CORRESPONDENCE
CORRESPONDENCE Mutual Destruction? Chicago, Ill. To the Editors: Re your editorial statemeat of 20 January "... the threat of the deployment of destabilizing strategic systems, such as...
...These personalities were all intelligently and tactfully interviewed by .Dick Cavett...
...and the Soviet Union might boil over into a destructive conventional war...
...MARIANNE WILLISCH Commonweal: 319...
...I was, however, very much angered by a cohann in your ,issue of Jan...
...20, a criticism by Philip Terzian in the TV section concerning the Dick Cavett show...
...To mention only a few examples: Henry Steele Commager, Betla A.bzug and Julian Bond, of whom I got a totally new and different impression...
...I do not think th/s objectionable, however...
...Therefore I finds Mr...
...The interesting discourse on language between Edwin Newman and Professor Galbraith, Mdm...
...It is, by the way, not Cavetr who mentions his Yale education but the people he interviews...
...Terzien finds him pretentious and says he bullies his guests...
...I did not see his interview with the Arcl~bishop of Canterbury, Dr...
...For the last twenty years Soviet military writings have demanded a capability to "pre-empt" enemy attack destroy, ing his forces on his own territory...
...the threat of the deployment of destabilizing strategic systems, such as the M-X, a first strike counterforce weapon, which some feel could jolt the Soviets into a first strike posture of their own...
...This seems to me the only sound basis for proceeding...
...It seems to stem from frequently found prejudice of Americans against the so-called "eggheads," that is, intellectuals...
...And why shouldn't they...
...DeMi.lle and the dramatist Simon, the interview with and performance by the wonderful organist Virgil F o x...
...Not only would the mObile M-X reduce Soviet temptation to preempt in a crisis, but, being less vulnerable than current ICBMs, it would proverrt the United States from adopting the "launch on warrfing" strategy which 'could easily lead to acoidental war...
...There is little on TV as interesting as the Dick Cavett show...
...As to the Mobilization for Survival, I doubt not their sincerity, but have they considered that it may only be ~he threat of mutual destruction that has ,led to the paltry efforts at reduoing tension, that without nuclear weapons the powerful ideological hostilities of the U.S...
...Terzian's judgment incorrect and uniust...
...and so I could go on and on...
...I consider this show excellent and Dick Cavett a very good and tactful interviewer...
...BENJAMIN FIEDLER Dick Cavort i Evanston, I, ll...
...What I enjoy in these rather unusual interviems is the occasion of meeting outstanding people and the generally intelligent questions that help one get a definite impression of these personalities, their views on life and methods of work in their respective professions, be they scientific or artistic...
...What do you think the Soviet SS-17, SS-18 and SS-19 missiles are, if not "first strike counterforce weapons...
...Ramsey, but can well imagine there ~vould be a conflict of opinions be,tween him and the other participants, Jane and Peter Fonda...
...They would certainly hot come ff he did nothing but bully them and try to put himself in the foreground and in a most favorable light...
...Finally, it is wrong, of course, to accuse the advocates of disarmament with being more interested in serving Soviet foreign policy than i,n advancing (Continued on page 318) Cmnmonweal: 291 CORRESPONDENCE (Continued from page 291) peace and mutual security (though those ~r protest the neutron bomb, wlfile ignoring the Backfire bomber and the SS-20 missiles, weapons which would cause far greater destruction of Kfe in a European war than the neutron bomb, but also are capable of striking the U~ited States in some circumstances, do "objectively" serve Soviet goals), but why is it that those who argue on the opposite side are nearly always dismissed as "cold warriors," "ha~cks," or agents of the "MilitaryIndustrial Complex...
...I do not ,believe Dick Oavett is particularly interested in violent con*roversy like that on the Mailer-Vidal evening, but it did give me quite an interesting slant on these writers' personaltties...
...We "ha~vks" are just as concerned with averting nuclear war and promoting human survival as 12 May 1978:318 the Mobilization for Survival, but we try to look at the world as it is, not as we might w~sh it to be...
...To the Editors: I am a long-time sttbscriber, and I .like your magazine very much...
...This ,is an understandable strategy in light of Soviet history, but it hardly promotes mutually acceptable arms control...
...Catering to the bad taste of the ggneral public certainly is not characteristic for Dick Cavort nor is interviewing show-people and boring us with unimportant details of their life...
...I era in general agreement with your political views and also like your articles...
...The very sensitive interview with the blind ballerina Alicia Alonso, James Levine, the fine musician, Eleanor Clark discussing her book Eyes, and .the touching interview with Antonia Brico, the enthusiastic conductor who so rarely gets occasion to conduct...
...I have never .heard him do this...
...They are people who would generally not consent to be on a talkshow ,but they come when Cavett invites them because they respect him...
...I find intelligence and education no handicap, but an asset...
...We need not imitate Soviet postures, but it would imprudent to do nothing ~bout this potential threat to our strategic forces...
...Deploying the M-X in limited numbers (75-150) would not give us a first strike capability against Soviet ICBMs, but would allow us to destroy a considerable proportion of Soviet missiles "left over" after their first strike...
Vol. 105 • May 1978 • No. 10
