Handling of Medvid Affair

Why are we raising such a hullaballoo about a single ship-jumping Russian sailor? There are hundreds of thousands of foreigners dreaming of and dying to get into the United States and we, in the face of delicate and critical negotiations with Russia, are playing with nuclear dynamite by our ridiculous fuss over a ship-jumping incident.

Whether the State Department handled it well is beside the point. What is pertinent is that we are permitting the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee to act as a fuse for a possible nuclear conflict. The arrogance of the man is beyond understanding. It takes only the action of one man to start a war, as history has demonstrated in the past, and I believe Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) is the most dangerous threat to world peace.

When I think of the thousands of pathetic refugees of Nazi bestiality who were coldly turned away by our government in the past I want to retch at the eager bureaucratic tenacity in following this ship-jumping incident just to embarrass the Soviets. You can’t tell me Jesse Helms has suddenly discovered a bleeding heart for the poor Russian individual. That’ll be the day.

SHIRLEY WOLF

Santa Monica