Where Do We Go from Here?

To the Editors:

History will record that in the battle for the hearts and minds of the unfortunates of Southeast Asia, the U.S. lacked guts.

Robert C. Rice

Colonel, U.S.M.C. (ret.)

Fallbrook, Calif.

A favorite adage of mine is: I'll forgive anything once, but almost nothing twice. If the U.S. pours $522 million in aid and arms into Indochina, it will be its second error of increasing its involvement, and therefore unforgivable.

William D. Hewson Edmonton, Alta.

It is obvious that American foreign policy is in a shambles. What makes this situation particularly paradoxical is the fact that our failures are presided over by a Secretary of State who is extraordinarily qualified to conduct our foreign policy. What accounts for this contrast between personal ability and conspicuous failure?

It seems to me that Mr. Kissinger's foreign policy is being ruined by assumptions and conceptions that have burdened the conduct of our foreign relations for decades and that the Secretary of State has been unwilling or unable to replace with sounder conceptions and assumptions. I am thinking here particularly of the status quo policy that Mr. Kissinger and his predecessors have pursued throughout the world, preferring conservative or authoritarian governments to forces of radical reform or revolution. While the Secretary of State has been able to shed the obsession with ideology in his dealing with the Soviet Union and China, he has been unable to do so in his relations with Indochina, Chile and Greece.

Mr. Kissinger will be able to turn failure into success only if he takes his courage into his hands and eliminates from his policies the obsession with ideological confrontations, which, if they were ever justified, are certainly out of place in the contemporary world.

Hans J. Morgenthau New York City

Professor Morgenthau, a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, is on the faculty of Manhattan's New School for Social Research.

The current world crisis could end either in a major war or in a Fortress America. To forestall these outcomes, we must re-establish promptly the credibility of American power and commitment--in Asia itself, the Middle East and Europe, while dealing in a more vigorous way with our economic problems at home and abroad.

In this process, it might help to reverse the old adage and treat this defeat not as an orphan but as the product of a thousand parents. Substantial errors have been made in Southeast Asia since the 1940s, including errors made by the present Administration and Congress. Evidently, we could not agree on the list of errors. We can let historians occupy themselves contentiously with that sport for many years to come. But if we can talk and act with a certain humility about past assessments and policies, we might turn an important corner and get on as a national family with the job on which the security of America and world peace now depends.

Walt W. Rostow

Professor of Economics and History University of Texas, Austin

Mr. Rostow was special assistant for national security affairs to President Johnson during the peak years of U.S. involvement in Viet Nam.

Where are the Jane Fondas, George McGoverns and campus radicals who displayed so much wrath over our bombing of Hanoi and the My Lai incident? I find it disturbing that these doves show a dual conscience--one for the Communists and another for their victims.

The South Vietnamese people are also human. I know. I lived with them for one-third of my lifetime.

Jerry L. Shultz Long Beach, Calif.

The antiwar movement will return to action, as thousands did this January in Washington, until the Congress ends this recycled insanity in Indochina.

A strategy of a military character must be abandoned for the political settlement envisioned in the Paris peace agreement: formation of a National Council of Reconciliation to prepare the way for a new representative government in South Viet Nam.

In the long term, we need a new foreign policy more realistic and creative than cold war power politics and antiCommunism. We should recognize and cooperate with the revolutionary currents in the world to end hunger and poverty. That way we can be proud of this country and assure democratic control of our long-secret foreign policy.

Tom Hayden

Indochina Peace Campaign Los Angeles

The writer was a defendant in the Chicago Seven trial and is the husband of Actress Jane Fonda.

Perhaps I should ignore these pathetic people, embrace the new morals adopted by my nation, and look upon those dying souls as "not my business." It is most disturbing how history teaches nothing, for when I shout "Viet Nam" into the canyons of my mind, the echo comes back "Munich."

Gar I. Platt Los Angeles

Middle East Coolant

Your reader who recently wrote: "I don't want my son dumping his guts on Negev sand in the interests of Zionism"--and others who have repressed similar feelings--would do well to cool it. There has been no indication from either American or Israeli politicians that U.S. military intervention is even being considered.

Arthur Nehman Silver Spring, Md.

CIA's Sunk Sub

If the U.S. can afford to spend $400 million raising worthless pieces of a sunken Russian submarine [March 31], surely we can afford to spend half that amount in Cambodia and perhaps preserve our credibility as an ally.

Owen Thomas Libertyville, Ill.

With the Glomar Explorer being so roundly denounced for its expensive original purpose, I can think of a perfectly useful adaptation. Convert it into a supervacuum for oil spills off the California coast--and let offshore drilling go on and on.

Sam Farnsworth Los Angeles

Project Jennifer not only uncovered otherwise unobtainable strategic and tactical intelligence but also developed the art of deep-sea submergence techniques and other disciplines of oceanography, employed thousands of workers, produced several types of unique equipment that will be used for years to come--and at a cost of less than 500 a year to each American.

Emil H. Levine Laurel, Md.

Goodbye, Marcus Welby

It is time for the man on the street to stop thinking of all doctors, dentists and medical people as Marcus Welby. True, some are, but the vast majority are looking out for their own self-interests, salaries and fees--as exemplified by the recent doctors' strike [March 31].

The citizens of the U.S. should also begin to seek their own self-interests by petitioning their Congressmen to enact a national health-insurance bill.

Every citizen should have the right to the four freedoms, one of which is freedom from want: in this case the freedom to enjoy life without financial worries over medical and dentist bills.

Elissa Ward Johnson Columbia, Md.

Guilt-Edged Mom and Dad

There can be little doubt as you report in "Learning Less" [March 31] that students are performing at much lower levels than a decade ago. I object, however, to your conclusion "It is clear that the cure lies in the classroom."

Why is it that the burden for improving learning always falls upon the teacher? Could it possibly be that a child's parents and home environment could be where the cure lies? Just imagine how an interest in reading might be developed if children came home from school and saw Mom reading a book instead of watching the soap operas. Imagine how achievement test scores in science might improve if Dad took the kids to a science museum on Sunday instead of sitting on his fanny watching six hours of professional football.

John R. Silvestro Dunkirk, N. Y.

Ungrateful

If Congress is expecting a wave of gratitude for the tax refund [April 7], they can forget it. It is like being fawningly grateful when a holdup man gives you bus fare home.

James B. Collinson Devils Lake, N. Dak.

See Page Two

In reference to your People article on me [March 24]: I found it interesting and amusing, and I am only sorry that whoever gave you the information neglected to give you page two, which was much more interesting.

Yul Brynner Los Angeles

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