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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, April 3, 1968
My own postal protest
A small number of KU men are considering mailing their draft cards back to Washington D.C. by way of protesting the Vietnam war.
Thus inspired, I have my own series of mailings that will go out with tomorrow's mail.
For one thing, I recently saw a movie that I didn't like. I can't remember now if it was the Harold Stassen story, "A Man For All Seasons," or "In the Heat of the Night." a documentary on Bobby and Ethel, or what it was. But I didn't like the movie.
So, in the true spirit of civil disobedience that Thoreau would have applauded, I am mailing my partially shredded movie ticket back to the theatre manager with a terse note that where his musical comedies are concerned, I hear a different drummer.
Another postal protest now underway concerns a topic that I would never before thought of as a controversial topic caught in the whirlpool of conflicting viewpoints, namely, my pillow.
My pillow has a small tag which states, in bold capital letters, "Do not remove this tag under penalty of law." In a fit of philosophical protest, and also because it itches my ear at night, I ripped it off. It is now sealed in a stamped envelope, waiting only for me to address it and send it off. I am having trouble with this particular protest since the only place on the whole pillow where it tells the manufacturer's name is on the tag now sealed up, but it's the principle that counts.
With this momentum, I am assembling a whole series of little cards, tags, and tickets to mail back as a protest against my basic free rights as a citizen of the world, or something.
Before me, ready for mailing, are such things as a matchbook which says in pompous tones, "Close cover before striking," a gum wrapper that says "Keep foil wrapper to put gum in after use," and a Volkswagen with a message on the dashboard that says "Fasten your safety belt."
But come to think of it, I'll never get all these mailed off. That small sign is always above the post office that says "Put Zip Codes on all addresses!" If the good Lord had wanted zip codes on letters, he would have made them that way; I have a conscience and refuse to be pushed around.
After all, you have to draw the line somewhere.
—John Hill
Assistant Editorial Editor
Letters to the editor
On Hoch and Vietnam talk
To the Editor:
I am awestruck by the apparently relentless efforts of those who arrange programs in Hoch Auditorium. Participating in the Festival of the Arts as a spectator has become an exercise in patience: a test of will to see whether the prospect of forfeiting the value of the evening's ticket is more attractive than that of submitting oneself to witness the anguish of performer and spectator subjected to the unyielding ways of old Hoch.
Perhaps it is with the aspiration of becoming a folk hero through contempt (Al Capp style) that Hoch victimizes its visitors with free light shows, crackling loudspeakers, confusion over reserved seats and faint voices through the crackling loudspeakers (in spite of the very efficient testing being done last night by the microphone technicians minutes before Mr. Capp's lecture).
Hoch is really not such a bad
old place; all it needs is a little freshening-up and some discipline. For such a large structure more than a seemingly untrained skeleton crew is needed. Perhaps someone from Murphy could pay Hoch a visit to fix a few cables, aim a few lights, build a good sound system, dust a few ledges and train a few crewmen in the fine arts of handling Hoch's hulk with a professional flair.
Erik J. Beukenkamp Graduate in Linguistics
- * *
To the Editor:
In the March 27 Kansan there appeared a report of a talk about Vietnam I had given the evening before. Most of the report was accurate, but there was one paragraph that needs clarification. I was reported as having said that "Asian countries have the idea that 'what's theirs is theirs and what's yours is negotiable.'" Put this way, the impression the reader gets is far from that I wanted to convey.
I was commenting on the observation of an American negotiator that Communist countries use the principle "what's theirs is theirs", etc. in negotiating, I suggested that this principle may be related, where East Asian Communist governments are concerned, to certain imperatives of government in East Asia. East Asian governments (I did not say countries) normally must maintain a position of moral correctness that forbids open negotiations on an equal basis with domestic rebels and external enemies.
This means that any American negotiations with Hanoi are bound to be difficult, will have to be carried out in secret, and any formal arrangements thereafter should take due note of all proprieties (especially since American "face" is also much involved). The whole matter of negotiation in Asia is a complex one involving some cultural and political questions that cannot be summarized in a few words. That being true, I should probably have avoided the issue in my talk. In any case, the point I wish to make here is that I did not intend to imply that "what's theirs is theirs," etc. applies to Asian individuals or groups. It may apply, with due explanation and in certain situations, to East Asian governments.
"Mr. President, have you decided on a replacement for Gen. Westmoreland?"
Edgar Wickberg
Associate Professor of History
..quotes..
"On the Presidential coat of arms, the American eagle holds in his right talon an olive branch, while in his left he holds a bundle of arrows. We intend to give equal attention to both."
John Fitzgerald Kennedy State of the Union Message, 1961
"All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a freeman, I take pride in the words, 'Ich bin ein Berliner (I am a Berliner).'"
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
At the Berlin wall, 1963.
Bomb curb reactions
By John N. Fallon UPI Foreign Editor
SAIGON—(UPI)—No bombshell ever fell with heavier impact in the Vietnam war than President Johnson's decision to retire from office this year and his suspension of bombing the war centers of the North.
There were strong indications the United States would use the President's actions to turn the heat on South Vietnam to step up effective participation in the conflict, pending a settlement. "This will make some Vietnamese think," a high ranking American officer said.
President Nguyen Van Thieu held urgent and lengthy consultation with U.S. Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker and publicly stated that the United States would be "deserting the free world" if it pulled out of Vietnam.
Nevertheless, his statements at a news conference were obviously aimed at smoothing U.S.-Saigon relations. He emphasized his plans for a general mobilization of the country that would permit a "gradual withdrawal" of U.S. forces by the end of this year.
The pressure was on his government, and Thieu knew it. With Johnson leaving office this year, there will be new pressures on Saigon.
U. S. Deputy Ambassador Samuel D. Berger said on his arrival in Saigon to take up his post last week that the American people are demanding a marked improvement both in government efficiency and South Vietnamese armed forces.
In the first day after Johnson's televised address, there was dead silence from Hanoi.
Red China, in the background, also was silent for the moment but China watchers in Hong Kong said Peking's reaction would be typically vitriolic.
However, some military sources in Saigon said they felt the President's statements could indicate the start of an overall U.S. troop de-escalation whether Hanoi goes along or not.
Military sources said Hue appeared more threatened now than Khe Sanh, as a possible target for a renewed Red offensive.
"It was a surprise to me." said T.Sgt. Anthony Fertitta of Vidor, Tex. "Sometimes I think whoever was president couldn't do much better or much worse."
Some officers expressed concern that the United States might back out of the war.
Thailand, coping with a Vietnam-type Communist upheaval in its northeast provinces, expressed shock at Johnson's decisions.
"My main concern is that we won't stav with this thing." said Col. Dwight B. Dickson of Fayetteville, N.C., a combat adviser for Vietnamese rangers.
Prime Minister Thanom Kittikaechorn said in Bangkok he feared Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, D-N.Y., would win the White House and that U.S. policy in Southeast Asia would "change greatly."
If the United States moves out, he said. "we cannot protect ourselves as far as Red China is concerned."
Asian leaders were gathered with Secretary of State Dean Rusk at Wellington, New Zealand, for a Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) meeting and they generally hailed Johnson's action in halting the bombing.
As they have during two previous major bombing pauses, U.S. military sources expressed concern that Hanoi would simply use the free time to develop more armaments and ship them south
The sources say they are convinced that Hanoi feels it must have one his victory under its belt.
Nevertheless, the war is in a general lull.
Monday night, a U.S. briefing officers said it was "about the quietest night I've seen in my life." in Saigon
It is up to Hanoi to decide what future nights would be like.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY kansan
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