KANSAN Comment So Nixon wants out By MONROE DODD Kansan Staff Writer Dean Acheson, that redoubtable patriarch of American Cold War foreign policy, appeared on ABC-TV's "Issues and Answers" Sunday to once again air his views on the world situation. Watching the old gentleman discourse on matters of state was like traveling on a time machine or reading the original copy of an 1886 newspaper editorial: it was historically interesting but subconsciously frightening. The former Secretary of State, phrasing his thoughts in a dialect apropos to his famed waxed mustache and striped pants, addressed himself to the hopelessness of the Middle East situation and the inevitability of an Arab-Israeli war, the hopelessness of the upcoming strategic arms limitation talks and the inevitability of the United States and Russia continuing on the present nuclear courses, and the hopelessness of the Vietnam conflict and the inevitability of continued U.S. presence in Southeast Asia. Mr. Acheson is not cynical. Rather, he is wise, but wise in the ways of the postwar decade, a time when international hope was a rare commodity and Soviet-American confrontation promised to be endless. The same Mr. Acheson, who earlier in the program had denied being "out" of the contemporary scene, lauded the American presence in Vietnam as a defense of freedom and advocated normalization of U.S. relations with the Greek junta and Ian Smith's segregated Rhodesia on the basis that foreign affairs should be conducted not for the worldwide extension of the American way of life but simply in the interests of the United States. Whatever the contradiction, Mr. Acheson plainly exhibited that he is, after all, unaware of some of the main forces of modern American opinion. The really uncomfortable part came later, when Mr. Acheson gave an Ivy League hurrah for the policy of President Nixon and Secretary of State Rogers. Those were strange words for an ardent Democrat who was Alger Hiss's friend and a major component of the Truman administration, both of which positions were vehemently attacked by Nixon the congressman and later, vice-presidential candidate. To support his former political enemy took a great amount of strength on the part of the aging Mr. Acheson, yet he did it with conviction. THE MINISTERATE FOR EDUCATION The President's biggest problem lies in convincing the American people that he is truly in favor of withdrawing from Vietnam, Mr. Acheson said. "And you think the President is truly for reduction of the conflict?" the ABC interviewer asked. "Yes, I think so," was Mr. Acheson's reply. The former Secretary of State, never a man to be swayed easily, has apparently been convinced. So, on this evidence, Mr. Nixon is following a set of plans with which this eminent historical personage agrees. And Mr. Nixon's plans probably include the retention of a substantial U.S. force in Vietnam after the "end" of the war. It seems that the President is living up to his word given before the Oct.15 Moratorium: he will not be misdirected by those who call for a major contraction of American overseas commitments. He will instead follow the rules and precepts laid down in the red-scare postwar days by Dean Acheson. Those guides were for another time, almost another place. They just don't fit the feelings of 1969—except perhaps in the upper echelons of government. Mr. Nixon has not adjusted his views to the impact of rising dissatisfaction with present holdover policies of the late Forties. This blindness could be disastrous for him and it could be disastrous for the nation. Mr. Acheson is a private citizen now, able to go his own way without harming anyone. But Mr. Nixon is the man charged with the responsibility of leading 200 million people.Does he have to lead them down the same treacherous path? Readers write To the editor: I would like to make clear that the ideas expressed in his letter are Mr. Blumenthal's own and do not represent the position of KU Hillel, whose members have a wide diversity of views on the subject. Mr. Allan Blumenthal's letter, which appeared in Tuesday's Kansan, identified the writer as former president of KU Hillel. Allan Perlman KU Hillel Counselor Assistant professor, business admini Assistant professor, business administration $$ * * * $$ To the editor: Your rhetoric (Miss Wiebe and Mr. Lee) is beautiful. What is your plan? While the SMC is actively trying to stop the war in Vietnam, do you propose going from house to house pleading with Americans to change their natures and become "good people" so we can put an end to imperialistic militarism once and for all? Come on now. Who are "the naive idealistic people?" Those involved with the Moratorium are not unaware of the American character and the evils of this society. Is it perhaps that you read no student newspapers other than your own? The observations that you throw out as if they were profound revelations became clichés long ago. And what, realistically, are the chances of making the people who chauvinistically support "my country right or wrong" even acknowledge these evils? No one is going to attempt to change his character or that of his nation when he believes them to be Truth itself. No one is going to put an end to war in general, least of all the military-industrial complex, which appears a rather permanent fixture in this society. Your Jesus Christ, Mr. Lee, is obviously not a working force in Vietnam and of no relevance in the fight to end the war. The so-called naive idealists are realistic enough to recognize the fact that human nature is not going to be changed on a collective basis, least of all when it stems from a sense of cultural superiority. All they can do is work toward ending a particular immoral war, not immorality itself. Kat Stiles Kansas City junior Off the wire By United Press International WASHINGTON—Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew, reading a prepared text at a Defense Department ceremony that called for him to say "No public figure has gone down in history for saying give me economy or give me death," read instead. "No public figure has gone down in history for shouting give me liberty or give me economy." $$ * * * $$ CHICAGO—Colloquy at the conspiracy trial of the "Chicago Eight" between Judge Julius J. Hoffman and defendant Bobby Seale, after an outburst in the courtroom. "The court has the power to gag you—gag you and chain you to your chair. I don't want to do it."-Hoffman. "Gag? I'm being railroaded." -Seale $$ * * * $$ NEWBERG, Ore.—Dave Sherman, a freshman from Greenleaf, Idaho, is the hamburger king of George Fox College. He got into an impromptu hamburger-eating contest with several other students at the school cafeteria, which ran out of buns when Sherman and Gene Beeson were tied at eight apiece. The other contestants moved to a nearby drive-in where Beeson, of Long Beach, Calif., managed to down one more—while Sherman munched through seven for a total of 15. THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN An All-American college newspaper Kansan Telephone Numbers Newsroom—UN-4 3646 Business Office—UN-4 4358 Published at the University of Kansas daily during the academic year except holidays and examination periods. Mail subscription fee a semester, $14 a year. Second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kan 66044. Academic goods, services and employment advertised offered to all students without regard to color, creed or national origin. 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