Greeting Gromyko

To the Editors:

So now President Reagan wants to make nice with the Soviets and invites Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko to Washington [NATION, Oct. 1]. Reagan has finally come to realize that all the talk about "winnable" nuclear war and the holy war against godless Communism has only brought us closer to disaster. Like it or not, we share this planet with the Soviets. Either we live together or die together.

Wayne Karol

Huntington Station, N. Y.

Your article has led me to conclude that the Soviet Union is more concerned about preventing nuclear war than President Reagan is. When the U.S. started deploying nuclear weapons in Europe, the U.S.S.R. saw it as a clear sign that the President had no intention of seriously negotiating an arms-control treaty. Now, when Reagan is forced by the upcoming election to show that he is not a warmonger, the Soviets immediately send their top diplomat, Gromyko.

Mark A. Miedlar

DeKalb, Ill.

Gromyko probably appeared dour and unsmiling in New York because of the old Russian belief that important people should not smile in public.

Arthur Hawley

Seaford, Australia

Beirut Bombing

The latest attack against the U.S. embassy in Beirut [WORLD, Oct. 1] is another tragic example of terrorists attempting to alter our nation's foreign policy in the Middle East.

Seth Eisenberg

Bloomington, Ind.

The inept security around our Beirut embassy continues to amaze me. A child would know the solution. Dig a 6-ft. trench across the roadway. Add a drawbridge and keep it open. Any terrorist vehicle without wings would bury itself in he hole and selfdestruct. A day's work should do it.

John de Ruyter

New York City

Loving America

I am falling in love with my country [NATION, Sept. 24]. President Reagan's positive attitude sets me aflame. This Beautiful feeling makes anything possible.

Rose Evanoff

Midland, Texas

I love America too. But I loved it more in the '60s, when it had a social conscience and cared about the rest of the world. Those were the last days of true patriotism.

Judy Stern

Minneapolis

The new show of patriotism comes after decades of hearing other countries malign us. We have watched our citizens taken hostage in Iran and our servicemen blown up in Beirut. I do not care any more what "they" think. I love America.

Judy Smeester

Aurora, Colo.

Harry Britt says he has not found anyone who does not feel good about being an American right now. Well, he has not talked to me. I am ashamed of this country and what Ronald Reagan has done to the millions of poor people. I am ashamed of the violence shown toward children, women and animals. I am ashamed of the selfishness that characterizes our business and personal values. I am ashamed that not everyone in this country has equal rights although we have equal problems. Most of all, I am ashamed that the majority of Americans are so easily fooled by President Reagan.

Lisa Payne

Louisville

I have read a lot of mysteries, but you make Agatha Christie look like an amateur with your statement that "since the recession bottomed out in November 1982, disposable income has risen by $1,500 a person." I and several of my fellow steelworkers would like to know where our $1,500 is hidden. All I can figure is the butler took it, since he is probably as hard up as we are.

Karen Johnson

Oklahoma City

Americans show their real feelings about their country every four years, when barely half of them care enough to vote.

Andy Corsini

Marseilles, France

Though TIME was conscientious in not attributing America's buoyant mood directly to President Reagan, the story ends up pinning the good news on him anyway, just as it ties the downer years to Carter. Maybe it is inevitable that a Chief Executive is linked with the emotional weather during his watch.

Gerald Hough

Madrid

Burning Issue

The Burning Tree Club, an exclusive golf preserve, has been ordered to admit women or lose its $186,000-a-year property-tax exemption [NATION, Sept. 24]. I am more concerned about why they have such a tax exemption than whether they admit women.

Sandy Olsen

Renton, Wash.

I wish someone would explain why women insist on corrupting male-only establishments. Can they not understand that 90% of the time men go to such places to get away from their wives? Prehistoric man dealt with women's liberation quite well with his club.

Rodney Mansfield

Chattanooga, Tenn.

House Hopefuls

Your caricatures of Congressional Candidates Elise du Pont and Judy Petty [NATION, Oct. 1]-- were mislabeled. We in Arkansas know how our Judy Petty looks. You cannot fool us with du Font's name under Petty's picture.

Martha Johnson

El Dorado, Ark.

Clergy-Penitent Privilege

I am outraged by the article "Confidence and the Clergy" [RELIGION, Oct. 1]. How can churchmen take it upon themselves to keep information confidential that might prevent a heinous crime? Would it not be more Christian of them to find help for these sick penitents?

Diane Solomon

Eads, Tenn.

Why should a criminal be allowed to transfer his guilt to a minister through confession? Relieved of this burden, the criminal is free to commit the crime again. The Bible supports the concept of law and order. It does not uphold the privilege to "confess and do it again."

Fred Bell

Houston

Surely the sanctity of privileged communication between confessor and penitent lies in the privilege itself, not in the nature of the sin being confessed. A legislature that can revoke the right as it applies to child abuse can also repeal it for prostitution, drug trafficking and hit-and-run automobile accidents.

Earl E. Eigabroadt

Gig Harbor, Wash.

Sons and Mothers

Thank you for your story on the mother-son relationship [BEHAVIOR, Oct. 1]. I am always amused that mother-in-law jokes focus on the wife's mother, when it is the husband's mother who is nearly always the source of tension.

Kit Brown

Bel Air, Md.

Your article on the mother-son relationship does a great disservice to fathers. The idea that a mother cares more about the children than does the father is based on cliches and false perceptions. Your anecdotes of doting mothers can be matched with stories of overprotective fathers.

Charles W. Fisher

Akron Fathers for Equal Justice

Kent, Ohio

Blacks in Film

Your story on black actors [CINEMA, Oct. 1] suggests that D.W. Griffith purposely avoided using blacks in Birth of a Nation. As evidence you cite the fact that the major Negro roles were all played by whites in blackface. The reason is that in 1915 there were no black actors in Hollywood experienced enough to play these parts. In the interest of realism, Griffith would have hired them if he could have found them.

Gene D. Phillips, S.J.

Loyola University

Chicago

Misbehaving Medalists

After all the furor over Vanessa Williams and the image she tarnished for young Americans, how do you dare print the photo of the men Olympic swimmers without their trunks [PEOPLE, Oct. 1]? It is typical of the double standard in our society. Boys will be boys, but girls had better be ladies.

Virginia A. Hughes

Blasdell, N. Y.

Imagine the same revealing pose with Burt Reynolds surrounded by Mary Lou Retton, Mary Decker, Valerie Brisco-Hooks and Nancy Hogshead in the buff. Had it been the female U.S. Olympic winners rather than the male, they might have been asked to give up their gold medals.

Lori Scorsone

Pontiac, Mich.

Highs and Lows

From my research on manic-depression, which you covered in "The Ups and Downs of Creativity" [BEHAVIOR, Oct. 8], I have come to believe there are positive aspects to manic-depressive illness. But these effects should be put in the context of enormous human suffering. Suicide, cocaine abuse and alcoholism are exceedingly high among those afflicted with this sickness. And as far as the manic-depressive artist is concerned, I do not advocate that artists should avoid professional help. On the contrary, they have been undertreated for their mood disorders, and many could profit from the sophisticated use of lithium and psychotherapy.

Kay R. Jamison, Associate Professor

UCLA Department of Psychiatry

Los Angeles

Learning with Lisa

My children have attended six of the institutions mentioned in Lisa Birnbach 's College Book [EDUCATION, Oct. 1]. They found her guide accurate, even to such details as the University of Kansas Tan Man who suns himself on campus summer and winter. There are a few exceptions. Birnbach has miraculously moved the University of Notre Dame from South Bend to Fort Wayne.

Jane M. Koyzis

Wheaton, Ill.

Standard college catalogs help students decide where they will be successful. Birnbach's uninhibited, perceptive guide helps them decide where they will be successful and happy.

Kathy Hodges

New York City

So Birnbach thinks that many Purdue students "drink, and drink heavily." Well, please tell her that we Boilermakers do not care about the opinions of anyone who wears an Indiana University sweatshirt.

Hao-Nhien Vu

Lafayette, Ind.

Red or Dead

Reader Louis Mihalyi [LETTERS, Oct. 1] suggests that the Afghan freedom fighters should give in to the Soviets and live under their rule. Submitting to injustice and aggression in order to preserve life has been tried before and has resulted in death and misery for millions. The more people are willing to yield to injustice and aggression the more likely we are to have injustice and aggression.

Gordon George

Wellington, New Zealand

Professor Mihalyi should recall what has happened to the previous rulers of Communist Afghanistan, who enjoyed for a brief time the "privilege" of being "Red" and are now very dead.

Joseph J. Vukelich

Granada Hills, Calif.