Reshuffle at State

To the Editors:

President Carter made a striking decision, picking Senator Edmund Muskie as Secretary of State [May 12]. We need big men in these positions, and Muskie is a giant in every respect.

Edward Alderfer Hamilton, Ohio

In accepting Cyrus Vance's resignation, President Carter continues to confuse such qualities as integrity and sincerity with competence. That this naivete about personnel matters should persist so long gives rise to doubts about the man's ability to learn from experience.

Maurice E. Friot, M.D. Marco Island, Fla.

If the jobs of Secretary of State and National Security Adviser are so closely entwined and can be so confrontive, why are they two separate offices? The personality, not the position, seems to hold the power and win the rounds. In this case, Brzezinski took his first title bout.

Bruce Schowers Las Vegas

You dismiss Brzezinski as a hothead.

He may be, but he may also be the only

one who understands what the Soviets

really want. Anyone who is attacked in

the Soviet press as a peddler of "slander

and obvious lies" may know only too well.

Cynthia J. Crosson

Ballwin, Mo.

So Muskie has Polish ancestry too. Let's hope, for the sake of a consistent foreign policy, that he and Brzezinski are not Poles apart.

Jeanne W. Shafer Ann Arbor, Mich.

Thoughts from the Analysts

The thought-provoking commentaries by Henry Kissinger and the other foreign policy analysts [May 12] presented different viewpoints, but there seemed to be one common thread throughout their remarks: we don't have a foreign policy that is understood by Congress, the American people or our allies.

Arthur C. Baxter Atlanta

George W. Ball propounds the thesis of negative action for this country, a policy that has reduced us to a hesitant, cringing nation with no real friends and certainly no respect. His whole policy is do nothing, beg your allies for help and just hope that some time in the distant future things may work out.

Lawrence A. Wiegman Orlando, Fla.

Hooray, Paul Seabury! Finally, someone states publicly what this nation is in need of--common sense. He is saying what this family of middle-class America has been saying too: We'll put up with dirtier air, even dirtier intelligence tactics and less than saintly politicians if, in exchange, we can have lower unemployment, respect from other nations and a strong leadership.

Jeri Slevin Portland, Ore.

Has it occurred to any of these wise heads that the Soviets may not be as soft on us as we were on them? That they may not give us time to catch up? That they may very well decide to sink us while we are the weaker ship?

Dorothy M. Bayles Chapel Hill, N.C.

The Failed Mission

As a European, I am glad that President Carter has at last had the courage to try a military solution to the hostage crisis in Iran [May 12]. No doubt, in the aftermath of the abortive raid, he will be branded as "inept" more than ever before.

But the failure of the raid was not his fault. It had a good chance of succeeding, and he should be admired for taking a positive stance. The first battle is often lost before final victory is attained.

Brian W.J. Gravenor Southampton, England

Carter's handling of the raid into Iran borders on the incredible. He seems to have absorbed none of the lessons learned by the Israelis at Entebbe or the Germans at Mogadishu. The U.S. force combined elements of all four of the services, a composition more suitable to an honor-guard unit than a combat detachment. It is no wonder that the Army commander said afterward that he had no authority to destroy the helicopters left in the desert.

At the moment, American special units are still spending most of their time learning about Viet Nam-style field tactics. Their sophistication about international terrorism is less than that of the SWAT units in major city police departments. Terrorism is the war of the 1980s. David E. Steele Los Angeles

Cubans with Open Arms?

I am deeply saddened by the opposition of some Americans to the Cuban refugees [May 12]. My ancestors were immigrants, probably yours were too. People fleeing to America made it great in the past and will continue to make it great in the future. Without them we are nothing. We should all welcome new Americans. All they want from us is freedom, peace, justice and mercy.

Paul Crawford College Park, Md.

America may be the land of the free and the home of the brave, but there is a limit to how far our freedom and fortitude will stretch. With the massive influx of the "lumpen" of Castro's despotic regime, our already ailing economy will have to absorb the shock of thousands of new members of the work force. It is time to close the doors and remedy our own economic and domestic ills.

Philip P. Reeder Towson, Md.

Some of us feel that Plains, Ga., would be a good place in which to begin resettling Cuban refugees.

Susan McClain Lomita, Calif.

Ravages of Revenge

Lance Morrow's Essay on revenge [May 12] radiates ethical sensitivity, insight and common sense. Thank God for a voice of reason in the midst of all the rhetoric calling for massive retaliation --an act that surely would sow the seeds of yet other crises conceived in revenge. Firmness, yes; vengeance, no.

(The Rev.) Jay Bartow Monterey, Calif.

When will we, not only as Americans but as human beings, realize that two wrongs don't make a right?

Revenge is the most barbaric and destructive impulse that man ever experiences. For the moment it makes one feel proud or pleased, but its catastrophic results are hidden for the future. The day we have conquered revenge will be the day we are truly and completely out of the Stone Age.

Robert Votta North Tarrytown, N. Y.

Great Injustice

Your tale of two troubled banks [May 12] does a great injustice to two remarkable men: Robert Abboud and Harvey Kapnick. To characterize their association as "Frankenstein's monster meeting Dracula" is inaccurate and unjust.

Although they differed strongly, they were dignified and civil at all times. The outcome was sad and painful to everyone concerned, including the board of directors. Since the event, both men have conducted themselves with courage and an overwhelming sense of duty to the First National Bank of Chicago.

Ben W. Heineman Chairman, Executive Committee First National Bank of Chicago

Shunning the Funeral

Tito's lesson about defying Moscow [May 12] seems to have been forgotten by Carter, who labors for peace and decency but refused to face Brezhnev at the funeral.

Geoffrey I. Phillips Mamaroneck, N. Y.

Bashing Those Toyotas

Shouldn't the unemployment rate [May 12] make the auto industry sit down and think what it did wrong by not producing the cars the consumers really needed? Our market is becoming vulnerable to foreign competitors who have more knowledge than we do.

Harold Lee San Francisco

You have the cart before the horse. The problem is not rising prices but devaluation of the U.S. dollar caused by Washington's gross overspending. No government can spend to the brink of bankruptcy without causing inflation.

Jeanne Lisle Midland, Mich.

There was a time when Americans took pride in producing the best. Inflated wage demands, declining productivity, poor corporate planning and lack of quality are responsible for the American auto industry's present difficulties. Taking a sledgehammer to a superior foreign import or pushing for higher tariffs and increased quotas will do nothing for declining American auto sales. What the American people want is a quality product at a reasonable price. Let us strive once again to take pride in the stamp MADE IN THE U.S.A.

J. Howard Hannah Denton, Md.

Angry Detroiters should not be bashing in Toyotas. They should carefully take them apart to figure out how they are made. Maybe they can build a reasonable copy.

Joseph Gerry New Orleans

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