Letters

READERS BITE BACK

AIDS in Africa

As an ex-Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, with a degree in anthropology, raised in a medically trained family, I found "In Search of the Source of AIDS" [July] fascinating. Alex Shoumatoff knows his Third World! I think one theory he repeats—that the Peace Corps's "massive infusion" of volunteers into Zaire might be responsible for bringing AIDS back to this country—is unlikely. The Peace Corps was not in Zaire until after October 1970, and by the mid-seventies the number of volunteers there gradually grew to between two hundred and three hundred. When these volunteers returned to the United States, in the late seventies, the disease was already becoming evident here on both coasts in the homosexual population. Given the average length of time that AIDS is dormant in victims, the Peace Corps connection seems unlikely. Those volunteers couldn't be tested then, since there were no tests available. But if only 11 percent of recently studied Danish development workers in Zaire tested seropositive for AIDS, when AIDS is common in Zaire, what would a comparable statistic have been in the late seventies for a group of Peace Corps volunteers? Nil?

PATRICIA C. MCCROY

Elizabeth. New Jersey

The Empress Harriman

Marie Brenner's article on Pamela Harriman [July] was well written, well researched, and well balanced. It should be pointed out, however, that "cave dwellers" are Washingtonians who are at least third-generation residents. Therefore, most of our celebrity names do not qualify.

JOHN THIERS CALKINS

Washington, D.C.

The article reveals Pamela Harriman for the personification of selflessness that she is. Any individual who "defines herself through men" and attempts to live through others is doomed to failure, because while a parasite can live through others, a human cannot. That Mrs. Harriman should be "the empress of the Democratic Party" is no accident; it is that party's premise that each individual lives for the sake of others, and Pamela Harriman is a testament to that platform.

SCOTT M. HOLLER AN

Chicago, Illinois

Marie Brenner's piece goes beyond journalism. It is a slice of social history, rich, detailed, and amazingly evenhanded. Compelling reading, whether or not you care about Pamela Harriman.

HARA ESTROFF MARANO

New York. New York

Kurt Reply

Concerning Gregor von Rezzori's insightful piece on Kurt Waldheim [July]: L'Affaire Waldheim, which is in fact not an affair at all, merely the hysteria that can be raised by press sensationalism and a German uniform, displays the obvious reasons why the young diplomat Waldheim remained sketchy with his service record during a postwar career. Since it has been shown that Dr. Waldheim was not directly involved with any crimes, the question of knowledge of such actions once again reopens the impossible collective-guilt syndrome. Putting Waldheim on the U.S. immigration watch list is a curious act for a nation that welcomes leaders who have been linked with the crimes of the Gulags, oppressive invasions, and torture.

If Austria truly seeks an office of national symbol above politics, why not restore a constitutional monarchy? The parliamentarian Dr. Otto von HabsburgLothringen, current imperial heir, knows well the value of the majesty of the Ringstrasse and the realities of an Austria approaching yet another fin de sièle.

ROBERT VON DASSANOWSKY-HARRIS

Los Angeles. California

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Continued from page 18

While Helmut Newton perfectly captured the arrogance, overweening ambition, and downright mendacity of Waldheim (the camera never lies), Gregor von Rezzori was disappointing. He hardly discussed the real issue, which is the history of Austrian anti-Semitism alongside the ambivalent Jewish love affair with Vienna. Then, too, the Austrians love clever scoundrels, and they love to—in the words of the AustroAmerican novelist Ingeborg Lauterstein—remember to forget.

DR. JACK NUSAN PORTER

Newton Highlands, Massachusetts

Arsenio and Eddie

I enjoyed the quotes of Arsenio Hall in "The Black Pack" [July]. He seems to be a very sensible person who has the right priorities. Why was Eddie Murphy on the cover?

ADRIENNE AVERETTA

Long Beach, California

Eddie Murphy and his Black Pack sound like a bunch of materialistic egomaniacs, with their $2,000 suits, fancy cars, women as objects, and sycophantic entourages. Murphy's humor has also degenerated into repetitive obscenities. His attack on Hollywood is total hypocrisy, coming from a man who epitomizes the baser side of success.

J. S. STORM

Boston, Massachusetts

Niven Factor

Bravo to James Niven for "Life with Father" [July]. The man has real talent, just as his father did. I felt the anger and confusion caused by a demanding father as well as the love and respect his son felt for him. I cried at the ending, and I hope Mr. Niven continues to write.

DANA HUNTER

Montclair, New Jersey

Tisch-Tisch

John Davidson in his article about Steve Tisch [July] referred to two movies-ofthe-week for television produced by Tisch and his former partner, Jon Avnet. He said that one of them, Silence of the Heart (1984), starred Charlie Sheen. This is incorrect. It starred my client Mariette Hartley. At the time of the movie, Charlie Sheen was a young unknown, and he did not have star billing.

ARLENE L. DAYTON

Beverly Hills, California

Hughes Who

Robert Hughes's "Holy Shit," the spoof of the Warhol auction [July], was one of the best pieces I have read since the pens of S. J. Perelman, E. B. White, and George Kaufman were laid to rest.

LILLIAN B. DANIELS

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pollocks

I take issue with Mark Stevens's judgment of Jackson Pollock ["The Haunted Studio," July] as "merely a man who found his own particular way...to painting." Thirty-plus years of unabated sizzle after the fire went out should make evident to Stevens Pollock's prodigious contribution to American art.

DICK AHERN

Pleasant Hill, California

Call Me Ismaili

Georgina Howell's piece on the Aga Khan [June] was very interesting, but it should be pointed out that certain claims made for the Aga Khan, his descent from the Prophet Muhammad, for example, are not accepted outside of his sect and are not representative of Islam as such. There are many undisputed descendants of the Prophet, called sharifs or sayyids, throughout the Islamic world; in the year 1011, the sharifs of Baghdad issued a manifesto which repudiated the Fatimid Ismaili claims to be descended from the Prophet. In modem times, the Saudis have not allowed Ismailis to come to Mecca.

Today, because of a schism that took place in 1094, after which the Fatimid dynasty came to an end, half of the Ismailis do not recognize the Aga Khan as the Imam; for the dissenting Mustali Ismailis (the Aga Khan's followers are called Nizaris), the Imamate has disappeared from this world, and their leaders have only "caretaker" functions.

CYRIL GLASSE

New York, New York

Letters to the editor should he sent with the writer's name, address, and daytime phone number to: The Editor, Vanity Fair, 350 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10017. The letters chosen for publication may be edited for length and clarity.