To the Editors: A great deal has been said on the subject of apartheid, but your articles on the situation in South Africa were especially touching and coherent [WORLD, Aug. 5]. How can the whites in South Africa live with themselves? Their actions make me want to apologize for my race. Kirsten Groseclose Ridgewood, N.J.
I am sure I speak for a large percentage of white South Africans when I say that apartheid is abhorrent to us. We dream about a South Africa where everyone will have equal political rights. I see the changes now afoot as the start of an era of reform. However, I am convinced that majority rule will eventually force white South Africans to sacrifice their future in this country. Laura Gardiner Cape Town
In our eagerness to communicate to the white Afrikaners that we disapprove of the stupid and intractable way they handle their black brothers, we probably fail to recognize what we are doing. Our American do-gooders were largely responsible for the fall of friendly governments in Iran, Nicaragua and Cuba. Each is now in the hands of unfriendly and much more repressive leaders. If South Africa falls, as it well may, the next government will in all probability be antiwhite and anti-American, and then "they" will turn over to the Russians their strategic naval bases. The control of the southern sea-lanes will be lost to the U.S., making the world more difficult to live in. We seem once again to be committed to destroying our friends in the name of "goodness." Ernest Henderson Avon, Mass.
Hudson's HealthRock Hudson has displayed courage in revealing that he has AIDS [MEDICINE, Aug. 5]. Some people may now question his masculinity, but I say his bravery in the face of suffering has shown him to be a "real man." Ronda Tucker-Gerns Riverside, Calif.
I am sorry that Hudson has AIDS. I also feel sorry for heavy smokers who develop lung cancer. But my sorrow is somewhat tempered by the thought that people who knowingly put their hands in a flame should not be surprised if their fingers get badly burned. Leonard N. Carlson Murray, Ky.
As Errol Flynn's goddaughter, I had no knowledge of his sexuality. But as the producer and contributing writer of the television adaptation of his auto biography, I found all the evidence to the contrary of your conclusion that he was a homosexual. Flynn added gaiety to Hollywood, but in the old-fashioned sense of the word. He was unquestionably a ladies' man right down the line. Doris Keating Beverly Hills
Atomic AfterthoughtsThe man who was ultimately responsible for ordering the use of the Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was President Harry Truman. In his Memoirs he wrote, "The final decision of where and when to use the atomic bomb was up to me. Let there be no mistake about it." The last part of your story [SPECIAL SECTION, July 29] states that "taking responsibility for one's actions and decisions seems out of fashion in the atomic age." Would that our present leadership were as willing to take responsibility as Truman. Harry Cullins Princeton, III.
Yoshitaka Kawamoto's recollections of that fateful morning in Hiroshima are the reality of the atomic age, which we all fear. It is time for everyone everywhere to demand the cessation of nuclear armaments. Next time there may not be a Kawamoto to tell us how it was. Leslie Neumann Dallas