Letters: Apr. 5, 1968

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Manhattan

Sir: Bobby Kennedy found it necessary, or at least expedient, to go to another state in order to be elected Senator.

Hopefully, he will now choose to go to another country in order to be elected President.

RICHARD MCCOLLUM

Decatur, Ga.

Sir: One of the criticisms aimed at Eugene McCarthy when he announced his campaign for the presidency was that his record in the Senate was rather lackluster. Few people have mentioned that Robert Kennedy's achievements in that august body are few and far between. And his brother spent seven years as Senator running for President. Lyndon Johnson, on the other hand, was a great and powerful majority leader.

MARTHA CUSICK

Madison, Wis.

They Can Have It

Sir: Your statement that Communist gunners are so expert that they can fire 25 rounds per minute from 82-mm. mortars [March 15] seems a bit farfetched. Exceeding eight or ten rounds per minute is inviting the weapon to melt and ornament your homemade sandals with white-hot metal. Also, your reference to the fine quality of the AK-47 is somewhat discolored. Not only does the AK-47 overheat rapidly, as you stated, it also jams twice as fast as any U.S. weapon, including the M16, because of the cheap stamp ing of the gas cylinder. You mention that the weapon turns each V.C. into a machine gunner. How can he put out large volumes of fire when his harness is designed to carry only three magazines?

With one on the weapon, that gives him a total of 120 rounds. By comparison, using two universal ammo pouches and a ten-magazine bandoleer, I can carry 480 of M-16 ammunition very comfortably. After almost three years in Viet Nam, I have yet to find one piece of Communist-manufactured equipment that would meet the standards of the free-world forces in Viet Nam.

NELSON J. GARCIA Captain, U.S.A. A.P.O., San Francisco

He Had a Better Idea

Sir: In view of Pontiac's recent commercials [March 22], it is interesting to know what Clyde thought of the automobiles of the day in his own words. Enclosed is a copy of a letter written by him.

GORDON CRAIG Designer, Ford Motor Co. Dearborn, Mich.

Credit Where Due

Sir-TIME'S roundup on "Cities" dealing with the report by the President's Commission on Civil Disorders [March missed one important point: We should not condemn all of white America for riots in the cities. As I have said: ' I do not think it is fair to accuse all whites of racism with one big broad stroke. I think any fair-minded person would admit very readily that there has been discrimination in our country and that it reached the point where the Negroes were very angry—even Negroes who were well off were angry. I think that their anger was justified because of the long discrimination against them." I also feel that emerging Negro leadership with the help of President Johnson's programs constitute some of the best things that are happening in the U.S. today to improve race relationships. The President deserves more credit.