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EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
POWER
and
POETRY
Decision and Dilemna on Capitol Hill
by MARK R. KILLINGSWORTH
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-
Where Opinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MCH.
Truth Will Prevail.
NEWS PHONE: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the inidividual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
FRIDAY, JULY 1, 1966
NIGHT EDITOR: CAROLE KAPLAN
w
What Happens When
Contmept Replaces Fear
THE STATEMENT "familiarity breeds world, fear of its adroitnes
contempt" could be applied to the the problems that confront
image of the United States today in the unknown.
eyes, not only of those aligned against
it, but also of those who have been its THE ONLY FEAR that the
closest allies. seems to be generating
The bombings of Hanoi and Haiphong ment is the fear the Chin
have repulsed many of our allies, but has of the bull, fear of a wili
this was not exactly unexpected. What is rampage, willful of destruc
surprising is the tone of the statements only end in self-destructio
made about the United States by govern- And we have played ou
ment leaders such as Harold Wilson and the rest of the world an
the new way in which the United States that we do not have the s
is characterized in these statements. they had always imagined
the world now knows how
SEN. J. WILLIAM FULBRIGHT, con- can bungle an operationc
stantly critical of our policy in highly sequences to world security
analytic terms arguing the prudence and
advantage of our actions, spoke yesterday FROM NOW ON we can ex
instead with a fatalistic tone. He said, "I from the rest of the wor
am fearful that this is one more step to- bit of their contempt.
ward the ultimate war.' He clashed heat- -CHARLOTTE A
edly with Sen. Frank J. Lauche, also a Co-Editor
member of the foreign relations commit-C
tee, and a supporter of the war, when the
latter objected to his close questioning
of Undersecretary of State George Ball.
Fulbright obviously angered, ended by
characterizing the bombings as "stupid." MEDICARE TODAY begi
Prime Minister Harold Wilson's com- be a prolonged period
ments, although reserved, had much in hospitals throughout
deeper implications. He essentially dis- Though the program esca
associated his country from the actions unscathed from attempted
of he United States, saying that he could bureaucratic thwarting, it h
not in good conscience support the bomb- vive the brutality of "T
ings. Care."
President Johnson comm
OTHER CONGRESSIONAL critics used day that Medicare is more
terms such as "risky, chancy," "shock- blessing for older American
ing outlawry," "deep regret," "very un- for all Americans-a test o
happy," to describe their feelings about ness to work together." And
the bombing. well of the magnanimity of
The statement made by Tass, the So- people.
viet news agency, did not contain the Medicare is a highly idea
usual ideological and humanitarian pO- dependent upon a faith in b
lemics of past commentary on the Ameri- It is oblivious to prejudice,
can presence in Viet Nam. Rather, they hospitals and their staffs
said it was a "gesture of despair on the non-discriminatory. It dem
part of the American aggressors." integrity, expecting doctor
passionate without moneta
IN THE EYES OF our critics then, the tion. It asks cooperation a
United States is no longer just the ag- of its patients, hoping th
gressor or is acting ruthlessly. It is now will judge their individuali
either childish, or despairing or complete- make unnecessary demands
ly heedless of what the rest of the world
may think about our actions. MEDICARE IS perhaps on
When one ceases to be evil, and be- idealistic and humane r
comes, in the opinion of others, an ob- lation since the Declarat
ject of pity, something to be derided, a pendence or the Emanicpat
personal non grata in the rest of the tion. Americans were equa
world, then one has lost an important lenge posed by the former I
element of the base of any nation's power Hopefully they are capable
-fear, fear of the power of a nation ap- Medicare in July of 1966.
plied rationally to further its interests,
fear of its knowledge of the rest of the -MERED
Graduate School Ratings:
Some Should Be Proud
AMERICANS have a compelling addic- close second in all five a
tion to ratings. Not only do they keep won on pints. There m
up with the standings of baseball and grumbling about this in C
football teams, but they are also informed pecially since top place i
about the ratings of television and radio went to M.I.T., sister institu
programs, and their supporting corn- the street. But there canno
flakes and detergents. They get lists of terest in ratings which do
the 10-best-dressed women, and lists of a few arguments.
the top actors, business executives and
politicians. Their reading is governed ON THE WHOLE, the re
largely by the number of weeks a book that the Eastern priv
has been at or near the top of the best notably Harvard, Yale, Pr
sellers. Columbia-still form the A
cation aristocracy. But itK
SINCE STATISTICAL evaluation-or a that a few of the big st
reasonable facsimile thereof-often is California, Michigan, Illinoi
touted as "scientific," it was inevitable sin-have moved close to
that universities should also be put there is a bit more pride no'
through the computer. The American, pus of every school which,
Council on Education asked more than , a good rating or two. Afte
4000 professors and academic administra- ball is a game of inches,
tors to evaluate graduate courses at the game of decimal points.
106 schools which currently confer 90 per The St. Louis Po
cent of all doctorates. To determine the June 4, 1966
ultimate leader, the schools were rated
under five headings: humanities, social
sciences, biological sciences, physical
sciences and engineering.
To no academician's surprise, Harvard
stood at the head of the first four lists, WHEN THE United State;
but did not score in engineering. The suspended diplomatic
University of California, Berkeley, was a the Argentinian governmen
ss in handling
it, fear of the
United States
at this mo-
a shop owner
d uncontrolled
ction that can
n.
r hand before
I have shown
trong showing
. The rest of
seriously we
of grave con-
pect little awe
ld and quite a
L. WOLTER
ns what could
of incubation
the country.
ped relatively
political and
has yet to sur-
'ender Loving
tented yester-
than "just a
is-it is a test
f our willing-
it is a test as
the American
listic program
human nature.
assuming that
will be totally
ands personal
s to be com-
ry compensa-
nd selflessness
at Americans
needs and not
e of the most
pieces of legis-
ion of Inde-
ion Proclama-
I to the chal-
n July of 1776.
of embracing
)ITH EIKER
nd, therefore,
nay be some
ambridge, es-
n engineering
tion just down
t be much in-
not touch off
port indicated
ate schools-
irnceton, and
American edu-
also indicated
ate schools-
s and Wiscon-
the top. And
w on the cam-
emerged with
r all, as base-
so rating is a
st-Dispatch
ish
s government
relations with
it yesterday a
dly, to dispel
erica that the
ught. military
Special To The Daily
WASHINGTON-For the first-
term congressman it seems
as if everything here is hotter or
shorter.
The.Viet Nam war, the civil
rights debate, the Dodd contro-
versy, politics and the weather are
getting hotter.
And the days before the elec-
tions, congressional tempers, wom-
en's skirts and the supply of the
Fulbright Viet Nam hearings are
getting shorter.
THERE ARE THREE big issues
now-inflation, civil rights, and
Viet Nam-and none is very at-
tractive. Consider the woes of the
average first-termer, of whom
there are about 50:
The Republicans have been
arguing here with considerable
validity that the economic situa-
tion is inflationary. Although other
indications have had more bear
than bull in them, the Consumer
Price Index has risen 1.6 per cent
since the beginning of the year,
nearly as much as it rose during
all of 1965.
More controversial than the
existence of inflation, which is
agreed on by nearly everyone, is
what to do about it. Republicans
have, quite predictably, used in-
flation to push for big cuts in
government spending which most
Democrats oppose in any event.
THE ANTI-INFLATIONARY al-
ternatives, however, are equally
displeasing to the first-termer: an
increase in taxes (which is hardly
going to make his constituents
happier even though it will cool
off the economy) or a suspension
of the seven per sent tax credit
given industry on certain forms of
investments.
Since the Price Index rose only
a tenth of a percentage point last
month, the debate on inflation has
simmered down slightly, and Sec-
retary of Commerce Connor even
declared-in a statement the Pres-
ident later said was Connor's "per-
sonal judgement"-he thought the
scare was over.
But the situation remains ser-
ious. The Council of Economic Ad-
visors some time ago even made a
strong push within the admin-
istration for a tax increase, losing
out at the last minute-apparent-
ly due mainly to opposition from
the Labor Department and the
President's feeling that such ac-
tion would spell political disaster.
So the average freshman con-
gressman remains uncomfortable.
CIVIL RIGHTS is another agony
for the freshmen. Senator Sam
Ervin, the chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Subcommittee, which is
compiling a "full record" of state-
ments (most of them opposed) on
the bill, foreshadowed their prob-
lem when he observed darkly be-
fore hearings began that it would
be interesting to see how North-
erners react when their own ox is
being gored.
Their ox is indeed being gored.
The Detroit Board of Realtors for
example, tookiout a dramatic ad-
vertisement in the two Detroit
papers replete with an American
Heritage-style eagle and the dire
warning that the bill's proposed
Title IV, relating to open occu-
pancy, would deprive Americans of
their constitutional rights by
stripping them of their "freedom
of choice" (a nice phrase which
first made the Washington scene
during the debate over Medicare),
And ever since, the letters have
been pouring in to Michigan con-
gressmen, many of them word-for-
word repetitions of the advertise-
ment and some of them petitions
signed by hundreds of outraged
homeowners.
A NUMBER of disturbed souls
are concerned that the bill would,
for example, force them to sell
to the first buyer who comes along
(it wouldn't). Others less inno-
cent simply maintain they should
have an absolute right to do what
they please with their property
(an argument which seems to
ignore the restrictions we already
place on property ownership, from
zoning regulations to construc-
tion restrictions, to parking rights,
to garbage dumping).
The realtors' arguments are
thus highly fallacious but inflam-
matory and effective to the same
extent-and one supposes that
"get thar fustest with the mostest"
was the motto not of Gen. Nathan
Bedford Forrest but of this most
ingenious and able pressure group.
As a result of the outcry, the
freshmen Democrats here are wor-
ried, If they support a strong
version of Title IV, they may lose
their seats. If they support amend-
ments to it-particularly the one
approved by the House Judiciary
Committee on Wednesday which
allows realtors to descriminate on
instruction from their homeowner
client-they will lose their self-
respect, and probably the enthu-
siasm of liberal supporters and
civil rights groups which have
proven essential allies in the past.
dilemna and far more tragic.
While the atmosphere here has
changed little as a result of the
recent escalation of the war, and
while the reaction has been as
predictable as the escalation was,
there is an undercurrent of con-
cern and even despair which does
not hit the headlines.
One liberal congressman-hem-
med in by both political extremes
in his district, his conscience
gnawed by doubts about the war's
morality and wisdom, and pain-
fully aware that he will probably
win re-election thanks only to a
boost from the President-spent
most of Wednesday night "reading
everything I can find, mulling over
everything I've thought and done
VIET NAM is even more a
in the last one and a half years
and thinking about what to do
next."
He finally left his office after
midnight, his internal struggle
still unresolved and his conscience,
if anything, more tormented. It is
not very pleasant tonwatch, par-
ticularly at close range, and the
effect of such an ordeal on a
sensitive and normally rather
cheerful human being isn't either,
AND SO the torment of being
a freshman continues. Politics,
morality and judgement make an
impossibly complex equation which
baffles and frustrates and intimi-
dates.
Gone now are the early euphoric
descriptions of the President's par-
liamentary wizardry; 'now the
commentators and analysts realize
that most of that was simply a
big congressional majority which
is now getting a little restive,
slightly scared, quite insecure and
increasingly dubious. And above
all is the individual freshman's
realization that what he does
probably won't make that much
difference anyway.
WHEN THE President greeted
King Faisal of Saudi Arabia on
the South Lawn of the White
House last week, an observer over-
heard him remark, as he grabbed
the King affectionately by the
arm and pointed to the White
House: "See that? I live there."
Most freshman congressmen
wish more things 'around here
were that simple.
;,
.Or
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Cavanagh: Don 't Write the Obituary Yet
To the Editor:
"The reports of my death have
been greatly exaggerated."-
-Mark Twain, on reading
his obituary in the paper .. .
IF STEVE WILDSTROM would
turn his teevee to something
more informative than Batman,
his analysis of the Democratic
Senatorial Primary contest might
be considerably improved. His ar-
ticle on "The Meteoric Demise of
Jerome Cavanagh" contained sev-
eral ludicrous errors of fact, as
well as some of the worst-informed
political prognostication we've
seen in a long time. He insults
Michigan voters by implying that
they will vote for a myth instead
of a man, and he bases this judge-
ment on historical fiction instead
of first-hand investigation.
FOR EXAMPLE, he states that
"shortly before the 1961 election,
Mayor Miriani's police commis-
sioner, George Edwards, (now a
Federal Appeals Judge) ordered a
crime crackdown," and goes on to
say not once but three times that
Cavanagh's solid support from
Detroit Negroes was "just to get
rid of Edwards." While it is true
that Cavanagh gained votes from
those opposed to Miriana's oppres-
sive commissioner, the man's name
was Herbert Hart, certainly not
George Edwards.
Edwards was the reform com-
missioner appointed by Cavan-
agh after his election to correct
police practices.
Edwards, a well-known liberal
State Supreme Court Justice at
the time, later had difficulty get-
ting Senate confirmation for his
present post because Senator East-
land and other conservatives
feared that his civil rights record
as commissioner was too far "left."
Regarding the "stop-and-frisk"
law (not ordinance), the proposal
did not come from Cavanagh him-
self, but was suggested by his Ad-
visory Committee on Crime Pre-
vention, and deputedly originated
with Circuit Judge Horace Gil-
more, a member of the Williams-
Staebler faction of the Michigan
Democratic Party. Even before
his legal advisors reported that
the law was probably unconstitu-
tional, Cavanagh declared that
he could not support it.
STRONG SHOWINGS by can-
didates in California and New York
challenging entrenched party
leadership indicate that voters are
beginning to listen to candidates
who talk sense to the American
people on meaningful issues. Wil-
liams' evident decision to abandon
the "issue-oriented" Michigan
Democratic Party ideal in favor of
"soapsuds and baby-kissing" comes
several years too late in 1966.
Times have changed during the
six years Soapy was out of the
country. Both Senatorial candi-
dates appeared in Ann Arbor re-
cently under the auspices of the
Council for Democratic Directions.
Cavanagh's speech on alternatives
to administration policies in Viet
Nam was enthusiastically received
by a standing-room-only audience.
The retired governor's explana-
tion of Keynesian economics and
sidestepping of the Viet Nam ques-
tion in half-empty Auditorium A
resulted in a rush on the Cavan-
agh bumper-sticker table outside
the hall. (Anatol Rapoport's letter
in Wednesday's Daily is indicative
of audience response.)
A COMPARISON of the civil
rights record of both candidates
reveals that Williams has a few
soft spots which are giving him
trouble in today's Negro com-
munity. He voted in the Michigan
caucus of the 1964 Democratic
National Convention against the
seating of the Mississippi Freedom
Democratic Party, aligning him-
self instead with a Johnson-
sponsored compromise designed to
salvage White Southern votes.
In Ann Arbor recently he said
that he could not support any kind
of "G.I. Bill" compensatory op-
portunity program for Negroes.
Evidently the retired governor
does not realize that times are
changing on this front as well.
Younger civil rights leaders, as
opposed to "old-line Democrats,"
are demanding more than just so-
called "equal rights" from the
white power structure.
WILDSTROM'S article sounds
like it was written from a desk
in Soapy's air-conditioned De-
troit headquarters. If he were out
pounding the pavements in true
Daily tradition, he might notice
that Williams' noncampaign of
nonspeeches on nonissues is hav-
ing a nonimpact-in Ann Arbor
at least. He could take a small
private poll by a comparative
count of bumper stickers.
He might note, for example,
that while the Washtenaw County
Democratic Chairman may sport a
green bow tie, there are a lot
more Jerome P. Cavanagh stickers
displayed by "new-line" rank-and-
file voters and precinct workers.
After searching in vain for the
retired governor's nonheadquarters
in Ann Arbor, he could obtain
copies of both candidates' ma-
terials at the Cavanagh Head-
quarters (open for two weeks al-
ready) and compare them for
himself.
IT SEEMS that instead he has
been chatting with the same Wil-
liams press agent who was respon-
sible for the flurry of "informed
source" reports that Cavanagh
was about to withdraw from the
race before the filing deadline.
Swallowing that kind of handout
is not what we have come to ex-
pect from the Daily.
-Becky O' Malley
(Mrs. M. H. O'Malley, Grad)
-George R. Olsson, Grad
Ann Arbor Volunteers for
Cavanagh
Cinema:' A Clue to The New Direction'
By ANDREW LUGG
T HIS CLUE is directed mainly
at the "governors" of Cinema
Guild who should know what
American cinema is and should
be doing something about it.
Filmmakers and cineastes
around the country seem excited
about Ann Arbor. Conversations
are opened with remarks about the
Film Festival-one week a year,
I tell them. What of the rest of
the season?-Hollywood "master-
pieces"; a film from the 1920's (to
show that these "governors" un-
derstand the historical context
in which modern film is placed); a
few Italian or French films (to
show that they know what "art"
is about) and so on.
IN THE LAST winter semester
the film "The Flower Thief" by
Ron Rice was to be shown, but it
did not quite make it. Thus a fine
attempt to get real cinema to
Ann Arbor failed. What now? Are
they, the guardians, going to deny
us the bread and the wine? Are
they going to slink back to their
armchairs to talk of Greta Garbo
and of Charles Chaplin until they
are aroused once more by the Mad
March Hare?
'* * *
THE NEW American Cinema,
avant-garde cinema, Underground
cinema, call it what you must,
falls neatly into two categories:
those films which are set in es-
tablished cinema form, the stable
screen, and those which are part
of an art form where the film
"explodes" out of its habitual rec-
tangularity. This includes all the
intermedia performances where
actors, musicians, lights, dancers,
etc. supplement and are supple-
mented by film-Milton Cohen's
work for example.
chosen word) who have control
of the medium and are producing
films of a "good" content (i.e.
meaningful) and which aspire to
and are great art.
A short list of these directors
would include Kenneth Anger,
Stan Brakhage, Gregory Marko-
polous, Andy Warhol, Stan Van-
derbeck, Ed Emshiville, Toni Siari
and Ron Rice. All these, except
perhaps Warhol, are fine techni-
cians. Along with Manupelli at
the University Art School, Anger
and Brakhage (perhaps one or two
others) are the very best expon-
ents of filmmaking in America.
Our list, then, includes tech-
nically competent directors. As
for content, the following films, I
suggest, are of the best produced
in the last ten years-the Anger
films noted above, Brakhage's
"The Way to Shadow Garden,"
"Flesh of Morning," Wedlock," and
(I am told) "Dog Star Man";
Markopolous' "Serentity"; Ron
Rice's "The Flower Thief"; Toni
Siari's "Film A"; and Warhol's
"Vinyl," "Eat," and "Sleep."
"SCORPIO RISING" looks at
the myth and ritual surrounding
the motorcycle-"The machine as
tribal totem, from toy to tenor..
Thanatos in chrome and black
leather."
In "The Way to Shadow Gar-
den" a man pokes out his own eyes
to escape the room he is in. "Flesh
of Morning" deals with mastur-
bation and "Wedlock House" with
an intercourse. Fairly potent sub-
jects I guess but filmed with
none of the neuroticism of, say, a
James Bond movie. There is no
need even to make the distinction
between eroticism and neuroti-
cism. I first saw these films in a
church hall, introduced by a min-
ister!
bad camera work leads to the
same effect as he achieves in his
painting "beautiful seediness."
,* *
WITH THE "intermedia" artists
there is a greater tendency to wild
and rampant anarchy. Warhol
shows three of his films at the
same place, at the same time. The
stroboscopic light (which now
plays a large part in all these
performances) flashes and the
visual beat works sometimes in
conflict and other times in har-
mony with the folk-blues rock-
dancing-in fact, as Warhol named
this show, "the exploding plastic
inevitables."
I mentioned in an earlier re-
view (of the book "The Four
Suits") some of the aspects of the
intermedia art, the breakdown of
art by category, its totality, its
demand for "audience" participa-
tion, etc. No longer is the film a
"reality within the rectangle."
THIS IS ANARCHY, to be sure.
Just like the Dadaists (where
would they be now without Arp
and Tzara?) this is a "last cry
before the dawn." As Jonas Mekas
puts it when expressing his belief
in the truth of the new:
"Our world is too cluttered
with bombs, newspapers, T.V.
antennae-there isano place for
a subtle feeling or a subtle truth
to rest its head. But the artists
are working. And with every
word, every image, every new
musical sound, the confidence
in the old is shaken."
But unlike the Dadaists the
movement is not nihilistic. It is,
rather, one of optimism-a de-
mand for the world; a prophecy
of the end of the war, as Gins-
berg wrote; a shout for individual
responsibility. Visual awareness,
total feeling, is the hope. This is
the catharsis after and from "the
Absurd."
So...,.
.. ..Take care governors and
guardians.
It's all here and now; man/
auto-man; 1966; "Wichita Vortex
Sutra"; "The Dog Star, Man";
Batman and Little Model toys of
Ford Galaxies.
Take care and take heed.
4
_,
REVIEW:
The Birds', Peacock Splendor
By BETSY COHN
EVERY AVAILABLE fine-fea-
thered pun and play on words
is utilized in the Ypsilanti Greek
Theatre's production of "The
Birds."
The play is an ancient satire,
yet it feeds from the same mate-
rial as more contemporary drama;
its situation is derived from the
ludicrous actions of men and the
state of their political affairs.
SPECIFICALLY, the tale is a
search for utopia by two disillu-
sioned Athenians, Pisthetairos
(Bert Lahr) and Euelpides (Jack
Fletcher). They leave their city
because of excessive taxes and the
natural contentiousness of their
wealth and prominence of the new
community.
From here, the plot becomes
more episodic, and a breeding
ground for a great deal of farcical
splendor, as the birds begin to bar-
gain for the sceptre of Zeus and
the hands of Basileia (Sovereign-
ty). In the meantime, +Cloudcuc-
kooland has become the satirists'
haven, a place where human foib-
les no longer exist and where hu-
man follies (ie. the law, govern-
ment, taxes, fakes and institutions
of all kinds) are seen in a humor-
ous and a b s u r d perspective
through the birds-eye view of Lahr
and his winged multi-colored as-
sociates.
THE VISUAL aspect of the pro-
detriment. There is pathos in his
facial expressions and humor in
the mocking and very ironic tone
of his voice which illustrates why
Lahr has been called "The last of
the great comedians" . . , and in
terms of Aristotelian comedy, his
greatness is certain.
LAHR SHARES competence
with a cast which gives "The
Birds" royal treatment right down
to the most minor tail feather. One
impressive flight is made by Ruby
Dee, a small, yet energetic figure
(Iris) who lands in stage center
after being flown in by a "deus
ex machina."
If Aristophanes could see what
has happened to his poignant
satirical comedy of 414 B.C.; there
Business Staf f
prime motive was, reporte{
the impression in Latin Am
U.S. favors. nerish the thoi