DEATH'S LITTLE HELPER

Letter

Postmortem on Dr. Death

While I am in favor of what some people refer to as physician-assisted suicide and death with dignity, the actions of Dr. Kevorkian ["Death Becomes Him," by Jack Lessenberry, July] are something that cannot be condoned. His use of carbon monoxide as a method to end a life, his use of a van, on some occasions, as a deathbed, and his urge to seek public attention more for himself than for his cause are not the work of someone involved in a mission of mercy. While the cause is noble, Kevorkian is not. Instead of assisting in the ending of other people's lives, he should be seeking assistance in straightening out his own.

DEAN GREEN

Newark, New Jersey

My mother fought, and this past March lost, a seven-and-one-half-year battle against breast cancer. She was 46 years old when she was diagnosed, and there was not one day that she was not under some form of treatment. If she had once mentioned that she could not endure life any longer, I can assure you I would have been the first person knocking on Dr. Kevorkian's door.

LYNN FRIEDMAN

Chicago, Illinois

There is only one thing that comes to mind when looking at Kevorkian and his paintings: John Wayne Gacy. Why not? Would you compare his stroke to Monet's?

BRIAN FRANKLIN

Rantoul, Illinois

I remember my dad—utterly diminished in size, bone-thin, pale-yellow from the bile backing into his system—railing in impotent anger against the sentence of "natural death" that still loomed in front of him after suffering through almost two years of agony caused by pancreatic cancer. We, his children and our mother, were powerless to help him, and so he survived for another six weeks before dying a death so terrible that it made everything before it seem mild by comparison.

I'm terrified that Dr. Kevorkian's courageous action will be eclipsed by an upside-down system that inflicts punishment on all the wrong people and that forbids an end to this barbaric practice we have of depriving the terminally ill of their right to die as humanely as possible. And their families the right to help them avoid a needlessly torturous death. Dr. Kevorkian, I hope to God your good work prevails. Wherever he sleeps, I know my father does, too.

ROBIN PIEHL LIESKE

Phoenix, Arizona

Jackie Ovation

In your July issue, Dominick Dunne has written a warm and gracious remembrance of Jackie ["Forever Jackie"]. He has accurately recognized her remarkable contributions and the depth of her loving relationship with her colleagues, friends, and family.

However, there is one reference that I would like to correct. I supported Caroline and John in their desire to have a funeral in keeping with their mother's sense of privacy, and at no time did I advocate "a state funeral."

Thank you for the opportunity to clarify this point in what was otherwise a very special tribute.

SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY

Washington, D.C.

The article on Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis stayed true to its title. It was about her and her achievements, not an attempt to judge or form opinions. Most important, it informed us that she cared about issues and causes that mattered, from providing a safe and secure environment for her children to fighting for the preservation of Grand Central Terminal. It's no wonder that she will always remain the most popular and admired First Lady in our nation's history.

KARL G. PORTIS

Los Angeles, California

Dominick Dunne has written a fine article on Camelot's queen, but what a dishonor you have done to Jackie by using a Ron Galella photograph for your cover. After years of his harassment, Jackie had to obtain a court order against Galella so he would leave her alone. How soon one forgets.

PETER D'ADDIO

Ajijic, Mexico

Thanks for the wonderful article on Jackie Onassis. I will always remember Jackie for her grace and charm.

SUSAN E. JONES

Boston, Massachusetts

In 1967, I served as a psychological-warfare officer in the Mekong Delta region of South Vietnam. One morning my Vietnamese counterpart brought me a curious example of enemy propaganda. The Vietcong had tacked a leaflet to a tree near our base that read, "American soldier! Your girlfriend misses you!" Pasted beneath the message was a photo of Jackie Kennedy that had been cut out of Life magazine. We laughed about it—but we also missed Jackie.

THOMAS J. HOLBEIN

Roanoke, Texas

Maybe Jackie O did hold a unique place in American society, but she was never part of the fabric of American culture! She was a rich high-society lady who married a moneyed politician and a Greek tycoon. Most of America has not touched and never will touch the fabric of opulent wealth, world-famous celebrity, and protective surroundings. We Americans usually touch fabric of cotton or 100 percent polyester!

BELINDA BATTISTELLI

Rancho Cucamonga, California

Though she undoubtedly had some (unpublicized) faults, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis largely appears to deserve our admiration. One minor point I've always noticed: despite her reputation as an overspender, avid Jackie watchers can attest that she wore the same bracelet and earrings over and over. Also, when she was relaxing she wore the same unadorned garb many middleclass Americans enjoy: jeans or cotton pants, simple jersey tops. These are not the habits of someone who places an inflated value on clothes.

SUNNY KREIS

Brooklyn, New York

Rebel-Rousing

Thank you for Ann Louise Bardach's insightful article on Subcomandante Marcos ["Mexico's Poet Rebel," July]. The rebels' demands could have well been predicted, but nobody could have suspected that at the public helm of the Zapatista crusade would be a man possessing intelligence, will, and the ability to articulate the points of fairness which were supposed to have been accorded some 65 years ago. I hope that these valiant people succeed with their endeavor.

GUADALUPE ZAMORA

Fort Worth, Texas

Let the reader beware of charismatic young revolutionaries: they become autocratic, reactionary, bearded old men.

MARIA ELENA MESSINA

Redwood City, California

Ann Louise Bardach seems to have understood the problems facing Mexico's poorest people. As a landowner in Mexico, I have long been aware that change would have to come. Unfortunately, it seems to have come in a violent manner. Reform is imperative if Mexico is to continue to be nonviolent.

BURGNER VON SCHLESWIG

UND HOLSTEIN

Houston, Texas

The James and Mary Show

It strikes me that James Carville and Mary Matalin's central accomplishment ["Love on the Run," by Marjorie Williams, July] is one that is all too rare in American society today. In a Balkanized cultural community of joyless P.C. vultures and sputtering, insecure Limbaugh ditto-heads, people are increasingly unable to speak across their blinkered ideologies. In light of this, a couple able to create a relationship that transcends their respective politics might be celebrated, not stigmatized.

MICHAEL MacCAMBRIDGE

Austin, Texas

As an avid viewer of CNBC, I have developed an affinity for Equal Time. For that reason, I am truly thankful for your informative article on the intriguing lives of Mary Matalin and her husband, James Carville. I consider Mary Matalin to be the epitome of cool. She has wisdom and conversational savvy, which makes her one of my role models as a 17-year-old conservative female. James Carville is great, too. If only half of the political figures could be as relaxed as he seems to be, the country would be a happier place. After all, how many men could take being called "serpenthead" on national television?

KATHERINE STEVENS

Brookfield, Connecticut

Whitewater Backwash

The piece by Christopher Hitchens about the Clintons ["Ring Around the Clintons," July] was right on target. In concise terms, it delineated what is wrong with these people and why they are so frustrating to so many of us.

WILLIAM C. LONGMIRE

Leawood, Kansas

My greatest praise to Vanity Fair for Christopher Hitchens's column on the Clintons. I can only imagine what the spin doctors in the Clinton camp are cooking up as a response to this article.

ANNETTE T. DANIEL

Columbus, Ohio

I think Christopher Hitchens should swallow his poison pen. The Whitewater nonsense is very boring and the public is sick of it. The only people who care are the G.O.P. Should they throw stones from Oliver North's glass house?

SHIRLEY LAWSON

Knoxville, Tennessee

Bravo! It's high time that those with a voice step forward and expose that phony couple in the White House. There is little need to stand on ethics or principle when simple reality will suffice.

NELSON B. CALDWELL

Elk Grove, California

Mr. Hitchens, you must be a very young bird indeed, because when you were pecking your way out of the egg (you still have some on your face), you failed to notice that another presidential couple withstood the slings and arrows of critics as they strove for change.

Eleanor Roosevelt went on to do good works, and her husband told us, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

NAN B. SCOTT

Stuart, Florida

After reading Christopher Hitchens's article convicting the Clintons in the Whitewater "scandal," I agree with him that the Clintons' past should be investigated because they're famous. But since Hitchens is also a celebrity, I'd like to know where he was 16 years ago, what he did, when he did it, with whom, and how much tax he paid—if any.

RENEE NEWBOLD

Newport News, Virginia

Tarantino Too

Bemoaning Hollywood's cookie-cutter mentality, Quentin Tarantino ["Tarantino Bravo," by Lynn Hirschberg, July] says, "I'm making movies I haven't seen before." But while the style and wit of Reservoir Dogs (1992) are all his own, its plot, characters, situations, and themes are cribbed from the Hong Kong film City on Fire (1987), directed by Ringo Lam and starring Tarantino idol Chow Yun-Fat. Perhaps he'll acknowledge his sources on the "R.D." board game.

ROBERT CASHILL

V.F. Letter Box

Apart from one lengthy, dignified fan letter that began, "Dear Mr. Carter, l am a modern man . . . readers had the long knives out for certain parts V.F.'s July issue—as often as not for the subjects themselves. "Thank you, thank you for finally exposing those two low-class, selfserving money-grubbing phonies—Matalin and Carville," writes an "ex-fan" of theirs from California. Anne Guerriero of Kentwood, Michigan, writes, "I've weathered the Demi photos, the Roseanne photos—but the photos of Melanie Griffith, Sandra Bullock, and Penelope Ann Miller disappointed me. How can [you] make these lovely women look unattractive?' On the other hand, Name Withheld of Place Similarly Withheld saw the Griffith photos ("Melanie Unplugged," by Eric Alterman), at least, on their own terms: "I never really believed in the hype about her being Harriet, the other half of Ozzie. In her 'rubber condom jacket, vinyl pants, and spike-heeled shoes, she once again comes across as a bimbo—a role she has perfected but didn't invent." Not exactly a politically correct sentiment, but Name Withheld isn't the only un-PC. reader we heard from this month: Mrs. Kenneth T. Bartley from Alameda, California, wrote with hosannas for Elise O'Shaughnessy's paean to the anti-P.C. crusader and weekend softball enthusiast John Leo ("Leo Rising"). She says she agrees with all of Leo's views, "from sports to the ills of this partially insane U.S.A."

Christopher Hitchens, the man who criticized the Clintons, has, as is his custom, made himself a few fans (see "Whitewater Backwash," above) and a few enemies. We feel we must respond to the assertion, made by Libby Bushmann of Hallandale, Florida, that "venom literally drips from this viper's pen"; witnesses present when Mr. Hitchens wrote some of his most scathing sentences are willing to swear that they saw no such thing. And Justin Wellman of Hollywood Hills, California, is certainly a man who says what's on his mind. He accuses Mr. Hitchens ['this silly twit-Brit") of "shrill and faggy sniping" and "mincyl hysterical rhetoric." Departing briefly from this apparent theme, he also calls Mr. Hitchens "chubby" Which, even if partly true, is going a little too far.

Finally, we loved the letter from one Florida reader, if only because it began, "Quick! Take back all the C.I.A.'s magic decoder rings." And no one can blame her for asking sensibly, "Must we carry the snarls of outrageous circumstance forever?" No, we must not carry those snarls, whatever that means. -GEORGE KALOGERAKIS

Letters to the editor should be 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.