GENERAL Secretary Gorbachev's proposal presents a challenge to our leaders, and specifically to President-elect George Bush, to overcome the Cold War-entrenched prejudices of the 1950's and look towards the achievement of peace and common understanding in the 1990's. Though the staff position acknowledges this need for bilateral cooperation and courageous policy making, its language remains caught up in rhetoric and paranoia more appropriate to old red baiters than to present-day proponents of peace.

Sen. Joseph McCarthy is dead and buried; so should be his ignorant and unfair assumptions about Soviet policy and motives. The staff position, though not maliciously anti-Soviet, is still misguided in its apparent unreadiness to regard Gorbachev's proposals as legitimate. While we agree that both sides should be cautious, as any government should be, we cannot support insinuations that would place American presidents morally above Soviet leaders. Recent White House scandals, the Iran-Contra affair and covert CIA actions suggest otherwise.

We also find it hypocritical for the staff position to laud Gorbachev's promise of change, and yet to suggest that this policy is not likely to be implemented because it never has before. Change means just that, and it cannot occur if we are too stubborn and too distrustful to welcome it. As difficult as it may be, we must extricate ourselves from our anti-Soviet education and reshape our views to match the changing tide. Only then can the wave of trust and cooperation reach us.

We would ask both Gorbachev and Bush to put the fundamental prejudice and rhetoric of the Cold War ideology behind them, to stop questioning motives and prodding for false bottoms. Instead, our leaders should look towards new possibilities for disarmament, trust and world peace.