EXTRA Y 6iltA6F 4I it4 EXTRA 'r Vol. LXXVlI, No. 152-A Ann Arbor, Michigan, Monday, April 1, 1968 Four Pages An Editorial. THE SURGE of enthusiasm which swept the nation and the world last night when Lyndon Baines Johnson apparently handed down the mantle of the Presidency should not obscure the historical significance of his dis- astrous Administration. For the five years of Johnson's Presidency have highlighted the fundamental misconceptions underlying American foreign and domestic policies. Johnson took the nation's helm in a time of rela- tive world tranquility; he gives it up in the midst of a tragically unnecessary and immoral war. Johnson entered office when hopes to resolve Am- erica's domestic injustices were at a peak; he leaves the Presidency when our confidence and our resolution have dissipated. His Administration has conclusively demonstrated the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of anti-Commun- ism as a rational criterion on which to base American foreign policy. The American intervention in Vietnam, Thailand and the Dominican Republic have discredited as un- tenable and immoral the premise that America can as- sume the role of world policeman. More ominously, the war and the philosophic pover- ty of the Johnson approach to ending the despair and misery of the ghettoes have destroyed the Civil Rights movement and ushered in an era of urban and racial disorder. rVHROUGHOUT THE 20th century, liberal theoretic- ians have argued the virtues of strong executive leadership. The Johnson Administration has been the first since the years of Franklin D. Roosevelt to suc- cessfully exercise that kind of strong Presidential power. The consistent follies of the Johnson Administration, however, have made it abundantly clear that a strong President is not necessarily a good President. Without a Congressional Declaration of War, he has waged the fourth largest war in our history. Well- founded popular advice and criticism have gone un- heeded. At no time has the Presidency loomed so dan- gerously omnipotent. He has presided over the most unpopular war in this century, coercing thousands of unwilling men into mili- tary service. He has stifled dissent with reckless abandon. The Spock-Coffin indictments have posed the greatest single threat to civil liberties since the Palmer raids of 1919. The Johnson radio advertisements in New Hampshire were worthy of Joseph McCarthy at his worst. This is the legacy of the five years during which Lyndon Baines Johnson has served as President of the United States. He has failed, but his failure has not been merely personal. It has been the failure of the political philosophies which have inspired American policies since World War II.f Unless Johnson's successor is willing to undertake a f total revision of policies, both foreign and domestic; unless he sees Johnson's failure as a failure of time- worn ideologies and repudiates them; then last night's euphoria will have been wasted on a cruel and tragic deception. -THE SENIOR EDITORS Orders Of Nor Immediate h Vietnam Halt In Bombing It Except D i Area I Asks for Session Of Geneva Parley Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy xnElection ThrotL e H_ From Wiie Service Reports ' of Sens. Robert F. Kennedy of First responses to President New York and Eugene J. McCar- Johnson's decision not to seek re- thy, of Minnesota, the announced election turned strongly to specu- antiwar candidates for the Demo- lation that Vice President Hubert I cratic nomination. H. Humphrey will become the Humphrey, in Mexico City,: ....n.**dWHINGON d President Johnson stunned the na-, .~....... }..."""4*~. t o ::fontad the world last nightby announcing, "I shall not seek and will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President. Johnson said he reached this conclusion because "with }:America's sons in the field far away, with America's future under challenge here at home, with our hopes-and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not be- .lieve that I should devote an hour of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome du- ties of this office. In the early part of the 40 minute talk he disclosed that he, is halting nearly all air and sea action against North Viet- nam in an effort to bring peace talks. He called upon Great Britain and the Soviet Union, as co-chairmen of the 1954 Geneva treaty which ended the first Vietnam war, to reconvene the parley as a step towards peace. Johnson called this cessation of bonzpardments "the first step to de-escalate the conflict." -Daily-Andy Sacks In fact, the U.S. Command halted late last night air and President Lvndon B. Johnson sea blows against North Vietnam except for the southern end of the country near the de-militarized zone. Throughout these passages, Johnson lamented that "there is division in the American house now" which he ar- I) in 7r mIIOl gued imperils the future of the land. "What we won when all our people united," Johnson as- serted, "must not now be lost in suspicion, distrust and sel- fishness among any of our people. "Believing this as I do, I have concluded that I should rY nnot permit the presidency to becpme involved in -the partisan divisions that are developing in this political year." Although the language in his speech was clear, some McCarthy said last night Presi- The Minnesota senator said at questions were raised about such possibilities as a draft and dent Johnson's decision not to his Milwaukee, Wisc., headquar- Johnson sought to lay these at rest by telling newsmen later seek another term was a "gener- ters, the voters now have a diffi- ous judgement" which clears the cult choice to make. He did not that his decision to withdraw is "completely irrevocable." way for a reconciliation of the mention Kennedy's name, but he Johnson's language seemed to indicate he might even American people. said the people will face their take a hands-off-attitude toward the selection of a Demo- "This change in American po- choice in the presidential primar- cratic nominee for the presidency. litics began among the people,": !es he and Kennedy will now con- Most observers had long assumed that Johnson was a he said. "It was largely the ex- test. pression of their will that chang- > Former Vice President Richard Certain, if unacknowledged, candidate. ed the shape of American poll- M. Nixon, the front-runner for the In his major policy remarks on Vietnam, Johnson not tics." Republican nomination, s a i d only made a new move to seek peace talks but announced the Johnson's decision may have authorized U.S. troop level there will be boosted by 24,500 strengthened his hand in the men to about 550,000 and that several thousand reservists party and made it possible for him to name his successor." will be called to active duty. "Don't downgrade Vice Presi- "What ever the trials and tests ahead," he said, "the ulti- dent Humphrey," he added. mate strength of our country and our cause will lie not in Nixon. practically unopposed for powerful weapons or infinite resources or boundless wealth- the Republican presidential nom- but in the unity of our people." f A focus of efforts to counter doves' bids for the Democratic presiden- tial nomination. Both Democrats and Republi- canstsuggested Johnson support- ers might turn to Humphrey as the man to meet the challengesI would not discuss his political future. He said Johnson's move came as no surprise to him, and he predicted history will show Johnson as a great man in diffi- cult times. ~' reates tt Since V. The Johnson bombshell explod-t ed last night with a loud bang in Ann Arbor and other campuses across the nation. Students who did not believe the news was part of a psychology ex- periment-there were several who were initially dubious - reacted with general joyousness. Within minutes of the Presi- dent's announcement, University students poured out of dormitory television rooms and the libraries, caught up in a frenzied reaction to what one student called "anoth- er Kennedy assassination -- in re- verse." Groups of students streamed to Icpnnu with smnall clutches run- WZJ lC doctor. I want to be an artist." Other students were less jubi- lant. though. Charles Arnold. Grad, said he thought it was "all a plot to end the leftist movement in America." A few considered the Johnson move a fraud. Connie Brown. '70, said that she was happy. but "I'm sure he has some ulterior motive. I don't trust him or believe any- thing he says." At Mark's Coffee House. a Bala- laika group scheduled to play a regular Sunday concert tuned up with "America the Beautiful." The audience reacted with clapping and cheers. In other campuses, reaction was, r.-.i." fn t1ma-+ r - - v - ination, told newsmen at LaGuar- dia Airport: "This seems to be the year of the dropout." Kennedy said in New York he would not comment on Johnson's announcement until 10 a m. to- day. The chief executive asserted'that "it is true that a house divided against itself-by the spirit of -faction, of party, of region, of religion, of race-is a house that cannot stand." Declaring that the American house now is divided, John- son said: "Holding the trust that is mine-as President of all the Sen. J. W. Fulbright (D.-Ark.), people-I cannot disregard the peril to the progress of the said. "This lends credence to the American people and the hope and prospects of peace for all belief that he is seeking peace." Fomer Mthissng Demoaic. peoples. I would ask all Americans-whatever their personal Party chairman Zolton Ferency interest or concern-to guard against divisiveness and all its told The Daily he "expects some 'cosequences. effort to draft Johnson" may come "Let men everywhere, however, know that a strong, con- up although it would be "very dif- fident, vigilant America stands ready to seek an honorable ficult to transfer his popularity peace and ready to defend an honored cause, whatever the to someone else." price, whatever the burden, whatever the sacrifice duty may Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, require." a Johnson backer, said, "The Pre- sident's announcement was a great Acting against the background of mounting demands in shock to the country. It was an and out of Congress for new moves aimed at ending the war, t. , * . .1, ._ 1Tr-"o m -r~~iA "^+- o n iv n l vn - - .1 :n in :nir aA C >>. : :