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October 24, 1965 - Image 4

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The Michigan Daily, 1965-10-24

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Seventy-Sixth Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNWERSITit OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS

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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1965 NIGHT EDITOR: JUDITH WARREN
The Protests over Viet Nam:
AlienatingOthers Isn't Eno ugh

THE SITUATION in Viet Nam is not one
where the evidence can speak for it-
self-the evidence we receive is scanty,
possibly unreliable, and certainly often
slanted to conform to the purposes of our
government.
But some few people, for the most part
members of the academic community,
have tried to put the pieces together in
the light of the history of Viet Nam, of
U.S. foreign policy, of the sociological and
economic conditions in Southeast Asia,
and of the philosophical foundations of
our country.
The conclusions drawn from this an-
alysis have given rise to a violent reac-
tion of condemnation of the war in Viet
Nam. If these conclusions are to be
spread, the' people who have formulated
sthem must take up the burden of proof,
end make- a definite effort to convince
society.
THE EVOLUTION of the University
-movement protesting the war in Viet
Nam has taken a turn which has greatly
marred its effectiveness, and which seems
to have prevented as much encouraged
meaningful discussion of U.S. policies.
The protest group has become exclu-
sive; those who are comparatively moder-
ate, in social and political 'philosophy as
well as in dress and manner, who are not
what has been termed "flaming radicals,"
but who believe that the war is unjust
and should be ended, are now out of place
in the movement.
This is unfortunate, and could be dis-
astrous. Although the protestors are now
being called Communists by the govern-
ment, this was not the focus of opinion
at the Friday Homecoming protest. There,
the comments sounded like this: "I can't
see your face, with all that hair. Are you
a boy or a girl? Maybe we should buy
them some soap."
One student said, referring to the pro-
test group, "If they would comb their hair
and dress decently, I would listen to them.
But when they look like beatniks, I figure
they'd say anything, so I don't pay atten-.
tion." This, of course, is not a valid cri-
terion. Yet this attitude is so widespread
on campus and in our society that it can-
not be ignored.
Some of the protestors-sloppy and un-
kempt-reminded bystanders of rebellious
children. And many attributed their pro-
tests to immature rebellion rather than to
its real cause, which in many cases is a
sincere, reasonable concern with U.S.
policies.
WHY DO SO MANY of the protestors
want to look "way out?" Some say
they do it to assert their individuality,
their rejection of the meaningless con-
Identity{
THERE IS AT LEAST ONE University'
student who no longer feels lost in the
shuffle of IBM cards and education for
the masses.-
In a recent History 101 lecture attend-
ed by nearly 500 students, Prof. Michael
Altschul responded from the podium to a
mid-lecture sneeze with- a disarming
"Gesundheit."
-R STERN
Editorial Staff
ROBERT JOHNSTON, Editor
LAURENCE KIRSHBAUM JEFFREY-GOODMAN
Managing Editor Editorial Director

JUDITH FIELDS ................Personnel Director
LAUREN BAHR ..........Associate Managing Editor
JUDITH WARREN........Assistant Managing Editor
ROBERT HIPPLER......Associate Editorial Director
GAIL BLUMBERG ................Magazine Editor
LLOYD GRAFF...............Acting Sports Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Susan Collins, John Meredith,
Leonard Pratt, Peter Sarasohn, Bruce Wasserstein.
DAY EDITORS: Robert Carney, Clarence Fanto, Mark
Killingsworth, Harvey Wasserman, Dick wingfield.
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Alice Bloch, Mere-
dith Eiker, Merle Jacob, Carole Kaplan, Robert
Klivans, Roger Rapoport, Neil Shister, Katherine
Teich, Joyce Winslow, Charlotte Wolter.
SPORTS NIGHT EDITORS: Rick Feferman, Jim .La-
Sovage, Bob McFarland, Gil Samberg, Dale Sielaff,
Rick Stern, Jim Tindall, Chuck Vetzner.
Published daily. Tuesday through Sunday morning.
Business Staff
CY WELLMAN, Business Manager
ALAN GLUECKMAN.........Advertising Manager
JOYCE FEINBERG... ..... . ....Finance Manager
'r nn * OT7 tXVWNffl A ..n,,Aa a .c4neca WManageor

ventions of society. But if they are indi-
viduals, it is because of what they do,
say, and think, not because of the way
they look. The appearance is only trim-
ming, as meaningless as the conventions
they are trying to reject.
More realistic was one student's state-
ment in a recent Daily editorial that this
type of appearance is often meant to of-
fend. And it does offend, as evidenced by
the above comments. Then the question
must be raised as to whether it is wise
for people to offend when they are also
trying to influence, to convince, to arouse
interest and sympathy for a cause.
The general reaction at the University
to the demonstrations during the Interna-
tional Days of Protest-a reaction either
of indifference or of hostility based as
much on distaste' for the demonstrators
themselves as on political dissention -
indicates that it is not wise.
EVEN MORE SERIOUS than the reaction
of outsiders to the protest movement
is the recent absence of liberals 'and
"moderate radicals" from its ranks, which
has diminished and therefore weakened
the demonstrations.
Many students have been embarrassed
to be actively and publicly associated with
the protest, not because of potential dis-
approval from dissenters, but because of
the protestors themselves, many of whom
seem to feel that anyone who is not as
radical as they are is "compromising with
the Establishment."
Another facet of the current demon-,
strations which has tended to confine
them to an "in-group".of extreme radi-
cals is the emphasis on civil disobedience.
One student, who went to thefirst meet-
ing for the Days of Protest, said, "They
talked about what kind of civil disobed-
ience would be committed before they
outlined any kind of general plans or
purpose for the protest." He said that
since he didn't care to commit civil dis-
obedience, and didn't approve of it in the
present situation, he left the meeting.
What can be done to increase the ef-
fectiveness of this movement, aside from
having the protestors shave and iron
their shirts (although, if -general reac-
tions mean anything, this certainly
wouldn't hurt)? It's hard to say, of course,
and any real solution must 'come from
within the protest group itself; yet there
are several things which would probably
help.
HE FIRST and simplest would be to in-
stitute a more broadly-based recruit-
ing system for any future actions, per-
haps extending into the residence halls. A
student will certainly'be more likely to
demonstrate if he expects to see familiar
faces in the group than if he knows'no
one at all; he is also more likely to par-
ticipate if he has specifically been asked
to do so. This type of recruiting, if suc-
cessful, would make .the protest group
more heterogeneous, and larger.
The second and most important would
be for protestors to get out of the in-
group, stop reinforcing themselves with
others who share .the same beliefs, atti-
tudes and goals.
It is surprising to find that students
who are not against the war in Viet Nam,
often those who speak out most violently
against the protests, are happy to discuss
U.S. policies in a relaxed atmosphere.
This process of "friendly persuasion"~ is
as much a part Qf the democratic process
of change, as much a part of the right to
free speech, as any public demonstration
of dissent.
And it is often much .more effective.

Many students have never thought very
much about Viet Nam; they have auto-
matically defended the actions of their
country, taking their arguments from
parents and friends,- and have never
really considered the possibility that con-
tinuing the war is a mistake.
However, many protestors are not tak-
ing advantage of the opportunity to talk
to people about the war, and to try 'to
convince them it is wrong. They argue
about Viet Nam primarily with one an-
other, and during discussions with those
who disagree with them are often hostile,
argumentative, and self-righteous.
f'971 rff , TTyi Y' DTA ?1FT r fVN -. t.. a TT Q rv

THE BANKERS and monetary
experts who met in Washing-
ton two weeks ago did not at the
"time seem to be doing very much.
Yet, in the large perspective of
time their meeting may well come
to be thought of as historically
important. For the report of the
World Bank and the address of its
president, George Woods, opened
up, as officially it has never been
opened up before, the problem
which is crucial in the promotion
of world peace-the problem of
the relationship between the rich-
er and the poorer nations of the
globe.
This was not the advertised
theme of the meeting. Generally
speaking, attention was focused on
how much progress could be made
toward an agreement on the re-
form of the International Mone
tary System.
This would be an agreement
essentially between the United
States and Britain on the one
hand and the "continental Euro-
pean bankers on the other. There
was no substantial progress to-
ward such an agreement, and for
that reason the international
(neeting seemed rather uninter-
esting and unimportant.
BUT WE CAN SEE in retro-
spect that there' was no good
reason to expect much progress
on monetary reform. The question

posed to the bankers was what
kind of "effective and adequate
substitute" they would agree to
provide for the dollar deficits,
now that, as President Johnson
told them, "the long period of
large U.S. deficits has come to an
end."
The bankers did not provide the
substitute. The reason was, no
doubt, that there is no immediate
crisis due to a shortage of inter-
national money, that there are
unresolved conflicts of interests
among the rich nations as to who
shall control the creation of new
reserves and, last but not least,
that the European bankers are by
no means convinced that the
United States will in fact put a
permanent end to its deficits.
Although there were some use-
ful technical and procedural
agreements for further study,
nothing was settled because the
bankers were asked to find a
theoretical solution-which might
not need to be applied for a long
time-to a problem which was hy-
pothetical, since our deficits are
not yet permanently ended.
THE OTHER and largely ne-
glected activity of the meeting has
been to conform the governments
and peoples of the world with the
grim and dangerous contrast be-
tween the advanced nations in the
Northern Hemisphere and the un-

Today
all(1
Tomorrow'
By WALTER LIPPMAAdN
derdeveloped countries in the rest
of the world.
In the World Bank's masterly
treatment of the subject, "the de-
veloped countries," which have
market economies and are non-
Communist, include the United
States and Canada in North
America, Japan in Asia, the in-
dustrialized countries of Western
Europe.
The "developing countries" in-
clude all of Asia except Japan and
the Sino-Soviet bloc, all of Africa
expect South Africa, all of Latin
America and in Soutern Europe,
Turkey, Yugoslavia, Greece, Spain
and Portugal. Leaving out Russia
and China, these developing coun-
tries include 70 per cent of the
people of the world.
In varying degrees they are all
in trouble. There is every reason
to believe that, without a great
change of feeling and policy in
the developed nations, the under-
developed nations face a dismal
future. Insofar as they, remain
weak and disorderly, they will at-

tract the rivalry for influence and
power of the great powers.
ALTHOUGH there are many
differences among the underde-
veloped nations, the one weakness
they have in common is that with
only rare exceptions-those rich
in oil and some minerals-they
cannot earn enough by their ex-
ports to provide the capital they
must have for their own develop-
ment.
The developed nations buy about
three-quarters of the exports of
the developing nations. Since the
Korean War, the main trend, with
only a few years' exception, has
been toward rising prices for'
manufactured goods and declin-
ing prices for raw materials.
For many, if not for all, of the
developing countries their earn-
ings from exports are not suf-
ficient to keep up with the growth
of population. Relatively speaking,
the rich are getting richer and
the poor are getting poorer.
In secular terms, this growing
disparity is the paramount prob-
lem of mankind, and it is in the
context and environment of this
disparity that the problems of war
and peace will have to be worked
out.
THE DISPARITY cannot be
overcofe by preaching and ex-
horting the developing countries

to pull themselves up by their own
boot straps. They cannot and will
not do that-certainly not unless
they pass through the ordeal of
some kind of Stalinist dictator-
ship.
There is again no good prospect
that the terms of trade can be
reversed by commodity subsidies
and stabilization agreements. The
only solution is that the rich
countries make available to the
poor countries the foreign ex-
change which they can usefully
employ to make themselves self-
sufficient. This is estimated to be
about $4 to $5 billion a year more
than is now going out to those
countries.
Considering that the gross na-
tional product of the developed
countries, not including the Soviet
Union, rose to over a trillion dol-
lars ($1,100 billion) in 1964, this
increased help is really a trifling
amount.
It would, of course, best be rais-
ed and transferred' collectively,
rather than by any one country
such as the United States, and in
this work the Soviet Union should,
as the President suggested, par-
ticipate.
UNLESS the richer countries
can srouse themselves tosuch an
indispensable action, they should'
cease to pretend that they really
care about peace among men.
(c) 1965, The Washington Post Co.

*

Letters: Portrait of the American 'Hero'

To the Editor:
RALPH WALDO EMERSON, of-
ten called "The Wisest Ameri-
can," wrote that no man or group
of men can be great enough or
wise enough to say who shall live
or who shall die.
Yet does not this very thing"
happen, sometimes in a very hap-
hazard manner?
For example: a few days before
World War I ended the Germans
asked for an armistice and re-
quested that in order to save lives
hostilities should cease. The re-
quest for a cease fire was refused
by the allies and the Germans
were given until eleven a.m. Nov.
11, 1918 to accept or reject arm-
istice terms.
Later terms were agreed upon
and the French Marshal Petain'
ordered the fighting in his sector
stopped. Thereafter no French-
men were killed except through
accident.
AMERICAN TROOPS, however,
did not have a commander who
had the respect for human life
that the French army had and
their advance against death-deal-
ing machine-gun fire continued.
How many boys, German and
American, were killed in that
senseless slaughter? One of those
mortally wounded, a strapping
young Minnesota farm boy, I knew
very well indeed. His last words,
as I had them from his buddies,
were "It is a little tough to get
it the last day." The boy was my
younger brother. Barry Pitt in his
book, "1918 The Last Act" docu-
ments the facts about the last
American drive in World War I.
It is hard to believe that any
human could permit such needless
carnage but some wi'iting on the
military brass clearly shows that
with some of them killing is just
something that is all in the day's
work and no regrets.
General Omar N. Bradley'in his
autobiography "Story of a Soldier"
describes a fellow general, George
S. Patton, Jr., despite his act of
the most revolting cruelity, as a
magnificant commander and one
whom the American people can
admire.
One act of our "magnificant
commander,"-according to Brad-
ley, was played out in a field
hospital receiving tent where Pat-
ton encountered a boy shaking
with convulsions. He asked the
boy what was the matter with him
and the chap, his eyes filling with
tears, replied that it, was his
,nerves, that he could not stand
the shelling. "Your nerves hell,"
shouted Patton, "you are just a

- coward." Patton slapped the
boy twice with his gloves and told
him that he was going back to the
front lines to fight and that if he
did not he (Patton) would have
him stood up against a wall and
shot on purpose. "I will not have
the hospitals cluttered up," said
Patton, "with - - - who do nlot
have the guts to fight."
ANOTHER INCIDENT about
our hero, Patton, related by his
biographer, Ladislas Farage in
"Tragedy and Triumph" is rather
revealing. According to this ac-
count Patton, while looking down'
on shell-torn flaming French farm
land that was littered with the
rubble of stone houses and dead
cattle, raised his arms to the sky
and exclaimed, "Compared to war
all other forms of human en-
deaver shrink to insignificance.
God how I love it!" When the end
of the war was in sight our so-
called American people's idol wrote
his wife, so Farage says, that,
"Peace is going to be Hell on me."
During World War II a TV
newscast depicted General Douglas
MacArthur striding through the-
surf to an island, made safe for
generals by the troops, and upon
encountering the lifeless bodies of
Japanese soldiers in - the back-
wash exclaiming, "That is the
way I like to see them--dead."
Why, why, why? What had those
Jap kids done that they had not
been forced to do by old men who
make wars?
One more account of high brass
heroics, among many others I
could relate, will suffice for now.
U.S. Marine Commander Holland
(Howling) M. Smith in his auto-
biography "Coral and Brass" de-
scribes the Japanese fortified po-
sition of Curibachi as a gigantic
warren of thousands of caves and
tunnels where many of the Jap-
anese military and civilians were
holed up hiding from his marines.
Smith, on his own confession,
could order his troops to seal up
those caves as 'tombs for the
Japanese, go to his headquarters,
read his bible, say his prayers
and go to sleep. "Perhaps the
Japanese General Kuribayashi,"
he writes, "died in- one of those
caves. I do not know."
Some day, hopefully, the little
people who do the bleeding and
paying for war will heed Emer-
son's words and the old men who
make wars for young men to fight
will have to do their own fight-
ing.
-Stewart Graves
World War I Veteran
Rice, Minn

.Some Asian History
To the Editor:
A FEW SIMPLE FACTS should
be considered in any discus-
sion of the war in Viet Nam.
Southern Indo-China was con-
quered by France in 1867, north-
ern Indo-China in 1884.
In addition to other foreign in-
vestments, France established a
government monopoly In salt, al-
cohol, and opium. Each village was
given a quota of alcohol atd
opium which it was forced to
consume.
Revolts broke out continually
against French rule and grew dur-
ing the Thirties.
Japan occupied Indo-China in
1940 but left the French in charge.
During the war, the nationalist
movement developed rapidly and
the Viet Minh was formed in 1941,
representing a wide coalition of
forces headed by the Communist
Party. .
THE VIET MINH waged guer-
rilla war against the Japanese.
Under this pressure the Japanese
replaced the French administra-
tors with Prince Bao Dai as ap-
pointed head of an "independent"
Viet Nam. In 1945 the Viet Minh
swept to power, threw out Bao Dal..
and established the Democratic
Republic of Viet Nam encompas-
sing all of Viet Nam. The U.S.
recognized the new government.
This government represented the
overwhelming majority of the
Vietnamese people and won their
support through national inde-
pendence and a land reform. The
Democratic Republic of Viet Nam
is the only independent represen-
tative government that Viet Nam
has ever had.
THE BRITISH LANDED in Sai-
gon in September 1945, but as
they had no major interestsin
Viet Nam, and as they faced
trouble elsewhere, they withdrew
giving their "share" to France.
France then occupied the cities of
southern Viet Nam and persuaded
Chiang Kai Shek to give up his
share in favor of France. Once
again the Vietnamese were not
consulted.
The Viet Minh compromised and
France occupied Hanoi in 1946.
Sporadic fighting broke out be-
tween Vietnamese and French
troops and this was (used by
France as the pretext for its war
for the reconquest of Viet Nam.
The Vietnamese government fled
to the mountains to lead the war
against the invaders. The French

based themselves in the captured
cities and attempted to take' the
countryside which the Vietnamese
government still controlled.
THE VIETNAMESE defeated
France and the Geneva Confer-
ence was held. The following
points were the basis of the Ge-
neva Agreement as it affected
Viet Nam:'
-1-Viet Nam would be temporally
divided but this was in no way
permanent and Viet Nam was one
country.
-Pending reunification the Viet
Minh would govern in the north.
-Pending reunification Prince
Bao Dai would govern in the south.
-Reunification would follow
elections to be held in 1956 to
determine who would govern a
united Viet Nam.
-No foreign military bases
would be permitted in Viet Nam,.
-No foreign combat troops
would be permitted.
-No military alliances would
be formed by either north or south
Viet Nam.
The Viet Minh forces withdrew
from the countryside of South
Viet Nam which they controlled.
The French withdrew completely,
l leaving Bao Dai in charge. The
U.S. soon arranged the overthrow'
of Bao Dai and replaced him with
Ngo Diem.
The U.S. proceeded to supply
Diem with arms, were conceded-
military bases, had Diem cancel
the national elections scheduled'
for the reunification of Viet Nam
in 1956, and entered into a mili-
tary alliance with the government
of South Viet Nam.
Despite these violations of the
Geneva agreement the government
of North Viet Nam did not exer-
cise its legitimate right to take
any steps necessary to eliminate
foreign intervention, secure na-
tional unification and win inde-
pendence for all of Viet Nam, as
provided in the Geneva agree-
ment.
THE PRESENT WAR started in
the south only after Diem, in 1958,
began a mass purge of all politi-
cal opponents complete with con-
centration camps and executions.
The Communists and other op-
ponents of Diem fought back and
guerrilla units were formed. They
armed themselves with captured
American weapons.
In 1960 the National Liberation
Front was formed. Like the Viet
Minh, it is a broad coalition of
forces and is led by the Com-
munist Party.
By 1961 the position of the

puppet regime was deteriorating
rapidly and the U.S. stepped up
its direct involvement with in-
creased arms, advisors and chem-
ical warfare. In 1962, the U.S.
plan for herding the peasantry in-
to concentration camps ("stra-
tegic hamlets") failed.
With the opposition to Diem
strongly mounting, the U.S. gave
the signal for his overthrow and
has suported each of the suc-
ceeding line of military dictators.
With the southern army collap-
sing and the National Liberation
Front moving toward victory, the
U.S. resorted to direct invasion of
South Viet Nam and full scale
bombing of military and civilian
targets in North Viet Nam.
THESE ARE the simple facts
of Vietnamese history. Although I
do not have space in this letter to
develop them, I would like to
present briefly. the conclusions I
draw from these facts and from
the conduct of the U.S. through-
out the colonial world:
1) U.S. policy is not the result
of a misunderstanding, poor in-
formation, or bad advisors. It is
a conscious policy of crushing
social revolutions . and indepen-
dence movements whereever they
threaten to undermine American
domination.
-t 2) The U.S. supports military
dictators (Viet Nam) and fascist
regimes (South Africa) not be-
cause it is concerned with "de-
mocracy" but because these forces
are the only ones that ' can be
relied on to defend foreign in-
vestments and U.S. control.
,3) The U.S. is in Viet Nam to
smash the peasant revolt, to prop
up its puppet regime, to occupy
an outpost against social revolu-
tion in Asia, to destroy as much
of North Viet Nam as possible,
and, if conditions permit, to at-
tack China.
4) The government of North
Viet Nam and the National Lib-
eration Front in South Viet Nam
represent the majority of toe
Vietnamese people in their fight
against the United States and its
agents.
5) Given the actions of the U.S.,
the people of Viet Nam have the
right to do whatever is necessary
to drive the United States from
their country. They also have the
right, under the precedent of the
Nuremberg Trials, to try and con-
vict captured military personnel
and political leaders for crimes
against humanity.
-Linda Belisle,'67Ed
Chairman, Campus
Young Socialist', Alliance

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