University of Virginia Library

Re: The "Hysteria" letter
sent by Mr. Hurd and Mr.
Orndorff. You'd think that
after all these years the
paranoids of the Right could
use their imagination and come
up with a new conspiracy for
America to be threatened by.

The International
Communist Conspiracy
(directed by the evil
slave masters of the Kremlin)
has pretty much been worn
thin. Most Americans have
realized that the internal threat
to our liberties resulting from
an unhealthy fear of Russia is
greater than the external threat
of Russian ambition.

Cannot Mr. Hurd and Mr.
Orndorff, since they evidently
must fear something, dream up
something else? How about an
intergalactic conspiracy from
Outer Space? A little harder to
prove maybe, but the Mr. Hurd
and Mr. Orndorff have little
trouble believing the
improbable.

For example, they are
encouraged by the "apparent
success of the President's
policy of Vietnamization. The
ARVN has made a respectable
showing during the present
offensive, and has proved it can
handle the ground war." Why
then, are we bombing the pure
hell out of North Vietnam?
Why don't we pull out and let
the ARVN, since they are so
capable, handle the war?

And it takes some awfully
twisted logic to conclude that
"it is also obvious that while
the South's government is far
from being perfectly
democratic, it is far superior to
the totalitarian dictatorship of
the North." The miserable,
corrupt government of the
South years ago derived its
authority and a shaky ability to
remain stable from U.S. power,
not from the support of the
Vietnamese people.

On the other hand, Ho Chi
Minh is a folk hero in Vietnam
because of his lifelong devotion
to the liberation of his country
from Western colonialism.
Now, which government is
most legitimate? It's too bad
that Mr. Hurd and Mr.
Orndorff have swallowed the
Nixon story hook, line, and
sinker.

But how does Nixon sleep
at night, knowing that while he
plays politics with Vietnam
more and more Americans and
Vietnamese (and Laotians and
Cambodians) pay for it with
their lives?