Watergate and the System

Sir / Hedley Donovan's Essay on "The Good Uses of the Watergate Affair" [May 14] is the most brilliant, illuminating and sustained dissection of the strength that is the American democratic "system" that the free world at large has ever had the good fortune to read, ponder and digest. CHARLES H. SMITH Hamilton, Bermuda

Sir / Some pundits have recently remarked that the impeachment of President Nixon might be too severe a shock for the system to bear. But if the charges against him are true, might not the failure to impeach him be too great a shock for constitutional liberties and democratic processes to withstand? KEN SHIGLEY Greenville, S.C.

Sir / The case against the Watergate defendants should be dropped. There is no way they can get a fair trial. The press has acted as prosecutor, judge and jury, and has tried and condemned everyone even remotely connected with the President. Its personal vendetta against Richard Nixon is so malicious that it might even destroy the presidency in order to destroy him. The real threat to this country is the unchecked monopolistic power of the press, as well as the TV dictators, who have supreme command of the air waves. (MRS.) GRACE A. COREY Sun City, Ariz.

Sir / We all know the cliche that the wife is the last to know about her husband's affair. Why, then, is it inconceivable that President Nixon was uninformed about the activities of his subordinates? ANITA LOIS MCDERMOTT Roanoke, Va.

Sir / A wise old Cuban peasant made everyone stop talking in a small circle of exiles. He asked: "Have you ever heard of a brothel where the madam was a virgin?" R. GARCIA-BARCENA Washington, D.C.

Sir / I feel better after Watergate. Instead of an aloof, pompous, well-lubricated computerized robot, we have a human being behind the Oval Office desk. C.R. BARTHOLOMEW Miles City, Mont.

Sir / One clear message which the entire Watergate episode telegraphs to the Third World, particularly Africa, is the heartening reassurance that the processes of democracy do function; that the system of checks and balances does work effectively. JOHN J. AKAR Visiting Professor of African Culture Morehouse College Atlanta

Shock Probation

Sir / It is true that Ohio has led the way in extensive use of "shock probation." The relative success of the measure is gratifying. However, let us not simply assume that shock probation works because "the first taste of prison has as much curative effect as the full dose." There are at least two other possibilities: 1) persons selected for shock probation by the judges may have needed no confinement; the prosecutory process alone was corrective; and 2) persons selected for shock probation may become worse social risks because they have been exposed to the confinement experience. Ohio has begun to study other possible explanations of shock probation's apparent success. We may find more evidence that America's overreliance on locking up its public offenders actually produces more crime.

JOSEPH R. PALMER, PH.D. Deputy Director Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Columbus

Sir / My father, W. Jess Buchanan, was warden of the Kentucky State Penitentiary for 17 years. He believed firmly that he could instantly rehabilitate many first offenders merely by giving them a "shock tour" of the institution, then booting them out the front gate with a stern warning never to return. Indeed, as early as 1937, and later as vice president of the American Prison Congress, he urged penologists and state legislatures across the country to implement shock probation.

WILLIAM J. BUCHANAN Albuquerque

Ail-American Conductors

Sir / America's symphony orchestras, group for group and man for man, can simply carve up the best Europe has to offer. However, when it comes time to hire conductors, we run to Israel, Japan, Poland, Germany or France. Why must we go abroad to find leaders for our orchestras? Partly it is because of the blue-blooded snobs who make up the orchestra committees. It is fashionable to have a name from Europe because Europe was at one time the musical last word. How Japan and Israel got into the act, I don't know. There is a lot of clamor for the Government to support symphony orchestras with tax dollars. If it does, there should be a stipulation that the conductors and at least 80% of the musicians be born in America.

CHARLES H. DREYFUSS Brookfield, Wis.

Sir / Since you have featured most of them, it would be appropriate to point out that first-rate Conductors Georg Solti, Eugene Ormandy, and Antal Dorati, as well as the late Fritz Reiner, were all born in and received their early musical training in Hungary. Their contribution to classical music in the U.S. has been invaluable.

PETER GERGELY Ithaca, N.Y.

A Plan Without a Goal?

Sir / Your story on the energy crisis [May 7] is disappointing. Time for action, indeed. Since when has this country taken action without a plan? How can we plan without knowing the goal? To grow or not to grow, that is the question. If we had a plan, who would lead us? And why call the present a time for action when this time has long passed?

But of course there is always some time left, just as there is always some energy left --except that the time and energy may not be ours.

FREDERICK FORSCHER Pittsburgh

Sir / I firmly believe we have not recognized the primary culprit in our present state of energy depletion, i.e., the past two decades of fruitless, massive expenditure of fuel and energy in Southeast Asia. How many cities could be supplied with the amount of gas used daily by the B-52 bombers going into Cambodia?

It is the insatiable thirst of our ever-expanding war machinery and those who direct it that has caused this crisis.

MORTON PAUL KLEIN, M.D. Williamsville, N.Y.

Sir / The auto industry now exploits the human weakness for wasteful display. We have learned that we cannot depend on voluntary adherence to rational standards on the part of industry. And we cannot expect our drivers to willingly venture forth in small cars as long as our highways are populated by the present overweight, overpowered cars. Logic demands that the industry be regulated along guidelines to protect the public interest.

STANLEY HART Chairman Transportation Committee Sierra Club-Angeles Chapter Los Angeles

Sir / The growing shortage of gasoline points to one field that has been sorely neglected in Canada and the U.S.: public transport. When fuel supplies dwindle, the logical thing is to bring back good train service.

(THE REV.) K.T. SMITS Bancroft, Ont.

Vigorous Defense

Sir / I was shocked and disturbed to find my photograph on page 23 of your May 14 issue along with others alleged to be involved in the Watergate affair and its alleged subsequent coverup. As private trial counsel to the Committee for the Re-Election of the President and other related committees since June 22, 1972, I have vigorously defended my clients in civil litigation in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and shall continue to do so. The words placed under my photograph suggest that I am guilty of illegal acts and unethical conduct, and I again state that such suggestions are not true.

KENNETH WELLS PARKINSON Washington, D.C.

Physicians Have Husbands Too

Sir / In your article on professional courtesy [May 7] you state: "They treat other physicians, their wives ..." May I remind you that not all married physicians have wives; some have husbands. You need a "stereotypectomy."

C.E. CHRISTIAN Newport Beach, Calif.

Four-Time Loser

Sir / Raquel Welch says her best assets are her back, teeth, hands and feet [May 14]. Hell, I was wrong four times!

DAVID JOHNSON Leigh-on-Sea, England

Sir / It seems to me that Raquel Welch is in the wrong business. With shoulders like that, she'd be better off as a lineman for the L.A. Rams.

CARMELITA TURNER Alhambra, Calif.

Sir / I've seen better backs on alligators.

GINGER RICK Leesport, Pa.

Dwarfism

Sir / Although your article on our dwarfism clinic [May 7] brought the problems of little people to the attention of the public, it was misleading to indicate that our clinic was "the only facility in the world devoted exclusively to the treatment and study of dwarfism." Indeed, there are a number of excellent endocrinology and genetics clinics throughout the world concerned with various forms of short stature.

DAVID L. RIMOIN, M.D., PH.D. Torrance, Calif.

The 38th Step

Sir / The 38th step in the stop-smoking program should be: Smoke only in the shower.

SAM LANDAU Woodmere, N.Y.

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