An Early Spring

To the Editors:

Thank you for the cover story on Cheryl Tiegs [March 6]. It warmed up a very cold and blizzard-ridden Ohio State University. It looks like spring break came three weeks early.

Brian L. Katz

David P. Harris

Columbus

Though I am a staid and somewhat conservative professional man inured to beautiful women thrust on me by the media, your feature on Cheryl Tiegs moves me to comment: "Woof."

Richard D. Rotberg Skokie, Ill.

By doing a cover story on Cheryl Tiegs, you have strapped her into the roller coaster called the American media. I sincerely hope that she survives the twists and turns of that ride with all of her freshness, eroticism, beauty and sensuality intact. She is a national treasure.

Peter T. Burgi Westfield, N.J.

One only has to glance at the cover of your magazine to estimate how far the women's movement has come. Not very far. What is it going to take to wean the American man from his mother's breasts?

C.L. Harmer Washington, DC.

Granted, Cheryl Tiegs is striking in face and figure, but do I have to greet TIME with a scissors in my hands? You could have gotten your message across without the "fishnet" picture.

Mrs. Michael Engelsma Grand Rapids

Your glorification of Cheryl Tiegs was disgusting, not because of the woman herself, but because you chose to present her as a model of what other women should be. It is not only inane but cruel to condition men to judge women according to the physical standards of a tiny minority of women chosen by an even tinier minority of men.

Mariane Pierce Ann Arbor, Mich.

With only a couple more birthdays between me and 50, I find little cause for rejoicing in your assurance that it is now all right to be 30. Neither am I consoled to learn that my type of beauty ("narrow shoulders, small breasts, large belly . . .") went out in the 14th century.

Katharine J. McNear North Leeds, Me.

Federal Jobs

President Carter's reform of civil service [March 6] will only bring back the spoils system in a new form. Instead of employees and managers doing their jobs, they will be busy polishing their superiors' apples. This will be necessary because even today the federal employee knows that under the mask of "merit promotion" lies the current of being blacklisted or being labeled a rabble-rouser for doing his job or for asking that his rights be defended in adverse actions.

Wayne Gamache, Vice President

American Federation of Government

Employees Local 1285

East Hartford, Conn.

You fail to mention the increasing demands placed upon Government over the past 20 years, services required by the Congress, Presidents and the people.

William M. Gualtieri New York City

I have yet to see anyone mention two very important points concerning that "overly generous" Government employee annuity. First, each civil servant has a flat 7% deducted from his or her gross salary. Second, after having retired and received an amount equal to that contributed, usually about 18 to 24 months after retirement, the annuitant pays full federal (and in most cases, state) income tax. Howard R. Wesley Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.

After reading your harsh appraisal of the federal civil service, I was reminded of M. Beaumarchais's classic insight in The Barber of Seville: "Judging by the virtues expected of a servant, does your Excellency know many masters who would be worthy of valets?"

Sanders Bernstein, President

N.J. Federation of Federal Employees

Hillside, N.J.

The'60s Kids

That was a great story on radicals of the '60s who are now in business [March 6]. But what about the radicals who went into politics? As an antiwar activist, former protester and now a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, I feel our story is even more interesting. We are putting the chants of the '60s into the legislation of the '70s.

Harold Lee Brown Reading, Pa.

Congratulations to my fellow classmates of the '60s. There is much more to life than working long hours and being yes men in the corporate world. We are saying our endeavors should contribute not only to personal improvement, but also to bettering the quality of life for all of society.

Louis Martino Pittsburg, Kans.

So the '60s kids are managers now, huh? And all of them were named Bob. Dale, Richard, Louis, William, Terrence and Stephen. Not a Roberta or Louise or Stephanie in the bunch.

I think if TIME really, really tried

hard, it could dig up at least one female

'60s kid making it in the corporate world.

Sharon M. Cole

Oakland, Calif.

The managers of the '60s aren't just concerned with hiring more women and minorities. Many of them are women and minorities.

Christy C. Bulkeley, Publisher

The Commercial News

Danville, Ill.

Computers, Today and Tomorrow

I thought your story on the computer [Feb. 20] was superbly done. It accurately portrayed the position of the computer in today's world and tomorrow's.

While some writers believe that the computer will one day replace the man, I have always been persuaded that a million years of development of the heart, the conscience and all the other instincts that we call "human" can never really be replaced by anything technological. After reading your excellent article, I remain of the same frame of mind.

Thomas J. Watson Jr., Chairman

Executive Committee, IBM

Armonk, N. Y.

Protest Time

The opening paragraph of "Protest Time Again" [March 6] telescopes events that took place almost a full year apart; the Stanford and Santa Cruz sit-ins concerning investments in South Africa occurred last spring, the Oregon and Portland State events in recent weeks. The nature of these events was also sharply different; the massive sit-ins last spring were remarkably peaceful and dominated by ideals of nonviolent civil disobedience, whereas the Oregon shows were run by an avowedly Communist organization, the Student Revolutionary Brigade, and involved small numbers of self-proclaimed revolutionaries.

Richard W. Lyman, President

Stanford University

Stanford, Calif.

A Delicate Area

I very much enjoyed the article "New Debate over Jesus' Divinity" [Feb. 27]. It is not easy to do a story of this nature, and yet your magazine has succeeded in presenting very clearly a difficult subject in terms that are readily understood. I particularly appreciated the objective manner in which the article approaches this delicate area of Christian theology and living faith.

John Cardinal Wright Vatican City

Israeli Women

Your story "The Women of Israel" [Feb. 20], with the subheading "second-class citizens," tends to leave a rather distorted impression. The true situation is something in between the Amazon image of the fierce combatant pictured in the movies, and the bleak portrait Ms. Hazleton is quoted as portraying in her book.

The civil status of women in Israel is one of statutory equality and represents continuous progress over the years with conditions comparable to those in many developed countries in the West.

Tamar Eldar-Avidar, Attache

Women's Affairs, Embassy of Israel

Washington, D.C.

Applying Restrictions

In your article "Again the Arms Sales Champion" [Feb. 13] you refer to a French agency selling arms to South Africa. May I emphatically state that France is applying without restrictions the compulsory embargo on the provision of arms to South Africa it adopted on Nov. 4, 1977, along with the other members of the U.N. Security Council.

President Giscard d'Estaing had already in 1976 halted the sale and delivery of all ground and air military equipment to South Africa.

Andre Baeyens, Director

French Press and Information Service New York City

Windows That Open

Architect William Pereira reckons incorrectly that the Pacific Mutual building in San Francisco will be the first high-rise office structure with openable windows to be built in the U.S. since World War II [March 6]. Many have been built with openable windows. The U.N. Secretariat building is one; completion date 1951.

James D. Macintosh New York City

A Question of Class

Hugh Sidey's bewailing the Carter Administration's lack of "class" [March 6] bewildered me. Typical it was, however, of today's obsession with form over essence. I'll allow Ham Jordan his pyramidal fantasies if he and his "classless" Georgians spare us from an international faux pas as calamitous as the Viet Nam one. Enough of the Best and Brightest.

John M. Wolfe Jr. Chattanooga, Tenn.

Perhaps it is because Jimmy Carter confounds our traditional notions of greatness that we find it necessary to label him, his family and his associates as part of "a continuing assault on traditional American sensitivities." I, for one, continue to be grateful for the President's lack of pretentiousness.

(The Rev.) Mark A. Doty Corpus Christi, Texas

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