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Dally
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Seventy-Sixth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH.
NEWS PHONE: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
IURSDAY, MAY 4, 1967 NIGHT EDITOR: AVIVA KEMPNER
Repulican Policy Statement:
More Heat Than Enlightenment
V ?
HE RELEASE Monday of the Senate
Republican Policy Committee's report
criticizing President Johnson's Vietnam
policies has created speculation that the
Republican Party may dissociate itself
from the administration's stand in 1968.
While it is true that the report called
for the party to seek "hard, realistic an-
swers" to the question of what our inter-
ests in Southeast Asia should be, one
should not assume that this will cause a
real bi-party debate.
Senator Dirksen has already spiked an
attempt by supporters of the report to
permit the Republican Party an oppor-
tunity to take a slightly controversial
position on the war. His denunciation of
the report Tuesday clearly shows that the
Republican leadership would rather cover
up the Vietnam question than develop
answers that could be politically damag-
ins.
This is hardly surprising. It is a re-
flection of American consensus politics
where candidates, by attempting to ap-
peal to everyone, must avoid antagonizing
positions that appear even slightly con-
troversial. And the positions of the lead-
ing GOP presidential aspirants bear this
out.
RICHARD NIXON, the front runner, will
campaign as a tried-and-true, exper-
ienced, worldly-wise statesman attacking
Johnson's "credibility gap." Since modern
television politics, with its emphasis on
the smile and the candidate's sincerity,
have relegated issues, especially contro-
versial issues, to an unwelcome back
seat in a campaign, Nixon is more likely
to be concerned about a new makeup man
for '68 than about any alterations in his
campaign-tested formula of "Just a little
more bombing please, Lyndon."
f Michigan's own favorite son, steely-
eyed George Romney, despite some unfav-
orable press notices, seems intellectual-
ly incapable of departing from his bland
Gee-it's-too-bad-but-we-can't - chicken
out approach to Vietnam. If nominated,
Romney will undoubtedly seek an updated
version of Eisenhower's 1952 "I will go to
Korea" strategy.
Thus, a Romney campaign would smnoth-
er the Vietnam issue in a series of vague,
but sincere patriotic small town homilies.
" Photogenic Charles Percy's Vietnam
policy is harder to categorize. It seems
of late he has been sounding kind of
dovish for a Republican. But his talk of
an all-Asian conference to settle the Viet-
namese war is little more than a specious
idea in an attractive package.
Elected to the Senate on an alluring
admixture of youth, vigor and a subtle
appeal to white backlash, Percy's virtuoso
performance on open housing indicates
that he is a man too clever to ever let
conviction stand in the way of what the
pollsters think the public wants. A presi-
dential nomination won by Percy, the
olive branch bearer, is no guarantee that
late October will not see Percy trying to
subtly out-hawk LBJ.
" Ronald Reagan, the GOP's answer to
George Wallace, if nominated, will offer
the voters "a choice not an echo" on
Vietnam. With Johnson having adopted
all of the '64 Goldwater Vietnam posi-
tions, except for the defoliation of the
jungles with atomic weapons, there is
little else that Reagon can opt for, save,
perhaps, invading the North or bombing
China.
In any case, it is a certainty that Rea-
gan's advisors will feed the sage of Death
Valley enough lines to create for him a
Vietnam position a few steps to the right
of Johnson.
LONG BEFORE William Henry Harri-
son's "hard cider campaign," over. a
century ago, this nation had developed
the issueless campaign to the level of an
artform. Recent presidential elections
have also featured the "non-issue issue."
Remember Senator John F. Kennedy de-
bating "the old Dick Nixon" over Quemoy
and Matsu and the famed, but legendary,
missile gap? And Lyndon Johnson calling
Barry Goldwater "trigger-happy" over
Vietnam?
The one Republican with an attractive
and consistent alternative to Johnson's
war in Vietnam is Oregon's Senator Mark
R. Hatfield. But anti-war Hatfield's
chances to grab the Republican presiden-
tial nomination in '68 are only slightly
better than Harold Stassen's. Anyone
looking for a challenge to our alterna-
tives in Vietnam had better look else-
where than the two major American par-
ties in 1968.
-WALTER SHAPIRO
-DAVID DUBOFF
The Modern Crisis
In Communications
The following is exerpted from address by Nicholas Johnson,
a Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, given
at a luncheon on December 15, 1966. It is the first of a two part
series on the challenge of modern communications.
"Communication" touches every fiber of our lives. It is the coin
of human understanding, the fabric of a free society.
The American communications mosaic includes a Defense Depart-
ment "hot line" to a distant air base, a tranquilized child before a
TV set, a ringing telephone, a campaigning politician's radio spot
announcement, a fog-bound ship's radar, a news service teletype, a
hidden microphone in a "secret" business meeting, a radio dispatched
taxicab, airline reservations with the aid of computers and microwave
towers, satellites and laser beams.
Technological and institutional innovations in communications
are crashing upon us with ever greater intensity, like the waves of a
stormy sea. And each leaves behind a debris of problems-legal,
economic, social, philosophical, engineering and aesthetic-whose solu-
tions require the talents of the best men, institutions and financial
resources that America can bring to bear. Yet I do not see evidence
of such a national response.
AMERICA IS TODAY confronting communications challenges
which FCC Chairman Rosel H. Hyde has characterized as "awesome
indeed." Here are but a few examples of their breadth and range.
Electronic technology threatens the sanctity of the most private con-
versations in business room and bedroom-not to mention the tele-
phone. Yet few workable solutions have been offered. Present manage-
ment of our scarce radio frequencies impedes police and fire protec-
tion, and robs us of millions of dollars in gross national product by
denying expanded use of business radio.
At a time when an informed electorate is increasingly dependent
upon the integrity of television ne ws, and our children spend more
time with the "tube" than the teacher, we know very little of the im-
pact of broadcasting on our society. We don't even have a national
center to preserve the radio and television tapes necessary to such a
study. Nor do we know much about the structure of the industry-
conglomerate corporations and. concentrations of control of diverse
media-and its implications for a free society.
We have the barest knowledge and anticipation (let alone control)
of the rate of introduction of new electronics technology, with its ac-
companying social and economic upheaval: cable television, computer
communications systems, the home communications center, satellites,
and the laser beam-to name but five current innovations. Each pre-
sents the possibility of greatly expanding the available supply of one
or several communications facilitiecr
The topic differ-and many more could be added-but for each
similar questions spring to mind. What is the impact on our society?
How can this new force most effectively be channeled to human good?
Are unrestrained market forces, or some form of government regulation
most appropriate? What is the most economic and efficient way to
achieve the ends sought? How can government be most effectively
structured and administered to deal with the problem in question?
What additional data, analysis, or other research is called for? What
price do we pay for this placid comfort of silence in a boat none dares
to rock nor cares to navigate?
These are the central questions in our numerous communications
crises; questions we as a nation appear ill prepared to address.
The fact is that the federal government has no coordinated admin-
istration of communications, and virtually no long range planning
efforts or research and development program whatsoever. America's
communications industries add substantially to our gross national
product-at least $20 billion a year from broadcast-related activities
alone. And yet the FCC's share of our $100 billion federal budget is only
$17 million (les than 2/100ths of 1 per cent)-all but $2 million of
which goes to salaries.
It's understandable that the agency's activities would be limited
almost entirely to granting licenses and resolving disputes between
private parties. But the result is that the FCC spends most of its time
as little more than a "Federal Broadcasting Commission," dealing on
an ad hoc basis with the increased power, station log, antenna location
and other day-to-day problems of 7,000 U.S. television and radio
stations.
IN VIEW OF government's rather clear and substantial public
responsibility, one would think it profitably could invest in a degree of
planing and research at least comparable to that of, say, AT&T-a
single, FCC-regulated communications conipany with revenues over $11
billion last year, and a 15,000-man laboratory effort. There is little
question such an effort would do as much for corporate profits as for
the public interst. At this time, however, it is not clear anyone in
government is even collecting, let alone reading, interpreting and
utilizing, the results of the research done elsewhere. Most technical
research is done by private corporations, such as the Bell Laboratories
of AT&T."
And the major research in the social sciences and public policy
areas is scattered among- numerous institutes, centers, foundations,
private associations and universities around the country. There have
been occasional outbursts of excellence. Yet scanning the total output
of our great universities and foundations I see but few stirrings in that
barren tundra adjacent the "vast wasteland."
The Gentle People'
Letters to the Editor
Gloomy Critic
Despite his disclaimer (April
7th) that he is not a gloomy
social critic, Michael Bobroff feels
free to summarily portray the
townspeople of Ann Arbor as part-
ners in a malevolent plot to fleece
the University community and to
withhold the public services that
the University deserves. Let us
examine his evidence that Ann Ar-
bor is a conspiratorial hotbed.
Mr. Bobroff sarcastically ques-
tions the motives of local banks
in offering student checking ac-
counts. One presumes, however,
that if the banks were to with-
draw this diabolically-conceived
service he would bring suit against
them for discrimination. He ob-
serves that the local rate of re-
turn to landlords is relatively high
and concludes that there is a
''gouging real estate cartel.''
It hasn't occurred to him that
a relatively high rate of return is
precisely what is required in or-
der to attract capital to the Ann
Arborehousing market and there-
by create the additional dwelling
units that will accommodate Ann
Arbor's burgeoning population.
Mr. Bobroff's indictment contin-
ues with the observation that Ann
Arbor's food and cleaning prices
are quite high. Another cartel, per-
haps? No, I prefer a less sensa-
tional, but more intellectually-sat-
isfying explanation. A large por-
tion of the total operating costs
of restaurants, grocery stores and
cleaning plants consists of wage
payments.
The Ann Arbor labor market is
very tight, particularly with re-
spect to the types of unskilled
labor that staff service firms. Con-
sequently, high wage costs, not
cartel profits, explain the high re-
tail profits. Q.E.D.
ADMITTEDLY, Ann Arbor does
have a traffic problem. However,
the fact that the current genera-
tion of city fathers has inherited
a "poorly laid-out" street system
should evoke sympathy, not con-
demnation. How does our student
prosecutor suggest that Ann Ar-
bor eliminate traffic and parking
congestion? By demolishing a ma-
jor portion of the city in order to
build eight-lane boulevards and
operate myriad parking lots?
This is the shortsighted solu-
tion which has reduced many.
American cities to vast expanses
of asphalt and concrete. Ann Ar-
bor has responded differently,
e.g., by constructing a system
of compact, conveniently-located
parking structures and by complet-
ing, with state and federal aid,
an outerbelt road system which
reroutes a great deal of traffic
around, rather than through, the
city.
Thus, there have been "signifi-
cant item (s) of progress" Despite
these efforts, congestion within
Ann Arbor continues to grow. This
fact reflects, however, not a con-
spiracy to strangle movement, but
the rapidity of Ann Arbor's
growth.
IN SUM, Mr. Bobroff's case is
hardly convincing; Ann Arbor is,
in fact, a vibrant and dynamic
All-America City. I should like
to suggest that the detractor-critic
in question spend his time develop-
ing positive proposals for Ann Ar-
bor's development rather than
sniping at non-existent conspira-
tors.
--Richard W. England, Grad
Voice
The recent performances of
Voice members have succeeded
in resolving in my mind a ques-
tion that has kept me puzzled and
confused for the last nine months.
It seems clear to me now, however,
that either the KKK or the
Birchers have managed to suc-
cessfully infiltrate and gain con-
trol of the Voice group. For, while
loudly proclaiming to all their de-
votion to the liberal cause, they
have acted in a fashion that has
succeeded only in bringing con-
tempt and discrelit to this cause.
In my opinion, their actions can
only impede local progress toward
the aims they claim as their ob-
j ectives.
I had considered both the CIA
and the HUAC as possible infil-
trators but quickly ruled these out
because of the crude and inept
strategy being used. Being a re-
cent, eager, emigre from the deep
south, the tactics were familiar.
They closely resemble the tactics
of the petty, self-serving, south-
ern demagogue-politician ("Elect
me youah Governor and ah'11 go to
jail, befoah ah permit ouah schools
to be integrated"). Voice's tactics
clear and realistic logic that we
exhibit the same 'intellectually
clear and realistic logic that we
have come to associate with a Sel-
ma or Montgomery, Alabama po-
liceman. And they certainly will
produce equal success. Events of
the past 12 years offer clear as-
surance of this.
AS PROFESSOR Abraham Kap-
lan noted, Mr. Savio deserves
much of the credit for Mr. Rea-
gan's current national position. A
"storm the palace" strategy is
sensible only when themultitude
has been aroused in your favor.
The liberal cause should be
quickly disassociated from these
self-serving frauds. How about a
new name for them? Since we've
had the "know-nothings," how
about the "care-nothings"?.
J..P. Krupp
Graduate Student
m1
A United Front
THE SPRING Mobilization in New York
on April 15 was a tremendous success
as far as the size of the crowd and the
sincerity and makeup 'of the. protest
groups, but it lacked one essential aspect:
the demonstration provided no cogent
suggestions on which the dissenters could
act in case President Johnson further es-
calates the war.
,At the time of the rally, it was becom-
ing increasingly clear that the troop
buildup below the 17th Parallel, which has
now reached 75,000, might constitute more
than an attempt to stem the flow of
North Vietnamese troops and supplies to
the South. It might signal a planned in-
vasion of the North.
Central Park was partially filled with
a great variety of people, who, even late
in the afternoon, were still making the
long trek to the United Nations speakers'
platform. While the New York Times re-
ports that top police officials estimated
the crowd at 125,000, a few oldtimers
among New York's Finest set the figure
at closer to 250,000, a crowd- they said
had never been surpassed except perhaps
by the wild celebrations at the end of
World War II.
The Daily is a member of the Associated Press and
Collegiate Press Service
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Published at 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich..
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Daily except Monday during regular academic school
year.
BUT DESPITE its attributes, the rally
as an extension and coordination of
the peace movement failed. Although one
could not expect the well-dressed person-
age from Great Neck and Scarsdale to
agree precisely with Quakers from Penn-
sylvania, hippies from the lower east side
and the hundreds of students from the
University of Michigan on just how to
resolve the Asian conflict, the concept of
a unified front for the peace movement
is greatly needed. "United we stand, di-
vided we fall" to the general public might
seem too patriotic for use by anti-war
protestors, but that is only because the
nation, with some prodding from mass
media, education and the exigencies of
practical politicians refuses to recognize
the true nature of patriotism.
It is for that very reason that the
peace movement must demonstrate a
greater unity. The many people uncom-
mitted in their position on the war must
be led to realize that this course of ac-
tion is not synonymous with the betray-
al of their country; that 250,000 people
must have something to say, that there
is safety in numbers.F
Greater unity can only be achieved by
organizing a deliberate action which can
be acted upon immediately following es-
calations of the war.
AMES GERASSI, a former New York
Times correspondent, now a reporter
for Ramparts, said in Ann Arbor recently:
"Draft board burning, not draft card
burning, would be a real confrontation
of the establishment." If President John-
son knew that 500 of his local draft
boards would be burned-admittedly an
extreme tactic-if he invaded the North
_rmiln t o+thnlri,- m Vp ramight+ onri
Today and Tomorrow... By Walter Lippmann -
Can the GOP End the War.
At the moment, the official
theory about the war is that it is
a contest to see which side will
crack first. As Gen. William West-
moreland has told us, the con-
flict is now a war of attrition.
Hanoi, according to the official
line, believes that if it holds on,
the dissenters will become so pow-
erful that Washington will be com-
pelled to give in, to stop the fight-
ing and withdraw its forces.
The illusory hope can be dash-
ed by a silent unanimity in this
country and by an unceasing in-
crease of military pressure in
Vietnam. The official theory is
that if we hit hard enough our
adversary will reach that break-
ing point which exists for every
country where it will accept a
dictated peace.
On this conception of the war
-that Hanoi is waiting for Wash-
ington to break first-the war is
now becoming wider and fiercer.
From correspondents who are very
close to the White House, the Pen-
tagon and the State Department,
we are now hearing that the con-
flict has become such that there
Nevertheless, to accept the theo-
ry that a solution is not negotiable
is to declare that political control
of the war has been lost and there
is nothing to do but to let her rip.
Is that the best we can do? If
it is, then everything depends upon
the ability of our military forces
to put Hanoi past the breaking
point before the Chinese and the
Russians are drawn into it. Per-
haps the military men can do this.
But not even Gen. Westmoreland
thinks that the breaking point can
be reached in any foreseeable near
future.
Thus, what the general foresees
is an indefinite war of attrition.
There can be no doubt that the
longer and fiercer the war be-
comes, the greater the chances of
intervention by the Communist
powers.
THERE IS ANOTHER way of
interpreting the situation. It is
possible-I think it is probable-
that Hanoi is not adverse to a
negotiated solution which accepts
the autonomy of South Vietnam
with the issue of Vietnamese re-
What seems much more prob-
able to me is tha$ Hanoi, advised
by Moscow, is studying the polls
hoping that Mr. Johnson will not
be re-elected. Face-saving has be-
come the main preoccupation on
both sides: Hanoi's preoccupation
may be that the bomber attack
shall not decide the war in Mr.
Johnson's favor; Mr. Johnson's
preoccupation is that at the end
the casualties and the costs shall
be discounted by the enthusiasm
of victory.
It seems to me a plausible idea
that Hanoi is persisting not be-
cause of an illusion that the Unit-
ed States will crack and give in,
but because it is waiting for a new
administration, free to negotiate
without being bound by so many
considerations of personal prestige.
THERE IS, I realize, only an
hypothesis. And while reasoning
by analogy in international affairs
is notoriously uncertain, we should
at least compare the situation in
Vietnam in 1967 with the situa-
tion in Korea in 1952.
Then as now. the administra-
By BOB EWEGEN
Collegiate Press Service
BOULDER, Colo.-They're bust-
ing the gentle people again. It's
no surprise, really. Mankind has
never been very tolerant of its
misfits. There was a time, in
Rome, when they tossed them to
lions before degenerate thrill seek-
ers because they refused to offer
incense to Jupiter of Mithras.
Then the self-same misfits tri-
umphed. No longer considered
proper appetizers for wild beasts
they promptly began to destroy
their own misfits with inquisitions
and auto-da-fes.
Then the new misfits gained
power of their own and, embittered
by their struggles, hurled torture
and death at all those different
from them. It's a grim story, fill-
ed with the vicious monotony of
human stupidity.
But though human persecution
has had many varied forms
through history, one aspect never
changes-it's the gentle people
who catch the most hell.
Maybe it's because they can't
fight back. Maybe it's because of
an innate sadistic streak in homo
sapiens. Maybe it is the over-
powering terron of the unknown.
Or maybe it's because they offer
a quietyand disturbing challenge
to our own inner convictions so
we must hide our doubts in out-
ran and anoity.
haven't hurt us. Their weed only
makes them gentler.
We scream at the gentle people
that their marijuana rots their"
minds. Then we go home and take
our daily pint of fuel oil, eat the
olive, snap at our wife, vomit on
the rug and feel self-righteous as
all get out because we're not pot-
heads.
But we never learn. We outlaw
marijuana and drive the gentle
people underground, alienate them
from society and force them into
an alien subculture which is in-
finitely more incompatible with
our dream of a standardized ho-
mogenized 2 per cent butterfat
American Way of Life than they
would ever be if we left them
alone.
WE TELL, them marijuana is
the epitome of evil. They find out
otherwise and smoke the stuff.
Then we try to warn them about
LSD or the real destroyers of
morphine and heroin. They may
listen to us but we doubt it for
we've wrecked our credibility by
crying "Wolf, Wolf, Wolf!" about
a drug which more closely resem-
bles a puppy dog.
We wonder how many more
thousands ofryoung and promis-
ing lives will be smashed in the
mincing machine of our supersti-
tion and antiquated drug laws be-
fore the public wakes up. But our
hopes are low. There can be no
--ln+-- F 41- ifie n ha
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