i
I
Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan
under authority of Board in Control of Student Publications
Nixon is to be a "conservative, middle-of-the-road president."
Herb Klein-Nixon's Communications Director
..
JAMES WECHSLER
Private
It
ives
men
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552
of
public
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1968
NIGHT EDITOR: DAN SHARE
An Editorial...
SINCE OUR READERS are often of-
fended when we presume to take
sides on issues on the editorial page,.
we have scrupulously avoided contro-
versy at all costs. In order not to com-
promise our high journalistic stand-
ards we have adhered firmly to the
precept of "Judge not and ye shall not
be judged".
Yet there are times when even men
of principle must march to a higher
tune than that which motivates their
day-to-day struggles. There are times
when those standards must give way
to something loftier. There are times
when we become responsible to that
higher authority for the consequenc-
es of our silence.
Today we are pushing our editorial
prerogatives to the outer limits and
speaking out on what certainly is the
key issue of our time. For today is not
just a usual day. Today the future of
our Western civilization may well hang
in the balance.
So with a deep and heartfelt apol-
ogy to our journalistic ethics, we sol-
emnly ask the indulgence of our gentle
readers as we tersely and unequivocally
state our position:
Michigan must and will beat Ohio
State.
-THE EDITORIAL DIRECTORS
n HIS POST-ELECTION report that Richard Nixon had received
psychiatric treatment some years ago, Drew Pearson depicted him-
self as torn by indecision about publishing the story. As other men have
done, he wrestled with his conscience and finally won.
Unhappily Pearson's mediations missed the real point. I discussed
the problems raised by the episode with Dr. William A. Triebel, Medi-
cal Director of Gracie Square Hospital, and these were some of his
observations:
"As a psychiatrist as well as a citizen. I am far more interested in
why a President-elect, - or any man in a responsible, high government
position - might consult a man in my profession than in whether he
did. I am concerned with what might motivate him.
"For instance, is he finding it difficult to fall asleep or does he
want to blow up the world?
"THE IDEA THAT everybody in treatment is potentially violent
or ineffective is simply not true. Most people who come to the psy-
chiatrist want to feel better, work better,'get along better with people.
I say 'hurray' for a guy in a responsible position who wants these things
for himself because we can all be beneficiaries of this kind of improve-
ment."
Recalling the period of speculation and suspense stirred by news
of President Eisenhower's heart attack, Dr. Triebel said:
"I felt then that what mattered most was his prognosis rather
than which coronary artery was involved.
"If, instead of a heart attack, a person in public life feels emotional
discomfort and goes for treatment, as both citizen and psychiatrist I
would want to know:
"Can he complete his term? Can he exercise judgment in so doing?
Will he be able to stand up under
pressure?"
A
citizens must also
invesig ate their police'
THE INVESTIGATION of the Ann Ar- dictments are issued, the city on its own
bor Police by the Justice Department should proceed .to investigate these abus-
should, if nothing else, show local citi- es as well. Accusations of "illegal entry,
zens that the responsibility for a good illegal search and harassment" are clear-
police force rests with them. ly cause for concern for city officials.
Concern with the conduct of police af- In a n y cafe, the current allegations
fairs has been growing steadily in recent should cause city officials to consider re-
years. Many people, especially those in directing control of the police into civil-
ghetto areas, believe that they are being ian hands. Charges of possible unwar-
brutalized by law enforcement officials. ranted police behavior can be best dealt
An investigation by federal officials in with on the local level, rather than forc-
cases of alleged police misbehavior should ing citizens to take their complaints to
not be regarded as an intrusion in local Washington.
affairs. Particularly when cases are in- With the establishment of an effective
volved with civil rights matters, the fed- system of civilian control and review of
eral government has a responsibility to polic e bhvior, the ant possibio-
watch over local law enforcement agen- 'police behavior, the unpleasant possibil-
ity of investigation by federal officials
cies. would be avoided in the future.
But at the same time, an investigation
by federal officials should serve as a re-
mider to local citizens that they too ONLY WHEN local citizens are willing
sm dine tgocal rie s tha gaheyto to take the responsibility of exercising
should investigate all grievances against control over their own law enforcement
local law enforcement agencies. agencies will better relations between po-
THE DETAILS of the charges against lice and the dissatisfied elements of the
Ann Arbor community be possible.
been disclosed, but whatever emerges Until then, resentment between local
from the current allegations c a n only officials and the federal government and
serve to further inflame bad feelings be- between local police and residents will
tween citizens and their police. And if not be erased.
these charges are substantiated and in- -STEVE ANZALONE
r
Te U'and PA, 379
1 968, The Rtgisttr
"d d Sy Syi X,3f
sn Tribune ndicate ,/off
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WALTER SHAPIRO-.
THE FINAL APPROVAL by employees of
t h e proposed University - American
Federation of State, County and Munici-
pal Employes contract last week was more
a time for sighs of relief than any self-
congratulation on finally concluding a
confused and messy matter.
The University's s t a n d on collective
bargaining is no clearer now than it was
three years ago when it first challenged
Public Act 379, which gives public em-
ployes the right to organize and bargain
collectively but denies them the right to
strike. The University has claimed con-
sistently that it was not opposed to un-
ionization in principle, but its actions
have constantly belied these claims.
The University and the union both de-
pended of course on the State Labor Me-
diation Board for expediting the proce-
dure, but the blame for the length of
time that the case has been before the
board - since June, 1966 - must fall at
least partially upon the University. At
one point a board member said they were
waiting until the University's suit over PA
379 was settled before they would present
their final recommendations for "appro-
priate bargaining units," a necessary pre-
requisite for collective bargaining to be
instituted.
The relationship is further confused by
what happened following t h e strike in'
September, 1967. Spokesmen had pleaded
during the strike that they could do noth-
ing until the board made their recom-
mendations, but the strike was resolved
as soon as the union and the University
agreed to abide by\ the board's decision -
which was not long in coming.?
The University's stand was also con-
fused by a statement by former President
Harlan Hatcher when he warned t h a t
universities should be freed f r o m the
"strife of labor-management conflict."
But such an attitude clearly presuppos-
es that a man who washes the floors in
Angell Hall somehow feels more dedicat-
ed to education than the man who does
it for General Motors in t h e i r office
building in downtown Detroit. His state-
ment was once the catch-phrase of anti-
union business leaders thirty and more
years ago when employers wanted to
"avoid the strife" that unions "naturally"
brought in their wake.
THE UNIVERSITY'S position is a mud-I
dled one. It has been cleared against
the University's will by this final resolu-
tion of the question of unionization here,
but an issue still remains:' what to do
about PA 379.
The University has always claimed that
the act was a violation of the constitu-
tionally guaranteed autonomy of the Re-
gents f r o m the Legislature in running
University affairs. Whether they meant it
or not was always an open question be-
cause of the latent question of unioniza-
tion. Now that their record is "cleared"
they can challenge the law's validity on
grounds of autonomy - and just the au-
tonomy - without unnecessary side is-
sues.
The University has also claimed that
acceding to demands for unionization
would weaken their case in court. While
this is difficult to assess from here, it is
clear that the political losses the Univer-
sity suffered as a result of this fight out-
weigh the advantages in this very labor-
conscious state.
But the University does have a right to'
challenge the law and let the courts de-
cide. It's just that their handling of the
matter seems to leave something to be
desired.,
-RON LANDSMAN
Chutzpah
S INCE HE is now out of school and doing
TLNABM
T HAS LONG been common
knowledge that there is great
untapped educational and enter-
tainment value in that volumin-
ous journal, the Congressional
Record.
But for either education or en-
joyment there are few passages
which can equal the recently re-
leased censored version of the
proceedings in the Senate last
Oct. 2, when that august body
went into secret session to dis-
cuss the defense appropriations
bill.
The unquestionable highlight of
this expurgated debate was when
Richard Russell, in the midst of
an argument over the conse-
quences of nuclear attack, said in
a burst of patriotic exhuberence,
"If we have to start over again
with another Adam and Eve, then
I want them to be Americans and
not Russians, and I want them on
tis continent and not in Europe."
While the "Strangelovian" fan-
aticism of this remark borders on
the comic, contextually Russell's
whole argument has some omin-
ous portents more closely con-
nected to the real world.
For during this debate Russell
waxed escatic like the last of the
great humanitarians defending an
ABM system as the potential sav-
iour of millions of American lives
in the event of a nuclear attack.
RUSSELL WENT on to coo
soothingly, about life after such
an attack saying, "We could have
80 million Americans left after a
nuclear exchange . . . 80 million
Americans could rebuild this Na-
tion in a relatively short while."
While the Georgia Senator's
oratory reads like a parody of
such novels of the late 1950's as
Alas, Babylon and Level 7, it
would be a serious mistake to be-
lieve that Russell's views - are
unique in the Senate.
For one thing, Russell's influ-
Biafra:
, By STEVE KOPPMAN
NIGERIA'S civil war has taken2
turn.
With new French arms pouri
and a slowly improving food situ
the secessionist region of Biafra
launched counterattacks resistini
gerian forces.
The French arms are coming to]
by way of the Ivory Coast and C
Nigeria has been protesting the F
intervention in the conflict by me
aid. Nigeriam arms, however, are
supplied from British and R
sources.
Just two months ago Nigeria s
on the verge of defeating the brea
eastern region, which seceded in M,
1967.
The intensity of the current sti
is reflected in the feelings of Bi
students attending the Universit:
"The Nigerians will have to ki
ery Biafran to win the war," A
Nwafor, grad, said. "However
whatever the cost the struggle will
tinue."
BIAFRA'S secession climaxed ye
conflict between the Ibo tribe o
east, and the Hausas of the norti
ence, on defense matters is mas-
sive since he is the Chairman of
the Senate Armed Services Comn-
mittee. Russell was also supported
during this debate by such re-'
spected Senators as Howard Bak-
er and Henry Jackson, who has
been suggested as a possible Sec-
retary of Defense in a Nixon coa-
lition cabinet. It was Jackson who
referred to the ABM system as a
"population defense" following
Russell's logic to the hilt.
... " big mistake
what is probably the most dan-
gerous aspect of the construction
of a "thick" ABM system. And
that is the possibility that such a
system would help perpetuate the
highly dangerous myth this na-
tion could survive a nuclear at-
tack and still have enough healthy
people left to regenerate society.
This myth reached its widest
circulation during the early six-
ties, when the fallout shelter craze
was at its peak. It should be re-
membered that Nelson Rockefel-
ler, another likely candidate for
Secretary of Defense, was one of
the prime exponents of the no-
tion that with adequate shelter
protection, the bulk of the Ameri-
can people could survive a nu-
clear war.
The danger of such fantasies is
that they mitigate against our
horror of nuclear weapons, which
has been our greatest bulwark
against the temptation to use
such weapons.
BUT IF THE AMERICAN people
and their leaders begin to believe
that, due to ABM protection, a
nuclear attack will not mean the
end of life on earth, then it would
be silly not to regard nuclear
weapons-in that now famous
Curtis LeMay line-as "just an-
other weapon in our arsenal."
Once the vision of world de-
struction no longer accompanies
our nuclear arsenal, many of the
sanctions which have given us a
precarious nuclear stability for
the past quarter century will be
removed,
A moderate Senator like How-
ard Baker has described the ABM
system as "the answer to a rea-
listic approach to disarmament."
One just can't "shake the numb-
ing fear that one day soon Richard
Nixon will go before the nation
with a similar exercise in double-
speak. It is not a comforting
thought.
Richard B. Russell
Critics of the ABM system have
rightly contended that such a sys-
tem, probably of little strategic
value,wouldcost billions of dol-
lars which should rightly be chan-
neled into our cities. Furthermore,
these liberals have argued that an
ABM would merely intensify the
arms race by forcing both sides
to create missiles geared to pene-
trate such anti-ballistic defenses.
BUT THE POSITIONS taken by
Russell and Jackson point up
TRIBEL NOTED that psychia-
trists are often asked about the
advisability of hiring a person un
der treatment. His own rejoinder
is that the fact that someone has
sought help should determine'
neither employment n or promo-
tion; the "key" practical questions
"are whether he shows the capac-
ity to perform the job, how he has
functioned in the past as well as
the present, how much time he
will lose from work and how he
will relate to associates.
"Most of those questions," Trie-
bel added, "could be applied to a
person with a broken leg."
What primarily concerns Trie-
bel is the "mystique" - or stigma
- still identified with visits to a psychiatrist and the furtive gossip
such disclosure elicits. He 'is dismayed by what he calls "snooping" that
is essentially uninformative. He points out that the vast majority of
those treated at Gracie Square are "in-patients" for only three weeks to
a month and that "we see patients who continue managing their efforts
quite responsibly even during their stay in the hospital." He describes
the popular misconceptions that require public figures to make "the
secret side-door visit to the psychiatrist" - or inhibit them from seek-
ing any aid,
IN EFFECT, Dr. Triebel is saying that the "relevation" that Rich-
ard Nixon consulted a psychiatrist during some phase of his life ac-
tually reveals nothing of decisive consequence and "denial unfortunate-
ly only increases suspicion."
Where does that leave those whose business is the coverage of
public men? My own comment would be that a story asserting that
Mr. X had once been a patient of Dr. Y is an unfinished story, and that.
I would feel obliged to find the answer to DrTriebel's question - was it
insomnia or some explosive delusionary condition - before deciding
whether it should be written. The question, as he remarked, is not
"whether" but "why."
THE GRAVEST result of the uproar might be that Mr. Nixon, in
some future moment of genuine stress, shrank from any contact with
those dubbed "shrinks" lest Pearson be watching.
The more one reflects on the matter, the more elusive any neat
formula becomes. It is surely arguable whether the most creative gov-
ernment is produced by characters officially pronounced "healthy-
minded" rather than those branded "different." It may be an appro-
priate symbolism to recall that the dreary age of Warren G. Harding
was hearlded as a "return to normalcy."
For those who derive malicious delight from the Pearson tales, this
is also a time to remember that moment in the 1964 campaign, when
numerous psychiatrists, to the dismay of many of their colleagues, join-
ed in pronouncing Barry Goldwater psychologically disabled. But it was
not Goldwater who unleashed the large-scale bombing of North Viet-
nam.
(Copyright 1968 N. Y. Post)
*
4
In dependence whatever the, cost
tive, traditional Nigerian society. One
Biafran student admitted that what has
often come across as the "ethnocentric
chauvinism" of the Ibos contributed to
bad feeling.
The Ibos had been generally the most
ou-spoken advocates of Nigerian inde-
pendence and later, the strongest critics
of British domination after indepen-
dence. They felt that the Nigerian con-
stitution was set up by the British and
the tribes of the north with the inten-
tion of keeping power 'with the latter
and away from the Ibos, who would be
bore independent of the British.
A COUP by young Ibo officers in 1966
seemed to offer the hope of progress to
a stagnating Nigeria. Yet, members of
rival Nigerian tribes interpreted t h e
move as an Ibo attempt at domination,
and a countercoup followed six months
later, accompanied by the massacres of
Ibos. The pogroms went unpunished
by the new Nigerian government and
were apparently aided and abetted by
government soldiers.
Following these events an agreement
was reached between the Nigerian gov-
ernment and leaders of the eastern reg-
ion providing for a semi-autonomous
status for the region, along with com-
pensation for the murders. After a short
time, Nigeria abrogated this agreement
tionary distatorship dominated by Brit-
ain and dedicated to their extermina-
tion. Biafra charges that Britain pulls
the strings of the Nigerian government
in defense of British oil interests.
"When Britain decides, Nigeria, will
negotiate," said Nwafor.
The starvation caused by the Niger-
ian blockade, which brought Biafra to
international attention, may be easing
somewhat as increased food shipments
arrive. The United States last week do-
nated a C-130 to the Red Cross airlift.
Yet, e v e n improvements may not
avert further mass starvation. The Red
Cross estimates t h a t in the coming
months over four million people, more
than half the population of Biafra, will
be completely dependent on outside
sources of food.
THE CRUCIAL problems for the air-
lift presently are the need for m o r e
planes, and the difficulty of distribut-
ing food to the villages.
There is speculation that Biafra
might recapture Port Harcourt n e x t
month. This would give them an outlet
to the sea, and would greatly relieve
the food crisis.
Despite the suffering, the Biafrans
don't see starvation as a reason f o r
surrender. They seem to be convinced
that Nigeria is ready and willing to kill
Though the U.S. has not been shipping
arms to either side, we have supported
Britain's position on "one Nigeria," and
though we have contributed food to the
Red Cross operation, we refused to lend
any planes to the airlift until last week.
Senators McCarthy , and Kennedy,
among others, repeatedly urged greater
aid on our part to the airlift and the
exertion of diplomatic pressure by us
against Britain's enormous arms ship-
ments to Nigeria.
Biafrans scoff at the "one-Nigeria"
idea. They feel it is fanciful to expect
unity in a nation w h e r e a minority
group is subject to mass murder and
ling-term persecution by the majority.
They point out rightly that they, the
Ibos, were the greatest proponents of
Nigerian nationalism when unity seem-
ed possible. The idea of one Nigeria now
seems to be an unrealistic hope on the
part of the U.S
"America has displayed little willing-
ness to understand the r e s t of the
world" says Ernest Attah, grad.
AND THE FIGHTING continues. The
war is strange. Battlefield casualties are
relatively low and civilian deaths are
astronomically high. It is a war of ex-
treme suffering and brutality, but it ap-
pears likely to continue until Nigeria
accepts the fact of Biafra's irldepen-
4
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