VIETNAM 20 YEARS LATER

"The heroes in this war were those not in a position to object, and those who recognized the wrong and bravely did their part to bring its end."

Richard A. Brand Iowa City, Iowa Vietnam resounds as a defining and pivotal period in U.S. history [COVER, April 24]. Americans shouldn't believe for a moment that we and the world haven't learned from this episode. Mankind's evolution owes much to the images of past wars and devastation, and we have become sophisticated enough to use those images as reference points in determining our future behavior.

David Airth Toronto

My brother was one of thousands who volunteered to go to war because of his belief in what the U.S. stands for. He willingly sacrificed his life, and I am proud of him. For anyone to say now that this war was wrong and could have been prevented is insulting to his memory and disrespectful to the thousands of Americans who unselfishly gave their lives to protect others' right to free speech. It is disgraceful to slander their memory in this way.

Amanda Kelly San Antonio, Texas Via America Online

As a surgeon in Vietnam in 1969-70, I participated in the military effort and by my mere presence supported a war widely recognized by the troops as unwinnable, if not patently wrong. I performed no "service to my country." Rather, I performed a disservice by my passive support. Like others there, and like the Americans who supported the effort, I must accept responsibility and blame for the 58,000 Americans who died, for the many more who will bear scars as long as they live, and for the millions of Vietnamese who suffered and died. I feel an awesome grief and responsibility when I read the names of those few I knew-and the many more I did not know-on that black wall in Washington. Pride for having served my country is not among my feelings. The war belongs to all those who failed to stop it. The heroes in this war were those not in a position to object, and those who recognized the wrong and bravely did their part to bring its end.

Richard A. Brand Iowa City, Iowa aol: AndChenier

It is not the abandonment of a war that should shake the nation's psyche but the abandonment of the young people who fought it. While at home in the U.S. politicians decided policy and some people prayed for low draft numbers, others in Vietnam were praying just to stay alive. Whether the war was right or wrong meant nothing if you were in the middle of a firefight. Trapped in war's reality, young men lost more than arms and legs; they lost pieces of their soul. We all realized at some point that we would never fully return home again.

Paul S. Tedeschi Norwell, Massachusetts aol: Writor

In its way, Vietnam was a greater victory for the U.S. than World War II because what we accomplished there was more far-reaching. Troops did not die in vain. Everything has a price. Considering the size of the conflict, this showdown between socialism and capitalism was decided upon a relatively blood-free field. We should pause a moment and look at the conflicts now confronting us and see how the lessons of Vietnam will be reflected in the history of the first half of the 21st century.

Stan Kerns Greeley, Colorado

"ietnam . haunts us still." what haunts us? Is it the war itself or the 20 years of constant whining about losing? Twenty years of books, magazine articles and movies have portrayed the soldiers who fought in the war as innocent farm boys, armed with nothing more than smiles and pictures of Mom, going to a far-off place to be slaughtered by the evil Viet Cong. And of course each and every soldier, had he not gone to Vietnam, would have become a prosperous and successful individual. Right? Not! Even if the U.S. had won the war, we would still see the Vietnam vets who fill the bars across the country in the same places-only instead of whining about Vietnam, they would be bragging about it. It's time for the whiners of the Vietnam War to find some other crutch or reason for their failures. Let's have sorrow for the dead and sympathy for the maimed, but to those who complain about being victims, I say give it a rest.

Joseph G. Sampson Lafayette, Colorado

Sooner or later, the '60s generation has to face Vietnam. There were solid positions on both sides of the argument, and its resolution tore the country apart. It still reverberates. We need to be honest with ourselves and with one another. I opposed the war and demonstrated against it. My folks were for it. My mistake and that of others of my generation was that we didn't pat the troops on the back. Many of those who served held our views but didn't accept our methods. We were wrong in that respect, but not wrong to oppose the war. Now we have to have the backbone to say so.

Dave King Columbia, South Carolina Via America Online

WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE LEARNED

For me, the real lesson of the vietnam War [COVER, April 24] is to realize that compromise is in everyone's best interests. That would result in a world ruled by international law and courts, rather than by the mighty and powerful.

Hyman H. Haves Pacific Palisades, California

The U.S. had financed the French wars against the Vietnamese; it therefore had no credibility when it tried to persuade those people that America knew what was best for them. Today, by persisting in saying the Vietnam War was unwinnable, we explain nothing and run the risk that the U.S. will never again fight for anything unless success is ensured. That is dangerous.

Helen J. Lukievics New York City

MCNAMARA'S CONFESSION

Just because former secretary of Defense Robert McNamara has finally admitted that the Vietnam conflict was wrong [COVER, April 24] does not excuse the fact that too many Americans, Europeans and Asians died for what we now call a "mistake.'' It is right to forgive when a mistake is made, but when it involves the death of someone, then the person who erred must live with his conscience for the remainder of his life.

Walter Kimbrough Garland, Texas AOL: WLen

Shame on McNamara for trying to assuage his guilty conscience by making us share his pain. He should have been man enough to carry his guilt in silence.

Steve Altig Las Vegas, Nevada

So McNamara has finally gone public with lessons he learned from the Vietnam War: don't underestimate the forces of nationalism, and don't ask the military to achieve more than weapons can deliver. Could another lesson, which went unmentioned, be the danger of self-deception by leaders who choose to ignore the rational voices of the opposition? Now, 20 years later, after many lives were lost for a mistaken mission, "When will they ever learn?" Anthony T. Lee San Francisco

I commend McNamara for finally discovering and admitting the truth. Right is not always (or ever) determined by might. The U.S. was following a path that suggested it alone could control the world. That wasn't true in the '60s and '70s, and it isn't true today.

Robert M. Brown Tacoma, Washington AOL: Robert2755

McNamara has only confirmed what those of my generation already knew. But even though the cause was unjust, that doesn't mean the soldiers who fought in Vietnam were unworthy. Some of those who returned are still fighting the legacy of that war every day. They deserve our help and respect.

Barb Grimes Chalfont, Pennsylvania AOL: TchrBarb

In view of what McNamara said of his mistake regarding Vietnam, Jane Fonda deserves a medal and an apology.

Harry Torossian Dearborn Heights, Michigan Via America Online

WAITING FOR PEACE

Tobias Wolff's article was the most poignant and thought-provoking short piece I have read to date on the reasons for our downfall in the Vietnam War [ESSAY, April 24]. I am a Vietnam-era veteran, and I found that Wolff has portrayed masterfully that conflict's lingering aftermath and the painful rift it has left in U.S. society. Let us hope that someday soon, via efforts like Wolff's, the rest of us will reach a higher understanding of the Vietnam vet's ongoing ordeal.

Jon Meredith Helena, Montana

Wolff does a terrible injustice to most military units, their men and their commanders when he writes, "we opened the gates of hell on that country, and we didn't spend much time making distinctions between enemies and friends. Entire towns were destroyed, others devastated by our jets and artillery. Most of the dead were civilians.'' In Vietnam, well-run and honorably commanded units took extraordinary care and considerable risk to minimize civilian casualties and damage. Wolff demeans those of us who tried with all our hearts to be as humane as war allows.

John T. Carley Brigade Commander, U.S.A. (ret.) 1st Infantry Division (1968-69) Shalimar, Florida

THE YEN'S NOT THAT STRONG

You don't have to be fluent in Japanese (although I am) to understand that the caption under the photo accompanying your article "An Uncontrollable Yen" is incorrect [Trade, April 24]. It says restaurants in Japan "charged $10 for a cup of coffee at the going exchange rate." But the article noted an exchange rate of 80.15 yen to the U.S. dollar, so the 100-yen price tag shown in the photograph comes to only $1.25.

Elizabeth Matsunaga New York City

BROADWAY IN NEVADA

Your inexplicably ebullient article "Viva Las Vegas!" [SHOW BUSINESS, April 24] on new musical extravaganzas was offensive -- not so much in its snide negativity toward Broadway, which admittedly has declined in quality in recent years, but in its obsequious drooling over the virtues of Las Vegas, a town that had no quality to begin with. Broadway has faltered not because it isn't enough like Las Vegas but because it has become too much like Las Vegas. The legitimate American musical theater, which is the reason there is a Broadway, is an art form, whereas the splashy Las Vegas musical revue, the reason for which is questionable, is mere entertainment. In your glib comparisons, you confuse art with entertainment.

Matthew Wimmer Fredericksburg, Virginia

OUR BATTERED PLANET

As John Skow notes in his assessment of "our sad planet's health" [ESSAY, April 24], industrial moguls await fulfillment of their dearest wishes: the gutting of environmental laws. It's interesting that when conservatives rail against "special interests," the ones they deride most seem to be the ones whose primary goal is to help people: labor unions, environmentalists and advocacy groups for the disadvantaged. Yet these same conservatives lovingly embrace a different cadre of special interests that, if they realize their dream of deregulation, will happily dance on the bodies of the people made ill by pollution and maimed or killed through occupational injury. And all the while these pet interests of conservatives will rake in the money and dutifully hand it over to the politicians.

Margaret Bamber Washington AOL: Bambi7653

The lurking dismantlement of endangered-species protection coupled with the destruction of priceless habitats is the paramount atrocity of materialism's ruthless tyranny. Only the most crass secular humanist could take delight in the decimation of the last vestige of pristine creation. How mortifying to ponder the reality of religious groups that are not galvanizing to preserve God's natural wonders.

Brien Comerford Glenview, Illinois

PRIVATE HELP FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Re your report on how fund raising has become a way of life in the public schools [EDUCATION, April 24]: I see no problem with parents' trying to bolster their children's education by giving donations. It is the parental contributions to the local pta that allow for the improvement of the technical aspects of the public schools. If affluent parents have to contend with red tape when they want to donate funds for a particular purpose, they will be discouraged from giving money in the future. Leave people to handle their own resources.

Melodie-Allyn BenEzra Poughkeepsie, New York

You showed how the public school systems in this country really work. Parents need to get involved, but when they make the effort, school administrators say get out of the way. I applaud the efforts of parents who want their schools to be the best.

Jim Haaf Jefferson City, Missouri aol: Grndsource

It is a telling fact that parents in Brentwood, California, can contribute $78,000 to the school's booster club for added staff, while the pta in the same school can raise only $5,000 because it is forced to turn over 20% of its profit to disadvantaged children in other areas of Los Angeles. The pta president noted that some parents objected to turning over funds to poorer schools downtown. Obviously, these parents couldn't care less about helping provide glasses for needy youngsters who can't see the print in a textbook and medical care for still others. It's too bad the parents of the Brentwood children aren't the only self-centered people in this world.

Shirley M. Nixon Reseda, California

DARK AGES OF ART?

Robert Hughes' review "Being a Nuisance," about Bruce Nauman's retrospective show, was nauseating [ART, April 24]. We have come to the Gotterdammerung of art, proved by Hughes' description of Nauman's work Black Balls: ". eight minutes of Nauman's fingers rubbing black pigment in close-up on his scrotum." We have evolved from the excellent sculpture of the Greeks and Romans to Renoir and other French painters-to this. Certainly the Dark Ages are upon us.

George L. Cochran Jacksonville, Florida

The Bruce Nauman exhibition was co-curated by Neal Benezra of the Hirshhorn Museum and Kathy Halbreich of the Walker Art Center. Although Nauman appears as his own subject in a number of his works, the clown in Clown Torture is not the artist, as Hughes wrote. Also, the sculpture From Hand to Mouth, a part of the Hirshhorn's collection, is not a cast of body parts of the artist but of his first wife. And finally, the parallel between that sculpture and Duchamp's With My Tongue in My Cheek is noted in Benezra's catalog essay, though not credited as such by Hughes.

James T. Demetrion, Director Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Washington