Members of the Wedding

Sir: When Jackie Kennedy first visited Greece she was charmed and captivated by that ancient land. Her fine sense of history responded to the heritage that built the Western civilization she knows so well. She has lived events that are as tragic as any written by ancient Greek dramatists. A modern Croesus found her and brought her to the shores of Homer's wine-dark sea.

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis--welcome home!

MRS. ALEXANDER J. TRIPOULAS Rocky River, Ohio

Sir: I am unhappy. My goddess has feet of clay.

DICK NORVICK

Hollywood, Calif.

Sir: We've lost a national shrine.

LARRY E. SCOTT Greeley, Colo.

Sir: Who says no country ever gives the U.S. any help with her problems? Look what the Greeks have done for the Jackie Kennedy situation--even provided the seclusion of an island. Wonderful. Thanks. Best of luck and everything.

J. R. RINKER

Augusta, Ga.

Sir: I have always thought Jackie to be a woman out for all the power and prestige that money could buy. This verifies that. But we had been led to believe that she respected the Catholic Church all the way. How will she explain her actions to those children, who seem so devout?

MRS. A. E. CLINGERMAN Terre Haute, Ind.

Sir: Papa Onassis has added another jewel to his collection, a jewel that one would have thought was not for sale at any price.

E. CABORN Halifax, N.S.

Sir: Aristotle Onassis was undoubtedly a judicious choice for Jacqueline Kennedy--if he doesn't shape up, he can ship out!

EDWARD MARKSCHEID Scotch Plains, N.J.

Sir: It must be love. Surely, Jackie didn't trade the proud name of John Fitzgerald Kennedy for a mess of yachtage! Did she?

(MRS.) LAURA B. MELLEN Binghamton, N.Y.

Sir: Come now. If he's good enough for Jackie, he can't be all that bad.

(MRS.) VIRGINIA FINNEY Johnson City, Tenn.

Sir: Why the bleats of outrage, the sense of personal and national betrayal, the incredulous how-could-she's? My first--in fact, my only--reaction to Jackie's "queenly" surrender to Playboy-Pirate Onassis and his multimillions was that this is her first wholly in-character act since 1960.

(MRS.) CATHLEEN BURNS ELMER Boston

The Courtier

Sir: In 1968 the candidacy of George Wallace [Oct. 18] for President of these United States is nothing less than preposterous. I implore the citizenry to heed the words of Alexander Hamilton, who wrote: "History teaches that among the men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their careers by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants."

FRANK R. SQUEO Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.

Sir: May I suggest the lemming as the appropriate symbol for Candidate Wallace's American Independent Party? The blue-collar worker and his unions will be among the first to achieve self-destruction, followed in short order by the Catholics and Jews, or by any other minority group that does not live up to Wallace's inflexible, preset standards.

CHESTER LOCH New Castle, Pa.

Sir: The experts have failed. We have been organized and professionalized to death by some of the most learned (supposedly) men around. Certainly, we are afraid, frustrated and doubtful. And why not? A bunch of leaders and communications media that think Communism is only dangerous in Viet Nam, bleeding hearts who think that only the black man needs his rights, and taxes going up every day with little to show for the spending, are enough to make us afraid. My vote will not be wasted, even though George Wallace does not win. No one really loses when he stands for his principles.

Professional politicians have not been the answer for our country's ills, so let the amateurs at the grass roots try--we know our problems better, I expect.

(MRS.) MARY Fox Biloxi, Miss.

Sir: If we let George do it, who will undo it?

SPENCER E. MCALLISTER

Streamwood, 111.

Sir: Behind all of Wallace's doubletalk and attempts to portray himself as a self-appointed expert on morality, government and people's needs, is his public record as Governor of Alabama, which has the highest murder rate in the country and where people lived in fear of his Hitler-style dictatorship. It is incomprehensible that he has the ability (with a previous history of a 10% nervous disability from the Air Corps) to cope with the multitude of presidential problems.

LEO S. MANIATTY Chicopee, Mass.

Sir: Re: "Bomber on the Stump" [Oct. 18]: The good general makes a fine point when he says that "so many intelligent people believe they can become expert in a field where they have so little training or experience." For an example, he might cite military men in politics.

JEFFREY NEWMAN Sherman, Texas

Sir: Does the tool in Wallace's hand on your cover suggest that he is throwing a monkey wrench into the 1968 presidential election, or that he will continue in his campaign doing what he does best: keeping all those nuts uptight?

PHILIP JENKINS Biddeford, Me.

Reaching and Teaching

Sir: The Laugh-In story [Oct. 11] was a great piece of reporting, capturing the many nuances of a complex society that contribute to the program's success. But Director Gordon Wiles' statement that "We've got that wonderful generation of kids that no one else has been able to reach" is a bit much. I've been teaching them all my life, and I agree they are wonderful, but Mr. Wiles should be aware that there are thousands of teachers the country over reaching those kids every day and teaching them the subtleties of comedy and satire that make possible the success his program currently enjoys.

EDWIN X. TRAVERS College Park, Md.

Sir: Nothing better illustrates what is wrong with this country than Rowan and Martin being called a "success." A similar "success" is Gore Vidal with his incredibly filthy books. If vulgarity, innuendo, bad language, bad manners and filth are what is necessary to be a success in these United States, then we are certainly headed for either total depravity or a sharp reaction with a dictatorship. At the end of the last century, the U.S. was at the dawn of a golden age in literature and culture. We had Longfellow, Whittier, Emerson, Bryant and Whitman. Our former greatness now turns around a burlesque show with striptease trimmings.

JOSEPH I. PUENTE Washington, D.C.

Don't Talk Destruction

Sir: Thank you for your superb Essay on the "everyday activist" [Oct. 18]. Finally, someone has pointed out that constructive dissent can and does exist, that for every militant demonstrator there is a "disrupter for good" who contributes far more to our society than do all the yippies from Berkeley to Columbia. Allow me to speak for the doers of my generation with these lines from the Beatles' latest release, Revolution:

But when you talk about destruction Don't ya know that you can count me out.

KAREN HALTTUNEN Short Hills, N.J.

Sir: My sermon Sunday was James 1: 22, "But be doers of the Word, not hearers only," and your Essay was apropos. However, you say doers are produced by families, schools, colleges and corporations. Are none produced by churches? Has religion lost all its power and creativity? Has the church become irrelevant, or does our culture only feel that it has? Maybe the omission of Father Groppi and Martin Luther King Jr. reveals more an editor's prejudice than the actual situation. (THE REV.) ELTON W. BROWN Pastor

Millbury Federated Church Millbury, Mass.

Matter of Allegiance

Sir: I would like to commend Tommie Smith and John Carlos for their actions of silent protest during the Olympic ceremonies [Oct. 25]. Black Americans are treated first as blacks, secondly as Americans in this country. The allegiance of these black athletes first to their people, and secondly to America is understandable and constructive. Their willingness to participate in the games shows their loyalty to their country; their actions of protest show their loyalty to the underprivileged of our nation. It is concern like theirs, and the courage and conviction to express their protest in the face of condemnation by the Establishment, that will lead to the improvement of our society.

JOHN S. RICHARDSON Princeton, N.J.

Sir: It made me very sad to see Tommie Smith and John Carlos making their demonstration for Black Power. Winning the gold and bronze medals were great personal achievements, and I am sure that any Negroes watching were proud. But was it necessary to degrade the otherwise moving ceremonies? I think there are many South African Negroes who could tell these men things that would make them appreciate their freedom--yes, freedom! I think that Smith and Carlos are only hurting the cause they hold closest to their hearts by alienating white Americans and giving people like George Wallace a chance to say, "See what I mean?"

(MRS.) MARGUERITE RUPPENICKER Westbrook, Conn.

Lines of Defense

Sir: Your article on hyperkinesis ("Those Mean Little Kids") [Oct. 18] was as welcome as our son's first dose of Ritalin. It is difficult to send a child out into the day, knowing that he will charge headfirst into a multitude of unacceptable activities, as he did yesterday, as he will tomorrow. It is more difficult to know that he will be punished and ridiculed for behavior he cannot easily control. The next time I am told that I'm a nut, my doctor is a quack and my son is a brat who just needs a good belting instead of medication, I'll have you to back us up!

MRS. JOHN C. MURRAY Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.

New Zen or No Zen?

Sir: The story, "Zen, with a Difference" [Oct. 18], regarding the ritualistic activity at the Tassajara Monastery in California, makes any knowledgeable Zennist smile, since Zen has no form, no ritual, no church, no creed, no "Bible," no authority or priestcraft administering it and is devoid of images and the adoration of them. It has as its main objective the concentration of the mind--without lotus positions, kneeling, closeting, bending, stooping or praying. This results in the person's becoming more aware of life, all life, and the process by which it flows without beginning or end.

A religion it is not, and any reference to teaching "a bunch of Americans trying to find out what religion is--and that is real religion," makes the project very questionable to anyone who has Zen (enlightenment to you).

CHAS. T. SCHIROS Temple City, Calif.

Hmm!

Sir: Your Essay, "That New Black Magic" [Sept. 27], mentions that: "Many have felt a vibration of personal peace by crying 'Om!' " This is very true indeed! Occasionally I like to chant "Om, om, om," or "Aum, aum, aum," in a continuous solemn singsong tone; then I feel very strong spiritual vibrations swelling within me, as I am very sensitive by nature. I also tried chanting "Eloi, Eloi, Eloi," in like manner, and it could also give me personal peace!

CHRISTINO LEMAN Java, Indonesia

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