Camelot Lives!
Your cover story "Camelot Lives" was truly inspiring [THE NEW KENNEDYS, Aug. 13]. It is nice to know that the Kennedys are still focusing on the important issues in the world--poverty, AIDS, mental disability and protecting the environment. I hope more of the New Kennedys will run for office and all those running now win big! ROSEANNA WHITESIDE Birmingham, Ala.
A view of the activities of the third generation of the Kennedy family validates Karl Marx's famous aphorism [regarding Napoleon and his nephew Louis Napoleon]: "Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce." HASKELL ROSENBERG Pittsford, N.Y.
The Kennedy-family members are part of our American tapestry. God bless them--foibles, faults and political fame. JEAN DOUGHERTY Chicago
Americans would be wise to reject utterly the Kennedys' past legacies and present activities, along with their future ambitions, and look for political leaders with a firm moral compass and a record of advocating and supporting policies that work and that empower individuals. BERT CHAPMAN Lafayette, Ind.
It's nice to see the young Kennedys living off lucrative trust funds and working hard to initiate government programs that will hit the wallets of hard-working people like me. WILLIAM G. EUBANK Houston
Giving the Kennedys a free forum to market their political ambitions means that the playing field is not level. Elections are won on name recognition and publicity, not necessarily on qualifications. Would Mark Shriver be mentioned in your magazine if he were Mark Jones making his first run at a House seat? You have given him exposure and apparent credibility he could never buy. JOHN A. YERRICK Bethesda, Md.
I have been a Kennedy-family fan for four decades, but that Kennedy sense of entitlement has always bothered me. While only a cynic would question the family's commitment to public service, I wonder why no second- or third-generation Kennedy has begun his or her career at the city or county level. STACY HARRIS Nashville, Tenn.
I am embarrassed and a bit repelled by my fascination with the Kennedys' mostly shallow legacy. MICHELLE FRYOU Baton Rouge, La.
--"Is it just me, or are there other people ready to self-destruct if they see one more article or TV special about the Kennedys?" a reader queried testily. Many of you chimed in with similar thoughts. "America's enchantment with the Kennedy family is just celebrity worship," snapped a Fishkill, N.Y., reader. "Camelot ended with Chappaquiddick." From Kansas came this tart observation: "One of these days, TIME (and the East Coast media as a whole) will realize that 99.99% of the rest of the world does not share its idiotic obsession with the Kennedys." And from a Michigan man, this final shot: "When will our fascination with these third-rate Borgias come to an end?"
Power and Elegance