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Sir / If there is anything to be learned from Watergate, it is that election campaign reform is past due. The most tragic consequence of the recent disclosures of political corruption is the erosion of public confidence in our elected officials.
Nothing short of complete elimination of all political contributions, to be replaced by adequate public funding, will restore the public's lost confidence.
BERT F. EDWARDS
Denver
Sir / Those opposed to the impeachment of President Nixon invariably contend that impeachment proceedings would accentuate the existing chaos in Government and do irreparable harm to the U.S. But failure to invoke such proceedings for the above reason will create a climate in which the President is above the law and free from congressional restraint.
The U.S. Constitution provides for impeachment as part of its system of checks and balances. Reluctance to invoke impeachment serves to negate that system. The Executive Branch of Government has become much too powerful. Failure to keep it in check and imbued with a sense of morality will prove disastrous to the nation.
VINCENT FIORDALISI
Locust Valley, N.Y.
Sir / Last November several people told me that if I voted for McGovern the morale of the citizenry would suffer, the country would be in a big mess, and there would be corruption in Government.
They were right—I voted for McGovern and all those things have come true!
(THE REV.) DONALD C. BUSHFIELD Torrance, Calif.
Sir / Why is it that you Americans are bent on making Watergate Nixon's Waterloo? Are you sure this is what you want to do to the man who got you out of Viet Nam, made friends with the Chinese, lifted the Iron Curtain a bit—all within the past few years? Is this your way of saying thank you to a great leader who has done a lot for peace?
ALBERTO M. SORIANO
Davao City, Philippines
Prankster Tuck
Sir / Perhaps I have been oversensitized by Watergate, but I am not amused by Dick Tuck and his antics [Aug. 13].
Mr. Tuck's tricks are every bit as reprehensible as the Watergate breakin, albeit a great deal funnier on the surface. Politics ought not to be humorless, but it is serious business, and the manipulation of a candidate's campaign by outsiders is disgusting no matter who does the manipulating.
THOMAS A. PENN
Lansdale, Pa.
Nonsupport
Sir / Your reporters are more accurate than the White House staff, but not much more. I voted for Humphrey, not Nixon, in '68 [July 9]. My vote for Nixon was in '72 —along with a few other Democrats who just couldn't swallow George McGovern.
I never campaigned for nor contributed a nickel to Nixon in any campaign for any office. Neither do I consider myself "a presidential supporter."
SAM M. LAMBERT
Washington, D.C.
Urban Homesteading
Sir / The title of your article "Ghetto Homesteaders" [Aug. 13] implies that the properties to be restored by Philadelphia City Councilman Joseph E. Coleman's Urban-Homesteading bill are only ghetto properties. This is not true. These houses are found in neighborhoods throughout the entire city.