Assessing Carter

To the Editors:

Hugh Sidey's brilliant analysis, "Assessing a Presidency" [Aug. 18], should be required reading for every registered voter. It clearly illustrates the fact that our nation's problem sits in the Oval Office. We need Ronald Reagan, a Republican Congress and a return of American strength and sanity.

Lawrence K. Weber

Commander, U.S.N. (ret.)

Hibernia, Fla.

Your story took a negative view of one of the best terms ever served by an American President. Jimmy Carter is an honest, peacemaking leader. He stands in true contrast to the tinsel-covered figure of Ronald Reagan.

Les Bendtsen

Rose Creek, Minn.

Most of Hugh Sidey's conclusions miss the mark. Carter is vastly underrated. He is a man of the people; he understands us, for he is one of us.

Alice Cleveland

Clearwater, Fla.

If President Carter's preoccupation with the lives of the Iranian guards was "trivial," then what other things are trivial? Life in general?

Kevin N. Nance

Washington, D.C.

There are other "caring" and "honest" individuals in this country who are not also inept and bumbling. Every time someone attempts to discuss the Carter disaster we are told it is not Jimmy's fault. Who is President?

Bobby L. Coker

Stanton, Calif.

Thucydides said it thusly: "Having admired his unwillingness to do evil, we are not envious of his foolishness."

Basil Papadakis

Oak Park, Ill.

Fading Eloquence

Re your Essay on "The Decline and Fall of Oratory" [Aug. 18]: great speeches require great men. Rhetoric is a set of tools that anyone can use; the problem is not with the tools, but with the people who use them.

Ken Huggins

Decatur, Ga.

No wonder the principles of classical oratory have gone the way of their Roman founders. In a media-dominated society where an image may win or lose an election, public figures rightly concern themselves more with delivering a favorable appearance than an eloquent speech.

Frank J. Prial Jr.

South Orange, N.J.

Oh, the irony in reading your Essay the morning after Senator Edward Kennedy's persuasive address to the Democratic Convention.

Forest Delano Feighner

Edinboro, Pa.

Reality and New York City

Your story on New York City [Aug. 18] states that Mayor Edward Koch "has not learned that the last thing hopeless people have need of is a realist." On the contrary, what they need is a mayor who is in touch with the reality of the city's fiscal situation. We can only hope that in the future, fewer politicians will succumb to the lesson you ascribe to Koch.

David W. Barby

Willow Grove, Pa.

What our nation needs for President is a person with a New York mind, not only smart but witty and able to snap back at the world firmly, like Mayor Koch.

Sydney Feir

Clifton, N.J.

Neglected Neighbors

The article on Central America [Aug. 18] whetted my appetite for more information. It seems downright embarrassing for our nation to have shown so little concern for or interest in its own neighbors.

Dorothy T. Sczawinski

Seal Beach, Calif.

Those New Versions

In his review of the expanded edition of Close Encounters of the Third Kind [Aug. 18], Richard Corliss implies that moviemakers are the only artists who tinker with their work. Wrong! Henry James inserted new passages and revised the dialogue of The American before it was republished; Thomas Hardy added to the fifth edition of Tess of the D'Urbervilles; Graham Greene restored a passage cut from the original edition of The Heart of the Matter. As for composers, Bruckner buffs still argue over which of his revisions belong in the definitive versions of his symphonies.

Gene D. Phillips, S.J.

Loyola University

Chicago

Guests' Rights

Yes, the Iranian students in America have the right to demonstrate peaceably [Aug. 18], no matter how odious their cause. They also have an obligation to their hosts to behave courteously. After all, they are guests in our country.

Franklin O. Carroll

Albuquerque

How Coke Adds Life

After the uproar over the new wave of Cuban refugees, it is refreshing that a Cuban who arrived in this country at age 32 would 16 years later become president of Coca-Cola [Aug. 18]. Coke adds life to the American dream!

Rene L. Colina

Detroit

A Rave for a Critic

Tired as I am of protests, I must ask you to correct the totally false inclusion of Harold Clurman's name among those who have forced me to pursue my profession away from Broadway [Aug. 18]. Mr. Clurman was one of my first advocates in professional theater as long ago as 1939, and remains a critic whom I could never cease to admire and love.

Tennessee Williams

Key West, Fla.

Don't Sue, Ask

Re Kathleen Bick's antidiscrimination lawsuit against a restaurant that gave her a menu without prices [Aug. 18]: while entertaining a male guest at the Rive Gauche in Washington, I asked for and received 1) the only menu with prices listed, 2) the wine for sampling and 3) the bill. A simple request was all I needed to gain equality.

Myra Engers Weinberg

Washington, D.C.

In Praise of Police

Your statistic that "an average of two people are killed by the police every day" [Aug. 18] is frightening. Frightening until we are reminded that an average of more than 50 people are killed by other people every day. I wish there were statistics showing the number of murders that are prevented by the police.

T. Bryant Terry Jr.

Pennington Gap, Va.

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