Letters: Mar. 7, 1983

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Legend has it that when H.L. Mencken was editor of the American Mercury, he had a standard reply to readers who wrote in either praise or complaint: "Dear Reader, You may be right." His response saved time and avoided arguments. But in the privacy of his office, Mencken was probably as fascinated by what his audience had to say as TIME'S editors have always been. The verse, volume and sometimes venom with which readers respond to stories provide an intriguing if imperfect measure of the public mind.

Analyzing the issues that mattered to the 51,027 readers who wrote TIME in 1982 disclosed a significant shift from previous years. Despite high unemployment and a stubbornly depressed economy, domestic matters concerned writers less; war and the threat of war bothered them much, much more. Letters about stories in the Nation section dropped 38%, from 15,617 in 1981 to 9,626 in 1982, while comments about articles on foreign and world affairs nearly doubled, to 9,011. Of the 15 major stories drawing the most mail in 1982, nine were directly related to war and its consequences.

The story that elicited the greatest response was the March 29 cover, "Thinking the Unthinkable: Rising Fears About Nuclear War." Most of the 1,074 people who wrote TIME in the weeks that followed were in fact afraid. Referring to a diagram showing the effects of a single nuclear bomb dropped on an American city, one reader said, "Although I have been an anti-nuclear supporter for several years, I had never seen an illustration of the damage a nuclear warhead could do to Detroit. How much more frightening it is when the scenario is shifted from Europe to my own backyard!" Said another: "Those who advocate continued production of nuclear weapons are not realists discussing deterrence. They are fanatics talking about how many times to bounce the rubble."

Only a minority, 145, took the opposite view, arguing that the U.S. should not let its defenses down and attacking TIME for raising the issue. " 'When in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout,' " said one correspondent, quoting the common saying. "That describes [your] series of articles. They say nothing, do nothing and propose nothing." Another argued: "The tougher we get, the safer we will be."

However, a Nov. 29 cover, which dealt with the Roman Catholic bishops' stand against nuclear weapons, produced an altogether different attitude. Nearly 400 readers wrote, and some quoted the Bible to the bishops: "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." By a ratio of 2 to 1 they criticized the churchmen for demanding a nuclear accommodation with the Soviet Union. Complained one letter writer: The bishops "would have us become a nation of groveling weaklings."