Letters: Oct. 31, 1969

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To walk out now—the mad slaughter of South Vietnamese civilians that would certainly take place, aside—is to simply allow, no, invite China and the U.S.S.R. to start anew the policy we have thwarted for the past five or ten years. I cannot understand youth's refusal to read the facts.

Currently the Paris talks are stalemated, for why would anyone negotiate what he expects to win by default?

JACK DOWN East Lansing, Mich.

Sir: It seems to me that the great tragedy of the Viet Nam Moratorium is that people do not realize that peace is too precious to be bought. A gentleman with a silk hat and umbrella learned this 31 years ago.

I remember quite vividly seeing him in the newsreels step off a plane and proclaim that he had bought "peace in our time." The price he paid was Czechoslovakia. Needless to say, he did not buy peace. He merely rented it for one year, paying a rather exorbitant price.

Trying to buy peace from a totalitarian regime is analogous to dealing with an extortionist. By offering South Viet Nam, we may have peace for a short time, but we will soon find ourselves faced with the same problem again, only this time the price will be even greater.

SEYMOUR GOLD Wantagh, N.Y.

Hail Fellows, Well Mets

Sir: God bless 'em—the Mets did it!!! And not by luck but by loyalty, courage, cooperation, magnificent teamwork, and the guidance, understanding and good old know-how of the most lovable and intelligent manager in baseball. My husband and I didn't miss a game (via overseas radio-direct). If Gil Hodges isn't Manager of the Year I quit!!!

(MRS.) BONNIE BLY Bangkok

Sir: Could you please tell me why everyone is explaining this week's stock market rise as the result of peace hopes, the possible end of inflation, etc., when it is so obvious that the real reason for the rise is those amazing Mets.

PAUL VIDAL Fall River, Mass.

Sir: The New York Mets have accomplished a task that neither mayoralty, gubernatorial nor presidential candidates have been able to achieve. They have been the first in many years to unify not only attitudes but racial gaps. They have made optimists of us all.

MARVIN HOFBERG Upper Montclair, NJ.

Hardly Normal

Sir: Your recent Essay "Charisma" [Oct. 17] was splendid and timely, but I must take issue with your characterization of Clement Atlee's postwar government in Britain as "dull, bureaucratic but quintessentially normal." The Atlee regime inaugurated six years of the most far-reaching social reconstruction in British history. It established the vast welfare state at home and presided over the dissolution of the British Empire abroad. The Atlee regime may have been dull and bureaucratic, but it most assuredly was not "quintessentially normal."

ALBERT J. MENENDEZ Jacksonville

Sir: In your Essay, how could you overlook one of the most inspirational leaders of the past year? To the people of Czechoslovakia Alexander Dubcek represented hope, and during a year's stay in that country we saw the hope fade as his official influence was replaced. But months after Husak took over leadership, one could still buy pins and pictures of Dubcek at souvenir stands in Praha. Hope may be gone but not the memories.

PHYLLIS JONES San Diego