To the editors:

I wish I could believe, as Jenny E. Heller seems to ("Ashamed to Be an American Abroad," Opinion, Jan. 6), that America has been "unwavering in the pursuit of the good and the just" over its history, but is only now, because of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, in danger of forever losing its moral authority over the world.

Such an assertion is not only false in the face of this nation's dubious past, but simplistically and arrogantly assumes that America serves as an ideal model of righteousness for other, relatively flawed nations.

Heller asks rhetorically if FDR or Kennedy could have exercised world leadership if he had been in Clinton's position. I wonder the same thing myself--after all, both men carried on sexual affairs while president. What if the private lives of each had been subject to investigations by independent counsels, with an opposition Congress eager to impeach him? Heller's historical examples prove all too clearly that the sexual mores of our public officials can and should have nothing whatsoever to do with their public duties.

In the end, Heller attempts to argue that Clinton's consistently high public approval ratings are actually a reason for him to leave office. A resignation, however, would be a capitulation to the politics of personal destruction which has already claimed a would-be House speaker and placed Washington in the control of Larry Flynt's tawdry exposes. Clinton's decision to stay and fight is indeed the more honorable. Maybe he--and America with him--could then truly be an example of goodness and justice to the world. DAVID A. HOPKINS '99   Jan. 6. 1999