Se meity-Thi rd Year
EDrED ANDMANAGEDMBY STUDENs OF . UNIYERnsr OFMICHIGAN
UNDER AUTHORITY OF BoArD iw CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
STUDENT PUBLIcATIONS BLD., ANN ARBOR, MIcH., PHONE NO 2-3241
THE ALGER HISS CASE:
'How Nixon Launched Period of Hystera
"Where Opinions Are Free
Truth Will Prevail'.
storiats printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers.
or the editors. Thh mus t be noted in all reprints.
)AY, DECEMBER 13, 1962
NIGHT EDITOR: MALINDA BERRY
.,
The 'Academic' Grounds
for Shapiro's Disissal
IOFESSOR Samuel Shapiro was fired last
week by Michigan State University-Oakland.
hink the most flattering discussion among
hirers and firers of MSU-O faculty which
Ld. have led to the refusal to renew Shapiro's
tract might have gone something like
tory, complete to annotationsc
and presented that list to the lib
purchase of the books. That does
academic inactivity.
"Since he has been here, hel
least one course in his field e
well as heading up the departm
"Last year he published a biog
ofc nI..t..... XT-"".,.7n in- - -fi
* * *
'ENTLEMEN, we have an important and or £icnara Henry Dana, aUri
serious matter before us today. We must importance in American History
Tide whether or not to rehire Prof. Shapiro "And, I would remind you all t
r the coming year. In making this decision now writing a book about Dani
think we should take his academic record which this university has given
to account, but wp cannot forget about pos- funds.
le impact of. his writings about Cuba on "By any standard of academic
SU-O's image. What do you suggest, Mr. B.?" be it class room, research, or,+
service, it seems that Shapirc
"Well, A, it seems to me we have to remem- achievement in his own field is
r at all times that our university is known doubtful.
id recognized as a result of the faculty and
SShapiro's articles blaming Cuba's align- "If he has also written mater
ent with Russia on United States foreign zine publication, that work has
from .cting in his academic car
licy is the type of anti-American writing well. I think it would be danger
Lich can only bring question of our institd- him on political grounds for t
n as a possible harbor for Communists, have already outlined, and I t
arxists, and other leftists. That is exactly academic work here merits his r
e type of image we don't want, especially
ien you remember that the state gives usC
r fund and that people up in Lansing don't tELL, C, you don't seem t
:e people who talk against the United States," His magazine articles hav
journalistic style, and I have n
book on Dana so I can't really
vOW, NOW B," (says C), "academic posts ,here. I'm sure we can find some
are not political plums. If we make them him. I agree with A that he shoul
at, then we must resign ourselves to a . "Gentlemen, you are making th
iversity afraid to - speak out on political take a university can make.'
ues. And, I might add,.it is the controversial cumbing to political pressure of
ue that must be discussed and written about savory sort, you are sacrificing
we are to have real debate. .orientation of,, free inquiry wh
'If we allow ,any political expression of a the- hallmark of a university. Yo
ofessor to stand in the way of his retention ing the academic achievement a
promotion, then we might have "a univer- Shapiro. You are compromising t
y which will be 'acceptable' to Lansing, but, at a time when this nation's aca
could never be a university acceptable to N looking for a university willin
Ldents or faculty honestly interested in pro- example of resistance to politica
ting thought and exchange. And that, in ing and lead the way to academi
e last analysis is what- a university is all "Your doing this in the nan
out." f operations of the universityo
'I sympathize with your position, C, but I reason is something which no ho
ve to agree with.B that we must consider our , forgive. MSU-O will long be re
blic image and the possible sources of fi- the school which fired Sam Sh
nce .We have a university to operate and somebody didn't like his politics.
at must come first and affect 'the choice of how you can hide that fact fron
man who might impair our operation. I do
. think we should renew Shapiro's con- "WELL, C, while you've been
iet," (says A.) written a statement 'which V
to the press. Here . are the salier
kOW WArT A MINUTE," (rejoins C.) it:
"Surely you are aware of the work which 'We expect a certain amount
apiro has done in his own field, American work in his field of specializat
story. I would like to recount some of them. writing is on the level of journa
ce you did mention their importance . in man seeking tenure we look fo
s decision, A, and since academic 'work is > . The principle reasons" for h
e real test. of a man's worth to a university's academic ...
erations'. * *
"I remember that Shapiro compiled a, list of I'M SORRY, B, but that just we
known, paperback books on. American His- --MICHA
NAACP and School BooKS
on each one,
Lary for future
sn't sound like
has taught at
very term, as'
ent.
raphical study
gure of some.
hat Shapiro is
el Webster for
him research
c contribution,
organizational
's record of
anything but
ial for maga-
not kept him
pacity here as,
ous to release
the reasons I
hink that his
etention."
o understand.
ve approached
never read his
consider that.
one to replace
d be released."
he biggest mis-
You are suc-
the most un-
the academic
hich must be
>u are neglect-
and service ofj
this university
demicians are'
ag to set an
1 Witch-hunt-,
ic freedom."
he of smooth
or any other
nest man will
emembered as
apiro because
I don't know
m the public."
talking I've
we will release
it features of
t of scholary
ion . . . His
lism and in a
or scholarship
is release are
on't do.
AEL ZWEIG
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first
of two articles deaing with Richard
Nixon's involvement in the Alger
Hiss case and some of its portents
for America today.)
By ROBERT SELWA
LIKE THE ACHE of a bad tooth,
the Richard Nixon-Alger Hiss
controversy has subsided again,
but it will not remain subdued.
The controversy popped back in-
to consciousness recently when the
American Broadcasting Company
presented a program on "The Poli-
tical Obituary of Richard M. Nix-
on." The program was arranged
by Howard K. Smith, who invited
Alger Hiss and Rep. Gerald Ford
(R-Mich) to discuss Nixon's in-
volvement in the Hiss 'case of
1949.
THE HISS CASE is an uneasy
memory to older people today and
at best a vague enigma to the
young. It came at a'time that was
ripe for it and it has a parallel
in the post-World War I period.
In 1917 the Communists took
over Russia through a violent
revolution and in 1919 Communist
uprisings in Bavaria and Hun-
gary raised the spectre of Bol-
shevism on the march. Out of a
fear that the West would be over-
run, Americans plunged into a
great Red scare, denying Constitu-
tional and political rights and
freedoms to Communists, socialists
and the Left in general.
History repeated itself after
World War II as the Cold War
began, as Stalin began taking over
countries in Eastern Europe -and
as Americans began again to fear
(more genuinely this time) that
the West would be overrun. The
situation was ripe for renewed
hysteria and a second Red scare,
especially after the Soviet Union
got the nuclear bomb. And it was
Richard Nixon as much as Joseph
McCarthy who launched this per-
iod of hysteria.
VICTIMS OF the first Red scare
were two alien Italian anarchists,
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo
Vanzetti. In 1920 at South Brain-
tree, Mass., a factory paymaster
and his guard were killed by two
robbers. The police arrested Sacco
and,. Vanzett. They were brought
to trial before the nonjudicial
Judge Webster Thayer. A jury
found them guilty and the judge
sentenced them to death.
The actual evidence against
them was inadequate, and Ameri-
cans began to realize that Sacco
and Vanzetti had' been found
guilty not because they had com-
mitted the crime but .because of
prejudice against their political
convictions. Protests and investi-
gations delayed their 'execution
for six years, but it came in 192'
amid new indignation.
Alger Hiss was one of the first
victims "of the second Red scare,
which like the first has been slow
in dying. An intellectual and a
former high employe of the State
Department, Hiss was accused in
1948. "by a former Communist
agent, Whittaker Chambers, of
having turned over classified gov-
ernment documents to him 4n
1937. Hiss, a highly respected man
then, quickly and persistently de-
nied the charge and sued Cham-
bers for slander. The case wnt
to court where it became a battle
between Chambers, an admitted,
consistant liar 'who had renounced
Communism, and Hiss, accused of
being a liar and a Communist but
denying both.
The admitted liar eventually
won. In the second of two trials
Hiss was convicted of perjury on
two counts. He was not prosecuted
for, nor convicted of, being a
Communist (this was not fully
illegal). Nor was he convicted of-
violating security regulations (the
alleged deed occurred too long
ago). Hiss served four years of a
five-year prison sentence.
* * *
IN THE ABC SHOW, Smith ask-
ed Hiss (now a New York City
printing salesman) what he
thought of Nixon's doings in the
case. Nixon, Hiss said, seemed to
be "less interested in developing
the facts objectively than in seek-
ing ways of making a preconceived
plan appear plausible."
Hiss said he does not know if
Nixon was "politically motivated,"
but he added:
"I certainly don't think that he
was unaware of the political boost,"
the political soaring up into outer
space, that the hearings and the
subsequent trial provided for him.
,"I regard his actions as mo-
tivated by ambition, by, personal
self-serving which were not direct-
ed at me 'in a hostile sense .
He was responding to a situation
in this country ...
"If it hadn't been Mr. Nixon,
perhaps someone else would have
tried to jump into the same situa-
tion and benefit by it."
* * *
HISS' COMMENTS were follow-
ed immediately by those of Rep.
Ford, a noted conservative Re-
publican, who said:
"The American people owe a
great deal to Dick Nixon for his
dedication to finding out all of
the possible facts that the com-
mittee could find out about the
Alger Hiss case and its ramifica-
tions."
ABC promptly received more
Mr. Conservative Republican, or-
dered the ,program off its two
stations in Cincinnati and Colum-
bus. A Taft official wired ABC
that "use of Alger Hiss as politi-
cal commentator" is "contrary to
public interest and in extremely
poor taste." Former President
Dwight Eisenhower called James
Hagerty, ABC vice-president in
charge of news and his former
press secretary, to express "aston-
ishment" that Hiss would be on
the program. Since then some
sponsors have been attempting to
apply economic sanctions against
ABC.
All this is evidence that the
second Red scare is-not yet over.
The first Red scare ran its course
by the late 1920's, but the second
period of hysteria lingers on in
the early 1960's. The intolerance
of both Red scares is prevalent in
last month's attempts to prevent
both sides of an issue from being
aired.
In the past the calword was
"security" last month it was
"public interest." This callword
was uttered callously in contradic-
tion to itself, for if ever "public
interest" is to be served, it is to
be served not by the closeminded-
ness of permitting only one side
to be heard, but by the openmind-
edness of listening objectively to
both sides. Democracy is not de-
mocracy and self-government is
no longer self-government when
the choice is removed and the
public is dictated only one course.
It is the Soviet citizen, and it
should not be the American citizen,
who unfortunately is permitted no
alternatives.
THE SITUATION may be all the
wbrse because Hiss on the whole
appears to be right in most of
what he said over ABC. Much of
this can be shown by consulting
Richard Nixon himself, through
his -very revealing book, "Six
Crisis."
Nixon was elected to the House
of Representatives -'in 1946 and
joined the House Un-American
Activities Comittee. He was un-
noted and unknown until he be-
came involved with Whittaker
Chambers and Alger Hiss.
In August of 1948 Chambers ap-
peared before HUAC to testify on
alleged Communist infiltration in-
to the federal government. At first,
"both in appearance and in what
he had to say, he made very little
impression on me or the other
Committee members," Nixon says
in his book. But Chambers was
only halfway through the state-
ment he' was reading when sud-
denly "I realized that -he had some
extraordinary quality .. . it was
the sheer, almost stark eloquence
of phrases that needed no his-
'tronic embellishment," says Nixon.
From that moment Nixon felt
that Chambers was a man "who
had inner strength and lepth"
speaking with "the ring of truth.
CHAMBERS named four mem-
bers of "his underground Com-
munist group." One of those nam-
ed was Hiss who, as a State De-'
partment official, had had the
responsibility for organizing the
Dumbarton Oaks world monetary
conferences, the United States side
of the Yalta Conference, and the
meeting at San Francisco where
the United Nations Charter was
written and adopted.
Two days later Hiss-came before
HUAC to refute Chamber's ac-
cusation. "It was a virtuoso per-
formance," Nixon says. "Even at
that time I was beginning to have
some doubts"
Nixon later looked over his
notes of the testimony. "I saw
that he had never once said flatly,
'I don't know Whittaker Cham-
bers.' He had always qualified it
carefully to say, 'I have never
known a man by the name of
Whittaker Chambers'." Nixon had
asked a staff member to phone
Chambers and ask him if he might
have been known under another
name while a Communist. Cham-
ber's answer was that his party
name was Carl.
WHEN HUAC reconvened, the
majority seemed to feel that the
matter ought to be dismissed, but
Nixon dissented. He says he feared
that the case would be destroyed
for good. "I pointed out my sus-
picions" and "finally my argu-
ments prevailed."
Nixon was appointed to head a
subcommittee to question Cham-
bers again. "When I arrived back
in my office, that afternoon, I
had a natural sense of achieve-
ment." Nixon recalls. "I had put
myself, a freshman Congressman,
in the position of defending the
reputation" of HUAC and "I rec-
ognized that the future of the
Committee . . . was at stake -..
I knew that if the Committee
failed to follow, through on the
Hiss case, the effectiveness of all
Congressional investigations, and
particularly those in the field of
Communist activities, might be
impaired for years."
At the subcommittee hearing,
Nixon bombarded Chambers for
three hours with questions. "I felt
sure that he was telling the truth"'
while listening to the answers.
Still he was not satisfied and he
decided, to see Chambers again,
this time alone and informally. He
relationship." Nixon decided that
what was needed was a confron-
tation between Hiss and Cham-
bers with he and other HUAC
members as witnesses. "Desiring as
much privacy as possible," the
group decided to have the meet-
ing in a suite in the Commodore
Hotel in New York City.
Of Mrs. Hiss: "I could have
made a devastating record had I
also remembered that even a wo-
man who happens to be a Quaker
and then turns to Communism
be a Communist first and a
Quaker second."
Of Communists in general: "In
the years ahead I would never
forget that where the battle
against Communism is concerned,
victories are, never final so long
as the Communists are still able
to fight. There is never a time
when it is safe to relax or let
down. When you have won one
battle is the time you should step
up your effort to win another-
until final victory is achieved."
* * *
REMEMBER NOW what Hiss
said on ABC last month:
" First, Nixon seemed to be
"less interested in developing the
facts objectively than in seeking
ways of making a preconceived
plan appear plausible." In his book
Nixon tries to convey the impres-
sion that he wasbdeveloping the
facts objectively, but one impres-'
sion he leaves regardless is that
he was trying to make his pre-
conceived plan appear plausible.
Right from the beginning Nixon
invested his fortunes in Cham-
bers and was suspicious of and
increasingly hostile toward Hiss.
Nixon may have tried to be ob-
jective, but at least in part, he, was
subjective; he was out to confirm
his fears about the alleged in-
ternal threat of Communism.
" Second, Nixon could not have
been "unaware of the political
boost, the political soaring up in-
to outer space" that the affair
was providing for him, Hiss said
on ABC. Nixon does write of his
"natural sense of achievement"
and of his knowledge that he per-
sonally would receive credit for
'the part he had played.
" Third, Nixon's actions, it
seems true, were motivated at
least in part by ambition and per-
sonal self-serving. He was a fresh-
man Congressman who so far had'
made hardly any impression on,
anyone.
To have run for Congress in
the first place at the politically:
tender age of 33, to have won him-
self a scholarship and studied his
way through college and law
school "with an iron butt"-yes,
this was a man of ambition. And
this in itself is good; it is when
ambition is used to injure others
that harm results.
THIRD, Nixon "was responding
to a situation in this country,"
Hiss said on ABC. This was true.
Americans were woried not only
about the spread of Communism
(which was occurring) but also
about the power of Communism.
They were worried that Joseph
Stalin would get the nuclear bomb.
Stalin conducted his first suc-
cessful test of the bomb in 1949.
Americans found out about this
with shock and horror on Septem-
ber 23 of that year, between the
end of the first trial of Hiss and
the beginning of the second trial.
Fifth, "If it hadn't been Mr.
Nixon, perhaps someone else would
have tried to -jump into the same
situation and benefit by it," Hiss
said on ABC. This also has truth
to it; not only Nixon, but also
Joseph McCarthy jumped into the
situation and benefitted by it. To-
gether they launched the second
period of hysteria.
Choice,
... THERE IS a higher, nobler,
and more forceful justifi-
cation for liberty, before which
materialistic explanations pale. It
is simply this: man is a moral
being. His existence has ethical
and spiritual dimensions which
give it ultimate meaning. The
moral character of his life is
evinced in the making of choices.
Liberty is that condition within
which choices can be made and
spiritual growth take place. The
greater the degree of liberty the
larger the latitude for choice and
growth. To put it negatively, when
liberty is reduced and taken away,
the moral character of human
action is limited and the oppor-
tunities for-growth are diminished.
-Clarence B. Carson
in The Freeman
RICHARD NIXON
. . from the past
At the confrontation, Hiss said
he might have know Hiss in 1937
as George Crosley (not as "Carl").
Hiss questioned Chambers and
Nixon questioned Hiss. The longer
Hiss testified, the more apparent
it became to Nixon that "Hiss'
acquaintance with Crosley was far
from casual."
After the meeting, Nixon felt he
should have been elated. "The
case was broken. The Committee'
would be vindicated and I per-
sonally would receive credit for
the part I had played." But he ex-
perienced a sense of letdown, a
sort of battle fatigue.
* * *
NIXON HAD COME to the con-
clusion that Hiss-and his wife-
was a Communist. Nixon con-
tinually refers to them in the
book as Communists, making
statements like these:
I
i:i
4' ' 00,
'OR A SUPPOSEDLY worthy organization,
the National Association for the Advance-.
ent of Colored People all too often seems to
dulge itself in the most unworthy of pursuits.
Currently, and true to tradition, this cru-
ding organization and fellow travelers are
,shing about madly demanding textbook
uality. Now, it seems that they feel Negroes
en't portrayed equally with their white
ethern in illustrations and discussions.
They point specifically to a seventh-eighth
ade history text, used in the Detroit schools,
d complain the part of the Negro in Ameri-
n history is not sufficiently accented.
'UT REGARDLESS of the details of their
complaint, it seems, on the whole, ridicu-
us. The text in question, as is characteristic
all the widely used texts in the nation, does
t accent the' participation of any racial,
igious or ethnic group in the nation's history.
The figures discussed are treated as Ameri-
ns, with reference to their race, religion or
ed only when it is vital to'the understanding
that phase of history. This is as it should be,
the overwhelming majority of American
,torical events did not have their foundations
racial or religious contexts.
sow to be certain', American Negroes, both
individuals . and as a group, have played
nificant parts in. American history. The
itributions of such greats as George Wash-
K Carver and Booker T. Washington are
imples to which -most any school child can.
'er. Their accomplishments are proud assets
the American heritage.
But their significance is not in the fact
it these two men are Negroes; rather it is ,
their contributions to their country and
velopment.
THAT THE NAACP would have us do is
to accent the existence of the Negro in our
Lasrooms just because his skin is not white,
a futile attempt to make him seem some-
ng special. It would seem, however, that
is something special ibecause he is a Negro.
It is done by helping the Negro to help him-
self; so that his achievements can go down
In history-not as the achievements of a Negro,
but as the achievements of an American who
just happened to be a Negro.
The presumptions that the Negro is restrain-
ed by not being depicted as interacting with
whites in school texts. However, this, it would
seem, is not true. The Negro is being restrained
by a number of forces. No one will deny that.
But surely there is some better way to break
these restraints than to feast upon the pliable.
and unsuspecting minds of children.
In fact, in view of current racial tension, not
only in the South but throughout the nation,
any attempt to portray the Negro in this way
would only serve to worsen the crisis by forcibly
alluding to it.
HOW MUCH BETTER it would be for the
NAACP to spend its efforts improving the
Negro race so that lauditory reference to its
members would be unavoidable.
But the issue goes deeper than one of race.
It becomes a matter of basic freedoms-free-
dom of the press. Derision is rife when the
Daughters of the American Revolution run
about screeching at the United Nations and
attempting to intimidate publishers into a less.
than fair picture of the UN and its activities.
In fact, the NAACP has been in the forefront
when it -comes to criticizing the DAR for such
pursuits.
Yet this same NAACP has no qualms about
demanding the same thing-preferential treat-
ment in textbooks-when it comes to their
cause. It would seem that what's sauce for
the goose is sauce for the gander. If the DAR
is to be damned for attempting to censor text
materials then so should the NAACP.
LAST YEAR we had this same NAACP sob-
bing because Negroes weren't given good
enough parts in movies. Now we have:. them
wailing over the textbooks. Their cause indeed
- 'I.
-4
'I
j~~1 ~"
t~w~& SY THE
MGL ;
j'' SAS IT CAMSW ,FRo/A ABOVE*"
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Protest Dismissal of Shapiro
To the Editor:
THE SUPPRESSION of academic
freedom as demonstrated by
the dismissal of Prof. Samuel
Shapiro must be condemned. To
speak 'of a man who has written
masterfully in the highest inter-
ests of the nation and the reading
public as writing on "... the level
of journalism," honors that poor
prostituted "discipline" monstrous-y
ly out of proportion to what it
deserves.
In the last analysis Dean Mat-
thews of Michigan State Univer-
sity-Oakland has given ample am-
munition to those who maintain
Speakers .. , ..
To the Editor:
IN A RECENT Michigan Daily
editorial on "State Speaker
Policy" after mentioning the Uni-
versity of Michigan, Michigan
State, and Wayne, you say: "The
other seven state-supported col-
leges have articulated no definite
speaker policy."
On Monday, Nov. 5, 1962, the
senate of Central Michigan Uni-
versity passed on to the MCCPHE
the following resolution: "We be-
Gargoyle.. .
To the Editor:
THE MUCH heralded "new" hu-'
mor of the "new" Gargoyle has
finally made its appearance. We
were delighted to see that the
non-sick humorists of the "new"
Gargoyle have chosen to' insult
a paper's stand on civil rights and
to call academic students "color-
less." These features, and for that
matter, all the features simply
are not funny and actually tended
to bore these readers.
Any legitimate satire is certainly
funny, however satirizing values