Insult to the G.O.P.?

Sir / I object strenuously to the heading "The Coronation of King Richard" [Aug. 28] and to the cartoon that goes with it. This is not reporting, but ridicule and insult. I object also to the story on the Republican Convention because of a continual tone, or undertone, of ridicule and criticism. I am a Republican and I favor the re-election of President Nixon, so I don't pretend to be impartial, but I am angered by the tone of the article.

It seems to me that you owe an apology for the heading and for the cartoon. They are not funny. (THE REV.) L.P. VAN SLYKE Nunda, N.Y.

Sir / Is it so hard to believe that President Nixon really believes that what he is doing is right, and that members of the Republican Party can unite behind him?

To me, the President symbolizes some thing that is needed in American life today -- decency, hard work and a sense of duty to the principles of life.

(MRS.) LOUISE BEAL Lawrence, Mass.

Sir / In an otherwise excellent article, you suggest that President Nixon "will never be a well-loved President." In light of American history, however, I feel that this may be a hasty conclusion.

Surprisingly, our two greatest Presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, held strong views that were much farther removed from the popular wishes of their respective eras than the present universal admiration for the two men would make you believe.

President Washington wrote that "to persevere in one's duty and to be silent is the best answer to calumny." President Nixon also has persevered, and the results have been impressive. It is not, therefore, altogether inconceivable that in the not too far distant future, Richard Nixon might emerge as the greatest folk hero of them all.

TODD ROTHBARD Westfield, N.J.

Sir / I don't believe we could find a more spectacular manifestation of control from the top, i.e. totalitarianism, than that over-rehearsed bit of show biz by the Republican Convention. For all their problems, at least the Democrats had the honesty to al low control, however discordant, to flow from the people up.

JOHN R. GLOVER Allenhurst, N.J.

Sir / Between the Hollywood stars and the film clips, I could barely tell if that was the Republican National Convention or the Academy Awards presentation.

GARY M. CLASSMAN Mount Vernon, N.Y.

Sir / Re Nixon and Agnew: once more without feeling is more like it.

(MRS.) JEAN BLACKWELL Chapel Hill, N.C.

The Hitler Analogy Sir / George McGovern's use of the Hitler analogy is not, as you say, exaggerated rhetoric [Aug. 28]. American bombing of the people and countryside of Indochina is the most barbaric act since the Jewish extermination under Hitler. The Watergate affair is something one would expect under the auspices of the Nazis rather than the Republicans. McGovern is not guilty of excessive campaign rhetoric; he is simply stating a fact.

JAMES H.RANUM Minneapolis

Sir / analogy," Why don't insofar as we it applies? confront "the Hitler Some of us who have reflected on the Nuernberg trials and the position of German civilians in Hitler's regime are deeply troubled in conscience that we are in a position like theirs. Only we cannot say we did not know that atrocities were being committed, a people exterminated and a land destroyed in our name, all in order to preserve unstained our "honor."

Must we compete to displace "the century's central metaphor of evil"? We could win that competition and lose all that is good. God help us!

SISTER DOROTHY DAWES, O.P.

New Orleans Sailors, Not Prostitutes Sir / Your article concerning women now being allowed to sign up to go out to sea with the Navy [Aug. 28] contained protests from Navy men's wives. Their arguments were wholly concerned with fear of marital disloyalty on their husbands' part. This is an out-and-out insult to the WAVEs. These women are going on board as sail ors, not as prostitutes. If these Navy wives are so insecure and distrustful of their husbands, they should get busy and invent chastity belts for their loved ones.

VICTORIA ELLIOTT Gretna, La.

Sir / In ancient times, women were smuggled aboard ships, and they had babies. When the captain would inquire as to who had fathered the child, the answer was: "He's a son of a gun!" With dames at sea now, we'll hear this expression more and more. Just wait and see.

LOUIS V. DETURRO Rockville, Md.

Sir / Re women aboard Navy ships: some one should point out to the righteous Mrs. Stone that though sailors may ride many types of waves, merrymaking wives in Norfolk are as abundant as sailors making Mary in the Med. I suggest a counterpetition by indignant husbands demanding Navy-issue chastity belts.

PAUL W. JOHNSON Clinton, Conn.

"Hypocrisy" at the Olympics Sir / The hypocrisy directed against the Olympic athletes from Rhodesia [Aug. 28] strains the credulity of any rational person. Uganda, one of the against East African "nations" protesting against Rhodesia's team, has committed one of the most flagrant discriminatory acts yet seen by forcing out of its country thousands of persons of Asian descent. Instead of bearing an Olympic torch the East Africans are carrying a double standard.

JAMES M. CANNON North Palm Beach, Fla.

Sir / So Uganda's Asians--deprived of their homes, their businesses, their possessions even to their gold rings--are to be driven, destitute, from the country. Tragic though all this is for the Asians, the bearing of this terrible affair will be still more tragic for the future of Africa; for who now is really going to listen to the African countries when they cry "racism"?

B. KUMASE

Nairobi, Kenya

Name Calling

Sir / I have never called Floyd McKissick a "political prostitute."

JULIAN BOND

State Representative

Atlanta

.In a speech to the National Urban League, Julian Bond said black Republicans are "political prostitutes." Floyd McKissick, former director of the Congress of Racial Equality, is a Republican and has publicly endorsed President Nixon.

Teen-Age Sex (Contd.)

Sir / Compliments on your unbiased cover story, "TeenAge Sex: Letting the Pendulum Swing" [Aug. 21]. There is, however, another group of youths who merit equal attention: the luckless klutzes who stumble through every blind date, the rejected girls who sit at home on prom night. For them, life is a long, lonely nightmare--there are no openings for sexual dropouts these days.

DONALD CRUISE

New Lenox, Ill.

Sir / We Pacific Islanders look on with pop-eyed amazement at Western attitudes to sex. Nothing more false, more stultifying, more anxiety-breeding (except your economy) can be imagined.

We believe that God made us and gave us certain varied faculties and functions, and at the proper times, indicated by nature and not by regulations, we use them.

We have immense fun. We believe that sexual things are private to the two people concerned, and we never discuss them in public. We believe in good manners, in consideration of the feelings of all; and we terribly regret that Western madnesses are spreading over the lovely games of sex.

MOAPE VESIKULA

Suva, Fiji

Sir / If we are all so sexually liberated, why was TIME compelled to use pseudonyms to recount the sexual activities of people like "Ellen Sims," who had made it with three boys when she was in the eighth grade? The sad truth is that if her real identity were exposed, she would be the object of the scorn and derision of our oh, so moral society, whose attitudes on sex have yet to catch up with its actions.

OWEN F. MCADEN

Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Sir / The increase of sexual activity among American youth has as its cause a great characteristic of contemporary American society. I refer to man's isolation from his fellow man, to a society in which people live in a community of solitude.

Youth must have the guidance of authority. The best authority issues from parental love. However, when parents themselves are overwhelmed by the confusion of our love-starved society, whom can youth turn to? Small wonder, then, that so many young people seek love more outside the home than within.

NICHOLAS CRESANTA

Pittsburgh

What Is Daimon?

Sir / Good heavens. I thought that surely my glasses were no longer right for me.

"Daimon Omnia Vincit" [Aug. 28]. What is it?

MARJORIE I HEATER Newport News, Va.

Sir / Huh?

SHIRLEY COX La Jolla, Calif.

Virihonesti / Lingua Latina Her urn vivit! PATGENSEL Discipula Latinae Washington High School Massillon, Ohio

Sir / De Latina dictum est: Anglici Anglicum loquentur. Germanii Germanium loquentur et Russiani Russianam. Sed nullus Latinam loquitur nisi mortui. RICHARD GOLDBERG Stamfordiae, Connecticutensis

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