I
'WOLLL~YbiJ8~L&\~ ~ A'C~mBV AS& ~A It
k4
4 1~
~ ow
00,
B S
Clemenm
By CHRIS ORTLOFF
PRESIDENT FORD'S recent quantum departure from
the absolutist Nixon policy of "unconditional re-
venge" against those who refused to be impressed
into the service of a series of two-bit dictators in
South Vietnam seems doomed to failure.
On principle, the alternate service approach is a
good one. It always ought to be available, for two
practical reasons: First, it gives those who have to
fight wars a proportionately greater say in whether
they are fought at all; and secondly, it gives everyone
the opportunity to serve in some way, hopefully elim-
inating the class difference between "those who an-
swered their country's call" and those who didn't or
couldn't. Serving one's country ought to be a source
of pride. Those who are physically or morally incap-
able of fighting wars ought not to be denied the priv-
ilege and the pride. As a nation, we ought not to feel
we need a war to give young men that pride.
ALL THAT is moot logic - for the future, hope-
fully, but not for today. The dilemma the President
recognizes, and which continues to divide this country
is that the draft dodgers and deserters left America
or went into hiding because the choice was to go to
Vietnam or run. They were denied alternate service,
for the most part.
The example of the Green Beret who requested state-
side duty instead of orders to Vietnam, and was twice
denied such an opportunity to serve, is typical.
He deserted and went to Canada. He was not disloyal
in any simple way. But he could not be loyal to his
country and his conscience, and it was his country's
fault, not his own.
President Ford's proposal is refreshingly moderate,
but it has a fatal flaw. Ford cannot logically offer am-
nesty is he still believes the war was right. And no
dissenter can accept amnesty from one who believes a
crime was committed in the proces sof being true
to one's conscience.
There must be room in America's official rhetoric for
the idea that the true mistake was Vietnam and
the compulsion of the government to send its young
men there.
WHAT IS NEEDED to heal the wounds is for one
side or the other to say, "I was wrong." Ford thinks
he can forgive the dissenters if only they do penance.
But History, which has already judged the United Star-
es harshly on Vietnam, will forgive the nation only if
it admits it was wrong.
Since national "principles" can change rather easily
with broad application of salubrious rhetoric, it would
seem easier for the nation to admit its mistake than to
ask individuals to deny their consciences and accept
Ford's premise that it was they who erred.
Another point missed by the President is that many
of the dissenters are now in their thirties, have fam-
ilies, homes, careers, all things that would - for good
reason -exempt them from a draft if it were applied
again. How, without violating those good reasons for
not disrupting families and careers, could the gov-
ernment ask them for alternate service now?
"STh 'resie spefmc in
"The President spoke of mercy in
without
honor
his brief inaugural remarks.
But
while in the service. If conditions had been the same
when they fled, they might have been able to stay and
serve.
If the accident of time, then, is the only difference
between a criminal charge and an honorable discharge,
then to ask the exiles to do penance now is doubly
wrong.
The state has moderated its basic position over the
years. It has, to a point, recognized that te force
a person to act against conscience is perhaps the high-
est crime the state can commit against a citizen.
The President spoke of mercy in his brief inaugural
remarks. But what he holds out to the exiles is not
mercy, but a set of velvet-covered chains to replace
the cold metal ones Nixon offered.
That shows some kindness, and he may be capable
of mercy. But first his logic must change. He must
see that the fallacy of "Peace with Honor" must be
forgotten before there can be amnesty with honor.
IN HIS COMMENCEMENT address at the University
of Michigan last spring, Gerald Ford referred to Thom-
as Wolfe's book You Can't Go Home Again. Ford said,
"His title states a very cruel rule of our life: in gen-
eral, you cannot return to the scenes of your younger
days and recapture the happiness that memory has
stored away."
As true as that may be, it is also true that most
people want to try it, and even the exiles have that
right. The power to deny or grant them that right is
in Gerald Ford's hands.
When I left for Vietnam, my grandfather said, "I'm
proud of you, boy." I couldn't tell him then that I
wasn't proud of myself. Vietnam, for those who were
ordered to go, was the easy way out. Exile took guts.
In my 19 months in Vietnam, I came to love the
Vietnamese people, hate their government and come
close to despising my own.
THE CHIEF SYMBOL of that government, Richard
Milhous Nixon, is himself now in a form of exile, and
there is new hope abroad in the land. But President
Ford must realize that the healing words of a new
American rhetoric must abandon forever the premise
that the war was right and the dissenters were wrong.
They are our brothers, and until we welcome them
back, unconditionaly, the heart of this nation will re-
main rent and incapable of healing.
what he holds out to the exiles is not
mercy, but a set of velvet-covered
chains to replace the cold metal ones
Nixon offered."
.{':: .1{:"?.r,..:11 ..":. .. .. t. .L.. .. .{ :{;{ "....
r" j T v f1i 11 r* aier'"' "rts
Eighty-three years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
The impracticality of alternate service now, even
if one ignores the philosophical inconsistency of it, is
compounded by the fact that draft boards have chang-
ed, the military has changed, public opinion has chang-
ed, since they fled impressment.
THE GREEN BERET who asked for stateside duty
in the mid-sixties might have found the Army willing
to listen in 1971. The Air Force become much more
generous in the seventies, with honorable discharges
for men who claimed conscientious objector status
Thursday, September 19, 1974
News Phone: 764-0552
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
Ford sanctions CIA in Chile
Letters to The Daily
JN MONDAY NIGHT'S NEWS confer-
ence, Gerald Ford stated that the
CIA was instrumental in preserving
civil liberties and an uncensored
press five year ago in Allende's
Chile. Moreover, Ford stated, this was
the fullest extent of CIA involvement
in Chile. However, according to a
news leak from the Senate Armed
Services Committee, some eight mil-
lion dollars were spent by the CIA
In order to topple the Allende re-
gime.
Salvador Allende was the only
Marxist to be elected head of a con-
stitutional government in the western
hemisphere. Under his legally elected
regime civil liberties were extended
to a greater degree than before. Be-
cause his government was Marxist,
the CIA apparently had a vested in-
terest in ending it. They seemed to
have succeeded.
Under the present military regime
there are no civil liberties at all.
There are no opposition parties, no
freedom of the press, or speech. And
yet the CIA has not seen fit to try
and reinstate these civil liberties. It
seems clear that the CIA supports the
new dictatorship, and has no desire to
interfere in their repressive domes-
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Cindy Hill, Rob Meachum, Jeff
Sorensen, Sue Stephenson, Paul
Terwilliger
Editorial Page: Marnie Heyn, S u s a n
Leinoff, David Warren
Arts Page: Ken Fink
Photo Technician: Steve Kagan
THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL
tic politics. If, indeed, five years ago
the CIA stopped repression, why are
they now supporting it?
PRESIDENT FORD ALSO stated
that, although it is not sanc-
tioned by international law, many of
the great powers meddle in the do-
mestic policies of other nations. Ford
also said that, even though the US
does it, the USSR does it even more.
He then said that any CIA action in
Chile was geared to the best interest
of the peoples of the US and Chile.
By justifying an illegal action by
saying that "they do it too," Ford
ended discussion. But if one takes
this line of reasoning to its logical
conclusion, then Ford may be able
to suspend the Bill of Rights on the
grounds that "they do not have them
either."
The best interests of the American
people and the best interest of the
people of Chile may not be the same
thing, despite what Ford says. In
fact, the CIA activities in Chile ap-
pear to be geared to the best interests
of the CIA.
THE CIA HAS HAD a free hand for
quite a few years now. It was the
CIA who initially involved the US in
South Vietnam, and it is they who
engineered the coup that toppled Al-
lende. It is time to put tighter con-
trol on this agency, and make them
more responsible to Congress, and the
executive. If this is not done soon,
we may see a replay of the Southeast
Asia fiasco.
rodeos
To The Daily:
I HAVE JUST read your ar-
ticle 'Rodeo: Scar from Amer-
ica's Past" in the Sept. 7th is-
sue. As I have been a rodeo
contestant, judge, and clown for
some time, I feel that you should
have you facts straight:
Is it not true that all sports
can be considered "brutal,"
especially football where human
bodies slam against each other?
And the human body is to be
prized!
Did you know that to join the
R o d e o Cowboys Association
(RCA) you have to make over
$2000 in rodeoing just to join?
And that this amount is made
in the minor associations, and
these are the ones that perform
mainly in this area. These as-
sociations O.R.C.A. and I.R.A.
do not agree with your figures.
Also, as for Jim Cleveland-
who is a top-rated rider-he
rides I.R.A., not R.C.A. which
you have insinuated. Also you
did not state how and if he was
injured rodeoing. Did you also
know that all associationscarry
insrance on each member to
and from a rodeo within a 24-
hour period? This also covers-
some hospital bills.
Paragraph five. Yes, I am
very aware of the hardships of
the rodeo rider, but did you
know that over 60 per cent, of
the riders are what we consider
"weekend cowbovs?" So not
only is this a living, but also
our way of relaxation, instead
of protesting.
Paragraph six. As far as the
American Humane Association
of Denvers being the "only"
Igroup that sanctions rodeos, you
had better read the rules and
regulations of all the rodeo as-
sociations. Any cowboy or cow-
eirl violating them can be fined
im to $100 and also blacklisted.
Each judge and stock contractor
watch for violations, because if
the stock is abused in any form,
we lose money.
I suggest you read A Humane
Look at Professional Rodeo
published by I.R.A.
Did you also realize that the
stock used in rodeos are taken
better care of than some
people's dogs? Their working
time during the year is less than
one 24 hour period. They are
examined by a vet. twice a year
and a blacksmith too.
I would also like to state that
the equipment used is that used
on race horses:the saddles are
a little different; and the
cinches are the same.
In conclusion, rodeos still have
a lot of bearing on America. We
still have large ranches where
"cowboys" still work and live,
and where stock needs to be
broken in for ranch work as well
as pleasure.
You have also stated we are
not "frontierspeople" any more.
What ahout the exploration of
getherness here, for we need
each other, for we are a part
of America.
-E. G. Emerson
imperialism
To the Daily:
AFTER LISTENING to Presi-
dent Ford's news conference
last night, it's hard to decide
against which position one's
sense of outrage should be more
intensely directed: the ingen-
ious and Machiavellian delicacy
of the Kissinger-Colby seman-
tics ("de-stabilization") c e r -
tainly exerts a powerfully per-
verse seduction.But soa I s o
does the ponderous illiteracy of
Ford's re-statement of the case;
speaking as a "third world
commodity", I must admit that
Ford's stuttering clumsiness
does have a measure of un-
polished truth to it.
In the final analysis, what is
bound to be missed by Amer-
icans disturbed by their govern-
ment's search for stable mates
is the fact that there clearly
exists a sizable Wa-Benzi caste,
be it in Chile or elsewhere,
through whom that search is
undertaken. And this must give
pause to those third world re-
volutionaries who cannot now
define revolutionary activity in
purely "internal" terms. The
clear and dangerous fact is
that to react against tryanny or
immorality in one's backyard is
to automatically attract the in-
terest of both the United States
of America and the Soviet Un-
ion.
THE SOVIET Union, with its
Neanderthal responses to in-
dividualism and individual free-
dom, will don the appropriate
messianic halo when "bourgeois
reactionaries" threaten stability
in this or that state. The Unit-
ed States, with a kind of charm-
ing perversity (both boy-scout-
ish and lethally vulgar), will na-
turally provide a political coun-
ternoint.
The tragedy results for those
caught in the middle. Especially
if they cannot destroy the "op-
position press & freedom of
speech" in quite the same man-
ner as did that erstwhile aris-
tocracy of colonels in Greece.
It is significant that the "de-
stabilization" process was n o t
undertaken with as much vigor
there as it was in Latin Amer-
ica. Indeed, but for the exquis-
ite stupidity of the Cyprus
move, neither Caramanlis nor
Helen Vlachos would be back
in Athens at this time.
It is, of course, not merely a
tragedy of choice for the weak
states. It is also a logical out-
come of that weakness. Internal
strains breed opposition camos.
Both camps are united in the
certainty that resolution of con-
flict demands American or Sov-
iet money and arms. It would
be incredibly naive not to ex-
Foreign Secretaries certainly,
too, must be about their Found-
ing Fathers' business.
-Lemuel Johnson
Department of English
dental bill
To The Daily:
AS EMPLOYED dental as-
sistants we feel all citizens
should be aware of the follow-
ing:
Very soon a report from the
Michigan State Board of Den-
tistry will be presented to the
Michigan Legislature's Rules
and Regulations Committee sta-
ting the duties "of a person,
Section 9a. (1) of House Bill
No. 4114" signed into law Jan-
uary 1974.
This report deals with the du-
ties of "persons presently em-
ployed by dentists as dental as-
sistants". In this State, as in
the Nation, we have "on the
job trained" dental assistants
and "Certified Dental Assist-
ants". Those assistants who are
Certified hold "Certificates" is-
sues by the Certifying Board of
the American Dental Assist-
ants Association. A course of
study was designed by the Coun-
cil on Dental Education of the
American Dental Association to
assure a basic level of compe-
tency for dental assistants. Af-
ter completion of formal study,
the dental assistant is eligible
to sit for the National Certifi-
cation Examination and if suc-
cessful, is issued a "Certifi-
cate". To keep a certificate cur-
rent, s of January 1, 1960, proof
of twelve hours of continuing
education is mandatory yearly.
Our profession is the first health
profession in the nation to de-
mand continuing education.
IN MICHIGAN 643 dental as-
sistants hold such "Certifi-'
cates." We have established
thirteen post-secondary schools
of dental assisting since 1966,
at a cost to taxpayers of no
less than $1,300,000.00. T h i s
amount covers equipment only,
not buildings or faculties. These
programs were set up to meet
the demands for formal train-
ing of dental assistants, so that
all personnel in dentistry had
a minimum level of education.
This bill was designed to up-
date the profession of dentistry
by expansion of duties of auxil-
iary personnel so that more per-
sons could receive comprehen-
sive dental care at reasonable
cost. By using existing training
facilities and accepting no less
than "Certification" of dental
assistants as the minimum of
formal education can we meet
the need for expanded duties
and maintain the high level of
professional care our patients
are receiving and so rightly de-
serve.
What does this mean to you
the consumer? May we suggest,
Nixon's condition:
Pride and cynicism
By JAMES WECHSLER
THE MESSAGE NOW being continuously conveyed to the media
in a variety of ways is that Richard Nixon is a man in deep
emotionalvturmoil and physical distress whose will to live may
have been narrowly sustained by President Ford's decision to
pardon him.
It is not an easy subject to discuss, nor one that can be treated
casually. Perhaps the true tragedy of Richard Nixon is that he had
evoked so profound a degree of national distrust-that he had, to
put it bluntly, conned his countrymen so often - that undocument-
ed reports of his disarray are as likely to stir suspicion as sym-
pathy.
Perhaps that is also because, in his long years of public ex-
posure, Nixon remained so elusive and enigmatic a figure. Part of
the time there was debate over the identity of "the real Nixon,"
and intermittently there was almost absurd speculation about vari-
ous incarnations of "new" and "old" Nixons.
In the case of most public men who suffered a fall even
remotely comparable to Nixon's, there would hardly seem reason
to doubt reports of their private melancholy, perhaps accompanied
by intensification of physical ailments.
He was a President reelected in 1972 by an unprecedented
landslide. His second term was apparently endorsd with limitless
opportunity for new international pilgrimages, new scenes of gran-
deur, new history-making initiatives. His opposition was crushed
and scattered.
NOW HE FINDS himself in the lonely exile of San Clemente,
confronting a sea of unpredictable troubles, some of them not yet
revealed, with interminable hours of the day and night to ponder
what might have been. Perhaps worst of all he can look back and
see where everything would almost surely, have been different if
he had told the country the truth at the moment when the Water-
gate invasion was first unveiled.
It might also be added that such wholly rational' cause for
depression, experienced by other eminent men who have run into
trouble with the law, and suddenly faced the specter of indictment,
has not normally been considered a ground for unconditional pre-
indictment pardon. It could be said, however, that there was
something truly very special and shattering about Nixon's decline
and entrapment.
So, even as the stories of his deterioration multiply, there is
nagging unease and skepticism. So widespread is the legacy of
doubt that even a medical certificate offered in his behalf would
arouse instant questions about the background of the doctor. It is
almost as if Nixon had been reduced to that ghastly extreme in
which only some terrible self-inflicted wound could establish the
credibility of his agony. This, indeed, is his mortal disability, the
ultimate price of his endless deceits.
In thinking about most men, we would find it hard to believe
they would endure the morbid indignity of being described as
broken and rambling if they were in command of themselves.
Nixon is denied the charity of that judgment, because he too often
exploited the better instincts of his captive national audience.
Cynicism is compounded by the knowledge that - barring real
disability - he must soon testify at the Watergate trial.
APART FROM HIS history of dissembling and play-acting,
there are other reasons for the guarded reaction to reports of his
dangerous decline.
For one thing, his tenacious refusal to acknowledge anything
more serious than "mistakes and misjudgments" appears to sug-
gest that he may still harbor dreams of political rehabilitation.
The obviously planted story that he would have refused to ac-
cept an unconditional pardon if it were directly linked to amnesty
for Vietnam war resisters seems consistent with the portrait of
indestructible self-righteousness - and a resolve to achieve a
a..,, ' 1 w . .i i ----'
-DAVID WARREN
a at "'
Y~ ay 'r
1a a r °
\\ \ y
:.
ti
,
,
:.
:;
: ,
:
:
n
.
\ ::
..
::
;. .
l
f \
\
.
vrMlfs .ewr&m 1TV Iu