E4r Sfrdi gta Duil j Seventy-eight years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students of the Uhiversity of Michigan under authority of Board in Control of Student Publications Students for an authoritarian society 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. News Phone: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Doily exp ress the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1969 NIGHT EDITOR: RON LANDSMAN The Nixon cabinet: First impressions THE PRESIDENT - ELECT'S meet-the- Cabinet show last month sounded annoyingly like the kind of television commercial his top advisers must have become accustomed to making for J. Wal- ter }Thompson. There was all this unsub- stantiated talk of an "extra dimension," the words repeated and stressed as an an- nouncer's voice would, fondle the magic ingredients of some revolutionary new toothpaste. Nixon gave the eerie impression that if only he could say the words often enough, the quality would spring into existence, the large block letters "Extra Dimension" gleaming on the forehead of each designated cabinet member. Nixon's past record. for showanship having' been based on the Checkers Speech and the infamous Last Press Conference, the slick quality of the cab- inet introduction performance wasn't surprising. What is unsettling is the poor sales resistance of the American press. Of NixOn's choices, only interior secre- tary-designate Walter Hickel has failed to win widespread acclaimi. From newspapers and magazines of every ideological stripe the praise has spewed ;forth. The new cabinet members have been lauded for technocratic com- petence, for bringing open minds and few pet schemes to 'their duties. The Nixon men have been pictured in these sym- pathetic appraisals as top-flight techni- cians, men with much organizational ability and little imagination. ]VHETHER SUCH forecasts will prove accurate remains to be seen. They are obviously the impressions Nixon hoped to convey, and it is aggravating that so much of the American press seems to have accepted his implicit assurance that there is virtue in non-ideological bureaucratic efficiency, These men bring few ideas. to Washington indeed, and at a time when imagination more than mere technical competence is needed. . 'Underlying this obsequiously courteous reception is a skewed; conception of fair- ness. The "wait-and-see" diplomacy sur- rounding cabinet appointments does not require studied praise; it merely advises against not - yet - warranted criticism. Given the importance of the positions, it would seem better to err on the side of rudeness. The argument that most of the Nixon appointees are relative unknowns (and, by implication, can't be fairly ap- praised) holds little water. Many of them are published authors; all of them are presumably fluent in conversation. If they have ideas, they surely can be un- covered somehow. Never before has the American press seemed so hampered by a failure of exegetical enterprise. JNDEED, THE cabinet appointments are not all that bad. William Rogers, for example, is a fine choice for secretary of state. George Romney could be an effec- tive salesman of Nixon's plan for the cities. Several of the nominees are better than their counterparts in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Yet the judging of the appointments should not be made by comparison, unless it is to be argued that yesterday's mis- takes justify today's. And in absolute terms, the Nixon cabinet falls something short of inspirational. TWO OF THE appointments should be strenuously opposed. Walter Hickel seems to share the Reagan philosophy of "Seen one redwood, seen them all." While not committed to destruction of natural resources for the sake of destruction, he seems unimpresed by the need for aggres- sive conservation. The interior depart- ment under a Hickel administration is a potential disaster area. Far more serious than the proposed appointment of Hickel is the designation of Melvin Laird -as secretary of defense. Laird's nomination, praised by many for the Wisconsin Congressman's expertise in defense matters, and reports that Nixon's first choice for the defense post was Sen. Henry Jackson of Washington, bode ill for peace in the next four years. Laird is an unrepentant hawk, an out- spoken advocate of aggressive American postures in foreign policy. His book, pub- lished seven years ago, contains stern warnings that the United States must be ready to strike first with nuclear weap- ons and be prepared to include nuclear weapons in its operational arsenal both offensively and defensively. If carried out, that policy would be an open invita- tion to nuclear holocaust. DEFENDERS POINT to his statement of opposition to the Viet Nam War last year as an indication that Laird has soft- ened his views since 1962. Yet surely everyone is opposed to the war the way it has been conducted. Laird's opposition to Johnson's conduct of the war was the military view that it should have been waged more aggressively. That kind of anti-war sentiment does not belie a soft- ening of the hard crust. Indeed, Laird has been a consistent critic of the one positive achievement of the McNamara years in the defense de- partment. Cost-effectiveness was praise- worthy not so much for bringing rational administration to Washingtonas for the clear implication that defense expendi- tures should be subjected to marginal re- turns analysis. Our country was not so threatened that every proposal for mili- tary expenditure had to be whisked through. One fears little of that spirit will remain in the Pentagon with the Laird take-over.t THE DEFENSE secretary-designate is likely to get along far better with the military than did his predecessor. Through the years, he has often com- plained that the military's view was heard too seldom in formulating defense policies. Uhfortunately, the military has had far too much to say in making American policy recently. They have convinced a President who probably needed little con- vincing that, given only a few more troops, they could win an unwinnable war. The scariest thing about Laird's designation is the thought that propo- nents of such views will gain rather than lose influence over future decisions. If principles mean anything, those Sen- ators who oppose the policies represented by Walter Hickel and Melvin Laird should fight to block their appointments. The re- sponsibility to oppose unfortunate nomi- nations must override considerations of political bargaining and etiquette in the cases of these disastrous nominations. -URBAN LEHNER By DANIEL OKRENT Feature Editor SDS HELD a national conven- tion here just after Christmas, at the end of December. Nine hundred delegates from chapters across the country gath- ered in the dining room of South Quad, in meeting rooms in the SAB, on couches, in extra beds, and in left-over floor space in apartments and old houses up and down Division Street. In five days they convinced me that the American left is so hopeless that we might as well resign ourselves to Nixon-and maybe even like it. We are all very insulated here in Ann Arbor. For years, in fact going back to the early '60's when SDS broke off from the League for Industrial Democracy and ac- tually started right here on the University campus, we've been hidden from the SDS they write about in Fortune. It has all been very hard to be- lieve-that the SDS the national press told us was planning a re- volution and becoming, in t h e process, undeniably violent, was congruent to the Michigan chap- ter. Voice-SDS, originally just a campus political party that ran people for SGC, was what we knew; its leaders, people like Eric Chester, Barry Bluestone, M i k e Zweig, Ted Steege, were the Ann Arbor radicals. THESE WERE PEOPLE w h o practiced rational rkdicalism, who saw that building a base through effective education programs was vital and necessary to the suc- cess of The Movement. They con- tinually expressed, for all their loud noises, a true belief in demo- cracy and the rights of others. They recognized-always-the will of the majority of pre-eminent. When the classified research re- ferendum was overturned, they quietly acceded to the voice of the student body. Student power was real, not a platitude; if students wishes to exercise it badly, there was little Voice-SDS could do- or would do. Radical politics gen- erally worked, Voice fluorished, and the campus genuinely improv- ed. But this wasn't the real SDS, this group; that we grew up with. Fortune and Time and U.S. News and World Report and that grin- ning idiot Bob McBride on TV2 were closer to the truth. For SDS, as represented by the delegates who gathered here two weeks ago and the current leadership of the local chapter, is an undemocratic, authoritarian, autocratic, destruc- 9 ri -Daily-Jay Cassidy tive force that hopefully has be- gun to die. The old Voice-SDS was a too-good anachronism. IT WAS THRILLING to watch SDS in action at their convention. Dissident groups-like the local Radical Caucus--were purged. De- bate on the floor was carefully and successfully stage-managed. Pol- icy matters were dictated by a cabalistic group of national offi- cers who, rather than represent the political forces within t h e membership, have 'established, themselves as a political force of their own. And ideology was bur- ied in shoddy reasoning and some embarrassing sloganeering that was more reminiscent of the hap- less old Communist Party of the t.S.A. than of allegedly intelli- gent products of the American '60's. They look to a radical conscious- ness in the American middle-class that simply isn't there; local Jesse James Gang kingpin Jim Mellen said at a regional caucus that America cringes when police nightsticks crack SDS heads. Mel- len sees things that the Gallup Poll has surely missed. They talk in Leninist terms about organizing the working class, and plan grandiose pro- grams toward the eventual pro- letarian revolution. Yet they don't recognize that the trade union movement has created a situation in which the American "proletariat" is the $10,040-a- year backbone of the mi d d le class. THEY EXHORT the words of Mao Tse-Tung, who encouraged "sharp ideological struggle" in re- volutionary movements. The quote came up countless times at the. convention, and was used to illus- trate the need for internal tol- erance of varying views within the organization. Yet, by using par- liamentary subterfuge and hypo- critical oratory, they urged weak dissidents. They denounce the idea of the charismatic leader, yet Mark Rudd is dispatched by the national of- fice on a nation wide speaking tour. They pay lip service to the ideal of participatory democracy, yet the "new" Ann Arbor chapter, the Jesse James Gang, has policy dic- tated to it by a triumvirate of Mellen, Bill Ayers, and Stu Dow- ty. The three refer to the process as "concensus"; they have never- theless lost members who didn't particularly care for the bullying. THEY ROSE to national sta- ture on campuses by virtue of the student power issue, yet they now eschew it-apparently because the students believe in using the power differently than do the SDSers.' They call meaningless events (the election day strike), and when no one shows up, they claim success because the events are "fun." They boast of great "successes" like -the San Francisco State de- bacle and scoff at the behavior of men like S. I. Hayakawa.hSan Francisco State is not an admir- able institution and Hayakawa may be a thoroughly despicable individual, yet the school is bare- ly functioning., SDS calls this progress but the Hayakawa (whom they call a fool) has as- tounding public support. THEY HAVE, for the six years of their existence, expanded onto over 250 campuses, have garner- ed an incredible amount of press play in the national media, have established themselves as the lead- ing leftist group in the nation, and and have reached the point where they represent no one-and de- finitely should not. It's time that any alternative to SDS is established, and it should be the type of organiza- tion that looks to realities, not to wishes and egos. But, before that type of group is started, we might have to abolish the group that now exists. -Daily=~-Jay. Caasidl r H OWARD KOHN The new semester, moon and'me THE YEAR BEGINS anew with promises of change, if not in the meaning of life at least in the character of lifestyle. The years of Johnson and bar-b-qued policymaking are passing. And though the future smirks of Nixon and lemon-oiled policybaiting, it is hardinot to hark happily at the exodus of an administration which so successfully doublecrossed itself and its public. Students for a Democratic Society have sounded the deathknell for SDS which was torn asunder by its own closefisted squalls of'sharpened ideological nonsense. Eugene McCarthy calmly dismissed his lean following by supporting Russell Long over Edward Kennedy for major- ity whip in the Senate. Solidly-administered groups like ADA seem likely to inherit the radical/liberals to hold in store for yet another Kennedy willing to put up his life for a chance to change ours. Whether or not anyone can change our lives for the better without our help is naturally doubtful. But the pretences of democracy die slower than the realities. So we are not yet without hope although our stubborn attempts to lead where we can't follow should be enough for hope to give up on us. THINGS WILL be more off the crossroads. People will be- more inattentive. All of us will be more uncertain in our certainty that things will never be the same. This is the year for waiting. Some blacks give us cause for concern. Because they can afford to question the motives of our work-and-profit system and live ac- cording to the answers. We aren't safe anymore. Pat Nixon assures us that we are, of course 'l But the name on Pat's birth certificate is Thelma. That's the difference. We've been told about our illusions. We've even been told how wrong our illusions are. But we can't forsake the comfort of living as if we had never been told. Black capitalism is only colored power. But black power is not people power even if it is closer than any we've seen in alifetime or two. OUR SPIRITS AREN'T dampened by thoughts of passivity, only lolled over and bedded down with the terror of African lead manu- factured in America flying in Asia which we may pass over despite our birthright. Over 90 per cent of us who qualify under the Constitutional bylaws and the Gallup Poll entrance exams believe the killing should end everywhere, here and over there. It's a damn good feeling that so many of us set forth such noble opinions. But the daily death rates still com- mand time prime with Dave and Chet (the preposterously inflated Cong totals only add to the macabre gap between good feelings and good- ness). We're afraid now that we may not be able to show that our might is right, which should turn out to be a wonderful awareness of the worth of history. But we want our might more than our right. Our enduring salvation is that we are ashamed of knowing that and might someday do something about it. Someday always seems longer than forever because the insistence of putting it off saps our strength more than the finality of putting it away. But our choices are limited. And our decision has already been made. Editorial Director -Daily-Jay Cassidy STEVE WILDS TROM":ri.--- Hickel: Interior motives o a devis advocate THE GENERAL reaction to Richard Nixon's selection of cabinet secretaries has been one of boredom, both among politic- ians and in the press. Most pun- dits have concluded that Nixon selected safe, competent men with whom he will feel comfortable. It is difficult to be so sanguine about one of the appointees, Sec- retary of the Interior-designate Walter Hickel. In recent years, a concept of administration has d e v e 1o p e d which views a cabinet secretary, at least those below state and de- fense, as largely an advocate for ca's conservationists. As such, he worked tirelessly for the preserva- tion of w h a t little remains of wilderness in the United States. He was a man who took seriously the Sierra Club motto, "In wild- erness is the preservation of man- kind." Walter Hickel, governor of Alaska, comes from this nation's last vast wilderness preserve. One might therefore expect him to ap- treciate the need for areas where man can go to realize his true re- latton to the world, to understand the awesome forces that dwarf the petty works of humans, to al- On the other hand, Hickel is not without friends. His liberal policies toward the development of Alaska's yet unfanthomed oil wealth has made him very pop- ular with domestic petroleum in- terests. He has represented their interest well, publically stating that the U.S. should check the flow of imported petroleum into the country. In fact, Hickel has been cozy enough with the oil companies to raise serious questions about his fitness to head interior, debate about conservation policy aside. According to Newsweek, Hickel, two important questions of gov- ernment policy concerning the pe- troleum industry are almost cer- tain to arise. One, involves de- velopment of the "North Slope" field in Alaska. The development may prove immensely profitable, but it will be very expensive and the domestic companies may not be willing to undertake it unless they have assurances of protec- tion against cheap imported oil coming into the country. The net result of such protec- tion for the domestic producers would be increased development of the highly developed dcomestic perhaps billions, of barrels of crude oil. The transfer of land has the potential to become a bigger scandal than Teapot Dome and a public fight over it is sure to come soon. When it does, Wally Hickel will be right in the middle. But Sen. William Proxmire (D- Wis.) has served notice that he is not at all happy about the nom- ination of Hickel and that he may push to block the appointment. THE AMERICAN people have recently demonstrated a growing impatience with the continued de- struction of what remains of the