Mayor-Elect Lindsay
Sir: Mayor-elect John Lindsay's victory in New York [Nov. 12] is an important lesson for the Republican Party. For if the G.O.P. expects to become a truly national party again, it is to progressive, liberal candidates of Mr. Lindsay's stature that it must turn. The days of Goldwater have passed. Now Mr. Lindsay must turn all his efforts toward giving New York dynamic, nonpartisan government. He has won, and now he must prove himself, but he cannot do it alone; it is time for those who welcomed his victory to join him in his efforts.
JAN DEG. JACOBI Stanford, Calif.
Sir: The desperation of the Republican Party is all the more apparent with the ballyhoo surrounding the election of John Lindsay. How this untried, unproven and unproductive individual can be projected into the limelight of national politics is beyond me.
CHARLES R. O'REGAN Washington, D.C.
Sir: As a former resident of New York City, I take exception to the view that Lindsay's election signals a comeback for the Republican Party from the disaster of 1964. The man Mr. Lindsay ran against was a product of the corrupt, inept and hopeless Democratic organization that has left the city in the stagnant position it finds itself in today. A stronger Democratic candidate certainly would have sent J.V.L. scurrying back to Congress.
DAVID J. DEUTCHMAN Norwood, Mass.
The Rhodesian Story
Sir: As a Rhodesian studying in the U.S. I do not see everything through TIME's eyes, but I think that your cover story on Rhodesia [Nov. 5] attempted to present both sides. The white man wants to stay in Africa, but he fears the capacity of his black brothers to maintain law and order. As this fear has sometimes been justified, it is little wonder that the Rhodesian government has no immediate plans for "one man, one vote."
BARRY W. WILSON Philadelphia
Sir: As a white Rhodesian who supports neither the Rhodesian Front nor U.D.I., I believe it blatantly false to say "Rhodesians are determined that the blacks will never rule." Every political party has envisaged a black majority in Parliament in ten to 20 years, but government must be civilized; Rhodesia wants no immature, ignorant rule leading to dictatorship and bankruptcy. Rhodesia's policy is the raising of the masses to responsible rule through the government of an increasingly capable minority, both black and white.
M. W. BARRON Deerfield, Mass.
Sir: What breed of white man, save a guilt-ridden fanatic from one of our 20th century churches, would actually choose black rule? Can you seriously imagine preferring to be outnumbered 16 to 1 by blacks in swimming pools, theaters and schools, preferring to live under some monstrously multicolored rag instead of the Union Jack, preferring to point to speculative historical "records" of some primitive people as a record of antecedents instead of to England's glory and the brilliance of English-African settlements?
GRACE KENNEDY Cherry Hill, N.J.