To the Editor:

Re “Volatile Hearing as Fauci Invokes 5th Amendment” (front page, July 30):

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who helped save countless lives during both the AIDS epidemic and the Covid-19 pandemic, should be spending his later years being honored, celebrated and thanked for a lifetime of public service. Instead, he was treated with contempt and publicly berated by members of Congress on Wednesday at a Senate committee hearing on the origins of Covid.

This was a disgrace — not only to that institution, but also to the millions of Americans whose lives were touched by his work.

Reasonable people can debate policies and decisions made during times of crisis. That is the essence of democracy. But there is a profound difference between conducting legitimate oversight and publicly humiliating a man who dedicated decades of his life to protecting the health of the American people.

The interrogation of Dr. Fauci was, in my view, a blight on Congress and beneath the dignity of the office its members hold. America has always aspired to be better than this.

I refuse to believe that the behavior we witnessed Wednesday reflects the values of most Americans. If it does not, then we have both the opportunity and the responsibility to change it. November is our opportunity to begin building a Congress worthy of the American people. Our votes are our voice.

Robert Kunikoff

New York

To the Editor:

What a sad day in U.S. history when a renowned scientist and public servant for decades — one who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George W. Bush, a Republican, for his work on H.I.V. and AIDS and provided the nation with the best science available to us during the Covid-19 pandemic — felt compelled to invoke the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times at a Senate hearing, based on the recommendation of his attorney.

Sadly, too, I feel that Dr. Anthony Fauci was right to do what he did. Like so many Americans, I am grateful for his service to our nation. Apparently, vilifying Dr. Fauci is more important to some senators than focusing on the rising number of measles cases, widespread episodes of food contamination and the loss of health insurance for many Americans over the past year — one more reason to be sad.

Bill Lillis

Jersey City, N.J.

To the Editor:

Re “Diary Tracks Rise From Disease Expert to Toast of the Town” (news article, July 30):

The release of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s personal diaries may depict a human being privately astounded and pleased by his new fame, but what matters is that his steady advice kept me, my parents (who are in their 90s) and everyone else I know who listened to him alive.

As a former violinist with the Houston Symphony, I also saw the benefits of Dr. Fauci’s work firsthand, when the symphony successfully ran a season during the first year of the pandemic with virtually no illnesses using his guidance.