Seventy-Sixth Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY SrUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS FEIFFER Where Opinions Are Free. Truth wino reFree. 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH. TrthWillPrevai 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. THE TIME, IF YOU'E ALLY 6Ot-16th (w V OL) A6WAY5 FIMN2 THE TIE. MONPAY' I RUSH Now AFTR WORK, AVE A QCK Plume, lM CHM 6~OFTh'6j oo CHABE OcoM !Aecc M TI~l S. l TUESDAY, JULY 26, 1966 NIGHT EDITOR; PAT O'DONOHUE '! TU6S52AY5 J RUSH NOME AfTER W~ORK HAVE A Q1U(CfC I 2W)R, T1460 IM OFF TO THE PYA. EXECOTNEV6COMHIrTEE MET(&S. AF[GR (C)ORK; NAVE A QUICK PIkMP~, TREO .)JiAOOF To THE 50Y 'COVT7 APV150PY BOARD' MFETW5. The Geneva Agreements: Do Unto Others As .. . ONE OF THE EFFECTS of the United States' refusal to declare war on North Viet Nam is that we do not feel bound to treat our prisoners in accordance with the rules of the Geneva Convention. We turn the captured Viet Cong over to their South Vietnamese enemy, and what usually happens next has been well- publicized by the end-the-war demon- strators and various dissenting publica- tions. We take prisoners, yet we make no ef- fort to see that they are treated humanely according to standards of humanity which we openly endorse. The U.S. government supplies the guns, the money, the know- how, and then turns its back on how they are used. WE KNOW THAT the American mili- tary is virtually running the war; that without our support the Ky government might well collapse tomorrow; that the Vietnamese people, after more than 20 years of fighting, want peace at any price. These are facts so well-known that even Washington sounds half-hearted in its denials. Yet, ignoring all of this, we insist that the conflict is internal, and as a result we disclaim responsibility for the treat- ment of our prisoners of un-war. In doing so, the government is implicit- ly condoning the torture of captured Viet Cong. THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON for a long time, and the nation is well aware of it. Apparently, the President's consensus gives the U.S. the right to take action without regard to the results. And, ac- tually, it's not so much worse than the death of four civilians for every Viet Cong (conservatively estimated), than the destruction of crops, than the slaugh- ter of water buffalo which, like the fron- tier farmer's horse, are essential for sur- vival, After all, we tell ourselves, war is no tea party. It's them or us. As we continue to expound one set of values verbally while practicing another, no one is really surprised. It's been done before, and those, who may have thought the United States was above it, were sim- ply naive. VET, THERE IS A LIMIT, and this past week Washington has passed beyond normal political doubletalk into the realm of nonsense. When the Am Leave SHOCK WAVES from the departure of American troops at President de Gaulle's demand are beginning to be reg- istered in the French Chamber of Depu- ties. Just like American congressmen hearing from home when an army base closes down, the deputies in Paris are hearing from communities about to give up the satisfying consequences of Ameri- can military payrolls. Three communities have been classified as the equivalent of depressed areas, but that is not going to be enough, say local politicians, to offset the loss of 17,900 jobs and more than 200 million dollars a year resulting from plans to move American forces out of France. Political problems are also arising for the deputies. They find themselves under simultaneous pressure to uphold President de Gaulle's policies and to deplore their economic consequences back home. One Communist member sought to solve the problem by approving the liquidation of American bases but denouncing the de Gaulle government for having accommo- dated itself to them for long. UNFORTUNATELY it is very easy for any community, whether in France or West Germany or the United States, to get used to the flow of purchasing pow- Ho Chi Minh has threatened to have captured American pilots tried as crim- inals, and the Pentagon is insisting that American prisoners be treated as prison- ers of war according to the Geneva Con- vention. Although two wrongs don't make a right, even in politics, Washington will be hard-put to justify its threats of "dire consequences" if American pilots are mis- treated. If we're not at war with them, how can they be at war with us?? OR IF WE ARE AT WAR with them, why has the United States, a nation claim- ing to believe in the value of the indi- vidual, failedonce again to abide by the principles of the Geneva agreement? -CAROLE KAPLAN Dangerous Game 'TAKE PRISONERS-we need all the information we can get." These are the orders now going out to U.S. Marine commanders, who, in the last 11 days have killed 698 Communists (a figure ar- rived at by body count) but have taken only 12 prisoners. - The U.S. has, in the past, given all war prisoners to the South Vietnamese au- thorities. Now, in a move initiated by the Hanoi threats, the U.S. has kept 19 pris- oners in order to receive more informa- tion, rather than giving the prisoners to the proper authorities. THE SEQUENCE of events is rapidly leading to a new game of "Let's see who can capture the most prisoners." Be- fore it was a "dead enemies" game. U.S. information sources joyfully reported that we are winning in that one, and no doubt their recent silence is due to our belated entrance into the new turn in the war. This new game has dangerous implica- tions which could do more to bolster an unlimited war than even the bombings. The citizens of both Hanoi and the United States will cry for each other's blood if their prisoners are harmed. And many al- lies will have to answer the call. JT MAY BE only a game, but the prob- lem is that any number can play. -PAT O'DONOHUE erican Troops France er from a military installation. The "mili- tary-industrial complex," as President Ei- senhower called it, thrives on the forces of inertia set in motion by military spend- ing. It is politically and economically eas- ier for a community or a nation depend- ent on military outlays to go on doing what it has been doing than to adjust to new economic patterns. The pains now being endured by the French would be duplicated in West Germany if the day ever came when the United States mili- tary establishment there were reduced. They would be duplicated in this country, too, for that matter, in the event of general peace and disarmament. Yet somehow adjustments will have to be faced some day if the world is to recap- ture a more rational way of life. -ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Never Trust A Communist THOSE TWO-TIMING North Vietna- mese have finally struck the lowest blow. They're dropping propaganda leaf- lets on American Marines with statements in them by Sens. Wayne Morse and Er- nest Gruening criticizing the war. The statement attributed to Morse says "There is no justification for killing a sin- gle American boy in South Viet Nam. It is about time the American people awak- ened to what is going on in South Viet Nam and recognized that South Viet Nam c' hn'rnnrAithe narimnat,. n'of' Anarna n an FTRIIAY5 1. kV H fOME AFB~ WW, j(HAW 7A .IYM CFF 'TQ Tff6 c lftb 126FCO6 GMETU~..J~ 6AThPJ2AYS f EVOTU Th6 PAR; THEGAFT ROAJ' TO 60LF.1 AMP 5U&)rAY Ji IT MY 605106S 5PNI) THGELAY TOE FAM!&t l MAKC 7O WITU CIOG r~u poU 00OLO fAR) L'O TNURP1V5I RUH OMiE AFTER VJO2K HAVE A OFF 1 XUW N 16 & LAG MGT iS IF. S OMLy COUf2 p0 6OMETH(N5 ASOUJT 'SUti A~e. \ E ThH&HSydcae Ic ON ITr' MdT So .4 a The Unlted States as a Pacific Power RECENTLY the White House has been pushing the notion that we now have a President who is ready to meet our obligations as a great power in the Pacific. In the President's speech at White Sulphur Springs on July 12 he said that his critics are op- posed to the "determination of the United States to meet our ob- ligations in Asia as a Pacific pow- er and "claim that we have no business but business interests in Asia; that Europe, not the Far East, is our proper 'sphere of in- terest'." THIS LINE of talk does noth- ing to clarify and everything to befuddle the discussion of high policy. For the historic truth of the matter is that the United States began to play the part of a great power in the Pacific long before it began to recognize a vital in- terest across the Atlantic. Since the beginning of the republic - since the days of the clipper ships in the China trade and the opening of Japan more than a century ago by Commodore Per- ry's naval ships-the American nation has maintained and ex- panded its presence the Pacific. We bought Alaska, we annexed Hawaii, we occupied the Philip- pines. Indeed American isolation- ism, which stems from President Washington and was formulated in the Monroe Doctrine, has al- ways been directed against Europe. Nor has the United States de- faulted on its obligations as a Pacific power. We became involv- ed in World War II by the Japa- nese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the reason for that attack was our refusal to give Japan a free hand in the conquest of China and of Southeast Asia. IN THE LIGHT of the historic record, it sounds strange indeed to be told that there is a new revelation at the White House about our obligations and our role in the Pacific. The President served in the Pacific war, and his feelings that his critics today are interested only in Europe is almost certainly an echo of the great debate dur- ing the war about the strategy of "Hitler first." In that debate Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt prevailed over Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Adm. Er- nest J. King and gave first prior- ity to the war in Europe. This was deeply resented by the so-called "Pacific Firsters." Today and Tomorrow By WALTER LIPPMANN But the record shows that Churchill and Mr. Roosevelt were right. Not only was Nazi Germany a more dangerous enemy than Japan, but in Europe we had a formidable ally in the Soviet Un- ion, already at war with Hitler and a probable enemy of Japan. Many of the critics of the Johnson policy in Viet Nam today were strong supporters of the Churchill-Roosevelt strategy in World War II. To say that they do not care about Asia and are interested only in Europe is, to put it mildly, uninformed non- sense. THE CRITICS of President Johnson's conduct of the Vietna- mese war hold that by involving the United States in a great land war in Asia he is breaking with the fundamental conception of America's role as a power in the Pacific and in the Far East. They do not regard the Korean War, which was a fairly big Asian land war, as a precedent which justifies the abandonment of the established American doctrine. For the Korean War, unlike the Viet- namese, was authorized by the United Nations and was partici- pated in by 17 nations of Europe and Asia. It nevertheless came close to being a great military disaster and was finally brought to an end by a compromise peace without vic- tory. Moreover, it was brought to an end by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower who was educated in the Ameri- can tradition against land wars in Asia and as President consistently refused to commit American troops to fight on the mainland. PRESIDENT JOHNSON has broken with this American tradi- tion in order, as he supposes, to carry out our obligations as a great power in the Pacific. Twen- ty months ago Mr. Johnson was still talking about not sending "American boys" to fight "Asian boys." On top of the strategic error of involving ourselves in an Asian land war the President has piled the po itical error of insisting that the formulae for making peace are the same in Asia as they were in Europe when Hitler erupted. They are not the same. The European problem in 1939 was posed by the attempted con- quest by the Nazis of the old es- tablished nations of the European continent. The Asian problem to- day rises from the militant Com- munist social revolution which has been sweeping the undeveloped and backward parts of the earth. Insofar as there is any analogy between our problem in Asia today and our problem in Europe, it is not that we are facing a case of aggression as with Hitler, but that Southeastern Asia and China are in the throes of a revolution to- day as was the Soviet Union after 1917. The threat of Communist expansion into Western Europe was dealt with without fighting a land war in Eastern Europe. A SERIOUS DEBATE about high policy in the Pacific is very much needed. But there will be no such debate if the President continues to befog the question by saying that his critics want "to ignore threats to peace in Asia." If he re- duces the discourse to that level there will not be a serious debate. (c), 1966, The Washington Post Co. 10 4 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Black Power' Is Not a Good Slogan [ To the Editor: SHOULD WE endorse the term '"black power?" Though Mr. Killingsworth's defense of the philosophy of "black power" ill Ithe July 22 issue of The Daily was stimulating, he did not clarify the term; nevertheless, he en- dorsed it because it would aid in organizing the poor. The closest he personally came to defining the term was: "The philosophy of black power is, in a very close way, related to the philisophy of or- ganizing the poor." If we prefer Mr. McKissick's generalized definition, "a move- nent dedicated to ... democracy," then "liberty for all" would be a far more accurate slogan. IN CHOOSING to ignore the meaning and connotations of the term "black power" and stressing its relation to organizing the poor fan effect of the slogan, Mr. Killingsworth and others are mak- ing a serious mistake. Granted, the poor should be organized; to quickly arouse the apathetic, frus- trated citizen, one can not appeal to his reason (a painfully slow process>, but must arouse his imagination and emotions. Because of the lack of limitation associated with the word "power" (and the pride taken in coupling it with "black"), the slogan is relatively effective in arousing dif- fident Negroes in the South and the North. I agree with Mr. Killingsworth that the slogan and movement is beneficial in this present and im- mediate context.aHowever, the very connotations that make the term useful in an urban slum at the present, are harmful in the con- text of the nation and in the long run dangerous for all concerned. Let me clarify. THERE ARE certain implica- tions to the term "black power" which its adherents ignore: the first is the use of a term, "power,". which, lacking limitations, is dan- gerously vague; a moderate def- 01 their own unjustness, fear being treated unjustly in retaliation. The fears aroused by this slogan will lead to further estrangement, slower progress, and greater mu- tual resentment. WHEN ONE endorses terms merely for their beneficial effects, while choosing to overlook their obvious connotations, and, in fact, essential meaning. he is not only nearsighted but reckless. More- ovr, the immediate beneficial ef- fects of the term "black power" in certain local areas today, are outweighed by the harm it will create in the nation as a whole, and the dangerous consequences its vagueness may incur 5 or 10 years from now. If a slogan is needed, another should be found. -Howard M. Shapiro To the Editor: DOES DAVID KNOKE honestly believe that the only reason the United States won't set up extermination camps in Viet Nam is that there would be an "exter- nal outcry?" It is said that all is fair in love and war. Since the above predic- tion was printed in Saturday's page-two editorial "Viet Nam: The Victims of Technique," I can only assume you are at war with the United States government and will not stop at using irresponsible journalism as your weapon. DAVID KNOKE based his article on the illogically and incomplete- ly drawn assumption that both the Communists and the United States are making the means or tech- nique of the war (i.e. "the most efficient way in which the war can be ended"> the purpose of the war. He charges that both sides re- gard enemy and civilian lives as but "pawns in a complex chess game." Perhaps so. But as long as the Communists make the first move, we must follow in order to survive as a nation and a deter- rent force in world peace. Human tion, Knoke managed to equate President Johnson's criticism of war protests and "information" leaks to supression tactics prac- ticed by totalitarian leaders. Maybe Knoke considers the dis- closure of Hanoi bombing plans as an "information leak." 'When the newsmen can't stay off press wires with military secrets, it is no wonder the administration holds back much information about the war. After all, we arenat war in Viet Nam, declared or not. Since alien and sedition laws are permissible in a declared war, and the declara- tion of war in the present inter- national situation is outmoded, I don't believe Johnson is stepping out of line when he asks for the end of war protests and suppresses certain information. The Ameri- can people are free to add an amendment. creating a check on the power of the President to or- der troops into action without a declaration of war. But no one bothers. IT ISN'T that everything harm- ful to U.S. prestige is suppressed. Although part of the reason is that it is better to admit than be accused, accidental bombings and civilian deaths have often been reported by the administration. It has often cooperated with press conferences resulting in straight- forward and informative answers to reasonable questions. It has allowed newsmen to accompany soldiers on missions. But it can not be expected to disclose speci- fic objectives or any information that extremist news media could twist with trigger words and in- ferred meanings and use to hurt the war effort. A war can't be fought halfway, either logistically or politically. AFTER EQUATING the meth- ods of the two forces in Viet Nam, thereby giving the impression of fairness by attacking both sides, Knoke writes, "the ironical out- come is that the war supposedly fought over differing idealogies becomes a war in which both sides employ methods indistinguishable from each other." The true color of Knoke's blood shows up in the word "supposedly." With this wordthe equates the pur- poses of the two forces: aggres- if our forces were to withdraw the sion. He neglects to mention that South Vietnamese people would be slowly overrun by local assassina- tions and political turmoil until they were a captive people. For the U.S. forces to withdraw would be yielding to external pressures to the "devaluation of human con- sideration" which Knoke accuses U.S. and Communist forces of. -Michael Dover, '70 j REVIEW: Melodramia LegtmaeThar By ANDREW LUGG MELODRAMA is usually con- sidered as an archaic, non- legitimate form of theatre. Critics tend to be apologetic when review- ing melodrama, and apply a dif- ferent set of judgment criteria to these plays than they do to mod- ern or classical (Shakespeare, etc.) theatre. Theirareviews are indul- gent-"it is a fine thing that people are acting and are involved in theatre, but we all know that melodrama is irrelevant, crude," and so on. The same is true for directors. They, too, tend to be self-conscious and more often than not resolve their own misgiving concerning the relevance of their own work to the 1960's by "spoofing" the nelodrama. the grass, we had, for a change, time to think. The actors, ber- muda-shorted and ordinary ar- rived; the museum opened and we walked around the exhibits flank- ing the theatre-old American furniture, tapestries, and musical instruments. We were conducted to our seats (all one dollar, first come, first served) by happy ladies in period costume. We were duly entertained by Mr. Bronson Howard's "celebrated military comedy," "Shenandoah." The play, which is centered around the battle of Shenandoah, has "comic statire, intrigue and the heart-tearing romance of a Union officer and a beautiful Southern spy." As always in this type of theatre, the play was marked by straight-forward ap- peals to our emotions, poetic jus- tice and a happy ending. served with lemonade in the candle-lit gardens of the museum, and four of the cast sang the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." We returned to the theatre to see just how many couples would finally get married, how the son would be reconciled with the father and how the husband with the wife. We were drunk with the charm of certainty. WHEN THE final curtain fell, we realized that we had been "charmed." Charm is by no means plentiful in our world, so the per- formance came as "peace during the storm." It was all majestic simplicity. By putting on a full-blooded ex- huberant "Shenandoah," the American Drama Festival has gone some way in "legitimizing" the melodrama. A 1ditorial Staff LEONARD PRATT ............... Co-Editor