TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 1960
THE MICHIGAN DATIY
A[T R.A4£A tb
TUESDAY, MARCH 8,1966 I~ A f'V TX11~VL1
jrn"rl r n rLh Jui
F
Analyzes
'Crisis
Of
Confidence' In
Government
EDITOR'S NOTE - Today It is
called "the Credibility gap," but
lack of candor in government is
nothing new. In recent times Eisen-
hower was impaled on the U, Ken-
nedy on the Bay of Pigs. Now John-
son wrestles with worldwide In-
trigues and the question is: How
much "truth" is true?
BY SAUL PETT
WASHINGTON (P)-In a town
of passing prose favorites, this
Year's phrase in Washington so
far is the "credibility gap" in gov-
ernment.
Question: Does it in fact exist?
Answer: It does, or seems to, and
seeming to, it exists. Among gov-
ernments foreign and domestic, is
this new in history: No. New or
old, at what point is it dangerous
for a democratic government to
tell less or more than the truth, to
squeeze it, sculpt it or withhold
it? That is the question no one
China Hints
Change In
World Power
Peking Urges Against
Panic In Coping With
Possible 'Upheavals'
TOKYO (M-Comnnimist China.
In what might be anticination of
some irlnio setback soon. urged its
people -yesterday not to become
panic stricken if "twists and
turns" anpear on the revolution-
arv road.
The unpxplained hint of some
unfavorable change in the balance
of world forces. coupled with an
admission that revolutionary lead-
ers themselves may make a mis-
take, appeared in the official
Peking People's Daily.
} Five days ago, the same organ
-which speaks for the ruling
Communist party-carried a simi-
lar editoriae saying "victory in
struggle is frequently intermingled
with reverse and advances in
movements with retreat." It spoke
of possible "upheavals" ahead.
The latest editor, distributed by
the New China News Agency and
monitored in Tokyo, did not pin-
point any of the areas of possible
reversal. Its writers may have had
in mind the recent coup in Ghana,
the Vietnamese conflict, and the
coming congress of the Soviet
' Communist party.
"Constant Struggle"
The paper described revolution
as a "constant struggle of the
newborn forces with the decadent
forces,"' and added:
"Sometimes the balance of the
forces in this struggle is, for the
4 time being, unfavorable to revolu-
tion, sometimes the leadership of
the revolution itself may make a
mistake of one kind or another-
all this may cause twists and turns
in the course of revolutoinary
progress."
Saying that twists and turns
4 "should, cause no surprise" and
that the direction of revolution
itself cannot be changed by them,
the paper insisted the trend of
the international situation still
shows "the east wind prevails over
the west wind."
But, it added, "the imperialists,
* colonialists and neocolonialists
headed by the United States, and
their flunkies are making frantic
counterattacks; the modern re-
visionists who act as accomplices
of the imperialists and reaction-
aries are disrupting revolution; in
some lands, revoluntionary strug-
gles have temporarily suffered re-
verses and in others the political
situation has taken an adverse
turn."a
Marxists-Leninists, meaning the
Chinese wing of communism, "do
not slacken their vigilance," it
said, "but anticipate possible
twists and turns when revolution
advances smoothly; and when
twists and turns do come, they
are never panic stricken; nor do
they sink into passivity and
despair."
It cited the reverses of the 1848
June uprising of the French pro-
letariat and the 1905 Russian
revolution as proof that revolution
wins the final battle.
" "
I
" "
"
" RIE HMUIF
" sGLE PNTFU~
ir U"FAME NK
seems able to answer; every at-
tempt is like nailing jello to the
wall.
Here, one is led into a never-
never land where morality and
necessity clash; where cold wars
are more complicated than hot
wars and shooting wars ar un-
declared; where hard-headed men
of the world disagree *with Boy
Scouts who never had to meet a
payroll; where the people's right
to know is balanced, precariously,
with the "people's right not to
know;" where diplomacy and po-
litical maneuver, like film, can curl
up and die from exposure; where
the end, always the end, it is
hoped, justifies the means.
The moral dilemmas may ob-
scure the point of danger but not
the ultimate danger itself. In his
book, "Freedom or Secrecy," J.
Russell Wiggins, editor of the
Washington Post, posed it:
"If a government repeatedly re-
sorts to lies in crises where lies
seem to serve its interests best,
it will one day be unable to employ
the truth effectively when truth
would serve its interests best. A
government that too readily ra-
tionalizes its right to lie in a crisis
will never lack for either lies or
crises."
There have been lies.
In 1960, the government of
Dwight D. Eisenhower lied about
the U2 plane shot down over the
Soviet Union.
Bay of Pigsj
In 1961, through its ambassador
at the United Nations, the gov-
ernment of John F. Kennedy lied
about the Bay of Pigs invasion.
In each case, the deception was
exposed in a moment of profound
national pain. But in neither didj
the President nor his administra- ]
tion continue to suffer from a.
lingering doubt about its word.
The administration of Lyndonj
B. Johnson has had not single
moment as traumatic as the U2
incident or the Bay of Pigs. It has
not been obliged to make public
confession of attempted deception.t
Yet there lingers over Washingtonj
today a cloud of doubt-large and
gray in the minds of some, small
and off-white in the minds of1
others.
Various Symptoms
The symptoms are various. In a;
poll taken last year by the Opin-
ion Research Corp; for the Colum-4
bia Broadcasting System, ne ofs
the questions concerned the truth-1
fulness of official U.S. announce-I
ments of American casualties and'
other Vietnamese war information.
Of those polled, 67 per cent be-
lieved it was "sometimes" truthful;
15 per cent, 'always" truthful, and
13 per cent "almost never" truth-
ful..
Last December UN Ambassador
Arthur Goldberg spoke of a "crisis
of confidence" in explaining why
Washington disclosed its position.
on the reputed second peace feeler
from Hanoi. Goldberg denied the
crisis was justified but did say,
"We have a great problem main-
taining our credibility with our
own people."
Many observers detected another
symptom in the spectacular peace
offensive launched early in De-
cember by th^ administration with
an undiplomatic blaze of pyro-
technics. Few here doubt the first
purpose of that effort: peace in
Viet Nam.
Worldwide Efforts
But the intensive worldwide ef-
fort to convince friend and foe magazine article by Eric Sevareid
and neutral alike of the United in which he said that during the
States' sincerity, in which this 1964 presidential campaign Thant
country seemed to be begging to told Adlai E. Stevenson he had
be believed, reflected an unofficial obtained Hanoi's agreement to'
uneasiness about its reputation for meet with an American represen-
meaning what it says.
The problem of credibility has
resulted from a series of large and
small incidents.
Last February UN Secretary-
General U Thant, in a rare display
of undiplomatic language, said
there had been a peace feeler from
Hanoi and that the American
American people were not gettingl
all the facts. The White House
insisted there were "no meaning-
ful proposals" then before the gov-
ernment. The word "meaningful"
was lost. The impression grew that
there had been no feelers at all.
Severeid Article
Then in November came thel
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Williams Quits Post
To Rum For Senate
i
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a
DETROIT (A)-G. Mennen Wil-;
liams quit the State Department
for Michigan politics yesterday j
announcing for U.S. senator from
the state which six times elected,
him governor.
With a "Dear. Soapy" letter
from President Johnson as a send
off, he resigned as assistant sec-
retary of state for African affairs.'
He's the first announced Dem-
ocratic candidate and the favorite i
whether or not Detroit Mayor,
Jerome Cavanagh opposes him in'
a primary.
The announcement had been a
foregone conclusion since late'
February, when two-term Sen.
Patrick McNamara (D-Mich) said
he would retire for health reasons
after this year.
Marshalled Forces
Williams, 55, regarded as the
founder of the modern Democra-
tic party setup in Michigan, took
10 days to tour the state and
marshal his forces.
Yesterday he declared himself in,
the race and backed by "inspiring;
encouragement"nfrom past cam-
paign workers, new party leaders
and voters who were in _school
when he was governor from 1949
to '1960.
He massed more than 200 party
leaders at his news conference
yesterday in what observers saw
WILLIAMS RESIGNS
as an attempt to, convince Cava- r
nagh not to challenge for the t
nomination.
Cavanagh, 37, who has express-t
ed interest in the Senate race,
would not comment on Williams'
announcement. Democratic lead-
ers want Cavanagh-one of the1
youngest mayors in Detroit history 1
-to run for governor against
George W. Romney but he has
thus far said "no thanks."
Williams resigned as assistant
secretary effective March 23. He
said he would devote full time and
effort to campaigning for the Aug.t
2 primary soon after he cleanst
out his State Department desk. t
President Johnson wrote he was
"deeply regretful that we will not1
have your fine and steadying hand
in critical assignments which you
have discharged sowell and faith-
fully."
Williams went to Washington{
with President John F. Kennedyt
in 1961. He stayed under Johnson
despite having shouted the mostt
audible "no" in the convention{
hall when Johnson was nominated
for vice president in 1960.4
Backs War Standj
Williams broadly endorsed ad-
ministration policy in Viet Nam in
his candidacy announcement and
refused later to elaborate.
He said he supports "effective
military defense of South Viet
Nam, social and economic develop-
ment of that country and continu-
ed search for every opportunity
to achieve an honorable peace."
He said more complete foreign
policy statements would follow
during the campaign but would
not speculate on whether he might
break with the administration on
any key points.
He said that although Viet Nam
is of concern to Americans, "it
will not be a campaign issue."
The expected Republican can-
didate U.S. Rep. Robert Griffin
(R-Mich) said the same thing
several weeks ago.
I Republicans are expected to in-
ject prosperity into the campaign,
by comparing Michigan's economic
crisis during Williams' last two'
terms with the current boom.
tative in Rangoon. Had there been
such a proposal? "Yes," the State
Department now said on Nov. 15.
Officials today still insist the of-
fer was "too nebulous" to take
seriously. Clearly, Thant disa-
greed. In any case, was it too
nebulous to admit at the time?
Last fall the administration at-
tacked increases in the price of
aluminum as 'inflationary." Then
it threatened to dump its huge
stockpile into the market. Then
the prices came down. The White
House insisted there was "no con-
nection whatsoever," no connec-
tion between the cause it had ini-
tated and the effect it had desired.
Last Aug. 31, the prime minister
of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew,,
claimed a CIA agent had offered
him a $3.3 million bribe five years
before. The State Department de-
nied the charge. Then Lee pro-
duced a letter from Secretary of
State Dean Rusk apologizing for
the incident. Then the State De-
partment admitted it. Then and
now, the State Department insists
the denial was a result of bureau-
cratic error, that the man issuing
the denial hadn't known the facts.
Dominican Crisis
Last spring, the government an-f
nounced that U.S. forces were
landing in the Dominican Repub-
lic to protect "thousands" of
Americans and others imperilled
by the uprising there. Later, as
the U.S. force grew greatly, there
was another official reason given,
for the intervention: to prevent aI
Communist takeover. Describing
the dangers, President Johnson
told a news conference June 17
that "some 1,500 innocent people
were murdered and shot and their
heads cut off."
The government explanations
were greeted with rising skepti-
cism. Amoig others, Sen. J. Wil-
liam Fulbright, D-Ark., chairman
of the Foreign Relations Commit-
tee, which heard secret testimony
on the subject, flailed the ad-
ministration for a "lack of can -
dor." He said it had used exagger-
ated reports of atrocities and tne
extent of Communist control, had
relied on "faulty advice . . .in-
adequate . .. or false information."
Today the government still in-
sists its reasons for the inter-
vention were valid and never con-
tradictory. What it does concede
-or at least one State Department
officer concedes-is that "perhaps
our Dominican embassy can be
faulted for relaying unverified
third-hand reports" which led to
presidential discussion of mass
headchopping.
Viet War
In October 1963, Defense Secre-
tary Robert S. M eNamara pre-
dicted thatthe bulk of American
military forces, then mostly "ad-
visers" would be out of Viet Nam
by the end of 1965. Early in the
spring of 1965, he predicted that
neither U.S. combat troops nor
more money would be needed in
Viet Nam. Late in 1965, after his
last trip to Viet Nam, the secretary
said, "We have stopped losing the
war." At least one Pentagon re-
porter was heard to grumble,
"When did he ever say we were
losing it?"
Any man can guess wrong, but
wrong guesses from McNamara
would seem as startling as pro-
fanity from an archbishop. Mc-
Namara, in this' case, is the victim
of his own public image-the man
with the computer mind into
which he feeds only facts, not
wishful thinking. Always it is re-
membered that it was from Mc-
Namara's Pentagon that Assis-
tant Secretary Arthur Sylvester
once rode forth to proclaim the
government's right to lie in emer-
gencies.
Those who know McNamara in-
sist that his predictions were hon-
est, correct as of the moment,
wrong as of later. How could he
know the Communists would at-
tack American vessels in the Ton-
kin Gulf, which led to the U.S.
escalation. Still other students of
the McNamara mind wpoint out
that he is a psychological warrior,
that all his public utterances ai'e
carefully calculated for effect.
Thus, the 1963 prediction may
have been made in an effort to get
the Diem government off the seat
See Government, Page 8
COMING
THURSDAY
4~UA~JI1~1
STARTING
THURSDAY
FORMER GOV. G. MENNEN WILLIAMS yesterday announced his resignation as assistant sec-
retary of state for African affairs as he revealed his candidacy for the Michigan U.S. Senate race.
See story.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP:
WINNER mm~
5 AC'ADEMY
AWARD
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Best Picture!
Best Actress!
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Design!
N.
Stock Market Slumps in Heavy Trading
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK-The stock market
reeled yesterday under its worst
loss since the assassination of
President John F. Kennedy.
The Dow Jones average of 30
industrials plunged 14.58 points
to 917.76, steepest fall since Nov.
22, 1963, when it dropped 21.16.
The Associated Press 60-stock
average sank 5.0 to 344.3, its
sharpest loss since the assassina-
tion.
It was a continuation of a slump
that began after the Dow Jones
industrial average attained an all-
time peak of 995.15 on Feb. 9.
Brokers have cited investors'
worry over Viet Nam, tight money
and the possibilities of higher
taxes and price controls as under-
lying factors for the extended
selloff.
Blue chips and glamor stocks'
which had been in the vanguard
of the climb to a new high early
last month were badly battered
yesterday.
The selloff came on heavy
volume with 9.38 million shares
changing hands. The New York
Stock Exchange's high-speed tick-
er tape lagged in reporting floor
transactions during the morning.
* -
WASHINGTON-The Supreme
Court has declared constitutional
key sections of the 1965 Voting
rights law.
Congress has the power under
the 15th Amendment to suspend
literary tests and to order federal
registrars into the deep South "to
banish the blight of racial dis-
crimination," chief Justice Earl
Warren said yesterday for the high
court.
"Hopefully," he said, "millions
of nonwhite Americans will now
be able to participate for the first
time on an equal basis in the
government under which they
live."
When Warren finished reading
the decision Hugo L. Black an-
nounced that with regret he felt
compelled to dissent in part.
A provision which Black said
should have been declared in-
valid bars states covered by the
law from adding voting amend-
ments to their constitutions of
review by federal authorities.
"Nothing like that was ever
contemplated when the Constitu-
tion or the 15th Amendment was
adopted," Black said.
In his written opinion, the 80-
year-old justice added that this
treats states as if they were "little
more than conquered provinces."
Otherwise, the decision
unanimous and Black voted
the eight other justices.
was
with
JOSEPH E. LEVINE PRESENTS
LAURENCE IIARVEYsDRK BOGARDE
JULIE CHRISTIE
a powerful and bold motion picture...
madeby adults...witliadults...foradults!
PRODUCED BY JOSEPH JANNI" DIRECTED BY JOHN SCHLESINGER
SCREENPLAY BY FREDERIC RAPHAEL
soc'ae producer Victor Lyndon .musCby John Oanhworth
A JOSEPH JANNI PRODUCTION , AN EMBASSY PICTURES RELEASE
WASHINGTON-An emergency
foreign aid bill to speed $275 mil-
lion in economic help to South
Viet Nam was stripped of war1
policy amendments yesterday and
approved by the Senate Foreign1
Relations Committee.
South East, West Quads, Markley Hall
and IHA
Present
PRI MA VERA
r: ANNUAL. SPRING
S""SEMI-mFORMAL-DA NCE
TICKET
At Noon
FIVI
Presented by1
Dramatic Arts
with Cinema I
Series in the A
AUDITORIUM
S ON SALE TODAY'
in the A & D Lobby
E-DAY PROGRAM
The Cinema Guild and
Center in cooperation
I and Challenge Lecture
ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
-.. - _____ ._..._...__.._ .. .... -- 1
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
Each program is different!
f '
Saturday:
IN PERSON
UP-TIGHT with ANDY WARHOL
and the VELVET UNDERGROUND
Films by Andy Warhol
VINYL with Gerard Malanga
LUPE with Edie Sedgwick s i i a
ROCK 'N ROLL by the Velvet Underground
Happenings scheduled at 7:00 and 9:00
Sunday:
SOUTH QUAD
SAT.,
12 MARCH
DONATION
$3.00
9:00-1:00
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