Page Ten THE MICHIGAN DAILY Saturday, March 30, 1968 Poge Ten THE MICHIGAN DAILY Saturday, March 30, 1968 Academic copout in the midst of war By RICHARD ANTHONY The Dissenting Academy, Theodore Roszak, ed. Pantheon, $695. Sometime between World War II and the demise of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, a general attitude that has been described as liberal anti-Communism became the prevailing attitude of the American intellectual community. The basic premises of liberal anti-Communism were two: that the government should be encouraged to pursue its policy of con- taining Communism abroad, and that it should be prodded to cure whatever social ills might still be in existence at home. At the time liberal anti-Communism was blossoming, there is no doubt that many of its advocates believed they were taking a stand that was both idealistic and sensible, Stalin's repressive and cynical methods of ruling seemed to discredit Communism as a means of achieving social progress, while the United States seemed to be taking a genuinely progressive role in the world with programs like the Marshall Plan. Whatever the validity of this view of the world, it permitted academics and intellectuals to go to work for the government, or at least to work on government-sponsored projects, in good con- science. Criticism, if it was encouraged at all, was directed at par- ticular programs or parts of programs rafher than at the foreign policy or the society's structure as a whole. Government, under pressure to keep up with the Soviets in the misfile race, the space race, and in other races, threw off its tradi- tional distrust of the intellectual community and began funding research programs at the universities. The consequences of the post-war romance between universities and the government are what most, though not all, of the eleven contributors to The Dissenting Academy talk about. Although it is clear that the War in Vietnam is the starting point for all of them, they do not write so much about where academics have failed in trying to end the war, as about the larger failure of the univer- sities to criticize a society that would get into such a war. As described in this book, some of the failings of academics are almost incredible. Sumner Rosen, an economist writing about the deficiencies of economic work in this country, says that the impact of military spending in the economy has been all but ignored by professional economists. According to Rosen, "war and preparation for war" is the most important single force in the economy today. Why, then, has this area been neglected? It's hard to avoid the conclusion that economists, the group that has come closest to the .inner circles of power in this country (what other discipline boasts anything like the President's Council of Economic Advisors?), just don't want to point out how depend- ent our economy is on war-spending because it would spoil their cozy relationship with the government. Rosen suggests this is part of the problem, but he sees a less direct reason for it. As he explains it, The scholars and teachers are not consciously avoiding or evading a duty which they know in their hearts must be faced. Rather, they are conforming to a point of view about the econ- omy and about their own role and responsibility which they find both bearable and honorable. It is part of a more general view of scholarship which effectively molds all but a handful of mnen, and casts that handful into the role of peripheral fig- ures, cranks, or monomaniacs. This is at root an ahistorical, a technical or mechanical, a nonpolitical view of what the economy is and how it works. It is seen as a system with stable structural' characteristics, operating within parameters that will not change. Economists, in other words, accept the structure of the econ- omy, in the large, and address their criticisms to limited technical aspects of it. A similar criticism of anthropologists is made by Kathleen Gough. She says that anthropologists in general study primitive cultures, and sometimes even examine the impact of Western society on these cultures, without considering the larger question of Western imperialism, its origins and overall impact. Some of the contributors to the Dissenting Academy discuss the role, or non-role of professional associations in their respective disciplines with regard to taking public stands on issues. Marshall Windmiller, an associate professor of international relations at San Francisco State College, describes how the Amer- icn Political Science Association reacted last year when it was dis- closed that two of its top officers were also running a research firm funded by the CIA. An investigation was held. In reporting its results to the mem- bership, the APSA leadership thanked the, two men for their "dedication and services" to the Association, and otherwise con- centrated on proving that the APSA itself was not a CIA front. In the book's final essay, Noam Chomsky, Ferrari Ward Pro- fessor of Linguistics at MIT, suggests a larger role for men of ideas. The essay, entitled "The Responsibility of Intellectuals," explains how intellectuals and scholars have gotten away from their basic role, which is to "speak the truth and expose lies." ' In one illuminating passage, he describes how even some com- mitted intellectuals-participants in an International Conference on Alternative Perspectives on, Vietnam-were so caught in their academic background that they decided to divide study of the Vietnam situation among three groups of specialists: the Asian specialists were to study the situation in Vietnam, the social theo- rists were to study the impact of Vietnam in international relations, and the philosophers and theologians were to examine the U.S. foreign policy "in terms of basic human values, rooted in various theological, philosophical and humanist traditions.'' Chomsky suggests that Vietnam is something th t can be easily understood, most especially by intellectuals, and that their responsibility is to ask "What have I done?" as they read, "each day, of fresh atrocities in Vietnam--as we create, or mouth, or tolerate the deceptions that will be used to justify the next defense of freedom." Bsbooksbooksbooksbooksb Bernard Fall on the end of the beginning of war By STEVE WILDSTROM Hell in a VeryFSmall Place, by Bernard B. Fall. Vintage, $2.95. Early into the morning of May 7, 1954, the red and gold flag of the Viet Minh was raised above the captured French for- tress of Dienbienphu in Viet- nam. "The 10,000 men, French and Viet Minh, who died at Dien- bienphu, may have done more, to shape the fate of the world than the soldiers at Agincourt, Waterloo or Stalingrad," wrote the late Bernard B. Fall of the battle which ended what he called the First Indochina War. While Fall's judgment may have been somewhat exagger- ated, the passage of 14 years has done nothing to lessen the impact of Dienbiephu on con- temporary international affairs. At Dienbienphu, the Viet Minh, under the command of North Vietnam's current De- fense Minister and Vice Pre- mier Vo Nguyen Giap, proved conclusively that a basically primitive army, backed by an extensive and efficient supply system and aided by a sym- pathetic local populace, can de- feat a well-armed highly- mechanized, modern force. As Fall repeatedly - points out, this is "a lesson which the United States still has not learned in 1966." Like the Americans, the French assumed, in planning for the defense of Dienbienphu, an isolated jungle garrison, that classical methods of inderdic- tion could so disrupt enemy supply lines that the Viet Minh could not mount the kind of offensive needed to take Dien- bienphu. What they forgot was that unlike western armies, the Viet Minh moved their supplies lar- gely on the back of thousands of coolies, who could walk around bombed out roads, hack paths through virgin jungles and wade through tropical rivers. The French thought the Viet Minh could never get heavy ar- tillery through the jungle. The Viet Minh dismantled their field pieces, had ,coolies push the parts through the jungle on bicycles and reassembled the guns on the spot. Within a week, the Viet Minh effectively neutralized the French artillery, demolished the Dienbienphu airstrip and put up enough antiaircraft fire to ensure the slow starvation of the French garrison. In view of this history, it seems strange that American officials were surprised when the North Vietnamese showed up with tanks in the attack on the Special Forces camp at Lang Vei early this year, or when the Viet Cong managed to bring cannon and heavy mor- tars inside Saigon and Hue during the Tet offensive. Fall, who was the leading chronicler of both the First and Second Indochina Wars until his death in Vietnam last year, presents a detailed and objec- tive history of the siege and fall of Dienbienphu. In fact, the book is detailed to a fault, con- taining vast amounts of infor- mation which boggle the casual reader, although they should prove invaluable to historians. He lays most of the blame for the defeat of the French at Dienbienphu on the French comand, who grossly underesti- mated the potential of the Viet Minh army and of Gen. Giap as a strategist. It seems likely that had Fall lived, he would have found the U.S. high com- mand equally culpable in the Tet offensive. Fall concludes Hell in a Very Small Place with two intriguing, albeit moot, theses about Dien- bienphu. First, he contends that American air intervention in the late stages of the battle, as was suggested by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and the joint chiefs of staffs, but which was vetoed by President Eisenhower, would have saved the French garrison and pre- vented the Second Indochina War. This theory is based on the assumption that a French victory or a standoff at Dien- bienphu would not have pre- vented ultimate French defeat in Indochina but would have bought time for more orderly withdrawl and a more viable political solution at Geneva. At best, this notion is rather tenous. It seems the only stable government that could have been established at Geneva would have been a united Viet- nam under Ho. And that prob- ably would have precipitated immediate American interven- tion. Falls second thesis is that the fall of Dienbienphu led in large part to the defeat of the French in Algeria. A large number of the French troops in Indochina were North Africans-Algerians and Moroccans-who learned national liberation army tech- niques directly from their Viet Minh conquerors. More inte- restingly, he contends that the junior French officers who were captured interpreted the Viet Minh indoctrination as mean- ing that they could establish a revolutionary force using the "mass" b a s e of 1,000,000 Frenchmen in Algeria, thus set- ting the stage for the battling of the early 1960s. v 4 Khe Sanh now depends heavily on air drops - a new Dienbienphu? Independence cum nothing By HOWARD KOHN Reclaiming the American Dream, by Richard C. Cor- nuelle. Vintage, $1.65. For the casual student of the American dream, America's greatness was distilled in the individual pioneers who banded together for barn raisings and quilting bees and who freed the land of savages and predatory animals in their spare time. Their task finished, the more society-minded A m e r i c a n s claimed the land from those who had left it unattended for centuries and gave it unto themselves. But when the land was care- fully gathered among the Amer- icans who could manage it best, the power-minded gov- ernment stepped in and tried to gobble up the small empires the society-minded Americans had built. Now Richard C. Cornuelle, in a neo-classical attempt at mythology, reclaims the "inde- pendent sector"-the people who originally quilted quilts and laid down law and order -as the saviors-to-be of a na- tion burgeoning with two in- compatible philosophies.- In crude terms, to which Cornuelle subscribes, the liber- als are going to give us more government and less freedom until they run out of money. And the conservatives, if given the chance, would only give us back our money along with all the problems we've foisted on the government. Subsequently, all true Amer- icans should reject the present system and cleave unto the old system. What could be a won- derfuly radical change, how- ever, is strafed by Cornuelle's own guns. By blind luck he recognizes that the same people who pushed westward to make the way safe for civilization are the same people who pile-drove rail- road tracks to make the way accessible to whoever could af- ford the rate, and the same peo- ple who are now making the world safe for, whatever wants to believe it. In the American Medical As- sociation, Cornuelle sees a po- tential modernday extension of the "independent sector." But he warily notes that it has al- ways been on the watch to pro- tect the interests of doctors, who pay dues, rather than pa- tients, who do not. Instead of the highly-organ- ized public service groups, un- der which the Boy Scouts would also be couched, Cornuelle pro- poses a different tack. The Benjamin Franklin So- ciety, to which he belongs, as- sesses each of its members five per cent of their income and five hours week of their time. These resources are then used in theways thought best by a majority of the members. Although Cornuelle won't quite face up to it, 01' Ben's Society follows the guidelines of Washington technicians re- markably well . . . down to the last patronizing drop of self- righteousness. No matter how hard he tries, Cornuelle can not resolve the inconsistencies which trouble his "independent sector." Yet, for no apparent reason other than pure cussedness, he con- scientiously sets forth old plans without newreal revisions which could slay -all the dragons on the journey to the democratic grail. Cornuelle is in the common circumstances of having come up with a political idea which is no political idea at all, and if it ever becomes widely ac- cepted, it seems destined to do nothing at all. NOTICE! PLAY OF THE MONTH SUBSCRIBERS Subscribers to the Professional Theatre Program Play of the Month series are reminded that they should use series tickets dated Jan. 15 for the matinee performance of "Hello, Dolly!" -Professional Theatre Program 4 WORSHIP .._._ ............ . . i i It's WAHR'S University Bookstore for Books of All Kinds Serving Michigan Students Since 1883 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH State and William-on the Campus Terry N. Smith, Minister Theme: Words Around the Cross-What the Army Officer Said: "Truly a Son of God." LUTHERAN STUDENT CENTER AND CHAPEL National Lutheran Council Hill St. at S. Forest Ave. Dr. H. 0. Yoder, Pastor SUNDAY 9:30 and 11:00 a.m.-Worship Services. 7:00 p.m.-Discussion-"Capitalism." WEDNESDAY 7:15 p.m.-Dr. Paul Kauper, U-M Law Fac- ulty. HURON HILLS BAPTIST CHURCH Presently meeting at the YM-YWCA Affiliated with the Baptist General Conf. Rev. Charles Johnson 761-6749 9:30 a.m.-Coffee. 9:45 a.m.-U Fellowship Bible Discussion. I 11:00 a.m.-"Jesus, Our Empathetic Priest." 7:00 p.m.-"Can We Be Sure of Our Re- lationship with Christ?" 8:30 p.m.-College and Careers Fellowship and refreshments. ' UNIVERSITY LUTHERAN CHAPEL 1511 Washtenow (The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) Ifred T. Scheips, Postor SUNDAY 9:45 and 11:15 a.m.-Services with Pastor Scheips, "The Comeback's Comeback." 11:15 a.m.-Bible Study. 6:00 p.m.-Gamma Delta Supper-Program, Movie, "It's About This Carpenter." WEDNESDAY 10:00 p.m.-Service, with Lenten Sermon by Pastor Scheips, "Christ, You're Victorious." FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 1833 Washtenow Ave. SUNDAY 10:30 a.m.-Worship Services. Sunday School (2-20 years). WEDNESDAY 8:00 p m.-Testimony Meeting. Infants rom available Sunday and Wednes- day. Public Reading Room 306 E. Liberty St.- FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Phone 662-4466 1432 Washtenow Ave. Ministers: Ernest T. Campbell, Malcolm G. Brown, John W. Waser, Harold S. Horan SUNDAY Worship at 9:00; 10:30 a.m., and 12:00 noon.. 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S11:00 a.m.-Regular Worship. 6:00 p.m.-Evening Worship. WEDNESDAY 7:30 p.m.--Bible Study. services-Call I Bel in a Very Small Place- Bernard Fall The Dissenting Academy- ed. Theodore Roszak Reclaiming the American Dream- Cornvello instock now 316 S. State NO 2-5669 II FRIDAY SLATER'S BOOKS Phi Alpha Kappa{ Graduate-Professional Fraternity SMKE C&M RW*V 6:30 p.m.---Young Marrieds Progressive Din- ner. Call 668-6881 for details. "7:00 p.m. - Fellowship Volleyball Party. Meet in Wesley Lounge Bring ID cards UNIVERSITY REFORMED CHURCH 1001 East Huron Phone 662-3153 Ministers: Calvin S. Malefvt. Paul Swets 10:30 a.m.--"The Call to Ministry," Rev. Herman Ridder, Presid'ent of Western Seminary in Holland, Mich. 7:00 p.m.----Coffee hour setting-"Conflict in the Church---Plus or Minus?" Rev. Her- mn n i ..r PesientofWesenm nin- . i NO l2-45431 ,AC C+,,+ )TaTe rsr c c7 '?c3 c)G t) t} Q <) O t3G t) a U I