The Coca - Cola cabinet
Sir: Nicholas von Hoffman, a regular contributor to the Washington Post for many years, always had a reputation for trying to be amusing at someone else's expense. His assessment (Spectator, 19 January) of the personalities that are emerging as the President-elect proposes them for various cabinet posts is particularly mischievous with respect to Cyrus Vance, chosen by Mr Carter to succeed Dr Kissinger at the Department of State.
When Washington was beset by rioting in the aftermath of the Martin Luther King assassination in 1968, Cyrus Vance was called in to restore the confidence of the people. This was done very effectively, and without bloodshed (as in previous riots in Detroit which were also defused by Cyrus Vance), by recognising that life was more important than property, and by organising, amongst other things, a crisis centre where rumours could be checked. It had been realised that crowds became particularly susceptible to rumour epidemics during major civil commotions. Cyrus Vance also appeared at regular intervals on television to give accurate accounts of measures that had been undertaken by the local authorities, for general relief of those who had been rendered homeless, or who were cut off from normal supplies.
It goes without saying that Mr Vance's reputation for crisis management, based also on his experience on being sent to Cyprus as a `trouble-shooter,' cannot be sabotaged by a few snide remarks by Nicholas von Hoffman who might not be able to differentiate all that clearly whether anyone was capable of expressing a belief in anything or not, or to recognise whether a person was principled as opposed to unprincipled.
W. R. Jondorf 3, Gough Way, Cambridge
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