Raising Goose-Pimples

Sir / Every hair on my body stood on end and I broke out with a rash of goose-pimples as I read "How John Dean Came Center Stage" [June 25]. How this inept -"low B average" and "gentlemanly Cs" -second-marriage man was able to snuggle up beneath the armpits of the highest office in the land is beyond comprehension.

To understand that he was in on monumental decisions that affect more than 200 million people of this land scares the living bejeebers out of me. May the saints preserve us from such muckleheaded youth.

EARLE R. HOLLAND

Atlanta

Sir / John Dean said, "My dad once told me that when you're cornered, there's only one thing to do -tell the truth."

On the other hand, my dear old dad raised me with this thought: "If you always tell the truth, you'll never have to worry about being cornered."

DIANE S. SODER Lafayette, Calif.

Best of Friends

Sir / Leonid Brezhnev and President Nixon seemed to be the best of friends in Washington [June 25]. Brezhnev was smiling broadly, cracking jokes, drinking champagne and even embracing Nixon. But behind that facade of cordiality he could be scheming to stab the U.S. in the back when the time is ripe. His smiling face reminds me of the smiling faces of the Japanese diplomats assuring Cordell Hull of Japanese friendship only days before Pearl Harbor.

HAROLD B. JAFFE Baltimore

Sir / I admire President Nixon for having opened the door to Communist China and the Soviet Union. We have no business to "make the world safe for democracy," nor should it be made safe for Communism or dictatorships. Since we all have to live together on this planet, coexistence should be our policy and we must have no more shooting wars.

GEORG PETERS St. Petersburg, Fla.

Sir / Reading Brezhnev's remarks on Soviet Jewry has infuriated me. For him to say that there is no Jewish problem in Russia is a lie. And then to add insult to injury, Brezhnev actually has the audacity to make the traditionally obnoxious remark that "some of my closest friends have been Jews." Anti-Semites have been saying that for centuries.

ABBY FAY FINE Richmond

Hunters v. Farmers

Sir / Although I concur -at least emotionally with many of the statements on hunting in Paul Shepard's The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game [June 25], his vilification of the farmer is singularly obtuse and naive.

These followers of "the dullest life man has ever lived" are more often avid hunters than are the urbane contemporaries of Dr. Shepard's academic community. It is quite true that they "do not make war," have a longer life expectancy than their city cousins, have no "squeamishness about taking creatures apart," are not vegetarians, and are far from a "fellowship of slaves" since they represent the last individualistic, relatively independent minority in this country. In short, they seem to meet most criteria for classification as "fully human."

JOSEPH R. LEGENDRE Chicago

Sir / Who will write the farmer's eulogy once you have strangled him to death?

TERESA QUIGGLE Wray, Colo.

A Lovely Life

Sir / After nearly a lifetime of messing around in boats, I thoroughly enjoyed "Cruising: The Good Life Afloat" [June 18].

But just a word of caution from an old hand -first pick a country mouse for a wife, then add laundryman, dishwasher, chef and diplomat to Colvin's excellent list of useful sidelines. After circumnavigating the earth and making nine transatlantic passages under sail, I can still say it's a lovely life.

JAMES W. CRAWFORD Easton, Md.

Sir / I am a quilter living in Noank, Conn., once a small fishing village. I am not a boat lover, nor would I particularly enjoy sailing rough or calm seas around the world, but I am a lover of "oddballs, dropouts or dreamers." And even though I am a land-lubbing romantic, I greatly enjoyed your article on cruising. Incurable romantics desperately need to know about other incurable romantics, and to feel that they all have a much needed and special place in this world.

SHARON MCKAIN Noank, Conn.

Sir / I read your article on the cruising sailors with great interest, and I cannot resist putting in a plug for our independent-study program. I am an instructor at the University of Nebraska Extension Division in high school correspondence. Quite a number of my students are living on yachts and cruising with their families in various and sundry places. Many of these students will receive their diplomas from the University of Nebraska Extension High School.

R. JOAN CARLBOM Lincoln, Neb.

Material for a Minor Poet

Sir / John Collier's new book Milton's Paradise Lost: A Screen Play for the Cinema of the Mind [June 25] is symptomatic of a lazy modern imagination that would snip one of the finest achievements of the English language for "expansion" into another medium. The "lofty jawboning" that winds up on Collier's cutting-room floor would make the reputation of the most minor poet. And were Milton himself to return and view the proposed film, we might imagine him opting for the palpable darkness of his blindness.

PETER B. DEBLOIS Bloomington, Ill.

What's in a Word?

Sir / If "Jew" as an epithet of opprobrium is successfully banned from the Oxford English Dictionary [June 25], there are plenty of other people who might like a chance at revising the language. The gypsies and the Welsh will want to excise the verbs gyp and welsh. The Vandals are no longer around to complain of vandalism, but the Slavs and the Bulgarians will surely object to slavery and buggery. Here in America the Indians can militate against Indian giver. There are enough words in the dictionary to offend anyone who likes to take offense.

PIERRE H. BERUBE Burlington, Vt.

In Praise of Inge

Sir / How you could demean a man of Playwright William Inge's ability with words like "an engaging but minor talent" [June 25] is beyond my comprehension. William Inge gave the world hours of enjoyment, insight and warmth. He could move an audience to tears or laughter. He could make people feel -and that talent in anyone can never be called minor.

PAT GLASSER San Rafael, Calif.

Sir / William Inge was a writer who was able to illuminate the secret hearts of those who live circumscribed lives. There is nothing minor about the gift of illumination.

BRONTE WOODARD Los Angeles

Honor Code

Sir / I read with interest your article "An End to Silence" [June 18]. I was a classmate of James Pelosi's before I resigned from the U.S. Military Academy in 1971. I am one who detested the academy and realized the degenerating effects of 170 years of warped tradition bent by insecure military minds. Despite this hatred and the often eccentric interpretations of the honor code by other cadets (I was accused of "lying" once when I answered "fried eggs" instead of "scrambled" after being asked the breakfast menu),

I still firmly believe in the principles of the honor code. I look back on it as the single most respected part of my two-year cadet career. Imperfect as it is, the honor code is a model system in which 3,800 men in a closed society can and do trust in one another's word. It works!

EDWARD S. ZIOMEK JR. Holbrook, Ariz.

Sir / Any hopes one might have had for today's crop of young officers ushering in a new era of military responsibility have been dashed by the Pelosi incident at West Point. Pelosi's alleged infraction pales when compared with the childish and even illegal behavior of his classmates. Where was the so-called honor committee when Pelosi's mail was being opened? Is this not still a federal crime? Was there any attempt made to apprehend and discipline those responsible? I fervently hope for our sake as well as his, that 2nd Lieut. Pelosi's determination to overcome his handicap will prove successful. The new Army sorely needs men like Pelosi.

DAVID P. TROUP Fairborn. Ohio

Sir / I can only say: Leave the Army and its honored traditions alone. The Army has been defending this nation for 197 years and has done an excellent job of it. My friends and I are joining the Army shortly and are proud, unlike many others, to be soldiers.

ALAN J. PAULSEN Bremerton. Wash.

Julie Eisenhower in Action

Sir I It is both admirable and touching that Julie Nixon Eisenhower has been defending her father in the battle of Watergate [June 25]. In pointing out some of her father's triumphs (the Russia trip, the China trip, controlling inflation -controlling inflation??), the young lady mentions that "there have been no major riots while my father has been in office." The sun has not fallen from the sky. The moon appears on schedule every night. And the stars shine as brightly as ever. Should we also credit her father for these things?

MARK BERSON New York City

Slugger Brando

Sir / Bully for Brando for punching Ron in the jaw [June 25]. Galella is not photographer but an infantile nuisance.

R.P. WAGNER Palisades Park, N.J.

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