Page Four
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Sunday, November 24, 1974
0 east libeFour THE4MsCHIGAN
.3 _________________
KS.
NATION MISLED
FDR: His last year
told in tedious detail
NAGGING MYSTERY
Lost voyagers off
the Bermuda coast
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FDR's LAST YEAR by Jim to disarm the news correspond- THE BERMUDA TRIAN-!
Bishop. New York: Morrow, ents and through them, the elec- GLE by Charles Berlitz, New'
669 pp. $12.50. torate of the United States. York: Doubleday and Com-I
When a cardiologist privately in- pany, 203 pages, $7.95.,
By JULIE STOCKLER formed McIntire that FDR's By DON KUBIT7
PRIOR TO HIS ELECTION in heart was rapidly weakening, CAROLYN CASCIO, a licensed ,
1944, presidential physic- the Admiral convinced the press pilot, had left Nassau on a,
ians realized Franklin Roose- that the Chief's only major dif- flight to Grand Turk Island, Ba-
velt was suffering from severe ficulty was a small "sinus dis- hamas. When she got to thes
attacks of influenza, hyperten urbance."point where she calculated
sion, heart disease and mount- The apparent gullibility of the Grand Turk should be, she ra-t
ing muscular paralysis. In a press in 1944 is bewildering. dioed that she was lost andi
secret diagnosis, they doubted Bishop extracts example after I Supposedly functioning :i t h e circling over two unidentified
their patient would survive the example, yet never thoroughly best interests of their paient, islands.
year; in a press conference explains the phenomenon of me- they nevertheless cheated a ra- "Nothing is down there," she '
they assured the nation he was dia blindly relying upon t h e tion of an alert commander arnd said. "Is there anyway out ofc
fit to serve yet another four White House as an ultimate dis- substituted a failing invalid in this?" And then her plane van-,
years in office. penser of truth. Was it simply a his place. Americans, sacrific- ished.
naive press, as hardened and ing selflessly on a two f r o n t Observers on Grand Turk
When Roosevelt died 'sudden- sophisticated post - Watergate war, hardly deserved such dan- said they saw a light plane cir-
ly" after completing only three readers might suspect? Or was gerous deception. cling the island before it dis-t
months of his new term, Amer- it but an act of mercy that an appeared. Why couldn't she see
can citizens, officials and media unwritten law existed neither Unfortunately, the major dif- them? More important, where
were shocked to find t h e i r to film the crippled leader walk- ficulty of FDR's Last Year did she go?
Chief Executive dead. ing, an ugly and painful affair, that it is downright tedious to Some suggest that she flew
Jim Bishop, in FDR's Last nor to reveal that as a presi- read. Jim Bishop displays un- through "a hole in the sky"
Year, documents this gruesome dential mannequin, FDR was questionable proficiency in - to another dimension, others
panorama of medical and politi- mechanically propped up against lecting details; he is painfully blame the mysteries of the sea
cal irresponsibility occurring al- a lecturn before a public ap- less discriminating in t h e i r for his disappearance without a |
most three decades before Wat- pearance? dissemination, trace, and there are some who
ergate. He explores how a na- Bishop indirectly offers a third remain baffled.!
tion at war and dependent on its suggestion by avoiding the !THE RESULT is a text that The Carolyn Cascio case is
president received no considera- enigma altogether. He Instead often resembles nothing one of the many strange inci-
tion in the decision to withhold aims to submerge the reader , less than an Anthology of Trivia, dents examined in The Ber-
medical information. His an- deep within a society generpily 4 1944-1945, including itineraries of muda Triangle by Charles Ber-
swer lies not merely in a bio- supportive of and united u ith insignificant presidential j -unts, litz.
graphical autopsy of FDR, but its government, and demands detailed menus of the most or-BERLITZ, grandson of the
in an intensive reconstruction of cognizance of this historical set- dinary meals, and annoying bio-B man who founded the a-
the political events of the time. ting, "a nation wallowing in its graphies capsulizing the cast of man who fonde th fa
reporter, Bishop own melancholia." Just as a thousands Bishop has wormed mous Berlitz language schools,
Aformer repisoraelermstacetrln noBiswrksAhoezeloscites numerous examples of un-
draws upon technical journalis- wise travelle must accept alieninresrwork norzeatos xpainedlsen tedaTe
tic procedures in piecing to- standards, so must the reader researcher, he unfortunately explh aie ls bes n te area
gther pr "edu-wee-therpe"ng t-as a traveller through time, un- cannot seem to distinguish be- c Graveyard of the Atlantic," and
gether a you-were-there ac- derstand the United States of' tween enlightening fact and me- resents a collection of theories
count of Roosevelt's f i nal1Wrd a beoeaprah diocre inconsequensiality. fprsnsacletoofhois
months DeleWorld War II before approach- ranging from "human error" to
srviv. Dnga asiteisofing its politics. This trend appears through j kidnappings by visitors from an-
with Because of this non-investiga- most of his other writings: The other planet to explain these,
FDR, ranging from an obscure tive attitude inherent in t-h mostaofChist e heriigsa Teoterpantioexlanths
White House telephone operator the Day Christ Died, The Day Lin- disappearances.
time, many intriguing aspects coin was Shot, and The Day The Bermuda Triangle is an
to Roosevelt's daughter, Anna, of Roosevelt's career have long Kennedy was Shot illustrate the imaginary area located off the
from a young Texan congress- remained buried beneath the re- basic approach. Bishop is clear-ss
man named Lyndon Johnson to!e e-aprah<Bsopi ,er southeastern Atlantic coast of1
verence in which he is insgrin- ly fascinated by an "a.m. to the United States. Although
the WhiteHousehearth al ed. Bishop explores in detail p.m." diorama of biographical there has been some disagree-j
provide depth and character to many such historical curiosi-ies. portraits. That FDR's Last Year ment as to the exact location,
his undertaking. A massive bib- He imparts particularly brilliant extravagantly describes 365 vincent Gaddis, whose article
liography includes not only perception in unmasking FDR's such eventful days is a prob- on the subject gave the Bermu-
promient historical references, dubious performance at tie Yal- lem the reader must contend da Triangle its name, defines
but sociological studies of the ta Conference of 1945, an epi- with. If nothing else, by the the area as "a line from Flori-
age as well as the personal let- sode critics angrily deride as end of this 600 page volume, he da to Bermuda, another from
happened to pop into the White the auctioning of Eastern E ur- learns to skillfully dodge the on- Bermuda to Puerto Rico and a
House between 1944 and 1945. ope to the Soviet Union. slaught of trivia in arriving at thin line back to Florida
the genuinely informative qual- through the Bahamas."j
FRANKLIN Roosevelt's health FRANKLIN Roosevelt, foregn ties of the work.' In this area, more than 100
was under the protective statesman, emerges s an planes have literally vanished
was almost tragic figure. Bishop into thin air, most since 1945.
wing of VicesAdmiral Ross Mc- portrays the agent of American Julie Stockler is a junior mai- And in the past 26 years, 1,000
Intir, anancestral vrino n nteps 6yas ,0
"Tn etire' _ International interests as phy- joring in scientific writin. lives have been lost.
L;,1L1 LI ~ ~sicll daied byin ,a"
It should be noted that not
every plane that flies over the
Triangle, nor every ship that
sails in its waters disappears.
Thousands of travelers visit the
area every year without inci-
dent.
Although - disappearances at
sea are common, the Bermuda
Triangle phenomenon is unique;
the sheer number of lost vessels
in this relatively small area
is without parallel in history.
The variety of missing vessels
reported range from small
craft to the 19,000 ton USS Cy-
clops with 309 people aboard
which vanished without a trace.
RADIO CONTACT with crews
of planes and ships prior to
their vanishing elicit commentsI
that their instruments have fail-!
ed, that the ocean "doesn't look
like it should," or that a "fuz-
zy blue - green glow" appears
out of nowhere.
Most of the explanations and
solutions to the mysteries are
connected with the sea. Suddenf
tidal waves caused by under-
water earthquakes could causej
ships of all sizes to sink: wat-
late Dr. M. K. Jessup who be-
lieved, "UFOs create a tem-
porary vortex, an ionization pat-
tern that can cause ships and
planes to disintegrate or disap-
pear."
He relates the belief of some
researchers - that intelligent
entities have been observing our
progress all along and some-
day will intervene to prevent
us from destroying our own
planet.
This particular theory is pre-
dicated on the visions of Edgar
Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet.
Cayce, whose readings are bas-
ed on a belief in reincarnation,
gave detailed and scientifically
valid descriptions of past civili-
zations (most notably Atlantis)
and their eventually dangerous
developments.
FROM THIS some research-
ers believe that the disap-
pearances in the Bermuda Tri-
angle are caused by enormous
concentrations of metal under
the water, presumed to be the
location of the missing Atlantis.
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erspouts, seagoing tornadoes,
could explain the plane crashes.
The wreckage from these ac-
cidents could easily vanish into
ocean quicksands or be covered
by storms. The waters of the
Gulf Stream are extremely tur-
bulent and have been known to
quicklyerase any evidence of
disaster.
Another logical explanation BERLITZ CONCLUDES The
is that the Bermuda Triangle is Bermuda Triangle with the
one of two places on earth notion that the incidents of van-
where a magnetic compass, ishing planes and ships may be
points true North, instead of unexplainable according to our
magnetic North, which causes present concepts. He quotes
a variation of as much as 20 Haldane, "The Universe is not
degrees; if not compensated for, only queerer than we imagine,
this can cause navigators trou- it is queerer than we can ima-
ble and possibly danger. gine," and calls for a continued
MOST EXPERTS who have "search for knowledge or new
studied the area say that 50 explanations - either in this
per cent of the disappearances world or beyond."
are caused by some form of The Bermuda Triangle is a
human error. The remaining 50 well-researched book which
per cent is left up to individ- vacillates between the very in-
ual im=gination. triguing and the very dull. It is
In The Bermuda Triangle a mystery story without an end-
Berlitz discusses the theory of ing. A who-done-it? without a
John Spencer, an Air Force vet- butler. The reader is given the
eran, who believes the disap- plot, but must decide the con-
pearances are caused by UFO clusion for himself.
hijackings that have been go-
ing on for generations. And then Don Kubil is a free-lance
there are the opinions of the writer living in Ann Arbor.
MUSKET
Nov. 18-22, 25-28 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Dec. 2-8 at Lydia Mendelssohn box office
Tickets on sale at Mich. Union
for further information call UAC 763-1107
Fellini the Devil.
Fellini the Lover.
Fellini the Fantastic.
Ssically drained by increasing
signment," Bishop decides, was muscular atrophy, mentally in-
capacitated by advancing arter-'
iosclerosis, and a mere t cv
KOSHER MEAT KO-OP months from death. Aides se-)
cretly reveal in retrospect that
O r M nthe President was unable to
concentrate long enough t jes-
tablish policies ahead )f rime,
Sunday, Nov. 24 a pathetic contrast to t h e
shrewd preparatory manipula-
7:00 p. m tions of Joseph Stalin.
Bishop uses the Yalta fiasco
HILLE 4,1429 Hill to weave an emotional indict-
ment of White House physicians.I
nformation:- 663_3336
II
M
r t~
CHILDREN'S LAUREATE
The complex author of 'Little Boy Blue'
"'Amarcord' may possibly be
Federico Feljini's most
marvelous film...extravagantly
funny.It is as full of tales as
Scheherazade, some romantic,
some slapstick, some elegiacal,
some bawdy, some as
mysterious as the unexpected
sight of a peacock flying
through a light snowfall. It's a
film of exhilarating beauty."
- -Vncag Canby. The N ""Yo"k Tnes
"'Amarcord'is the most
beautiful movie Fellini has
ever made and a landmark in
the history of film. It is a
sprawling, hilarious, touching,
evocation of life."
- 4 0 0me-rn, Nwweek
"What a film! Instantly one of
the ten best movies of the
year. Federico Fellini is a
director that I admire above
all others.".Gee S ah, NC.-TV Tody Show
FIELD DAYS: THE LIFE, that I hadn't written it. I'm true accomplishments, a n d his
TIMES AND REPUTATION firmly convinced that we need immense popularity.
OF EUGENE FIELD by Rob- myths to get along by and by."
ert Conrow. New York: Char- Field the author of such nine- YIELD'S CHAMPIONS were
les Scribner's Sons, 244 p' teenth century children's class- the social reactionaries of
$12.50 ics as "Wynken, Blynken. and the turn of the century. Enam-
By DAN BORUS Nod" and "Little Boy Blue", has oared of the old and traditional
I been established as America's s way of life, they detested the=
WRITING SOME seventeen Children's Laureate. Politicians, bustling, omnipresent city, the
years after the first pub- educators, and parents h a v e rough and hew of industrial ex-
lication of his critical pamph- praised his work. Schools still pansion, and the breakdown of
let on Eugene Field, William devote special days to the cele- the neighborhood. But, more im-j
Marion Reedy had some regrets. bration of his poems. In every portantly, they believed in a
"Confidentially," he wrote a city in which he worked as a strong family life and the cele-
friend in 1918, "although every- journalist there is a memorial bration of the focal point ofj
thing I wrote in that pamphlet to his name. family life, the child.
was true, I often wish now Butargues Robert Conrow, Conrow doesn't find this ro-
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PRESENTS
GreekNight
Every Mon. & Tues.
" No cover charge
" Pitcher Beer 1/2 price
* Discount on
mixed drinks
Fraternities, Sororities and
Dormitories WELCOME!
a former Michigan Daily books'
editor, the Field of sweet idyl-
lic verse and childish innocence,
is a myth, an invention of num-
erous supporters and populariz-
ers who tailored their accounts
of his life to fit their own needs
and fears. The Eugene Field
of fact was bawdy, did not love,
every child he ever met, and
had doubts about the artistic
merit of his own work.
Field Days avoids an exam-
ination of the internal man, but
focuses instead on his times, his
mantic view false, just incom-
plete. He expands the popular3
view of Field with documenta-I
tion of his heretofore ignored
work and thought. He presents
Field's Rabelaisian verse, h i s
social and political satire, and
his unrealized literary aspira-
tions. Yet is is unfortunate that
Conrow chose to eschew the
"inner man" because Field was
QEPARATED FROM his moth-
er, who died when he was
six, and his father, a rather
strict demanding lawyer who
achieved some measure of fame.
for his defense of Dred Scott,
Field was sent to Puritan New
England under the watchful Vic-
torian eye of his aunt.
Field grew to detest the hypo-
crisies of Victorian morality and
brutally satirized them through-
out his college and early news-
paper days in Denver and St.
Louis. Despite his criticism of
social mores, Field had a rebel's
love of his target and longed
for the lost traditions of a struc-
tured family life.
Though he penned some of the
bawdiest verse of the last por-
tion of the century, he, like
Mark Twain, refused to allow
his wife to have any contact
with impure thoughts. His ri-
bald poetry was reserved for
the men's clubs and the thea-
ter which the author of "Little
Boy Blue" frequented.
j-ESPITE THE handsome pro-
duction and extensive docu-
mentation, Conrow's volume
never explores the depths of its
subject. Field remains an elus-
ive figure, his place in the main-
stream of American letters un-
certain. At times, Conrow's the-
sis is overwhelmed byra sur-
plus of data. But Conrow has
given us a man in place of a
myth of innocence and though
America may need myths to
"get along by and by", scholar-
ship doesn't.
ROGER CORMAN presents
FELLNMI 41RORD
~,~ebFRANCO CRISTALDI o,« ,6FEDERICO FELLINI
pnolrtl r, ilPpi 9r tUN~ O hi.d o Cf R ROA NN
f, Ms .. r 4 N'P ROA-PA AtSION H C'NICCOR AN IAUAN f RENCH CO-
SPROD CHONf C PROUCTONS IRM) RE C F(PARIS s 6 -i x .
s. ue4 byNCi W, CRID PRrjRES R: wlSzct~4cGe.46~4
a man of contradictions
complexities t h a t cry
more exacting analysis.
and
for a
- - ---------
ROOM, and BOARD
in CO-OPS
341 S. Main
769-5960
ANN ARBOR
s_.,. ____ F.._ _r._._._.
WHAT DO
Barbara Jordon
_ _. . _ il
11
NORTH and CENTRAL CAMPUS
Male and Female Openings
for Winter Term
APPLY room 4002 Michigan Union
or CALL 662-4414
Contemporary Music Festival
Concert 4
Dan Borus
Sports Editor.
is former Daily
ROBERT BRESSON'S 1971
FOUR NIGHTS OF A DREAMER
F "A movie about the condition of being in love. It is shockingly beautiful,
and I can think of nothing in recent films so ravishing as Robert Bresson's
strange romantic vision of Paris. It may well be his loveliest film"-Roger
-. .. ai - " i r1 .. -e _._.. 1- 1.-. A11-_-L ~I _L&_Cr--- I
4,,
Lena Horne
Roberta Flack
Nikki Giovanni
and
Ii
I 7=ID
F-44PI 'Iffel
9cl
Ruby Dee
HAVE IN COMMON?
DELTA SIGMA THETA
SCHOOL OF MUSIC
MONDAY, NOV. 25-8:00 p.m.
HILL AUDITORIUM-Admission Free
RECEPTION
TODAY for
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