "listen," and live in the same sad world as the lamenting college student.

I kind of like this world. I think it's great. Entertainment at your fingertips. Kids who grow more loving, not more demanding, every decade. Hope for the once hopelessly ill. Vaccines against emergencies. Insurance against 90% of all hardships. A moving, fluid society which groups and regroups everywhere you go, until you are receiving Christmas cards from every corner of the world.

You got it tough, have you? Where did you get the idea that life is easy, a breeze? What about the people living 50 years ago? Where are the families in America found frozen to death or starving to death in tumble-down apartments, the child laborers, the infants dead from diphtheria, typhoid, smallpox, the hopeless eyes of the 80-hour-a-week breadwinner who never saw a musical or dramatic show, hardly knew what a ballet was, never went hunting, fishing, waterskiing, boating, read magazines?

I like the world--even with the threat of war and famine and overpopulation hanging over it! And what's more, I'm gonna enjoy it, prophets of doom! I'm gonna enjoy today and tomorrow and next week and every day the good Lord gives me to enjoy!

E. M. LARTER Idaho Falls, Idaho

Bird in The Bert

Sir: I was deeply moved by Bert Lahr's death [Dec. 15]. Having directed the late star in Aristophanes' comedy, The Birds, at the Ypsilanti, Mich., festival, I feel obliged to express my sympathy to all of the Americans for the loss of that comic genius.

His performance of Pisthetairos in The Birds was, I believe, his last great role, as well as his first encounter with that other genius, Aristophanes. It was a thrilling experience to watch, during rehearsals, these two giants of humor and hilarity fight against each other for predominance--striking at each other with totally different weapons of method, language, mentality, even decency--to establish a comic point that was, fundamentally, common to them both.

The scenic result of that titanic clash was a novelty and a rarity. The actor emerged as Bird Lahr and Aristophanes authored a brand-new play: The Bert. After all, this is the only process by which drama survives through the ages. Its apparently dead body has to be revived by a great actor's live heart.

ALEXIS SOLOMOS Director Proskenion Theater Athens

Problem of Responsibility

Sir: In your article "How Secret the Confessional?" [Dec. 22], you seem to sidestep the problem of individual responsibility, which is the true issue. You say that clerics defend the inviolability of confession because it provides "an emotional outlet for disturbed persons." Murder also provides such an outlet. Do the clerics who defend confession--Catholic and Protestant--truly believe that non-Catholics are more emotionally disturbed for not having the confessional? We can hope not. You quote a pastor as saying that we should be thankful "that we still have one place left in the world where a man can speak freely and not fear retribution." Why should a man not be punished for murder? The Roman Catholic Church is not alone in encouraging the abrogation of individual responsibility: but the monstrous immorality of its stand in the Bartsch case demonstrates too well what effect official sanction of such abrogation can have.

DANIEL JOHNSON Summit, NJ.

Sir: The tragic incident brings out, more than any other, the radical separation that lies at the base of Christian and Jewish attitudes. The Christian lives as a "spiritualist" separating the practical grounds of action from the purity of the spirit, while a Jew moves as a soul whose revealing is inextricably bound up with the community and the responsibility to realize the law.

Would such a tragedy be allowed to continue within a Jewish community? No. Here, the horror lies with the church; while preserving the integrity of the confessional, it has neglected to preserve the very essency of God's creation, the lives of four German children.

WILLIAM PROWELLER Dunkirk, N.Y.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.