Nixon's Trip to China

Sir / I am proud of our President! On his trip to China [March 6], Mr. Nixon conducted himself with assurance, dignity and sincere understanding of the mission that he was performing for the entire world.

JOHN F. MCCULLEN

Philadelphia

Sir / Although not a traditional supporter of President Nixon and his policies, I applaud his timely acceptance of the changing conditions in the world today. The President's public recognition of the ever-present power and influence of Red China evidences the political and diplomatic perception essential to our nation's future security. If pragmatism is indeed to be the byword for U.S. policy, then all the better for the American people.

BARBARA LANGSAM

St. Louis

Sir / Well, President Nixon finally made it to Mainland China. Now I wonder how long it will be before he visits Harlem, Watts, Appalachia, the migrant labor camps or an Indian reservation.

WILLIAM J. HAFNER

Loring AFB, Me.

Sir / I was intrigued by your observation that the Chinese appear to be a happy people. Enslavement and total thought control tend to breed ignorant bliss. The Chinese are "happy" only because they know no other lifestyle. All memory of pre-Communist times has been eliminated by Mao's indoctrination.

WINSTON C. CAVIN

Chapel Hill, N.C.

Sir / You say that there has been some alienation among the young people of China, because of suppression of the free-ranging life of the mind. What then, could have caused the young people of this country, who surely have the most free-ranging life of the mind in the world, to turn to drugs and violence?

(MRS.) TAMARA SPATZ

Miami Beach

Sir / Re the President's trip to China: one small step for mankind; one giant leap for Richard Nixon.

MARSHAL PHILLIPS

Hollywood

Sir / The pandas are nice, but Mao should have sent Pat home with a Pekingese--you know, a Chinese Checkers.

MARY LIEBMAN

McHenry, Ill.

Sir / I think comparing the Chinese people to an American standard was unfair.

The Chinese people are now better off than they were many years ago. I believe China to be far ahead of the U.S. and many other great nations in striving for its goals and in the concern it shows for its people. Try to get a doctor to your house, much less one in his bare feet.

CHARLES MILLER

Jackson, Miss.

Listening to the Voices

Sir / I was appalled to learn of Senator Fulbright's efforts to silence Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty [March 6]. I did agree with the Senator that the war in Viet Nam was wrong, but this policy of avoiding conflict and appeasing the Russians and Chinese is worse.

America has lost some of its venturesomeness and taste for political engagement vis-`a-vis Communism, and in some respects that is a good thing. But the simple humanitarian concern for truth ought to keep these radio stations alive.

HELMUTH HOLTZ Tokyo

Sir / I would like to emphasize that the liquidation of Radio Free Europe would be interpreted by the peoples of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Rumania as final recognition by the United States of the present status quo and of the permanence of Soviet rule in East Europe.

Surely this would not kill their striving for independence, but, paradoxically, it might result in shifting their hopes toward Communist China, which alone of the great powers shows some interest in East European countries regaining their independence.

In addition, the closing of Radio Free Europe would represent an unwarranted gift to Soviet Russia, which pours out "hate America" propaganda 900 hours daily in 78 languages.

STEFAN KORBONSKI

Chairman

Assembly of Captive European Nations

New York City

Sir / It seems that the only source of factual information for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty is the same group of East European newspapers and magazines already available to the people that these radio stations are supposedly informing. The only example given of a "deduction" made by them (i.e. the Polish government's encouraging alcoholism) is nothing but gossipmongering.

What would be the credibility of a radio station based in Havana, aimed at the U.S. and manned mainly by people who had defected? Senator Fulbright remains one of the few sane voices in Washington.

JOEL WALZ

Toulouse, France

Head in the Sand

Sir / It was interesting to note the change in Book Critic A.T. Baker's tone as he reviewed Merle Miller's On Being Different and Dennis Altman's Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation [Feb. 28].

Miller's short book is personal testimony and was viewed as well written and "courageous." Altman's more scholarly work, however, poses some threat in that he seeks not only acceptance but social change and compares the homosexual life-style with "accepted" social values.

Millions of homosexuals, women and men, will no longer accept condescension. To deny the validity of the life-style of such a large and increasingly vocal minority group is simply to bury one's head in the sand.

GAIL A. WOOD

Hackensack, N.J.

Sir / Your review of Dennis Altman's book is an unfair putdown. Your reviewer's statement that "homosexual love is regarded as deviant because no children can be born of it" is pure nonsense. Is sex over 60 deviant? Is sex for a vasectomized man deviant? Is sex for a woman after a hysterectomy deviant?

The important thing is to love, to have the ability to project this strong emotion toward another human being. The sex of the person to whom this love is directed is quite as unimportant as the physical means by which it may be expressed.

DAVID MOORE JONES

Grand Blanc, Mich.

Sir / Your Books section treats homosexuality somewhat lightheartedly.

The Bible says (Leviticus 20: 13): "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death . . ." It would appear to be fortunate for those of the gay fraternity that they are not living in Old Testament times.

ALAN N. DODD

Palo Alto, Calif.

The Bard and Bigotry

Sir / How dare you accuse the Bard of Avon of bigotry in your American Note on ethnic insults [Feb. 28].

Anyone who has read the footnotes in his undergraduate Shakespeare knows that the meaning of the line "He smote the sledded Polacks on the ice" from Hamlet is disputed. While some manuscripts read "Polacks," most others read "Polax." Since there is no other reference to an incident involving Poles, critics generally agree that Shakespeare was referring to a heavy or "leaded poleax" that the king smote on the ice.

JOHN M. POWERS

Tustin, Calif.

Sir / Any "Bowdler" intelligent enough to attend a performance of Hamlet should realize that "Polack" is simply the Polish word for "Pole" and not the ethnic slur the Polack joke craze has made it.

BETSY TWIGG

Arlington, Va.

No Dinner Invitation

Sir / I am calling your attention to the item in the People section [Feb. 28], concerning a dinner invitation that my wife [Merle Oberon] and I supposedly extended to President and Mrs. Johnson.

The information is entirely inaccurate and misleading. My wife left Acapulco before the arrival of President and Mrs. Johnson; she has been in Yucatan, making a film. I myself have not been in Acapulco since Christmas. We respect President and Mrs. Johnson and we cherish their friendship; however, this time we did not have an opportunity to contact them.

BRUNO PAGLIAI

Mexico City

No Work, No Pay

Sir / Notwithstanding Senator Margaret Chase Smith's proposed constitutional amendment to expel Senators who miss more than 40% of the Senate's votes [March 6], I think a simpler, more effective solution would be to dock the $42,500 salary of any errant Senator on a graduated scale. The more votes he missed, the more he would be docked. At least it might give some of us harried taxpayers struggling with our 1040s a bit of satisfaction and perhaps remind some of those political princes of the good old American tradition of no work, no pay.

ARTHUR GLOWKA

Stamford, Conn.

Sir / I am available to serve in the U.S. Senate at a yearly salary of $42,500. I promise to serve diligently and strictly attend to the business at hand five days a week. I would decline travel expenses, since my work would keep me at the Senate. I would urge the Government Printing Office to submit a yearly list of attendance by all the members of the Senate. This list would apprise constituents of the way to vote at the next election.

GENIS M. OKRAGLY

Edison, N.J.

Worse Than Blind Politicians

Sir / The long-term performance of the value-added tax, which President Nixon is reported to be considering [Feb. 28], is devastating. It creates a phenomenal burden to mass consumption and distribution, overtaxes the wage earner, favors the large and long-established industries while sterilizing the young and aggressive ones. More than 1,000 blind politicians, it has the frightening power to freeze an economy.

I have seen what the VAT has done to my former country (France), and when I see the VAT coming to my new country I am running scared.

JACQUES M. LECOUTURIER

San Francisco

Sir / VAT reminds this writer of a chain letter, where the name at the top, in this case the U.S. Government, gets all. The last name on the list, the U.S. Consumer, gets taken.

There is also the extra bonus for the states --the sales tax we'd end up paying on the entire amount.

BERNICE FRIEDMAN

Canton, Ohio

Musical Touch

Sir / I read your article "Phoney Tunes" [March 6] with interest and amusement. At least one other person thought of using the pushbutton phone in this manner fully two years ago. In March of 1970, my husband composed an original piece for Studio Band and Telephones called the Touchtone Concerto. This was done with the blessing and assistance of Southwestern Bell Telephone Company here in Dallas. It was written especially for an Arts Festival at Dallas Baptist College and was premiered by the Dallas Baptist College Studio Group and four faculty soloists.

BARBARA GILLIS

Dallas

Sir / Kenneth Ascher must relinquish his title as creator of "phoney tunes." I remember the steno pool girls at Shell Oil Co. in Scarsdale, N.Y., playing Jingle Bells on their phones during the Christmas season four years ago. The phones were new then, and provided a little amusement with normal office calls.

MRS. ROBERT MATROS

Howard Beach, N.Y.

Sir / I have been playing Mary Had a Little Lamb, much to the delight and amazement of my friends, since 1966.

The number, for those who are interested, is 6545666 555 699 6545666 655 654.

DAWN KRONISH

Rockaway, N.J.

Charged Balloon

Sir / I know! This is unethical and unprofessional . . . But I am an amateur, so the hell with it.

Many thanks, then, for that most generous review which you gave to my autobiography, The Moon's a Balloon [Feb. 7].

After 85 movies, I'm getting a bigger charge out of the mini success of my book than out of the whole damned lot put together.

DAVID NIVEN

Chateau-d'Oex, Switzerland

Winter Picnics

Sir / Professor David Klein's premise that snowmobilers "court danger to achieve satisfactions that their dull jobs cannot provide" [Feb. 28] is interesting but way off base for most snowmobilers. Winter was a drab affair before snowmobiles gave us access to our snowbound summer cabins. Now our husbands can relax in the woods from the tensions of very stimulating and undull jobs. Our group of eight adults and 14 children can generally be found cruising through the forests and frozen swamps and having winter picnics.

In four years of snowmobiling no one in our group has even been injured, but we are still looking for the safest machine possible. Come off it, Klein. Don't make us all look suicidal. I want to enjoy my cabin and my snowmobile trails for years and years.

LYNDA MYERS

Anoka, Minn.

Sir / "Snowmobile Psychology" hit the nail right on the head. I sat in a restaurant and listened to a group of "snowmobile enthusiasts" actually boast and brag about how one of them chased a deer and knocked it down with his snowmobile. All the other thrill seekers ran over the deer with their snowmobiles. Incidentally, they all roared with laughter over this savage achievement.

JAMES C. PRICE III

Hartwick, N.Y.

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