THE
Summer Daily
S1ummer Fdition of
TiHll MICHIIGAN DAILY
Edited and managed by students at the
University of Michigan
Wednesday, August 15, 1973 News Phone: 764-0552
Status of amateurs
needs redefining
ITH THE beginning of the National Junior Olympics
today in Ann Arbsl, the old controversy of amateur-
ism is brought to mind.
The two-day event is sponsored by the country's bas-
tion of amateurism, the Amateur Athletic Association, and
involves over 700 young "amateur" athletes.
A technical definition of an amateur is an athlete
who has not performed professionally or has used his
status for personal financial gain.
But as it was pointed out by former Olympic star Bob.
Seagren, amateurism has lost all its meaning since the
original Olympic doctrine was established in 1896. Most of
the athletes present for the Junior Olympics have spent
most of the summer preparing solely for this event. Much
money has been spent by parents, clubs, and 'amateur
organizations, for their training. And as is said in a court
of law, this may 'meet the letter, but certainly not the
spirit, of the law.
What this country needs is a re-definition of the
status of amateurism. Other countries pay for their ath-
letes training, showing a little more pride and realistic
insight than does the U.S.
The spirit of amateurism is also severely hurt by the
constant feud between the AAU and the National Col-
legiate Athletic Association, (NCAA), a pair of highly
professional organizations. The constant back-stabbing,
bickering and feuding over control any particular event
has muddled the American waters in the Olympics and
other major international events.
The conduct of the U.S. Olympic Committee at the
recent Munich Games, and now the foul-up in Moscow
with the U. S. contingent to the World Student Games,
points to sorely needed reform in 'amateur athletics.
Caught innocently in the middle are the participants
who despite bureaucracy, red tape, and ignorance, still
strive for the Olympic ideal: Not to win, but to try.
Summer Staff
ROBERT BARKIN and CHARLES STEIN
Co-editors
GORDON ATCHESON ..... Night dior
DANIEL IDDLE , ..............Night Editor
DEBORAH GOOD .Assistant Night Editor
JACK KROST ... .....Assistant Night Editor
JOSEPHINEMARCOTTI ..... . Assistant Night Editor
DAVID STOLL ................Assistant Night Editor
THE SOVIET-AMERICAN WHEAT 'DEAL has drawn criticism because it has produced a grain short-
age in the U.S. and has not benefitted the farmers. While both Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev and Presi-
dent Nixon are both smiling here, Nixon's grin has since eroded considerably.
Watergate backlash: Only a ruse
By DAN BORUS
NOW THE Watergate backlash.
Once the pipe dream of John
Erlichman, the backlash is emer-
ging as the official policy of more
conservative elements in an effort
to explain away and rationalize the
Watergate incidents. Certain to be
fueled to an ever higher pitch by
President Nixon's late-week speech,
one of its more deceptive manifes-
tations made an appearance in sev-
eral Eastern newspapers this past
weekend. Sponsored by a group
calling itself The Ad Hoc Citizens'
Committee for Fairness to t h e
Presidency, the advertisement en-
titled "Appeal to Fairness" makes
the following assertions:
* the Ervin Committee has used
innuendo, hearsay evidence, inflam-
matory speech in an attempt to
"oust Nixon"; and
* thistattempt has been aided
and -abetted by a biased and cal-
lous press, eager to see Nixon
hang.
The ad singles out Sen. Daniel
Inouye (D-Hawaii) for his unfair
and biased questioning of witness
H. R. Haldeman in which the sena-
tor implied that Haldeman could
have accidently erased the key por-
tions of the contested Presidential
tapes; Sen. Lowell Weicker (R-
Conn.) for his loaded questions to
Haldeman which, in efect, placed
the President of the United States
in a position of being guilty if he
F
YOU SAID BACK IN MARCH THAT YET THE PROSECUTOR, THE FBI
YOU HAD ASSUMED PERSONAL DIRECTOR AND THE ATTORNEY
CONTROL AND HAD INSTRUCTED GENERAL TESTIFIED THEY
THOSE IN CHARGE OF THE RECEIVED NO SUCH INSTRUCTIONS.
WATERGATE INVESTIGATION TO HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THAT?
REPORT DIRECTLY TO YOU.
C' ii
did not know what his staff was
doing and guilty if he did; and
Ervin (D-N.C.) for calling Water-
gate the "greatest national tragedy
since the Civil War."
The ad then argues, as Presiden-
tial aide Pat Buchanan did on the
New York Times Op-Ed page, that,
though reprehensible, there is little
or nothing new in the Watergate
scandal. Political parties have been
bugging each other for years.
Furthermore the headhunters,
the message concludes, have gone
overboard.
... "for pure hypocrisy and ven-
om, the attack is without prece-
dent.
"Those who decried the lax se-
curity measure which enabled an
assassin to cut down John Ken-
nedy now denounce Richard Nixon
for "allowing" the Secret Service
to spend public funds on security
features at the western White
House.
"And, with a mind-boggling dis-
honesty, those who have called long
and hard for East-West trade now
attack Mr. Nixon for the U.S.-Sov-
iet wheat agreement, the most im-
portant and hopeful economic ex-
change between our countries in
decades."
A point-by-point rebuttal of the
backlash contentions is in order.
INOUYE'S INNUENDO - Inou-
ye's queries are sound and pro-
per. To preclude the possibility
that damage has been done to.the
tapes would be a foolish move for
any investigatory body to take for
it would leave the Ervin committee
at the mercy of President Nixon.
Although backlashers would like to
elevate him back to a position of
regality, the President remains un-
der suspicion. Regardless of the
veracity of the Dean charges, Nix-
on is a party to the inquiry and has
interests to protect.
Haldeman, because he had access
to the tapes is very much the pur-
veyor of the Nixon interests and to
destroy or damage the tapes may
be in those interests. While the
question Inouye posed to Haldeman
may be tough and uncomfortable,
and may suggest things that the
country would prefer to ignore; not
asking the question would place the
truth on the fragile tapes alone, if
and when they are released to the
public.
WEICKER LOGICAL FAL-
LACY - To the average American
the question "who set the example
for Watergate" is the pivotal one.
Although it might not ellicit parti-
culars, the question hints at the
key to the entire problem. This ad-
ministration has encouraged enemy
lists, trampled on the rights of pri-
vacy and association, attempted to
quash any dissent and systematic-
ally destroyed Southeast Asia.
These are concepts that have been
traditionally considered un-Amer-
ican and strike at the heart of pro-
fessed American values, now so
sadly eroded.
The ad goes on: . . . Unable
after twelve weeks of hearings, to
demonstrate that the President was
aware of the cover-up, Weicker
asks us to condemn Mr. Nixon
EVEN IF HE WAS TOTALLY UN-
AWARE OF IT, because, we are
asked to conclude, the President
"set the example" for the entire
White House staff!"
This so-called guilt by associa-
tion is not, as the ad so speciously
tries to portray, similar to the
McCarthy guilt by association. In
the McCarthy era the so-called
"crimes" were not done in the
name of the President, while in
Watergate this is .exactly the case.
Real subversion has taken place in
the name of the President and if he
did not realize what his subordin-
ates were doing for him, then is
he not guilty of lax judgment?
ERVIN'S INFL A M M A T O R Y
SPEECH - True, the good Senator
from North Carolina is a bit thea-
trical, but the purpose of the hear-
ings is not so much investigative
as it is a chance for the American
public to understand the men who
had governed them and have kept
their true character hidden from
the public eye for the last f i v e
years. And if an Ervin is needed
to remind us once again about na-
tional principles and priorities, then
maybe it isn't an excess at all.
BUCHANAN'S CHARGES-These
are simply tommyrot, pure g a r-
bage. This is the little child's ploy
of saying "everybody does it" in
order to escape culpability.
NIXOI SECURITY - S u r e l y
a distinction can be made between
genuine security precautions and
the over ten million dollars in im-
provements including gardening
and resurfacing of driveways made
at San Clemente and Key Biscayne.
THE WHEAT DEAL - No o n e
seriously questions the principle of
East-West trade, but the Nixon ad-
ministration has not only oversold
the wheat crop, causing shortage in
this country, but also has repeated-
ly short-changed the American
farmer.
These last two allegations point
to the true nature of this suppos-
edly fair-minded group. This ad is
a partisan document, designed to
lift Nixon from the jaws of defeat.
The ad has exaggerated for i t s
own purposes, totally misread the
arguments on San Clemente and
the Wheat deal and hides behind
the traditional Nixon shield, the
Presidency. Although the ad care-
fully outlines the fact that Nixon
is under attack, the name of the
group, like Creep before it, uses
the Presidency to deflect the faults
of the man.
It is not the Presidency, as such,
that is under attack, but the prac-
tice of the Presidency under one
extremely power hungry man,
Richard Nixon.
This Watergate backlash m a y
well prove to be an important and
powerful tool. And it may be the
honest sentiments of Americans
confused by the scandals galore
they have found in this Admin-
istration. But the backlash should
not be based on the doggeral that
"the Appeal to Fairness" ad tried
to foster onto its unsuspecting read-
ers.-
Dan Borus is sports editor of
The Daily.
The Editorial Page of The
Michigan Daily is open to any-
one who w i s h e s to submit
articles Generally speaking, all
articles should be less than 1,000
words.
I
f THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL
SFbtiidi rt-Bal syndicati.,a197