To the editor:

On June 30, an Atlanta friend told me how much she had enjoyed Mike Luckovich’s editorial cartoon of Lester Maddox and Strom Thurmond standing at the “pearly gates.” Imagine my surprise when, the next day, I saw the cartoon in the Journal-World but couldn’t find Strom Thurmond anywhere in the drawing! Instead, it looked like Luckovich was lampooning only Lester Maddox, when (in fact) the original paired these men.

By removing Strom Thurmond from the cartoon, you have misled your readers and misrepresented Luckovich’s statement. Perhaps that is your legal right, but is it wise journalism? Is it an effective way to build credibility?

Mary Wharff,

Lawrence

Editor’s note: The Journal-World did not alter the cartoon. The original Luckovich cartoon, which is the only one the Journal-World received, pictured only Maddox at the entrance to heaven. According to Creators Syndicate, which distributes Luckovich cartoons to newspapers around the country, Luckovich altered the cartoon after Strom Thurmond died. The altered cartoon, which showed both Maddox and Thurmond at the pearly gates, was not distributed by the syndicate, but was published in the Atlanta Constitution and subsequently in Newsweek magazine.