Opinion on the President

Sir / Your editorial calling for President Nixon to resign [Nov. 12] said it all. clearly and fairly. I hope the President will read it, will understand it. and will resign.

CLAUDE TRAVERSE

Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Sir / The arrogant attitude and flagrant use, misuse and general abuse of constitutional and assumed powers to satisfy the daily personal whims of President Nixon and his seemingly endless stock of political geniuses are amazing. The only thing possibly more amazing is the number of Americans who continue to support the President simply because he is President or because their idle minds have been overwhelmed by one of his sentiment-laden speeches. For the man who used law-and-order as the pillar of his first campaign to now become the symbol of lawlessness is inexcusable hypocrisy, and to retain faith in him is absurd.

KEN CLOCK

Lake Grove, Ore.

Sir / When President Nixon completes his term in 1976 with honor and history-making accomplishments, I shall expect a second editorial, unique in the annals of TIME, confessing error and pledging to go and sin no more.

ROBERT O. SNYDER

St. Louis

Sir / I am sorry for you if you don't like our great President. I suggest that you get used to him, though, because he was elected by a landslide, and he will be around for another three years; he will not resign, nor will he ever be impeached.

GRAFTON M. COMEGYS

Bethlehem, Pa.

Sir / Mr. Nixon has restored to the office of the presidency the true concept of that office. Perhaps for the first time since Woodrow Wilson, we have a President who does not need to rely on charisma, who has been able to overcome the cult of personality, and who has treated the office of the presidency as a true institution, not a personality extension. I am proud to stand beside him and to support him fully.

ROBERT M. LYNN

Sterling Heights, Mich.

Sir / The press did not create Watergate, but it has created the "unprecedented crisis" which we are repeatedly told confronts us. Nixon's record in office is not perfect, but it deserves better than your statement "to allow a President with Nixon's record to continue in office would be a terrible circumstance to lodge in our history."

WILLIAM H. BECKEMEIER

Tulsa. Okla.

Sir / I would rather have a strong, balky horse than a weak one that minds the whip. There are ways of making a balky horse respond. I hope that the President does not resign, but stays on to finish the job.

HOWARD BREEDING

Palm Desert, Calif.

Sir / If we don't impeach Richard Nixon, we may as well burn the Constitution. It won't be worth the paper it is written on.

JOHANNA C. HOUNSCHELL

Louisville

Sir / At the risk of appearing naive, I expect the leaders of our country to be honest, to possess integrity, to love freedom and to safeguard democracy. I still believe such people exist.

If President Nixon does not resign, and we, the people, allow him to continue to rule, our epitaph might be: "No one was killed, just democracy."

MONICA O'REILLY

Ruidoso, N. Mex.

Sir / You demand that the President do to himself what Congress will not be able to do: abort his political career. Your reasoning is contrived and specious.

WILLIAM WIGHTMAN

Schertz, Texas

Sir / Mr. Nixon should not resign. He should be impeached, and if this fails, leave him alone and let him get to work. Quit driving him up the wall!

J.J. ROGET, M.D.

Belle Center, Ohio

Sir / Richard Nixon exhibits nothing but contempt, disdain, distrust and dislike for his fellow countrymen. More insidious, he shows a profound lack of understanding of their Constitution.

We cannot tolerate his excesses and continue to call ours a free society.

ELIZABETH A. CROWELL CHASE

West Brookfield, Mass.

Sir / Since you say the jury of the people weighs Nixon, I want my opinion counted as a citizen, a registered Democrat and a regular voter. My vote goes for President Nixon.

I believe he is doing a good job keeping his mind on the Government in spite of the howling pack barking at his heels.

It is strange to me how differently we think here in the Midwest. Our air is clearer, so our minds aren't bogged down with smog and filth.

MRS. J.D. COLE

Muskogee, Okla.

Sir / "But even if he were acquitted, the process would leave him and the country devastated." Upon this wholly speculative conclusion rests the validity of your argument in favor of resignation. It assumes that our Congress cannot conduct an impeachment hearing in a judicious manner. I voted for Nixon. Only by impeachment can I know if he is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. If he is driven from office, lynched as it were, there will be a festering wound in the land.

We can survive impeachment, but we cannot survive a President being driven from office.

DAVID ROSS

Newkirk, Okla.

Sir / It's cruel to say "Let's all pick on Richard Nixon." I'm certainly not saying that. But he has been so blatant in his actions that it's almost as if he's double-daring us to impeach him.

One thing is clear. The President has brought all his woes upon himself.

BARRY FIEGEL

Piedmont, Okla.

Sir / The only result of this editorial will be that the press can no longer complain about Administration attacks on it, since it has decided to choose sides and admit that it is an enemy of the President.

NELSON CAMPBELL

Long Beach, Calif.

Sir / Our disillusionment with politicians generally is exceeded only by our fear of the awesome power of the news media. You can indeed bring this Government to its knees. We wish we could be confident that you will act in the interest of all of us. To suggest that the President walk away from his elected responsibility is not a solution.

R.A. TRIMBLE

Pitman, N.J.

Sir / Your editorial reminds us that Mr. Nixon was re-elected just one year ago. It seems like a thousand.

TERRY O'NEIL

Fairfield, Ohio

Sir / When Richard Nixon resigns, the people of this nation will breathe such a sigh of relief that it will create a cleansing wind sweeping the land, clearing away the dirt from his Administration.

MARIAN ESTES

Portland, Ore.

Sir / I wish to commend you for your editorial. Your observation that the President must be held accountable for one of the most corrupt Administrations in U.S. history is the heart of the matter.

JACK MCRAE

Mesquite, Texas

Sir / If you and those in league with you succeed in forcing the resignation of the President, you will establish a precedent that will plague this republic for 100 years. No President will be safe from the anger of the mob whenever he performs an unpopular act.

The security of the institution of the presidency from such pressure is the reason we do not have a parliamentary system in this country. The founding fathers thoughtfully designed our system in this way.

ROBERT E. LYNGH

Washington, D.C.

Sir / If Nixon resigned, the stock market would plummet, the value of the dollar would nosedive, America's international image would be more battered, the risks of worldwide confrontations would zoom.

Like it or not -- as in marriage -- we are stuck with Nixon and he is stuck with us!

GEORGE CHEBBA

Bangor. Me.

Man of the Year

Sir / I believe that almost certainly the 1973 choice will somehow be connected with the Watergate news stories.

Several natural choices come to mind --the burglars who started it all, the Watergate committee, even (perversely) the President himself--but one name dominates. TIME'S Man of the Year should be Judge John Sirica, who believed in the law enough to seek out the truth, and who has defined "public morality" at a time when a definition was lacking.

BRENDA S. MINES

Highland, Kans.

Sir / At this point in TIME, let me be one of the first to leak the names of John Dean (the Squealer) and Daniel Ellsberg (the Stealer) for Men of the Year. Unquestionably, these two glib national figures left an indelible mark on 1973, thanks to their deification by a tendentious press.

JACK POPE

San Francisco

Sir / I would like to nominate as Men of the Year three who gave the American people a passing feeling of integrity in Government: Archibald Cox, Elliot L. Richardson. William D. Ruckelshaus.

MRS. WENDELL S. MURRAY

Whittier, Calif.

Sir / How about Billie Jean King for Man of the Year? Woman of the Year? Person of the Year?

MARY LACOCK GETROST

Columbia, Md.

Sir / I nominate the American homemaker for Man of the Year. She/he alone has suppressed rising meat prices with the only real tool: abstinence!

REBECCA LEE BELL

Alexandria, Ky.

Sir / Here is a vote for James McCord. In an era of secrecy and deceit, only he had the courage to "tell it like it is."

BENNY L. SEVIER

Irving, Texas

Sir / I nominate for TIME'S 1973 Man of the Year the American reporter.

CALVIN D. JOHNSON

Ellensburg, Wash.

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