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Thursday. October 12, 1972
University Daily Kansan
KANSAN
Editorials, columns and letters published on this page reflect only the opinions of the writers.
Following Our Fears With Mr. Nixon
Truly it is a leader among leaders who understands that his duty is not to lead the people, but rather, to blindly follow their fears and prejudices. This President Nixon understands. He understands that the easy road of a New America with New Solutions to New Problems is not the road the American people want him to trod. And so, he has chosen to travel the hard thankless path that every true leader must; he has chosen to follow his people back into their past.
Such a choice demands great self-restraint, for it is not easy always to lead a people from the hindmost ranks. And yet, Nixon always has remained true to his goal. Though he, perhaps more than anyone else, is agonizing aware of the terrible complexities of the current reality, he courageously bears this burdensome knowledge alone. And although he bears this awesome burden, he has the strength and courage to strike up hope among the people.
It was he who struck the Vietnam
war from the hard dishonoring hands of reality and drew it back into the respectable God-avenging past. It was he who, when our society in reality was falling apart because of our own inadequacies, saved us from ourselves by resurrecting ancient bearers of evil to whom we could assign the blame. Thus, he brought back the domino theory, the black evinence of all crime, the infallibility of all government, the intransigence of the Vietnamese Communists, the simple appeal of bobby sox, the righteousness of everything American and most of all, our nearness to God.
Yes, Nixon is truly a great leader; he is one of the few men in history who could thus save an entire nation from the temptation of reality. We owe him a great debt of gratitude, for he has saved us from the threat of war and adjustment and followed us back to the safe irrelevancies of the past.
—Robert Ward
Letters Policy
Letters to the editor should be typewritten, double-spaced and not exceed 500 words. All letters are subject to editing and condensation, according to space limitations and the editor's judgment. Students must pass a comprehensive town; faculty and staff must provide their name and position; others must provide their name and address.
--side, demons on the other—the "people" arrayed against the "special interests."
James J. Kilpatrick
Nader Report Discounted
WASHINGTON—Once upon a time, as Plutarch tells the tale, Aristides the Just was running for re-election. He stopped a stranger on the streets of Athens to solicit his vote. No, said the citizen, who did not recognize the candidate, he could not support it and was not as if he had anything against the statesman.
What, then, was the trouble? "I'm just sick and tired," said the citizen, "of hearing him called the 'just.'"
Ralph Nader, the Great Crusader, might be well-advised to meditate upon the story. Beyond question, this dedicated and zealous man has made significant contributions to the movement, and to the quality of our environment. But he is displaying in his current assault upon Congress a swell-headed arrogance that may cool the ardor of even his most devoted fans. The gentleman is indeed. The gentleman, is indeed, a bore.
One is reminded not only of Aristides but also of Engine Charlie Wilson. The conard will call him, and you know, once avowed that what is good for General Motors is the good人 U.S.A. Ralph Nader exhibits the same confusion. His newly born son, Raymond "Congress"", grandly equates Ralph Nader with the "people" or with "the public interest." He alone, goes the implication, is good and wise and progressive.
The possibility that he might be wrong—the possibility that decent men might take an oppose view out of pure motives and sound reasons—that Nader crosses Nader's Olympian brow.
This vainglorious image emerges from the Nader book. The paperback is attributed to Mark J. Green, James M. Fallow, and David R. Zwick, but it bears the imprimatur of the man himself. Viewed simply as a book, it is likely not a book. It rehearses every criticism of Congress made in recent years, but it adds little that is new or different. Evidently the work was produced in the mad haste that results in mental blocks. One is started to learn, in a discussion of seniority, that "John McCollannon of Arkansas was elected years ago and has contributed to the propriations Committee," a "bit of history that will come as news to the Senator."
What raises one's hackles is the lordly assumption of Nader's factories that everyone else is vile, and only he is pure. The Nader forms, unions no less than corporations find troublesome regulations standing "between them and the politicians they represent," and are trotted forth in semantic black bats. Congressman O'Neill of Massachusetts, a bad guy, is the "august" chairman of a sub-committee of the Texas Taxco doesn't merely say; he "intumes." It is angels on one
The truth is vastly more complex. Are the milkmen "people?" Are tobacco farmers people? Are the owners of those milkmen indeed. They are co-conspirators in dastardly plots to "milk the housewife," or they are "small businessmen who are different from you and me." By contrast, are the milkmen "lobbers" are did well with virtue: The taxpayer billions. But the baddies, the business lobes, are
may inflate production costs to a point at which the public interest is adversely affected.
concerned only with making "the victims bear the cost of their anti-consumer political efforts."
What is the consumer's interest? The honest answer, in many difficult cases, is simply—it depends. The recent increase in consumer awareness has been in the consumer's interest. The oil depletion allowance may be as evil as Nader contends, or it may contribute to the explorations that are vital to a safe environment. Safety requirements in general must be applauded, but a fanatical obsession with safety
Ralph Nader, of course, has every right to lobby for his causes, and to urge his followers to organize their campaigns. But the Nader campaign does not divinely ordained. The anathema he pronounces on the Congress may amount to Holy Holly, and perhaps members in the legislature in佩尔 of their suits. But the again, perhaps not.
(C) The Washington Star Syndicate, Inc.
"POPPYCOCK!"
Garry Wills
Nixon's Promise Remembered
It is not often that a sentence has a birthday. Sometimes we celebrate the anniversary of a speech—The Gettysburg Address, say. Or a famous promise will be celebrated when fulfilled, like General MacArthur's "I shall return."
But Nixon's comment in October of 1968 is one he would just as soon forget, and McGovern right to celebrate its non-renewal. It was then that term established by that comment itself. These words should be printed in huge letters and hung over the voting booths of the convention, but they don't whether they want to endorse the Nixon of 1968 or the Nixon of 1972:
"Those who have had a chance for four years and could not
produce peace should not be given another chance."
"Produce" peace, you notice. Not promise it. Not hope for it. Do the job. Nixon was reminded of our past conference, he said. "We always, of course, set our goals high. We do our best to reach those goals." In other words, having the desire to achieve, though, now that it is Niger's war.
That wasn't enough when it was Johnson's war. Johnson desired peace—he gave up his office in order to make more credible efforts as a pacemaker. Nixon has just reversed the war in his history and end the war in order to keep his office.
Nixon was clear about the deadline, back in 1968. He said,
"If in November the war is no more, I say the American people will be justified in electing new leadership." That argument still holds, and McGovern is the man to make it.
When you have a weak position, Nixon believes, you should go on the attack, distract your audience, invade a false issue and use fear to pressure him. This August, he said that "some" of those who would hold him to his own pledge do so in order to have "peace at the cost of surrender," to reduce the ability of the United States to conduct foreign policy in a responsible way." But Nixon saw and said in 1968 that the war itself was not about America. And such accusations were not allowed to obscure the
clear challenge Nikon made to Johnson. Produce. By November. Or get out.
The emphasis on producing was made again and again, during the 1968 campaign, as Nixon told audiences that he knew how to bring peace. He had been to a good 'school of peacemaking, the Eisenhower administration which murdered the war. He impelled in ways that he knew Ke's tricks and would apply them (from this came the impression that he had a secret plan).
Kissinger, too, that mini- President, told academic visitors early in this administration that they would be satisfied if they just came back in a year; that he was doing what they wanted, just
give him a little time
Well, we have given him lots of time, and money, and lives, and the trick hasn't been turned, nor the trumpeter has, for four years, did not produce peace. He has widened the war to new countries, intensified the bombing to new levels not only in the Middle East but also in the killing of Asian civilians. His plan did not work, and he kills on in a rage of frustration, delaying but not substantially altering the fate of "honor" in immoral coinage.
The electorate for its own honor, should be forced to make the same challenge to him that he made in November . . . or get out.
(C) 1972, Universal Press Syndicate
Jack Anderson
WASHINGTON - The Greeks aren't as enthusiastic as they're reported to be over the arrival of the U.S. Navy in Athens.
Beware of Who?
The 6th Fleet has adopted the ancient Athenian seaport of Piraeus as a home port. For the past month, Navy families have been pouring into Athens with their baggage and belongings.
Most of them arrived clutching a "Welcome Aboard" pamphlet prepared for them by the Navy. This told them of "cooling breezes in the oceanan in sunshine, day-end on a sunshine, the galley of a tavern by the sea, and the basic goodness of the Greek people.
"The new government," assured the pamphlet, "has worked cooperatively with American representatives in New York and citizens stationed in the country are very courteously treated."
The Greek dictatorship. indeed, is delighted to tighten its ties with the United States by inviting the 5th Fleet to make Athens its home away from home. But the Greek people have some unpublicized misgivings.
Both the U.S. embassy and Navy have picked up quiet rumblings from individuals who appear to over the impact the naval invasion will have on Greek life. There is an underlying hostility to the appearance of American soldiers in their quiet neighborhoods.
"Some Athenians," claimed one written protest, "are already selling their seaside homes because they want to have nothing to do with Negro or white Americans who may live nearby.
"These Athenians judge from a few supposedly select military personnel usually already serving at the front, are foul, dirty, noisy and in short
barbarous, who threaten to resort to violence when asked by neighbors to respect basic rules on quietness and cleanliness."
Other protesters have charged that black servicemen have brought violence to European communities where they're stationed, that the influx of immigrants up rents and prices, and that the American warships will pollute the seashore.
A typical tenant complained that his landlord raised his rent from 1,300 to 2,500 drachmas ($80 to $75) with the explanation, "A young American girl is already outside to take over if you leave."
The Navy selected Athens as a home base for the 6th Fleet at the same time it was pretending to study other possible allies. Five Navy aircraft were decided upon Athens, a cover-up story was issued saying Italian
ports were still under construction. This was intended to calm criticism that the United States favored a dictatorship.
This little finesse was discovered by Reps. Ben Eckert and Greg Fitzgerald in Hamilton, D-Ind., chairman of the House European and Mideast subcommittees, which have been involved with the Greek dictatorship.
They also discovered that the State Department tried to mislead them about a controversial Gallup poll taken in Athens about Greek fondness for the United States.
Assistant Secretary Secretary David Abshire informed the two congressmen that a 1970 poll by a Gallup affiliate, sponsored by the State Department, found that the United States had gone up since the Greek dictatorship came to power.
Griff and the Unicorn
permitted to make a copy
Actually, the poll had been declassified months earlier. A Governing Council report named Demetracepopulus, obtained a copy not only of the controversial poll but of a covering State department memorandum for us.
"The reader is cautioned," warns the memo, "to interpret the findings with particular care" because of "the possible influences of the present political climate in Greece."
By Sokoloff
There may be "some hesitation on the part of the Athens public to express controversial opinions", added the memo. "Some anti-American attitudes might be difficult for Greeks." Greek Greeks may have been afraid to answer the questions honestly for fear of government retaliation.
This caveat was omitted from the information supplied to the two congressmen. Not until my colleague Abbie Abdire had straight out the misinformation. He got off an immediate letter to the congressmen with this congressional response had contained a "serious deficiency."
"About one-third of the persons polled in 1970 indicated an increase in their respect for the United States," Abshire told the记者 group. "90 per cent, he said, had a good opinion of the United States.
Rosenthal sent a staff member to the department to examine the poll and bring back a copy. However, it was stamped incorrectly. He had to see to it, because he had a security clearance, but he wasn't
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"Neither I nor my staff were aware of the warning that the police prosecute him." He asked the congressmen to "please accept my apologies."
Copyright, 1972 by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
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