To the Editor:
Mark Yohalem, in his column "The Liberal Reaction to Racism" (The Dartmouth, Jan. 15) and Linda Ide in her letter to the Editor ("Willie Horton Trivia," The Dartmouth, Jan. 20) are both incorrect regarding the origin of the Willie Horton ad, "Weekend Passes." While George Bush, Sr. and Lee Atwater (then head of the Republican National Committee) have often been blamed, the actual organization that commissioned the ad was the nominally independent National Security Political Action Committee (from www.Salon.com, "The Willie Horton Alumni Association," Aug. 25, 2000).
While this organization may well be a tool of the Republican party, precise responsibility cannot be ascribed to Bush, Sr and certainly not to Al Gore, Jr., who simply castigated Dukakis for his record on crime during the primary and mentioned Willie Horton, but was uninvolved with the advertisement.
