Of R.F.K., N.R.A. & TV

Sir: I doubt that anyone who does not own a gun can be any more outraged at the tragic assassination of Senator Kennedy than are the many responsible citizens who happen to be sportsmen and gun owners [June 21]. I have seen firearms used for good (yes, even against fellow man), as well as for evil; but I have not as yet laid blame (or credit) to the gun. It is interesting to ponder if the emotion of the moment will bring on a joust with windmills, and whether the result will provide a catharsis for the guilt complex of a nation in turmoil.

JOHN V. POTTER JR. White Sulphur Springs, Mont.

Sir: I fully agree with the National Rifle Association's stand that gun laws will not stop people from shooting people. I would also like to see the American Automobile Association campaign to eliminate all traffic laws, because they do not stop people from speeding and driving through red lights. And then I'd like to see some interested group work to eliminate laws against rape. There are always some killjoys in society trying to restrain the American sportsman.

B. BLATTERFEIN Elmhurst, N.Y.

Sir: The right of an honest American to own a firearm for self-defense, oldest of all human rights, is more important than the life of any leader who ever lived.

C. H. HAUSER Oklahoma City

Sir: Some of my fellow N.R.A. members might change their minds about our frightfully inadequate gun laws if they spent a few days watching the "weekend warriors" being brought into Temple's accident dispensary, also known as the Tioga Knife and Gun Club. If you really want to see the lead fly, go to the Poconos on the opening day of deer season; it makes the Tet offensive look like kid stuff.

KENNETH I. BIRD JR., M.D. Temple University Hospital Philadelphia

Sir: Hasty, hysterical legislation only promises to leave the law-abiding American more exposed to the armed criminal and addict. We already have plenty of laws on the books; laws do not automatically prevent crimes. Trained gun owners are the answer to the gun problem.

RAYMOND BROWNE Waccabuc. N.Y.

Sir: In TIME'S review of my current novel Airport [March 22], a criticism was made that a description of how to build a homemade bomb was needlessly specific. I consider this criticism justified. As a result, in later U.S. and overseas editions of the book, I have fuzzed the bomb description, making it impossible to follow by specific steps.

I now suggest that TIME take its own advice and in future black out details of how to buy firearms such as those displayed (address and all) in the reproduced advertisement.

ARTHUR HAILEY London

Sir: These past weeks, I have reviewed with horror and disgust my own inflammatory, biased and ill-considered remarks about the candidates, their policies, their motives and even their wives. What, indeed, had I to do with this latest paroxysm of violence? What can I possibly do to prevent another? I have no .22-cal. weapon to lay down, but I have preconceived opinions to lay aside, and harsh, irresponsible words to swallow.

J. PATRICIA BETHANY Riverton, N.J.

Sir: If we think we're a violent nation now, just wait until our young children grow up. My childhood was neuter dolls, chutes and ladders, and Little Lulu. Today's childhood is erotic dolls, authentic replicas of war guns (complete with vivid sounds) and a Saturday morning TV listing with enough sadism and murder to give even the most hardened criminal ideas.

MRS. NORMAN L. JACOBSON San Antonio

Sir: I believe that it is rather unseemly to leap so hastily to the conclusion that the motive of Robert Kennedy's accused assassin derives from his virulent Arab nationalism, as you imply [June 14]. Let us wait and see what the trial will disclose--if it takes place; for another accident may occur. In any case, the fact remains that the only three men who since F.D.R.'s time seriously threatened the status quo are no more. And no presidential or other oratory will stop any thinking man, American or European, from regarding as strange the assertion that the three most progressive Americans have been assassinated by men who felt rejected by a capitalist society or entertained grudges against it.

M. PEZAS. Manhattan

Sir: I'm so tired of hearing Senator Kennedy referred to as the last hope of the poor and oppressed. Doesn't anyone remember the man in the White House, who not only pushed through reams of legislation for these people, but more important, made complacent, middle-class whites aware of the fact that those people even existed? Please, credit where credit is due.

MRS. JAMES BAILEY Rochester

Sir: The portrait of Robert Kennedy by Artist Louis Glanzman is a masterpiece of mood. It not only projects the exhaustion and fatalism of one man, but it seems also to echo the look of a nation engulfed in tragic sorrow, angry disillusionment and political despair.

IVAN M. FOLEY JR. Grand Coteau, La.

On Assassination

Sir: In your Essay "Politics and Assassination" [June 14], you make the statement: "No French President has been murdered since 1932." De Gaulle has survived some six or eight murder attempts. The French are not law abiding, merely lousy shots.

HARVEY L. SOBEL Mexico City

On Conciliation

Sir: Your "Need for Conciliation" Essay [June 7] was well done, including the observation that "the steady pile-up of unsolved small problems" creates smoldering anger and an eventual sudden explosion. In addition to the explosion type of labor-management negotiations, we are also extensively engaged in what we call "preventive mediation." This effort seeks to help labor and management deal with current problems so that there is no pile-up to detonate. Problem solving can become a successful habit. Government mediators are aiding unions and employers in over 1,200 such preventive-mediation programs throughout the nation.

WILLIAM E. SIMKIN Director

Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Washington, D.C.

Sir: Relevant to your statement that "tolerance--at least on the surface--is the conciliator's biggest asset," I would like to quote from E. M. Forster's Two Cheers for Democracy:

"Tolerance is a very dull virtue. It is boring. Unlike love, it has always had a bad press. No one has ever written an ode to tolerance, or raised a statue to her. Yet this is the quality which will be most needed . . . This is the sound state of mind which we are looking for. This is the only force which will enable different races and classes and interests to settle down together."

ARTHUR H. PRINCE Memphis

Ray's Passport

Sir: For their part in the capture of Sneyd-Ray [June 14], alleged assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., the R.C.M.P. proved their right to their proud motto, they "always get their man." But the passport office of the Canadian Ministry for External Affairs only proved that it never learns. Frank Jacson, who murdered Leon Trotsky in Mexico City on Aug. 20, 1940, also was the bearer of a Canadian passport, unlawfully acquired by him. He was tried and convicted under the name of RamOn Mercader del Rio, supposedly a Spaniard. There is still doubt as to his true identity; but there seems to be no doubt that the Canadian passport system is pretty sloppy.

VV. K. AILSHIE La Jolla, Calif.

Duncan's Duties

Sir: In the interests of accuracy, re your story on the Senate race in Oregon [June 7]: your columns and others have consistently referred to my husband as a "onetime merchant seaman." And he is understandably proud of having served in the merchant marine, as he is of his days as a worker in the goldfields of Alaska. However, both these periods of his life occurred before our marriage--and we recently celebrated our 25th anniversary!

Not only is it reaching a bit, then, to so describe a man who has been a successful trial lawyer, a respected state legislator and Speaker of the Oregon House, a two-term Congressman, and twice a nominee for the U.S. Senate; it really is underrating the Oregon electorate, who demand that a candidate for high office in this state be outstandingly qualified.

MRS. ROBERT DUNCAN Portland, Ore.

Rice for God's Sake

Sir: Your article entitled "Rice of the Gods" [June 14]' is a perfect example of how this nation's vast human and economic resources ought to be applied in Southeast Asia. In his statement on Robert Kennedy's tragic assassination, President Johnson cited the futility of fighting ideas with bullets; but this sort of futility is exactly what we are asking our young men to engage in in Viet Nam. I am certain that if even a small fraction of the manpower and money now being spent militarily in Southeast Asia were applied instead to demonstrating just how effective our system can be, anyone who attempted to promote Communism would become a laughingstock. Massive Government spending alone can't do the job in the ghettos; massive military power can't do it all in Viet Nam. For God's sake, let's give our system a chance; it works.

JOHN J. PAULHUS Newark, N.J.

Denying Long Tom

Sir: In your article on the Middle East, you stated that "Israeli fighter-bombers streaked over the Jordan and pounded 'Long Tom' gun emplacements near Irbid, a town twelve miles inside the cease-fire line [June 14]." I can assure you that there are no gun emplacements whatsoever near Irbid. In any case, the Israelis bombarded the city itself, which has a population of 100,000 people. They killed or wounded over 100 Jordanian civilians. You might be interested to know that most of the damage to the city was a result of the Israelis using Russian 130-mm. guns, which were brought up to the occupied Golan Heights especially for bombarding the city.

ZAID ALRIFAI

Secretary General of the Royal Court Amman, Jordan

Cancer Ward

Sir: I have been told that your magazine reported that 1 have transmitted abroad Solzhenitsyn's last novel, Cancer Ward [May 31]. I categorically deny this. I have not been in the Soviet Union since 1964. This novel was finished in 1966. I don't personally know Solzhenitsyn, whom I admire deeply. And had I had an opportunity to publish his work, it would have been morally impossible for me to act against his will.

HELENE ZAMOYSKA St.-Clar-de-Riviere, France

> In stating that a copy of Cancer Ward went to Madame Zamoyska, TIME did not mean to imply that she had transmitted the novel abroad.

Friend of Dracula

Sir: I am delighted by your praise of the movie version of my book Rosemary's Baby [June 21] and aghast at your reference to its apartment-house setting as the "Branford," rather than the "Bramford." I chose the name in memory of Writer Bram Stoker, and 1 shudder to think that you may have offended his baby, who is still alive--you know he is--and whose name is Dracula.

IRA LEVIN Wilton, Conn.

Love that Pony

Sir: I'm glad you brought up the subject of naming race horses [June 14]. It is my ambition to name a race horse. If you know anyone who is having a hard time of it, put them in touch with me.

Some years ago, I knew a fellow who was supposed to know Mr. C. T. Chenery, and this fellow sneaked me a book with a list of all the foals owned by Mr. Chenery. I decided not to try to name all of them--there were about a hundred. I just picked one, hoping to display the quality of names I could produce. The horse I picked was a colt by Turn To out of Royal Something. I named it Do Something. Either my selection never got to Mr. Chenery or else his taste is bad. He named the damn horse Sir Gaylord. Well, you can see the kind of luck I have. Sir Gaylord went on to win everything in sight. If Mr. Chenery had listened to me, I'd have been naming race horses right and left by now. I've never forgiven Mr. Chenery for this, so I practice on his horses all the time. He has one now called Cicada's Pride. That one is by Sir Gaylord out of Cicada. What's the matter with Noble Bug?

Oh, well, like I said, if you know anybody, let me know. I'd sure like to name a race horse. My book Subways Are for Sleeping was well-named enough.

EDMUND G. LOVE Manhattan

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