Forum: The Public's Economic Program

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Aspiring leaders should remember that greatness is for history to judge. Their job is to stake out strong positions on the most difficult issues of their time.

Morris K. Udall Washington, D.C.

The writer, a Congressman from Arizona since 1961, is an announced candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

No automatic omniscience accrues to a new President the day after election to produce the superman sometimes expected by our citizens. But there is available a tremendous reservoir of knowledge and ability among our people. Effective decision-making experience and a long campaign help to teach the successful candidate how to tap this competent help.

As a prerequisite to superior performance, there must be a total commitment to demonstrable integrity. Frankness, openness, boldness, accessibility and maintenance of strict and publicly known ethical standards are necessary. Those good people who wish to maintain complete personal privacy should not seek public office. The only way for public officials to gain public trust is to be trustworthy.

Our basic problem is not so much that people have lost confidence in their Government, but that elected officials have underestimated the innate character and intelligence of their constituents. An increasingly skeptical public and reductions in paid advertising because of new spending ceilings should serve to reduce the appeal of the superficial media candidate.

Following the shame of Watergate and with the coming observance of our nation's 200th birthday, it is time to reject mediocrity in every aspect of national life. Why not the best?

Jimmy Carter Atlanta

Governor of Georgia until last month, the writer is another early Democratic presidential aspirant.

Bad Jokes for Spring

Here, here. None of this. I will not have you criticizing AM America [Jan. 20] in a magazine for which I pay good money. We have finally been given an alternative to Today, with its icehouse atmosphere and the reptilian Barbara Walters. Stephanie Edwards and Bill Beutel tell bad jokes and give us information about the state of the Coke bottle, Faye Dunaway's birthday and oryx farming. It's the difference between waking up in winter or in spring.

Rex Rowan Jacksonville

Come, come, Jay Cocks, you threw a heavy typewriter at a butterfly. No one in the audience seriously believed that funny little airship could get off the ground, much less fly. Island at the Top of the World [Jan. 13] was fun and fantasy, a world where no one got cold or hungry or tired or discouraged. We knew the good guys would solve their problems. We knew the bad guy would be overcome. All this without nudity, obscenity or promiscuity. Jay Cocks, you aren't young enough or old enough to review a Disney movie.

Robin Foster Ipswich, Mass.

Antioch in the '70s

I appreciate that TIME has once again singled out Antioch as an important institution in its own right and one that reflects the gains and problems of liberal arts education in the country.