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May 03, 1967 - Image 4

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Michigan Daily, 1967-05-03

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Shef~i41gan Bally
Seventy-Sixth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNTVEuSITY OF MICHmtTAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD TN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS

420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARDOR, MIcH.

NEws PHONE: 764-0552

Editorials pinted in The Michigan Daily ex press the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
VEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 1967 NIGHT EDITOR: JENNIFER RHEA
The Next Phase

NOW APPEARS that, despite the ad-
vice of numerous military experts, and
spite our professed desire for peace
Vietnam, we are headed toward a ma-
war with China on the Asian main-,
ad.
Events of the past several weeks have
ade it clear that the conflict has taken
aew and ugly turn. The list of targets
North Vietnam has been expanded
y by day-a railyard and power instal-
ion near Hanoi, an oil depot and ce-
nt plant on the outskirts of Haiphong;
d MIG air bases.
This most ominous escalation of the
attacks has increased the probability
at 'North Vietnamese planes will seek
actuary across the Chinese border. But
is doesn't seem tc faze the adminis-
ition. Apparently, Secretary of Defense
Namara had a change of heart since
declaration three weeks before that
nbing the airfields would result in
re American deaths than the MIG's
emselves were causing in action. The
w rationale behind the bombing was
e benefit of an increased "reaction
ne" of enemy aircraft stationed farther
ay from the targets in the North.
HE INTERVENTION of Chinese volun-
teers-a move that might follow sim-
r lines as the Korean invasion-is not
>it of wistful imagination. The Chinese
ve every reason to look at the United
ates increased presence in a bordering
intry as a deep threat to her security.
This wart has reached .a point where
t even our own people-much less the
inese-believe that the Joint Chiefs of
iff have everything under control, and
a determine the size of the war. As
n. Eugene J. McCarthy (D-Minn) aptly
ted; "It's almost impossible to find
yone in government who was there
en the original decision was made who
s he anticipated that it would develop
o as extensive a war as it did."
Vho ifs to say that the military is not
ly intent on some type of confronta-
n with Peking, and would not welcome
y opportunity that presents itself? Who
i tell whether our military plans to
'ade North Vietnam at some future
te, regardless of any subsequent ac-
n by Peking?

THE INFLUX of supplies from China
and the Soviet Union has been step-
ped up, and equally significant, the fric-
tion between the !two giants has lessened
in recent months. In the middle of Feb-
ruary, according to U.S. News and World
Report, they reached a settlement where-
by Peking agreed to end its interference
with ground transportation shipping Rus-
sian materiel to Hanoi.
North Vietnam will thus be able to hold
out for a longer period, and the admin-
istration's frustration will grow over the
seeming impossibility of ever winning the
war in its present dimensions.
Our officials have told us that China,
embroiled in a civil war, would never get
involved in war with the U.S. But with
increased military action in her neigh-
bor, North Vietnam, the Chinese people
may eventually rally to the defense of
their imperiled nation.
WITH THESE WELL-FOUNDED fears
gripping a growing body of Ameri-,
cans at home-with the vocal minority
becoming ever more vocal-the adminis-
tration last week decided to throw un-
patriotic paint on, the movement. There
was, of course, Secretary of State Rusk
brandishing a carefully researched re-
port purporting to show the link be-
tween the Communist subverters and the
patriotic dupes who took part in the
massive demonstrations in New York City
and San Francisco on April 15. There was
President Johnson himself, enlarging
upon his previous "Nervous Nellie" speech.
And for the first time in American his-
tory, a field commander was called home
to report to the nation on the conduct
of the war. Predictably Gen. William C.
Westmoreland labelled the protest move-
ment as unpatriotic and demoralizing to
the fighting men in Vietnam.
Tagged to his visit will be the even-
tual hike in U.S. manpower of about 30,-
000, which will raise the level of our
forces to 470,000. But the deterioration of
the military situation in the northern
provinces and the North Vietnamese
buildup around the demilitarized zone
have convinced the generals that even
this level is inadequate.
The buildup of men and escalation of
tactics will, no doubt, continue.
-STEPHEN FIRSHEIN

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The Narcissistic 'Michigan Alumnus'

A few hours after he returne.i from the funeral of former West
German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, President Johnson took time
to address the 700 dinner guests of the American Physical Society at
the Sheraton Park Hotel in Washington D.C.
"I want to negotiate' he said "I want a political solution. I want
more than any human being in all the world to see the killing stopped,
but I just can't negotiate with myself." And he pleaded the audience
to help him. "I need your help and your support in the trials and
tribulationsthe country is undergoing "
President Johnson's statements were lost in the surcharged at-
mosphere of patriotism and escalation in the midst of the return of
General William C. Westmoreland, field commander of the U.S. forces
in Vietnam. And very few noticed that the National Liberation Front,
a daylater, on April 27, announced that its "forces would observe a
48 hour ceasefire on May 22-23 to commemorate the birthday of
Buddha"
SINCE EARLY this year., ,the United Buddhist Church of Viet-
nam has called for a ceasefire on the twenty-third. At first the call
was received with cold indifference by the Saigon government. Only
on April 8, after extensive consultation with the United States did
General Ky agree to a 24 hour truce on May 23. Secretary-General
U Thant on April 18 urged that "the ceasefire proposed for May 23
be extended indefinitely."
The Buddhistspropose that following the truce, an interim civilian
government composed of lay representatives of all religions in South
Vietnam-Buddhist. Catholic, Cao Dai Hoa Hao,,Protestant-be 'formed.
This interim government which would be entrusted with the task of
organizing elections'for a parliament and a civilian-elected government,
would negotiate directly with the NLF for an end to the hostilities,
with the U.S. for the withdrawal of the American troops, and with
Hanoi for the withdrawal of the North Vietnamese troops. In essence
the Buddhist proposal aims at negotiations first among the Vietnamese
themselves, to bring about a true neutralization of South Vietnam.
Economic and cultural relations with North Vietnam would soon be
established, creating conditions for an' eventual reunification of the
country.
A NEW CHANCE for peace thus arises. If President Johnson wants
to "stop the killing," he does not need to find some one to negotiate
with at the beginning. What he needs and what the Vietnamese hope
for and need is his decision to let the Vietnamese negotiate among
themselves. President Johnson ca. then order a cease to the bombing
of both North and South Vietnam What would be more dignified and
politically wiser for the leader of the most powerful nation on earth to
stop the killing at the demand of the majority Buddhist religion
(backed by other faiths) of the country which the U.S. wants to help.
The answer to the Buddhist peace proposal will come soon. From
May 1 until May 23, there will be stirrings in the civilian population
in South Vietnam. General Ky will probably suppress by force all these
demonstrations, as he did with the support of the U.S. logistics in May
last year, if he knows that the U.S. has no intention of prolonging the
already agreed 24-hour truce The war then will continue with both
sides escalating in ferocity and intensity.
IN AN OPEN LETTER to the American people on February 18, two
leading Vietnames Buddhist monks, Thich Tri Quang and Thich Quang
Do wrote:
"It is because of the religious co9science in us that we cannot
accept the war which is going on in our country, that we cannot accept
the presence of foreign troops and of troops whose actions are in-
fluenced by foreign governments for this massacre of our people and
of each other. The more the war goes, the stronger communism be-
comes, the more Americans become colonialist and our people are
destroyed."
This is to me not only an appeal but also a warning of the shape
of things to come in South Vietnam if the coming chance for peace
is not seriously considered.
Birth Control in India

--TRAN VAN DINH-- m
New Chance for Peacd
Mr. Tran Van Dinh, a former officer during the Vietnamese
independence war against the French and a former diplomat (his
last post was Acting Ambasador of South Vietnam to the United
States) is now a journalist and a lecturer. He has contributed
articles to The New Republic, the Christian Science Monitor, and-
War/Peace Report.

An alumni magazine may srve-
many purposes: it may be a link
between alumni and the univer-
sity, communicating the activities
of each to the other. It may be a
resume of progress, keeping the
alumni informed of university ac-
tivities. It may be used as a ve-
hicle to raise funds from the
alumni. Its simplest function may
be one of providing a status sym-
bol; in this case, attesting to the
fact that its subscriber is a gradu-
ate of one of the nation's finest
universities, specifically, the Uni-
veirsity of Michigan.
On all of these counts, the
"Michigan Alumnus" makes the
grade. But after two years of
reading this magazine, I feel that
it has failed in what I conceive
to be the most important purpose
of all: a means of communicating
between the generations of college
students on the crucial issues of
our time.
The two most important crises
which the students are involved in
are the Vietnam war and civil
rights, with its background of
prejudice, inequality, poverty, di-
sease, ignorance, and despair. The
University of Michigan was the
birthplace of the teach-in, the
first organized expression of con-
cern over international problems
in many years. Its meaning was
as significant to the protest move-
ment as the 1961 Alabama bus
boycott was to the civil rights
movement.

If the most intelligent and ar-
ticulate and concerned students
are characterized by outrage or
even just polite disagreement with
our policies in Vietnam, the ma-
jority of Americans can be char-
acterized by bewilderment and
confusion, evidenced by the mu-
tually exclusive calls for more
bombing and greater attempts at
negotiations.
YET FOR ALL this action and
feeling on the major university
and college campuses throughout
the nation, what does the "Michi-
gan Alumnus" give its readers?
The name of the 3rd vice presi-
dent of the First National Bank
of Second City. Calif., or who has
three children, and who said what
about nothing. Its pages are filled
with details of alumni clubs, the
records of athletic teams, espe-
cially football, and lists of donors
to something or other. There is
nothing wrong with this in and
of itself, although in a university
of Michigan's size, one is unlikely
to read about more than a very
few people you went to school
with, but this should not repre-
sent the heart of a publication
such as this.
In the last year the "Alumnus"
has mentioned Vietnam in two
condescending editorials - apolo-
gies for the political opinions of
a minority of students. The first
coment evoked a protest of dis-
agreement against the editorial

and appeared to be the only piece
of writing that elicited an im-
passioned response. Civil rights,
likewise, has been assigned to a
grab bag resume of student activi-
ties.
IF ONE WERE to look for a
prime example of what I mean by
bridging the gap between gen-
erations, I would recommend the
October, 1965 issue of the John
Hopkins alumnus magazine en-
titled, "We Shall Overcome." This
issue presents the most thought-
ful, lucid and moving discussion
of civil rights that I have seen
anywhere.
Are the Michigan alumni in-
capable of organizing such discus-
sions? Are they not interested in
the most important protests in
this country? Are they so com-
placent they can afford not to
understand, or are they afraid to
hear dissenting opinions and un-
pleasant truths? If such a maga-
zine is to more than a gossip sheet
and prestige poll, if it is to re-
flect the most vital concerns of
generations of educated Amer-
icans. it wil require some very
novel thinking. The magazine, ten
times a year, congratulates itself
on being part of a great educa-
tional institution, but the contents
of its pages reflect not greatness
but mediocrity and trivia. Is this
really the best it can do?
-Judy Gregory Perlos, '56

So Speaketh
z A RECENT INTERVIEW appearing in
the Detroit Free Press entitled "What's
ing on in Colleges?", President Harlan
,tcher expresses a profound lack of un-
rstanding as to just why things are "go-
i on" within the nation's institutions of
gher learning.
While. admitting certain basic defects
the' university system, Hatcher attrib-
es the cause of student activism to "a
;hly permissive environment in their
mes where they have had a minimum
family training and family discipline."
.tcher accuses the activists of never
ving learned "the art of conversation,
e exchange of information, of proper
'e and take and they haven't ,learned
aper respect and consideration for .oth-

Hatcher . 6

-Atx4t MYi ttILJ

ers. They are smart alecky group that
many parents know about."
Hatcher goes on to say that child labor
laws have produced what he terms "child
idleness." "Youth has been denied the
discipline that comes from work because
kids don't work now," Hatcher states. "So
they get to be 18, and they're restless, de-
tached, uninvolved and now beginning to
feel themselves becoming adults."
HATCHER'S ANALYSIS of the causes
behind student unrest on the nation's
college campuses is shallow and patron-
izing. Hatcher's generalities about the
family backgrounds of student activists is
insulting. The indulgence of one's par-
ents hardly can be pointed to as the cause
for student discontent with university
administrations which are unresponsive to
student needs and aspirations. Legitimate
grievances with a system that is cold and
refuses to communicate effectively with
students are the sources of responsible
student activism.
Hatcher speaks of activists as being de-
ficient in the "art of conversation," but
Hatcher and his crew of vice-presidents
have been criticized by faculty teaching
fellows -and students alike for the same
offense. Only when a confrontation is
forced, does Hatcher find it necessary
to finally discuss and reasonably work out
decisions which affect the lives of stu-
dents and faculty. The lack of the "art of
conversation" on the part of University
administrators probably cannot be traced
to their indulging fathers and mothers.
One wonders what Hatcher would offer
as an alternative to youth-softening. Stu-
dent activists do not "behave themselves,"
but Hatcher doesn't comprehend the un-
derlying causes. It surely is not the fact
that children no longer work long hours
in sweat shops.
A N ADULT WORLD of fear and deceit

The Daily is a member of the Associated Press and
ollegiate Press Service
Sn-scription rate: $4.50 semester by carrier ($5 by
nail; $8 for two semesters by carrier ($9 by mail).
Published at 420 Maynard St.. Ann Arbor, Mich..
8144.
Daily except Monday during regular academic school
ear.
Daily except Sunday and Monday during regular
ummer session.'
Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor. Michigan.
z Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Michigan. 48104.
Sumnier Editorial Staff
AURENCE MEDOW................ Co-Editor
IEPHEN FIRSHEIN......................Co-Editor
NIGHT EDITORS
David Duboff
Aviva Kempner
Patricia O'Donohue
Jennifer Rhea
Walter Shapiro
ARK LEVIN ......... Summer Supplement Editor
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS
arcie Abramson, Rob Beattie, Jill Crabtree, Shirley
Nickovich, Jenny Stiller.
CONTRIBUTORS

The President's bringing Gen.
William Westmoreland home in
order to explain the ware reminds
me of an instructive afternoon
spent during World War II. The
country and the , Congress were
divided on the question of wheth-
er to strike first against Hitler or
first against Japan.
Winston Churchill and Franklin
Roosevelt had agreed on the policy
of "Hitler first." But there were
large and powerful groups in the
country, many of them former
isolationists in the sense that they
were anti-European, who wanted
to concentrate American forces on
winning the war against Japan.
Even the American Chiefs of Staff
were divided on this question of
high strategy.
Churchill had come to Washing-
ton, accompanied by the British
Chiefs of Staff, to work out with
President, Roosevelt and the ad-
ministration the general plan of
the global war.
ONE MORNING I had a tele-
phone call from Sen. Austin, who
was a strong believer in the
Churchill-Roosevelt line. He said
in efect, "I know you are seeing
the prime minister this afternoon,
and I wish you would ask him to
tell his Chiefs of Staff to come to

ignorant of the British way of
doing things that I could dare to
suggest that a British general
should address a parliamentary
body. As I remember it, what he
said was, "I am the minister of
defense and I, not the generals.
will state the policy of His Ma-
jesty's government."
No one who ever aroused the
wrath of Churchill is likely to for-
get it. I certainly have not for-
gotten it. I learned an indelible
lesson about one of the elementary
principles of democraitic govern-
ment. And, therefore, I take a
very sour view of a field com-
mander being brought home by
the President to educate the Con-
gress and the American people.
THERE IS, of course, no argu-
ment about Gen. Westmoreland's
tribute to the valor of his troops.
The argument, which he does not
seem to understand very well, is
about whether the President is
committing those brave and com-
petent men to a mission which
serves the honor and the interests
of the United States and of the
world-wide community of nations
of which the United States is such
a powerful member.
This is the most unpopular war
in -American history. Even those
who have confirmed and support

Today and Toimiorrow... By Walter Lippmann
The Return~~ ofteGeea

burning and the heckling, the,
speeches of the senators and the
articles of the editorial writers
and the columnists.
That deeper expression of the
real feeling of the country is in
the fact that in this war for the
the first time in the memory of
man it is taken to be quite normal
-it is almost fashionable-for the
leading families in government
and business not to send their sons
to war. This abstention, this at-
titude of sitting it out, is much
more eloquent than anything that
is said openly against the conduct
of the war.
There is no denying that our
adversaries take comfort-from the
evidence that the country is not
united behind President Johnson.
They will no doubt find in Gen.
Westmoreland's mission in the
United States confirmation of the
fact that the President knows he
is not leading a united country.
And no doubt this will help Hanoi
and the Viet Cong to endure the
terrible punishment which they
are undergoing.
But Gen. Westmoreland is quite
mistaken if he thinks he could win
the war if only Sen. George Mc-
Govern and Sen. J. W. Fulbright
and Sen. Robert Kennedy decided
to remake themselves in the image

India has been attempting to
reach the people in her cities
and villages through an exten-
sive birth control program. The
population explosion and the
lack of food are pressing down
hard on this nation, and the
next several years will be cru-
cial ones. Mr. Robert J. Malikin
is a Peace Corps volunteer serv-
ing with an agricultural exten-
sion agency in the state of And-
hra Pradesh in southern India.
He is assigned to the tiny vil-
lage of Yellapuvani Palem, and
will be contributing a series of
articles on his impressions of
the country.
By ROBERT J. MALIKIN
Special To The Daily
YELLAPUVANI PALEM, INDIA
-"Loop before you leap. A plan-
ned family is a happy family,"
brightly colored posters shout out
to the people in the huge cities of
India.
With her 500 million people,
India has learned well the impor-
tance of family planning. And
with the posisbility of another bad
monsoon season, causing wide-
spread famine, the thought of
30,000 new babies being born each
day is deeply troubling.
"Our dependence on foreign aid
and even for the food we eat
leaves us little alternative but to
concentrate on reducing the
growth of population. But the
government alone cannot succeed
in this. It has to be a people's
program, involving voluntary and
social organizations, local bodies,
village institutions," Dr. S. Rad-
hakishnan, president of India, has
said.

bodies and voluntary organiza-
tions through State Family Plan-
ning officers, -the state govern-
ments, or the government of India.
The principal forms of contra-
ceptives given out at these health
centers are interuterine devices
(IUD), such as the "loop," and
the "spiral."
But while it may appear to be
only a simple matter of "hard-
sell," health workers are finding
it increasingly difficult to con-
vince the people of the benefits
of family planning.
"OFTEN WE are confronted
with the idea that the gods con-
trol the giving and taking of
children," said one village health
worker. "So the people think it
is completely out of their hands.
There is often the fear many
people have, of not having any
children at all and this is quite a
big worry for them."
Another problem is posed by
random failures of the birth con-
trol devices, which may cause the
people in the immediate region to
lose confidence in their medical
advisors. Oftentimes, because of
improper care and a lack of in-
formation, an already pregnant
woman will be provided with a
loop. And, when her child is born,
many will point to her as an ex-
ample of how such measures as
the IUD are of no value. Or, the
device may fall out unbeknown
to its owner, with pregnancy oc-
curring at a later date. All of
these things can destroy months
of work by health workers in a
local area.
The statistics issued each month
on the number of women employ-

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