A BICENTENNIAL FANFARE

To the Editors:

Wonderful! Inspiring! Exciting! An unforgettable experience.

Janet L. Pathak

Tucson

Your silly issue on Independence was insulting. We don't live in America any more. True, we still have a dream, but as a country, forget it.

Andrew Bundlie

Moor head, Minn.

You devoted an issue to Independence. Now, how about devoting one to freedom? Independence was but a means to an end. Does it still serve that end? No. I'm sure the majority of the founding fathers would agree with me.

Herb Frank

Lakeport, Calif.

It is interesting to speculate on the letters TIME might have received had your Bicentennial issue actually appeared in 1776. For example:

"Let's hope the Continental Congress does something about women's rights. Or are we girls supposed to simply stay at home to cook and sew?

"Ms. Betsy Ross, Philadelphia"

Edward Steinberg

Silver Spring, Md.

When I reached out to douse the light after reading the 1776 issue, I was amazed to find no candle to snuff.

Thanks for reminding me of my heritage--warts and all.

Jean Donohue

Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Congratulations to TIME for injecting flesh and blood into the statues of the American Revolution. You have presented those figures as human beings, wrestling with not-so-unfamiliar problems, experiencing the human emotions--with nobility and banality, wisdom and foolishness, courage and fear--that we know, and out of all this, planting the seed of history's greatest democracy. You permitted us to see that our founding fathers were not larger than life, except in the ideals that inspired them. This is an invaluable lesson for our time. Thanks for teaching it with such lively imagination.

Nelson A. Rockefeller

Vice President

Washington, D.C.

The July 4, 1776, issue of TIME has the unique appeal of putting historic developments in modern context. As we read the various accounts, we relive the emotions and events of that period.

It is equally true now, as then--it was the worst of times, but it also was the best of times. The fabric of America's history is woven through with great challenges that have been met with confidence and faith by its people.

What began as an experiment in self-government has culminated in a strong and vital nation with world leadership responsibilities. We have a proud heritage. This special 1776 issue highlights that period of time when America's character was formed.

Hubert H. Humphrey

U.S. Senator, Minnesota

Washington, D.C.

It is unfortunate that TIME was not in print 200 years ago so that perhaps subsequent generations in America might have been aware of the pernicious enmity that has long existed between North and South Viet Nam; consequently, recent American leaders might have let the two parties resolve their own sanguinary differences without U.S. interference.

Henderson W. Colley

Boulder, Colo.

Especially because of your review of the first volume of Edward Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, I feel obliged to point out that the Bicentennial of American independence will also be the 1,500th anniversary of the fall of the Roman Empire in the West in 476. A better coincidence you couldn't find.

Susan L. Ehlers

Seattle

You reminded us clearly that colonial America bore little resemblance to the comfortable, socially amenable, insect-and disease-free Williamsburg restoration.

I love the romanticism of Williamsburg, but perhaps we can revive the rugged American Dream without fantasying it into a never-never land impossible of realization.

Deborah Wing

Sarasota, Fla.

What nerve--featuring a radical on the cover of your Bicentennial issue!

Ralph Cox

Lawrence, Kans.

Why didn't you include important and interesting facts about American musical composers of that era?

Charles Hall

Santa Cruz, Calif.

Musical performances were banned at the time that our issue went to press, i.e., July 1776.

Your 1776 issue seems to perpetuate the myth that the British were our enemies in our country's early history. In reality, however, we were a British colony about as long as we have been an independent nation. During that entire period, only the final decade was marked by any considerable ill will between us and England. During most of that time, our colonial forebears probably enjoyed about as much political freedom as exists in the U.S. today.

Indeed, if the British had not bailed us out, we might not even be here today. We vividly remember the heroes of the American Revolution; yet we seem quick to forget about the thousands and thousands of British soldiers who died for our country during the French and Indian Wars.

Robert M. Ferrera

Villanova, Pa.

In regard to "Where to Take the Waters," it is interesting to note that the location of the only hospital constructed for the Continental Army was Yellow Springs, Chester County, Pa. Yellow Springs, site of an iron spring, was a popular colonial spa serving 400 to 600 guests a day in 1774.

General George Washington and his army camped at Yellow Springs the night of September 17, 1777, and he visited the hospital there on May 13, 1778. According to a letter of Dr. Craik, Valley Forge:

"His Excellency went out to the Yellow Springs Two days ago to Visit the hospitals himself and found them in fine order, he Spoke to every person in the Bunks which pleased the Sick exceedingly."

Carol S. Roark

Research Historian

Chester Springs, Pa.

As a postal employee, I have naturally been concerned with delays in mail service. Imagine my horror when I delivered your issue dated July 4,1776.

Harry Liversiedge

Memphis

Your special 1776 issue is the type of Bicentennial recognition that should lead the way.

Let's not get gushily sentimental, fatuous, vulgar, idiotic, by advocating dressing up in colonial attire, getting sloppy guzzling old colonial grog in reconstructed 1776-style inns, rapturizing over the usual glamour figures and their myths. Even Jefferson on your cover would blush in his reluctance to be so glamorized.

Let's concentrate on what still needs to be done. After 200 years of up-and-down effort, it's now time, long due, to reassess our progress and make our land the exciting example of democracy it was meant to be.

Allan M. Pitkanen

Northridge, Calif.

Two hundred years have passed since the American Revolution. And the message of that Revolution has been heard throughout the world. The principles of national independence, representative democracy, and civil liberties which were the basis of our Revolution have served as incentives to countless revolutionaries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe.

Sometimes, however, I think that we have done a better job of exporting our principles than of applying them to public policy here at home. Two hundred years after the Boston Tea Party, multinational corporations and monopolistic practices continue to stifle competition and free enterprise. Nearly 200 years after the adoption of the Bill of Rights, the right to dissent is still threatened by governmental action. And, perhaps most ironically, after 200 years we often find ourselves identified with repressive and reactionary regimes abroad.

As the nation approaches the third century of the Revolution, it is time to reconsider the principles which created that revolution--and to apply them to the making of public policy.

George McGovern

U.S. Senator, South Dakota

Washington, D.C.

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