Page 4-Wednesday, October 31, 1979-The Michigan Daily
Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom
Vol. LXXXX, No: 48 News Phone:- 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Kuhn kicks out a legend
The early 1980 primari
provide serious tests fo
WHEN BASEBALL commissioner
Bowie Kuhn suspended Denny
McClain for half the 1970 season, there
was a lot of moaning and groaning, but
that was about it. And when Kuhn
vetoed the Yankee bid to buy Oakland
pitcher Vida Blue, there were gasps of
outrage at Kuhn's blatant overstep-
ping of his authority.
But by defaming the legend of
baseball, Willie Mays, by ruling that
Mays had to leave the game for accep-
ting a job with a casino, well, Say Hey,
Mr. Kuhn, just who do you think you
are?
It wasn't just that Mr. Kuhn's
decision on Mays was handled with
about all the discretion and tact of Idi
Amin. The commissioner could have
spoken with Willie privately early on,
to make his feelings known about the
casino job long before Willie scheduled
his announcement accepting the
position. And Bally's Park Place
hotel, the owner of the Casino, knew
that Kuhn had problems with Mays
taking the job, but the Bally executives
rushed headlong into the press con-
ference before explaining the possible
conflict of interest to Mays. As a result
of everyone forgetting-or, more
likely, neglecting-to talk to Willie, the
legend of baseball was forced into an
unnecessary public embarrassment,
hardly fitting for a man of Willie May's.
repute.
But Kuhn's edict on Mays was as
ludicrous as the comedy of errors
surrounding the announcement. Kuhn
said that Mays "could not take money
from two places," a decision which
would probably affect every baseball
player who has ever done a commer-
cial for Stroh's beer or Brute after-
shave. The fact that Mays already
makes money from a race-track gam-
bling operation is apparently
irrelevent to Kuhn. The commissioner
EDITOR'S NOTE: The
1980 Presidential election is
still one year away, but
already the election-watchers
are mapping out the probably
cause of the primaries. Mer-
vin Field, director of the
California Poll and one of the
country's foremost pollsters,
brings 40 years of ac-
cumulatred pollingdata to his
analysis of how the
Democratic primaries will
shape up.
Systematic public opinion
polling first emerged during
Franklin Roosevelt's second
term, about forty years ago. As a
result, we now have a substantial
body of opinion data which allows
us to shart the ups and downs in
popularity during the ad-
ministrations of the last wight
men who have served as
President.
This review shows that it is not
unusual for incumbent Presiden-
ts to be viewed negatively, even
very negatively, by the Amercan
people at various times during
their terms.
. WHETHER IT IS the deeply
troubled times or the man, the
facts are that in Jimmy Carter
the country now has a President
who generates more public
disapproval than he does ap-
proval, and who is viewed as in-
competent by more people than
see him as competent. A majority
of the national public would
prefer that instead of running for
re-election, he spend his time on
affairs of state and be satisfied to
be a one-term President.
None of the previous seven
presidents' job performances
were viewed more negatively
than the way the public now
views President Carter's efforts.
Another problem for Jimmy
Carter, and one which no 6ther
modern President has had, is
having to face a formidable
challenge from a member of his
own party for the right to be the
party's nominee in the next elec-
tion.
NATIONALLY, among
Democrats, Jimmy Carter is now
running behind Semator Edward
Kennedy by margins of close to
two-to-one-and by even greater
margins in California and other
industrial states. This is a
phenomenal situation for an in-
cumbent President.
All present signs point to as
fierce a battle between an in-
cumbent and a challenger from
his own party as this country has
ever witnessed.
Carter has vowed to fight to the
finish, brushing aside any
suggestion that he follow
President Truman's and John-
son's lead when they decided not
to run for another term, even
when they were in much better
shape with the American public
than Carter is now.
WHILE THERE will be a bum-
ber of caucuses and other skir-
mishes prior to next February 26,
the New Hampshire primary will
be the first significant election
event of 1980. Current New Ham-
pshire polls show Senator Ken-
nedy far ahead of President Car-
ter and Governor Jerry Brown.
In many polls in that state, Ken-
nedy receives more than the
combined vote for Carter and
Brown. Kennedy could win New
Hampshire by a large
majority-something which few.
previous Presidential candidates
have done.in contested races.
A week after the New Ham-
pshire primary, voters in
Massachusetts and Vermont will
go to the polls. Many political ob-
servers, including people on the
Carter campaign organization,
are already conceding those
states to Kennedy.
Assuming Kennedy wins the
early New Engtand state
primaries, the following week's
primary on March 11 in Florida
will be critical, for it is con-
sidered to be Carter country. It
was Carter's defeat of Alabama
Governor George Wallace and
Senator Henry Jackson in the
1976 Florida primary which was
instrumental in Carter's eventual
nomination victory.
THERE ARE some who feel
that unless Carter wins in Florida
on March '11, and wins im-
pressively, his chances for
nomination will be severely set
back, even if Carter wins the
Georgia and Alabama primaries
held on the same date.
The fact that Carter is running
only even in Florida against Ken-
nedy in current polls in an in-
dication of the trouble he is in.
Even with a Florida victory
Carter will face a pivotal test the
nelkt week in Illinios (March 18).
It's hard to see how Carter could
lose to Kennedy in Illinois and
still retain any realistic chances
of winning the nomination.
BUT LET'S suppose Carter
does lose Illinois to Kennedy and
still stays in the race. The next
primary, on March 25, on Con-
necticut, is another state where
Kennedy is favored to win as of
now. Following Connecticut, New
York voters are expected to go to
the polls on April 1. New York is
also a state where Kennedy is
relatively strong and Carter is
relatively weak.
If by April 2, Kennedy has won
four New England state
primaries as well as Illinois and
New York, Carter's position will
be most tenuous, even if he has
won in Florida. Under those con-
ditions it is not too far fetched to
have President Carter taking the
dramatic step of withdrawing
from active campaigning in any
of the subsequent primaries. or of
withdrawing entirely from the
nomination race.
It appears now that Carter
plans to use the same overall
campaign thrust in 1980 that he
used in 1976-that of an outsider
attacking the many ills and
problems of the country and the
system. I have my doubts about
the effectiveness of this. In 1976
the American public was initially
supportive of this unknown man
from Georgic. Today, Carter is a
much different man in the eyes of-
the American public. He has been
the chief architect and steward of
our political life for the past few
years-a life which the public is
most unhappy about.
FURTHERMORE, Senator
Kennedy's challenge to Carter is
unique because Kennedy is not an
unknown or obscure candidate.
The public knows Kennedy, or
thinks it knows him, better than
any politician in the arena today.
However, Senator Kennedy has
three big negatives in his bid for
the Presidency. First is the moral
weakness issue exemplified by
his behavior at Chappaquidick
and the strained relations with
his wife. Second is the fact that he
By Mervin Field
Mays
chose to "draw the line" at casinos,
regardless of the fact that the casino is
a legitimate, legal gambling operation
for which Mays will be the community
relations liason. The commissioner is
hard-pressed to specify how the casino
job is more inconsistent with baseball.
than race-track gambling or after-
shave lotion.
Though Millie was not an active
player with the Mets, baseball will
miss his presence. That broad "Say
Hey! " smile was as much a part of
the game as the national anthem and
the soda pop vendor. Kuhn has robbed
baseball of its greatest living legend,
and for that, baseball fans will never
forget the wrong done to the great
Willie Mays.
e S -W...
r Carter
is seen as a political liberal. ;
Third is the fear and obsession
with the notion that'Edward Ken-
nedy may also die, as his two
brothers did, by assassins'
bullets.
Regarding Chappaquidick, 1
think all voters who were old
enoughtto see and hear the news
at the time have a very definite
idea of what happened and
already have made a judgement
of Kennedy fo his role in it.g.men'
The public is quite aware that
Senator Kennedy is a political
liberal. However, I would
suspect that from here on out
Kennedy may soften his liberal.
stance on some issues, though I
would not expect him to com-
promise on one big
issue-pational health insurance.
Espousing national health in-
surance is not going to cost him
many votes that he hasn't
already lost.
WHERE DOES California's
Governor Jerry Brown fit into the
Democratic nomination race?
Prior to Kennedy's statements
indicating that he will make a run
for the Presidency, Brown, I
believe, had a 50-50 chanceof
defeating Carter for the
nomination. Without Kennedy in
the race, Brown would have
received enormous media atten-
tion as the primary challenger to
Carter. Now, the Kennedy-Carte
contest has relegated Brown to
the sidelines.
It's my hunch, however, that.
Brown is not all that unhappy to
be where he is. It takes a lot of
pressure off him, It allows the-
Governor to campaign in the way
I think he really likes best, and is
best at doing. He is now free to
expound on his visionary.
program-which is not as "far
out" as his critics would like you
to believe-and to make his ap-
peals to the young, the disenchan-
ted, some minorities, some
women, and the non-voters. The
issues he is talking about-the
energy future, the environmental
future, the changing roles and the
status of minority groups, of
women, and budget balan-
cing-are issues that a lot of
people want to hear about.
With the pressure off, Brown
has an opportunity to build his
image as a thoughtful, in-
novative, and concerned person,
an image that willnstand him in
good stead the next time a i
political office beckons.
vemen t
Lauck's testimony may have
harmed rather than helped
Kuehnen, though he tried to
dismiss the back cover as
"rhetoric.
THE PROSECUTOR con-
sidered charging Lauck with per-
jury because the content of his
publication contradicted his
testimony. But his American
citizenship, and the grant of tem-
porary immunity, saved him.
Back in Lincoln, Lauck ex-
plained that he does condone
violence, but "only in self-defense
to what has been and still is being
done to our German comrades."
He added that he could not have
admitted that to his German in-
terrogators.
It is not only with his
publications that Lauck's work in
behalf of the neo-Nazi movement
is significant, however. As unof-
ficial treasurer, he fuels funds to
Nazis all over Europe, but
especially in Germany.
In addition to proceeds from
the sale of Nazi publications,
paraphrenalia and membership
dues, Lauck says he gets funds
"from- virtually every place 6n
the world, although we haver.
received any contributions fron
Tel Aviv lately," he boasted td
their reporter. On the matter of
arms shipments he is evasive: "
just can't comment, for obvious
reasons, you understand."
Though the active membership
of Nazis groups in the United
I.
r ll
U. S. has strong.Nazi mo
In the midst of the recent trial
of six neo-Nazis in Bueckeberg,
West Germany, courtroom
photographers were one day
shocked when a number of trial
observers rose in reverent
respect for the only witness to
testify for the defense, a young
American.
Why was an American ap-
pearing in a West German cour-
troom, defending the activities of
a self-proclaimed Nazi?
THE ANSWER involves a
complex, international network
of Nazi members and sym-
pathizers who look to the unlikely
city of Lincoln, Nebraska as their
movement's financial and
propaganda capital. And 26-year-
old Gerhard Lauck, born in
Milwaukee, Wisc. of German
parents, is the;man who put Lin-
coln at the center of the Nazi
map.
As such, Lauck is better
known-and more despised-in
West Germany, where the neo-
Nazi movement is rigorously
suppressed, than he is in the
United States, where he is
allowed to operate in the open.
The trial at which Lauck ap-
peared as star witness was wid-
ely covered in the West German
press, for it marked a significant
departure in the neo-Nazi tactics.
The four-month trial resulted in
the conviction of six West Ger-
man neo-Nazis for crimes in-
cluding armed robbery, bodily
assault and theft of arms. The
latter charge stems from an in-
cident early this year, in which
Dutch NATO soldiers on
As his testimony at the trial
revealed, Gerhard Lauck has
played a central role in this tac-
tical change.
From his headquarters in Lin-
coln, Lauck heads the NSDAP
AO-or National Socialist Ger-
man Workers Party in "recon-
struction"-and allegedly directs
numerous clandestine cells inside
West Germany. In 1976, Lauck
was expelled from West Ger-
many as persona non grata, after
spending four-and-a-half months
in a German prison for political
agitating and smuggling of Ger-
man propaganda.
FOR THE LAST six years,
Lauck has edited the American
Nazi Party's "New Order," and
published a bi-monthly German-
language version of it, called
"N.S. Kampfruf" (National
Socialist Battle Cry.")
While the periodical contains
the usual inflammatory articles
stirring racial hatred and anti-
Semitism, it unabashedly calls
for the forceful overthrow of West
Germany's "Jew-oriented"
government.
Lauck testified -at the
Bueckeburg trial at the request of
one of the six defendants, 25-year-
old Michael Kuehnan, the
acknowledged intellectual leader
of the six and a member of
Lauck's organization since 1977.
West German authorities at first
balked at Kuehnan's request, but
eventually granted Lauck a safe
conduct and immunity from
nment, while we are per-
secuted?" He expressed a sen-
timent that many West Germans,
although they despise the neo-
Nazis as an anachronistic em-
barrassment, share.
Hans-Joseph Horsch, the Ham-
burg director of the Office for the
Protection of the Constitution, a
sort of German FBI, is among
high officials in the police who
believes that it is both unrealistic
and dangerous to suppress the
neo-Nazis. He predicted a year
ago that doing so would,
inevitably lead. to acts of
terrorism and suggested that the
various groups be allowed to
operate openly, as they do in the
United States. Kurt Rebmann,
West Germany's chief federal
prosecutor, does not agree,
though he admits to a "growing
concern."
In light of the Nazis' sup-
pression in Germany, Lauck's
work in the United States is
critical. He produces vast quan-
tities of Nazi propaganda to send
to Germany, a task nearly free of
risk. According to Nazi hunter
Simon Wiesenthal, his mailing
list consists of between 10,000 and
20,000 names in West Germany
along.
THE MAY-JUNE issue of
"Kampfruf" was the
prosecution's Exhibit A in the
trial. It depicted on the back
cover, under the headline
"Freedom of Revolution," a
By Alfons Heck
A
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