Coverage of Kennedy’s Death

It seems unfortunate that your columnists chose to react to the extended and obscene coverage of the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. by minimizing the man and the legacy he, through no fault of his own, carried (“Grand Delusions,” Opinion, July 25).

The notions of royalty, myth and Camelot are media-driven drivel. Hawking the false impression that perfect people exist, the media have pounced on the opportunity to create a saint out of an untried soul.

What is indeed tragic is that this apparently warm, intelligent and charismatic young man, who was on a studied path toward building a name for himself based on his own merits, died too soon. He, and we, lost the opportunity to see whether a politics of optimism, grounded in a genuine desire to serve the public good, is possible. That is what I believe Americans mourn.

ALITTA KULLMAN

Laguna Hills

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Re Martin Walker’s “The Kennedys Are Many Things, Just Not Royalty,” July 25: I could not agree more. As far as I know, American royalty consists of Burger King and Queen Latifah.

KEITH J. SCHOOSE

Long Beach

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Richard Rodriguez insults what he calls “public America” as well as the memory of Jacqueline Kennedy when he writes that she was beautiful and that’s all we needed to know (July 25). She was admired for her grace, courage and dignity during President Kennedy’s funeral. She was admired because she was intelligent, cultivated and had a keen sense of history.

And she was admired because she devoted herself to her family and spent time raising her children well, instead of spouting hypocrisy about family values. None of this has any connection to external beauty.

PATRICIA LORENZ MOORE

Los Angeles

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Now that the largely media-induced national frenzy over the death of a private citizen who died through his bad judgment hopefully is over, two questions arise. Who is paying for the burial ship and where do I, a private citizen, make reservations for a government ship for my ashes?

PETER R. McGOWAN

Long Beach

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This ranting about federal government expenditures on JFK Jr.’s sea search and burial overlooks the fact that this kind of American human tragedy invariably substitutes sentiment over reason.

CHARLES F. DAY

Laguna Niguel