‘The Birth of a Nation’ Documents History

Gibson objects to the selection of “The Birth of a Nation” by the Library of Congress as a film of of “cultural, historical or aesthetic” significance. That there even was such a film is a historical fact, just as the Nazi Holocaust is a fact. “The Birth of a Nation” documents what kind of films were made and shows how wrong and bigoted we have been--just as the preservation of Dachau shows what crimes people are capable of. I trust that “The Birth of a Nation’s” selection was historical and not aesthetic, and I trust that other people will not confuse the two.

PETER D. KING

Bel-Air