To the Editor:

I read with interest Eric Foner's moving essay on James Shenton in the October 2003 Perspectives. However, if Professor Shenton was as "severely injured" in 1968 as the essay states, then how could he have gone on a newscast the following day?

A police officer was the most severely injured individual in 1968; he was paralyzed when a radical student jumped on him. To my knowledge, the policeman did not promptly have a chat with Huntley and Brinkley.

My forthcoming biography of Columbia historian Richard B. Morris will give a greatly different perspective on the 1968 riots than that held by Professor Foner.

—Philip Ranlet
Hunter College, CUNY

Editor's Note: See Eric Foner's response.