"Joke widens gap," read the headline on the letter to the Milwaukee Journal in the mid-1970s.

"For the last couple of years I have casually glanced over the mediocre humor of the Nancy comic strip in your Green Sheet. The idiotic things that Nancy and Sluggo said were so trivial that there was no reason to protest until the March 1 episode.

"That was one in which Nancy builds a moronic conglomerate of wood and nails and proclaims. 'It's my own invention,' But then adds, 'but I suppose the Russian will say they invented it first.'

"I have always had and always will have a great respect for the Russian people. I eagerly await the day that we can shake hands with our Russian friends with honest smiles on our faces and without wiping our hands on our pants legs after doing so.

"But this day won't come until all hate and distrust between the United States and Russia is totally dissolved. But distrust will never cease if little pug-nosed girls keep accusing the Russian people of dishonesty, even if it is only a joke.

"Let us all hope for a strong friendship between the USSR and U.S."