Publication and Preservation

Sir: The New York Times [June 28] is to be commended for the publication of excerpts from the secret Pentagon report on U.S. involvement in Viet Nam. At the same time, the U.S. Government's case to restrain further publication of these official secrets is justified. But on balance, if we look beyond the letter of the law. the action of the New York Times has made a genuine contribution to the preservation of free institutions.

HECTOR A. MENDEZ New York City

Sir: Has the Times become so sacrosanct that it is considered above the Government and the welfare of the country? If its actions are now condoned, that will automatically give license to anyone who chooses to rifle Government security material according to his own judgment.

H.L. GRAY Washington

Sir: To those who brand the embroiled newspapers as "irresponsible," may we raise a question: To whom is the Government responsible, if not to the very people whose learning it is so avidly discouraging? How are they to grow in "civil Wisdome" that may be implemented at the polls if arbitrary power blunts their ability to know? BARBARA E. SCHAEFER Westfield, N.J.

Sir: After reading the recent disclosures on the Viet Nam War in the New York Times, I say we should turn the L.B.J. Library into a mausoleum for our Viet Nam War dead.

JOHN M. PARA Binghamton, N.Y.

Freeze-Dried Souls

Sir: Your article on the Jesus people [June 21] was good news. But I read the words of the doubting people with impatience. They want to see mature faith instantly, as if souls were like so much freeze-dried coffee just waiting for the hot water and the swish of the spoon. I hate to see these hard hearts jumping in to squelch a new batch of turned-on people. Faith is an ugly thing to nonbelievers. It hurts to hope for something as big as universal love. It's a pain worth having.

NANCY ANDERSON Manhattan Beach, Calif.

Sir: To answer the critics who say that the Jesus movement causes narrow-minded thinking, I can happily say that we are singleminded, not narrow-minded. Having the ultimate solution gives us that privilege.

WILLIAM D. KOONS Houston

Sir: Drugs, drugs, drugs! The Jesus Freaks have switched from pot and LSD to the opiate of the masses.

R.K. O'CAiN Columbia. S.C.

Sir: Don't knock it 'til you've tried it. LEROY G. BULLER, "Jesus Freak" Topeka, Kans.

Sir: As a black revolutionary woman evangelist and a representative of pur black youth, all I have to say about the

Jesus Freaks is keep them in the white community. As black people we have suffered enough "pollution of the mind" from white people. They gave us Jesus a long time ago, took everything else that was tangible and left us with the Spirit.

(Rev. Sister) IMAGENE WILLIAMS Prime Minister

Church of What's Happening Now Washington

Sir: It is berserk to think of Jesus as a revolutionary. He was a counter-revolutionary enemy of the people.

Every ruling class wants its subjects to model themselves after Jesus, the cheerful maker of his own execution. The Indians were given reservations and Bibles. Early labor leaders competed with evangelists, and now they are trying to water down the youth revolution.

FRED MORSE

Ministry of Defense

Young Atheist League

Seattle

Berets and Bedpans

Sir: I am appalled by your article on the Green Berets as paramedics [June 21]. I think this is next to the final humiliation of this group. What next? Bedpans?

Your three-star man had a "notion." Has he never heard of the U.S. Public Health Service?

MARK P. BEAM, M.D. Newport Beach, Calif.

Sir: Is it not ironic that while the Green Berets get applause for attending to the health of the poor in long-neglected parts of South Carolina, thousands of youths who would be glad to do this kind of work are given a choice only between Viet Nam and jail?

PETER UNGAR Scarsdale, N.Y.

Sir: So the Department of Defense is reluctant about giving its blessing because the American Medical Association may cry "socialized medicine.''

The irony of it all! Socialized medicine it may be, but can the A.M.A. find enough humanitarians in its own ranks to balance the ratio of doctor to patient in deprived rural areas? Why not let our gallant men of war do something constructive? It almost makes me want to join a parade and carry the flag.

(MRS.) LYNDA K. BROOKS Virginia Beach, Va.

Apples for the Future

Sir: No article could capture the magic of Leo Burnett and his "Chicago School of Advertising" [June 21]; but we in the First City appreciate your efforts.

Those "big bowls of red apples" were more than "a small folksy offering to all visitors"; they served as a continuous reminder that when Burnett borrowed and mortgaged to start his own agency, he was admonished that he would be selling apples before the year was over.

WILLIAM O. SHANK Chicago

Novel Theory

Sir: "Poverty is an odious good: it is a stimulant to business," said the Wife of Bath in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. So much for the "novel theory" that "Poverty May Be Good for You" [June 21].

HAROLD DEPUY Rochester

Traveling Halves

Sir: Bernard Bothmer's brilliant piecing together of the "Split King" [June 21] still leaves a fundamental question unanswered: How did his two halves get to different destinations?

CHARLES F. BOYER Boston

> During the 2,000 years that the Temple of Karnak was in use, many statues were discarded to make room for new ones and were broken and separated in the process. Collectors buy the heads because they are more interesting, and consequently the heads travel farther and wider.

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