A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

ies or commanders , Allied or Axis . Instead he thought of what might have been 

of all the men buried in French soil and all their families from whom they were 

forever separated . He said how blessed he and Mamie felt to have had grandchild

ren . And he reflected with sadness on the other American couples who would be d

enied that blessing because their sons had fallen in the fields of northern Fran

ce . I had similar feelings in June 1984 when I visited Normandy for the 40th an

niversary of the great invasion . As I gazed out upon the endless rows of white 

crosses and Stars of David , Ike 's lament took on a special and personal poigna

ncy . Within sight of Omaha Beach , I singled out Pfc . Peter Zanatta , whose da

ughter Lisa had written to tell me of her father 's extraordinary bravery . Pfc.

 Zanatta had died of cancer several years before the 1984 commemoration , but he

 was very much in our thoughts . On that day I promised both Lisa and her father

 , `` We will always remember . We will always be proud . We will always be prep

ared , so we may always be free . '' Much has changed in the decade since . The 

Iron Curtain that rose in the tragic aftermath of the war has been consigned to 

the history books . Germany has united . Yet for these changes and more , our de

bt of gratitude remains to the boys of Pointe du Hoc and all the heroes who libe

rated a continent in chains . Age has its privileges , not least among them the 

opportunity to distill whatever wisdom comes from a long life of experiences . M

y generation has lived through a cold war and a nuclear nightmare that for 40 ye

ars haunted the dreams of children everywhere . During this same time , we have 

seen the United States become , however reluctantly , a great player on the worl

d stage . Today , 50 years after the stark contrasts of D-Day , many Americans q

uestion our role in a world less clearly divided between dictatorships and democ

racy . Aware of our power , we seem uncertain as to our purpose . Some in Congre

ss , who confuse leading with meddling and ignore the lessons of a century scarr

ed by false Utopias and Maximum Leaders , would have us lower our global profile

 . On the eve of D-Day-plus-50 they propose the removal of 75,000 American soldi

ers from Europe unless Europeans pay a significantly greater share of the cost o

f keeping them there . Many oppose such short-sighted policies , and for good re

ason . Let 's be honest . Evil still stalks the planet . Its ideology may be as 

simple as bloodlust , its program not more complex than economic or military plu

nder . Call it what you will , it is evil all the same . As such , it must be re

cognized and countered . Acknowledging trouble is not the same as looking for it

 . In the post-Cold War world it is fashionable to assert that nations must focu

s their energies on economic , not military factors . In the long run , it is tr

ue , no nation can remain militarily strong while economically exhausted . But i

t is also true that defeats on the battlefield can and do occur in the short run

 . Enemies driven by nationalism , religion , ethnicity or ideology are unlikely

 to be impressed by American automobile production or diplomatic skills , especi

ally if the latter are divorced from military strength . Lest we forget , Kuwait

 's wealth did not protect it from the predatory Saddam Hussein . Moreover , can

 anyone truly believe that progress toward a Middle East peace has occurred in a

 vacuum , or that Israel 's age-old enemies would consider making peace but for 

the disappearance of the Soviet Union as a regional military power ? The questio

n answers itself . As long as military force remains a necessary fact of modern 

existence , we should employ it in the service of vital humanitarian objectives 

. For example , what is being done to the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina shreds ev

ery definition of human morality . `` Ethnic cleansing '' is a savage euphemism 

for an evil we 've seen before in Europe . By the same token , in parts of Afric

a , mankind is an endangered species . The ultimate lesson of D-Day should not b

e the willingness of freedom 's friends to come to its defense in an hour of gra

ve peril . It should rather be how unnecessary such sacrifice is . If statesmen 

do their jobs with vision and resolution , then soldiers needn't be exposed to m

urderous fire . Ten years ago I promised Lisa Zanatta that we would always remem

ber . It would be tragic as well as ironic if the 50th anniversary of D-Day was 

marked only by political amnesia . Private Zanatta deserves better . So do his g

randchildren .

 WASHINGTON A Washington Post article about Bedford , Va. , incorrectly stated t

hat the deaths of 23 Bedford soldiers on D-Day prompted the military to stop for

ming units from single communities . A Pentagon spokesman said the story is not 

true , even though it is a much-repeated World War II story . National Guard and

 military reserve units activated for combat still comprise people from the same

 region . The article also misstated the year in which the 29th Infantry Divisio

n sailed for Britain . It was 1942 .

 WASHINGTON A Washington Post article about Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown '

s business interests incorrectly reported a statement from Harry Barnett , the a

ttorney for Washington business executive Nolanda Hill . Barnett said he was not

 aware of the specifics of Brown 's sale of his interest in First International 

Communications Corp. , a Washington investing firm that Hill and Brown owned .

 You see them all the time now , on the trunk lids of new cars , sporty-looking 

and not-so-sporty-looking . They resemble oversized lift handles or misplaced ai

rcraft wings . They are called rear spoilers , and they are being offered increa

singly as options on new cars . Not just on overpowered , pseudo sports cars lik

e the Chevy Camaro or the Ford Mustang . Spoilers can also be found on such othe

rwise sedate models as the Toyota Camry , Honda Accord , Oldsmobile Achieva , Ni

ssan Sentra , and Mercedes 190E . They 're attached to the rear ends of the Volv

o 850 and the Ford Tempo and Escort . Even Saturn , which bills itself as a no-n

onsense , straightforward automobile , offers an optional spoiler . You now can 

order a spoiler for virtually every new car model sold in America . If it doesn'

t come from the factory , the dealer will be happy to install one for you for a 

price . The idea isn't new . Formula I racing cars have been using them for year

s . The principle is simple : It 's the reverse of an aircraft wing . The spoile

r generates downward airflow on the rear of the car , thereby increasing tractio

n without requiring an increase in curb weight . It 's an effective racing devic

e , provided you 're running the track at about 200 mph . But street vehicles ar

e a different story . You simply aren't going to reach speeds where a spoiler 's

 effects would be significant . Furthermore , most of the spoiler manifestations

 cropping up on our highways aren't engineered components . They 're added for s

tyling . They 're gingerbread . And they 're very expensive , especially when yo

u consider that they 're basically useless . How expensive ? About $ 700 on a To

yota Celica or Honda Accord . Or $ 500 on the Volvo . Only GM , which is fightin

g for market share at the moment , seems to be reticent about gouging for spoile

rs . On most of its models , the option runs under $ 200 . But even GM 's price 

is exorbitant , compared with the manufacturing cost . In a recent and informal 

survey of new-car dealers in the Washington area , I asked every salesperson who

 approached me about spoilers . I also collected as many brochures on new cars a

s I could , looking to read what the automobile manufacturers were saying about 

spoilers in their promotional literature . The results of my little expedition s

hould be eye-opening for cost-conscious car-shoppers . The typical pitch is that

 the spoiler will help improve traction . But when you ask for specifics enginee

ring data , say you immediately get a verbal shuffle about how it 's too complic

ated for a layperson to understand . In some cases , however , the salespeople w

illn't try to mislead you . `` What does a spoiler do ? '' I asked at a Honda de

alership . `` It makes the car look better , '' was the reply . `` Oh yeah ? For

 how much ? '' `` About $ 700 . '' `` Would you spend that kind of money on the 

thing ? '' I asked . `` Not me , man , '' the salesman replied , sheepishly . On

e hint of the uselessness of spoilers , and the unspoken line over which the car

 manufacturers willn't step , is how they are described in the sales literature 

. Only a few of the brochures I collected categorized spoilers as a performance-

enhancing feature . Those were for high-end , high-performance models . Instead 

, loose references were made to their sporty appearances . In other words , no c

armaker will claim in print that a rear spoiler actually does you any good on th

e road . The closest I found to an overt statement was contained in the brochure

 for the Toyota Supra , which sells for nearly $ 50,000 . In it , the company to

uts the $ 700 option as `` Helping to increase downforce and stability at the hi

gher speeds. .. . ' ' At exactly what higher speeds ? The brochure doesn't speci

fy . The Volvo brochure is more circumspect . The spoiler option on its 850 mode

l series , which runs about $ 500 , `` Adds distinctive , performance oriented v

isual accent. .. . ' ' We 're talking about a spoiler on a Volvo , for crying ou

t loud ! Although they have been an option for several years , none of the major

 consumer magazines has turned its attention to spoilers not Consumer Reports , 

the Car Book , Consumer Guide , Car & Driver , or Road and Track , for instance 

. -O- Possibly the height of absurdity is the sight of spoilers on the rear deck

s of such models as the Camry and the Accord , which have front-wheel drive . An

 idle question : If spoilers were truly effective , shouldn't carmakers install 

them on the hoods of their front-drive models ? True , there are many other opti

ons that are just as expensive . But this isn't like a sunroof , which costs a l

ot but at least has a function . Or fog lamps . Or even a tachometer for a model

 with an automatic transmission . The spoiler has no function whatsoever except 

to liberate more of your money . So what 's a consumer to do ? First and foremos

t , don't waste a dime on a spoiler . If you absolutely must have one , insist t

he dealer give you a discount equal to its mark-up on the sticker price . My rec

ommendation is that you take the money you would have spent on a spoiler and go 

out and buy yourself a bicycle rack and a good bicycle to put on it . You 'll ha

ve purchased a much more useful addition to your car 's rear deck , a wonderful 

alternative mode of transportation , and a boon to your personal fitness .

 President Clinton recently treated word-watchers to a linguistic `` two-fer . '

' On a single , red-letter day , he dusted off the venerable American phrase `` 

red cent '' and coined a new word , `` delink . '' `` The Treasury will not be o

ut one red cent , '' Clinton announced , explaining that the government would be

 fully reimbursed for an aide 's use of a White House helicopter for a golf outi

ng . Hot on the scent of `` red cent , '' we discover that the U.S. government '

s first penny , minted between 1793 and 1857 , was made from reddish tinted copp

er , earning it the name `` red cent . '' Since then , Americans haven't been re

ticent about using `` red cent '' to mean something of small value . Clinton mig

ht have plugged that spot in his prose with `` plugged nickel , '' a term circul

ated during the 1800s for a gold or silver coin whose center has been removed an

d plugged with a cheap metal . Some might contend that there 's not a dime 's wo

rth of difference between these two terms . But in coins , as in religion , deno

mination is everything . By choosing a penny ante expression , Clinton was tryin

g to make it clear that he 'd give such corruption no quarter and trying to prev

ent his own de-nomination in 1996 . Which brings us to `` delink . '' Was Presid

ent Clinton a `` delink-quent '' when he coined this word for detaching U.S. tra

de policy with China from our disapproval of Chinese human rights violations ? S

ome newspapers not only greeted Clinton 's decision with an unchained melody of 

boos , but placed `` delink '' in quotation marks , the journalistic equivalent 

of dangling a dead rodent at arm 's length and holding your nose . True enough ,

 `` un '' is the more common prefix to indicate that an action has been reversed

 , and we already have a perfectly good word `` unlink '' to indicate the concep

t of detachment . But the prefix `` de '' also means `` to reverse '' or `` remo

ve , '' as in `` delouse , '' `` demystify '' and `` demagnetize . '' Besides , 

`` delink , '' in the diplomatic tradition of `` dealignment '' and `` depolitic

ize , '' sounds crisper and more decisive than `` unlink . '' But , please , spa

re us `` delinkization . ''

 An extraordinary collection of original documents , including a 1575 memo from 

Queen Elizabeth I to a servant requesting that her closets be cleaned out and so

me of her clothes given to 40 poor women on Maundy Thursday , is on view at an e

xhibit that opened May 27 at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville , N.C. . The show 

is called `` George Washington Vanderbilt : A Man and His Treasures '' to mark t

he centennial of Biltmore , the largest house in America . The 250-room French R

enaissance-style mansion was designed by noted architect Richard Morris Hunt for

 the grandson of the dynasty 's founder , Cornelius Vanderbilt . Biltmore , whic

h is now a museum , remains in the family ; its owner , William Cecil , is a six

th-generation Vanderbilt . The royal correspondence is among approximately 1,000

 original documents inserted into a set of 29 gilded volumes entitled `` The His

tory of Holland House , '' published in the 1850s . Holland House was the London

 abode of an aristocratic English family from the 17th century until it was dest

royed by bombs during World War II . The folio-size volumes were purchased more 

than a century ago by George Vanderbilt . They have remained ever since in stora

ge at Biltmore , uncataloged and unseen by scholars , according to Jerry Patters

on , author of `` The Vanderbilts . '' Another exceptional document in the colle

ction is a 1782 letter from the Marquis de Lafayette to Benjamin Franklin tellin

g him it would be tough to get more `` pecuniary assistance '' from France for t

he young United States . Asked by Cecil to authenticate the collection , Patters

on , formerly a rare-book expert at Sotheby 's , said in an interview it contain

s unique items such as an autograph of Edward VI , Henry VIII 's son who died as

 a teen-ager , and funeral bills for William III showing how much his shroud cos

t . There are unpublished missives from literati such as Lord Byron , Samuel Joh

nson , Richard Sheridan , Samuel Taylor Coleridge , Alexander Pope and William W

ordsworth . There is a letter in Old Russian signed by Catherine the Great and a

 1799 note about a soldier 's pension from Napoleon when he was still Bonaparte 

. Napoleon was a friend of the Holland family . Other treasures collected by Geo

rge Vanderbilt that are on public display for the first time since the museum op

ened in 1930 include numerous pieces of silver by famed 18th-century English sil

versmiths Paul DeLamerie and Paul Crespin . There are also memorabilia that shed

 light on the personality of Biltmore 's original owner , who died in 1914 : his

 boyhood diaries , French royalty cards ( an antique version of baseball cards )

 , pocket watches and even a ticket stub from a bullfight of long ago . A compan

ion show entitled `` Biltmore Estate : The Most Distinguished Private Place '' w

ill be mounted at the Octagon museum in Washington starting Oct. 17 . The centen

nial exhibit will remain until the end of 1995 . For information , call the Bilt

more Estate , ( 800 ) 323-6804 .

 WASHINGTON The State Department , in a highly unusual move , has quietly yanked

 career foreign service officer Jon David Glassman from his job as ambassador to

 Paraguay only a few months before his three-year tour was to have been complete

d . Glassman , a national security aide to former Vice President Dan Quayle , wa

s summarily bounced by Assistant Secretary of State Alexander F. Watson and prin

cipal deputy Michael Skol around mid-February and was given until April 30 to le

ave Asuncion . Administration officials insist that the move had nothing to do w

ith Glassman 's identification with Quayle or his authorship of a controversial 

`` white paper '' that the Reagan administration used to `` prove '' that the Sa

lvadoran rebels were Cuban and Soviet puppets . Officials said that the problem 

was mostly one of style . The hard-charging Glassman had been U.S. charge d' aff

aires to Afghanistan and closed the U.S. . Embassy there in 1989 . He was sent t

o Paraguay by President George Bush . Word is that he was too undiplomatic in le

aning on the Paraguayan government to crack down on drug smugglers and money lau

nderers . He had simply stepped on too many toes too often . Sources said the Pa

raguayan government had twice sent senior officials to Washington in recent mont

hs to complain and press for Glassman 's removal . `` We simply lost confidence 

in his reporting '' on the situation in Paraguay , an administration source said

 , adding that Glassman 's departure `` has been a long time coming . '' Bush ad

ministration officials also had been unhappy with his performance but took no ac

tion before the Clinton administration came in , that source said . While style 

may have had much to do with the decision , there appears to have been a substan

tive dispute as well between Glassman and the State Department . Glassman report

edly pushed to have the newly elected Paraguayan government branded as noncooper

ative with U.S. antinarcotic efforts in the South American country . Other agenc

ies working in Asuncion agreed with that assessment , a source said . But offici

als here disagreed and kept Paraguay on State 's `` good guys '' list of nations

 this year . Glassman is now awaiting his next assignment , which will be workin

g in Washington at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Fort McNair , d

escribed by one source as `` truly Siberia . '' Word is Glassman 's replacement 

is to be another career foreign service officer , Robert E . Service , who has s

erved in posts in Latin America and as director of Southern Cone affairs , the b

ureau that handles Argentina , Chile , Uruguay and Paraguay . Service is the son

 of John Stewart Service , one of the career foreign service `` China hands '' w

ho fell victim to the McCarthyite witch hunt of the 1950s .

 BUDAPEST , Hungary The successors to the Communists won last weekend in the fin

al round of Hungary 's 1994 national elections . With some trepidation , the wor

ld took note that Hungary , like Lithuania and Poland before it , had returned t

he former ( if somewhat reformed ) Communist Party to power . The wins by the Co

mmunist remnants are leading some to wonder about the fate of regional democrati

c reforms . But only a paranoid few anticipate the restoration of the old one-pa

rty dictatorship and state-controlled centralized economy . With a 54 percent ma

jority , the Hungarian Socialist Party ( MSZP ) registered the third and largest

 victory by Communist successors in the former Soviet bloc . The Polish Democrat

ic Left Alliance won 37 percent of seats in the Polish Sejm in September 1993 . 

The Lithuanian Democratic Worker 's Party gained 52 percent of parliamentary sea

ts the next month . The regional trend may reflect nostalgia for communism to th

e extent that free-market reforms hurt , and the standard of living for many Eas

t Europeans was higher in the late 1980s than it is now . But it is perhaps bett

er understood as a product of the post-Communist Zeitgeist , a combination of de

termination to see democratic reforms through with popular disillusionment with 

the euphoria of 1989 . In Hungary , the election went to the Socialists , not to

 socialism . An absolute majority , 209 of 386 parliamentary seats , went to the

 MSZP , the legal successor to the Communist Hungarian Socialist Workers ' Party

 that governed Hungary from 1956 to 1989 . The Socialist victory stems from seve

ral factors . First , many Hungarians voted with their wallets , perceiving the 

MSZP 's promise of `` capitalism with a human face '' as the best of both worlds

 . Hungary 's post-Communist economic health has been plagued by chronic and acu

te pain , including rising prices , 13 percent unemployment and a widening gap b

etween rich and poor . Because the MSZP 's moderate platform included a firm com

mitment to continuing Hungary 's reforms , the electorate was spared an agonizin

g choice between self-interest and democracy . To date , Hungary has attracted s

ome $ 7 billion in foreign investment since 1990 , more than the rest of Eastern

 Europe put together . The privatization of state-owned concerns has resulted in

 some 60 percent of the gross domestic product stemming from the private sector 

, including the black market . Most Western political analysts agree the Sociali

st leadership will pose no threat to Hungary 's long-term stability . The Social

ist leadership 's credibility was crucial to the MSZP 's victory . Polls show MS

ZP leader Gyula Horn is the politician Hungarians most strongly associate with t

he change of regime . In his role as foreign minister in the last Communist gove

rnment , Horn opened the border to allow East German refugees to move from Hunga

ry into Austria , creating a dramatic movement of people that hastened the colla