Letters: Feb. 5, 2007

• Share

(3 of 5)

RE "Farewell to a Decent Man" [Jan. 15]: Shame on TIME for insufficiently acknowledging the contributions of Gerald Ford, perhaps one of the most important American Presidents of the 20th century--certainly one of the most decent. Ford deserved to be on TIME's cover. He may not have been flashy or tested well with TV audiences, but he was a President with courage, wisdom, honesty, integrity and compassion--in other words, a leader in whom we could place our trust. What other person could have done the hard but necessary work of leading the country out of, as President Ford himself put it, the long national nightmare of Watergate?

PETER CHIEN Rome, N.Y.

I don't buy the portrayal of Ford's pardon of President Richard Nixon as a reflection that "mercy and healing" were very much on Ford's mind at the time. Far from an act designed to help a poor beleaguered President and heal this nation's wounds caused by the Watergate affair, the pardon was a calculated political move. The pardon blocked application of the rule of law to a President who committed criminal acts while in office and was intended to save Nixon and the Republican Party from further legal scrutiny. It will forever sully Ford's record as President.

CHARLES TRIPP Salt Lake City, Utah

Reinventing the Phone

"The Apple of Your Ear" [Jan. 22] showcased Apple's new iPhone. I remember a time when no one would think of spending a cent on an item that had such a tiny video screen. Remember the television screens in the early '50s? Well, we are right back where we started and don't mind squinting at a tiny screen. On the other hand, ophthalmologists and optometrists are patiently waiting for the bucks to start rolling in when our eyes go bad.

KRISTI RICHTER Chicago

Now not only do we have to be aware of distracted drivers using cell phones and iPods, but in the not too distant future, they will be surfing the Net and watching reruns of I Love Lucy. Society needs to catch up to technology.

BOB SCOZA Long Valley, N.J.

If Steve Jobs and his team at Apple would invent a little device that could clip to a soldier's belt and trip every electronic trigger for improvised explosive devices within a couple of hundred yards, then I would really be impressed.

DEAN M. BRAYTON Gold Canyon, Ariz.

Free Information