Dear Editor
Dear Editor Murrow Marvin Kitman scores again. His "Seeing Murrow Now" column (NL, January 27) was an apt demolition of the HBO1 'docudrama" on the man who, as Kitman put it, was "the end of the...
...I supposedly said this in 1977...
...New York City John Gurolnick Mea Culpa I have just read the February 10 issue of The New Leader...
...In his 1977 article, Levine characterized Brazil, Peru and Chile as leading cases in a "notable trend to authoritarian regimes of various sorts" where "military rule is pervasive and seemingly permanent...
...However, I do find The New Leader to be a refreshing, welcome change from mass circulation publications...
...In that issue, William McCord begins an article on "Venezuela's Determined Democracy" by quoting me to the effect that "the political future of Latin America lies with authoritarian regimes...
...Welcome Aboard Because of my age, 1 am a member of the "culturally and socially unaware" generation now in college...
...The point of the article as a whole was to explore the strengths and weaknesses of Venezuelan democracy, and further to explain how and why it has survived and prospered in contradiction to that supposed trend...
...To cobble together two parts of widely separated sentences and then to present the results as a statement of views on the inevitability of authoritarianism in Latin America—views I have never shared and never expressed—is a gross distortion and misrepresentation...
...In his 1977 observations, he specifically exempted Venezuela from such a presumed trend and cogently explained the reasons for its success...
...In no sense, however, is (or was) Levine a defender of the view that Latin American countries are doomed to authoritarian rule...
...Blacksburg, Va...
...The first 10 words come from a sentence in the opening paragraph of that article on page 7; the second seven words are drawn from part of a sentence on page 35...
...He concluded that the "flexibility and willingness of Venezuelan leaders to design and build new bases on which to meet future challenges is perhaps the best guarantee of democracy's survival in the years to come...
...Ann Arbor, Mich...
...Daniel H. Levine Professor of Political Science University of Michigan William McCord replies: Mea culpa...
...Enclosed, please find my check for a one-year subscription as a new subscriber...
...His "Seeing Murrow Now" column (NL, January 27) was an apt demolition of the HBO1 'docudrama" on the man who, as Kitman put it, was "the end of the line in [news] broadcasting...
...The diversity of the articles, the excellent writing, and the lack of advertisements contribute to the magazine's quality...
...So I went back to see how it had been put together...
...In contrast to many commentators on Latin Amer-ic, Levine's prophecy has been brilliantly vindicated by events in the last nine years...
...I think McCord owes me and the readers of The New Leader an apology...
...Each set of words was lifted from a context whose intent was to show that many observers then believed authoritarianism would mark the future of Latin American politics...
...Ram Chandran Kalyanam...
...I apologize to Daniel Levine, for the splicing together of two sentences did indeed convey a false impression of his views...
...I am tired of waiting for the university library to put out "new" issues, and wish instead to receive The New Leader directly...
...military rule is pervasive and seemingly permanent...
...The words are drawn from parts of two sentences separated by 28 pages in an article I wrote in 1977 on "Venezuelan Politics: Past and Future"—as a contributor to a book entitled Contemporary Venezuela and Its Rote in International Affairs, edited by Robert D. Bond...
...I think your readers are entitled to know how McCord devised the sentence he attributes to me...
...McCord then goes on to discuss the vitality of Venezuelan democracy, and the current wave of "transitions to democracy" in the region, in refutation of my alleged statement...
...I was puzzled by the quotation, because it is totally unrepresentative of my views, and of my work on Venezuela...
Vol. 69 • March 1986 • No. 5
