Though there are some excellent articles in the September issue, the one that stands out is James Webb’s “Heroes of the Vietnam Generation.” I was in the Air Force from 1969 to 1972, and although the closest I came to the war was a Southern California air base, even back then I appreciated what our Marines, sailors, and soldiers went through in Vietnam. One day future generations will recognize Vietnam vets as real heroes of the twentieth century. Mr. Webb’s article puts all American war heroes in the proper perspective.

Dennis Hitchens
via the Internet

Your September issue on heroes came yesterday, and as usual was very interesting. However, I notice your authors occasionally make references to “winning” the “Congressional Medal of Honor.” First of all, the correct name for the award is Medal of Honor—period. The word “Congressional” is often tacked on, but it is just not correct. I know the New York Times uses it, but should they set the standard even when they are wrong? Also, combat medals are never “won”; they are awarded. The individual awarded is a recipient or holder of that medal, be it the Purple Heart, Silver Star, or Medal of Honor, not a “winner.”

MSGT David W. Menard, USAF (Ret.)
Huber Heights, Ohio

Congratulations for your issue on heroes, which reminds us how ersatz heroes have replaced the authentic heroes of our youth.

A glance at public buildings tells the tale. In the past, schools were named for military heroes or political leaders; now they are often named for teachers unknown outside the National Education Association. The mediocrity of American public education is signaled by schools named for mediocre citizens.

Regarding John Rodden’s “The Teacher as Hero”: Ordinary life may have all of the drama, passion, and kindness that Rodden describes. But it lacks heroism, that special quality which, by definition, is not found in ordinary life. We cannot celebrate heroism if we are all heroes. And heroic teaching is as silly as heroic dentistry.

F.H. Buckley
George Mason Law & Economics Center

Thanks for the great articles about “Big D” Dallas (October/November).  Sounds like the spirit of enterprise has made some cultural inroads. A generation after J.R. Ewing shaped the city’s image, capitalism has triumphed in Dallas. (Meanwhile, J.R.’s other favorite activities, adultery and treachery, have been thriving in the Oval Office and the West Wing!)

Jim Kearney
Marina del Rey, California

When Mitchell Muncy and I decided five years ago to start a publishing house dedicated to serious nonfiction, we wondered whether our venture would suffer because of its Dallas address. Would we be cut off from the intellectual centers of the East Coast? Would reviewers and bookstore buyers take us seriously? Sure, this is a great place to be if you’re in semiconductors or real estate, but would anyone in his right mind try to do serious publishing in Dallas?

For reasons that your October/November profile of our city makes clear, I have never doubted we are in the right place. In his perceptive BIRD’S EYE, “Land of the Meat Eaters,” Karl Zinsmeister perfectly describes Dallas in two sentences: “It can be a dizzying place, sometimes maddeningly unreflective. But it is also one of the most refreshingly uncalcified places I’ve ever spent time in.” For an idea-mongering enterprise like ours, this city of mavericks is the ideal home.

The downside of a city “built on a powerful hunger for growth and self-improvement and a love of freedom” (Zinsmeister on the nose again) is that it easily disregards what little history it has. No charming 1920s bungalow, for example, is safe from the wrecking ball here. At the same time, Dallas is relatively innocent of the relentless war on tradition that has degraded cities like Boston in so many ways.

Last Sunday, as I sat in our splendid Cistercian abbey church hearing a Mass accompanied by the polyphony of the choir of the University of Dallas (the city’s intellectual jewel, inexplicably ignored in your report) and graced by preaching of rare insight and eloquence, it occurred to me that one would be hard pressed to find such a service in any of the old Catholic metropolises of America. This city without a past at least is not at war with the past. For a conservative, that’s a source of no small comfort.

Thomas Spence
Spence Publishing Company

CORRECTION: In “Sister Power” (SCAN, October/November), Mari Thompson is misidentified as Mary Compton.