Transcript of queries, replies
Senator Muskie responds to questions
After his speech Friday night at the University of Kansas, Senator Edmund S. Muskie, D-Maine, answered questions concerning problems facing our country and the world. The following is a transcript of some of the more important questions asked the senator, with his replies.
Q. —Many will die in the next 6 months, while we conduct our "people to people" campaign. What sort of congressman, pentagon-dialogue will you initiate to lower our casualty rates?
A. —"Sure, people will die, but the implication of that question is because you can't stop it now, that you don't try to stop it at all. I say let's stop now and make that period as short as we can. We are going to work—there is a lot of us, more than ever before—in Congress along the lines that I have already suggested. And, believe me, we are trying to scratch our ingenuity to find other ways, and more effective ways to turn this policy around."
Q. —You mentioned a more
reasonable approach in Paris.
What does that mean?
A. —"Negotiating in Paris, of course, is a frustrating and apparently hopeless process. You, in this room, probably won't remember that we went through a similar one, following the Korean War. And that it took two years to negotiate that settlement, which finally ended that war. But, we did, and the fighting was brought to an end. The country is, of course, still under pressure, but South Korea, in the meantime has progressed. So, these settlements do work.
"But, in the course of that process, you know, movement was almost invisible, and took place by almost invisible step by invisible step.
"We finally began negotiating in January of 1969, and by November, Henry Cabot Lodge resigned. We haven't filled that spot since, six months. They are not going to move in Paris until we fill the spot of our chief negotiator. The President, in the first of his last two speeches said that negotiations are the key. And yet, he did not tell us anything of his plans to send over someone representing him in these negotiations, so that we could proceed.
"The second point I would make about Paris is that we have got to understand that if we are going to settle this thing in Paris, we have got to have a political settlement to which both sides will agree. This means that we have to accept the possibility that we have to share political power in Saigon."
Q—Would you compare the violence of this period in American history to other eras? You hear a great deal of talk about our country falling apart at the seams. Do you agree?
A. —"Well, I think that we are in the midst of a historic crisis, that would be easier to compare with others when it is part of history as well. I don't think that our country is necessarily falling apart at the seams, but, I think, it could unless we do something about the division that set us against each other."
Q. —Why doesn't the Senate reappeal the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?
Q. —In view of actions in recent weeks, do you advocate the Senate withholding appropriations for the Department of Defense, for ROTC throughout the country?
A. "I think that it is a decision to be made by each institution. This generation doesn't like it because there is course credit. As far as I am concerned, eliminate course credit. If they don't want to take it, they don't have to take it. But, let me say this. That, I would not like to see the day where all of our military officers are educated in military academies. I think that a certain proportion of them ought to be subject to the liberalizing and humanizing influences of a non-military institution of higher learning."
A. —"Well, I think we are about to. It is being reported out this week."
Q-If the United States were to immediately withdraw from Vietnam, what do you think would be the disadvantages of that course of action?
Alleged killer of four goes on trial Monday
stay. We might be able to strengthen the possibility, but we can't guarantee it. Some time they are going to have to take off on their own."
Q. —In Leavenworth prison, 25% of the inhabitants are because of drug addiction. What do you say to this as evidence to the repressive attitude of our society.
A. "I concur whole-heartedly, with the underlying assumption that we have not found the effective or humane answer to the drug problem. This is one of the short-comings of our society, one that, I think, we are more conscious of, and one that, I think, we will address ourselves more effectively as we go along."
BARNSTABLE, Mass. (UPI) — Antone C. Costa, a mild mannered onetime handyman from Provincetown, who is charged with murdering four young women and burying them in remote graves at the end of Cape Cod, goes on trial Monday in the deaths of two of the women.
Q. —When will the 18-year-old have the right to vote?
A. —"On the advantages side, the most important thing, would be that, I think, it would be a dramatic step to heal the divisions in our country. Militarily, there would probably be no advantages. The risks that would follow, of course, would be that all organized military effort in the south would collapse, and that the north would override the country, and unify it under the government in Hanoi. I don't have a military judgment to assess the weight of that risk. But, let me say this to you. When we began our increased involvement in 1965, what we were undertaking to do, as I understood it, was to buy the South Vietnamese people time, time to establish political, economic and military viability. There is no way that we can assure them of that viability, however long we
Q—What about the handling of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968?
Costa, 26, who had worked as a carpenter, is charged with the murder of Patricia Ann Walsh and Mary Ann Wysocki, two 23 year olds from Providence, R.I., whose mutilated bodies were found more than a year ago near Truro.
A. "I think that was handled badly. By that, I mean city authorities, party convention authorities and some of the leadership on the side of the young people. It was a badly managed deal all around."
Two other bodies were found—those of Susan E. Perry, 18, of Provincetown, and Sydney Lee Monzon, 19, of Eastham. Costa also is charged with murdering and dismembering the two teen age girls but will be
Q. What is your view of population control?
tried separately in those cases.
A. —"I am for family planning, I am not for governmently mandated limits on the size of families. I think that family planning is a program that we ought to advance, foster and encourage."
A. —"The Senate attached an amendment to the Voting Rights Act which is now part of that act because of the Senate action. That piece of legislation is in the House, in the House Judiciary Committee. Chairman Emanuel Seller, of the House committee, has indicated his support of it. The House leadership has indicated it's support of it, the Democratic National Committee has indicated it's support of it. So, I think it looks pretty good."
Police said there was no return address on the package but they were continuing their investigation.
"That's one heck of a thing to send somebody for Mother's Day," Mrs. Lester said.
6 KANSAN May 11 1970
tried separately in those cases. Judge Robert Beaudreau will preside at the Superior Court trial which is expected to last about four weeks.
Woman nearly got a real bang from Mother's Day gift
MEXICO
DETROIT (UPI)—Mrs. Estel la Lester opened a package expecting to find a Mother's Day gift. Instead she found a bomb. Police said her life was spared apparently because she opened the package from the bottom Saturday and the firing mechanism wasn't triggered.
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The package was actually addressed to her daughter, Jeannette Bowles, 26, but Mrs. Lester opened it. Another daughter told her it was a bomb and Mrs. Lester threw it on the front lawn.
Pat Walish was a schoolteacher and Mary Wysocki was finishing her junior year at Rhode Island College. Both were tall girls with long dark hair and had been friends since childhood.
STUDENTS SUMMER EMPLOYMENT
Pinkerton's. Inc. is now taking applications from students who desire summer work as security guards in the greater Kansas City area. You must be at least 21, 5" high or have a clean police record (traffic violations excluded). Apply Mon.-Tue. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. 9 a.m-Noon. Monday-Blidg. 1102 Grand, Kansas City Mo. (An Equal Opportunity Employer)