Letters: Jul. 9, 1965

War & Peace

Sir: I have a suggestion for the State Department: Give those students who took up a collection [June 25] for the Viet Cong a one-way ticket to Hanoi.

ANDREW L. FAUCI Las Vegas, Nev.

Sir: Who says "most Americans" don't swallow the idea of U.S. "combat support" in Viet Nam? Has any major pollster tapped grass-roots opinion lately?

RONALD H. LIMBAUGH Boise, Idaho

> The Gallup poll last week reported that, of those expressing opinions, 23.6% would continue present policy in Viet Nam, 35.4% would increase military action, while 38.4% would stop it.

Sir: There is no possibility of establishing a stable representative government in the religiously and otherwise divided state of Viet Nam. We are not defending a "free people" but conducting an extremely inefficient and costly military operation against Communist China with little or no damage to the real enemy, and we are killing a lot of women and children. The idea that the free world would interpret withdrawal as giving up the fight is nonsense. Asian Communism can be contained from a number of bases, including Formosa, Japan, the Philippines and Pakistan.

CLINTON O. JONES Lenox, Mass.

Sir: Those men giving their lives in Viet Nam desire peace as much as any one of you who are safe and sound in the U.S. But they realize that peace and freedom are not possible for that little country or for the world as long as Communism is what it is today.

(SK3) MICHAEL E. BEAVER U.S.S. Regulus

There's a Smile . . .

Sir: I read with interest in your issue of July 2 your account of the television debate on Viet Nam in which I participated. I must take exception to your statement that I "smiled weakly." I never do that. Either 1 smile or I don't.

HANS J. MORGENTHAU Chicago

Before Waterloo

Sir: In "1815 and All That" [June 25], there is a regrettable mistake. I am quoted as saying, at the memorial service for the men of all nations killed in the Battle of Waterloo: "We have had many ceremonies this week. You might call this one eccentric, in line with the curious behavior of the English." I did make the comment that same day when planting an oak tree to commemorate the first cricket match ever played in Belgium by British officers on the eve of the battle. The ceremony at Hougoumont, however, was a solemn and very impressive religious service, and your report places these words in the wrong context.

RODERICK BARCLAY British Ambassador to Belgium Brussels

Time for Compassion

Sir: Re "The Banished American" [June 25]: It seems to me that while in Kusadasi, Ken Baldwin has not only served adequate time for his circumstantial crime, but has taken a somewhat distasteful situation and converted it into a diplomatic mission. Since he has done so much to ease and elevate the Turkish view of America, I can see no reason why the U.S. Army can't find the compassion in its heart to pardon Mr. Baldwin.

WILLIAM A. ROMANO Kew Gardens Hills, N.Y.

American Jews