Page Mine Tuesday, May 21, 1974 Nixon's popularity sinking in Peoria THE MICHIGAN DAILY Learn from Watergate crisis, Wilkens warns law graduates Editor's Note: When he was the President's top domestic adviser, John Ehrlichman ssas fond of asking, "Will-it play in Peoria?" That was his way of inquiring howe Middle Amer- ica was reacting to what the President was doing. Just hosw well is the President playing these days in Peoria? PEORIA, Ill. (1P) - It was early morning and raining and the man standing under the roof of the stockyards was Bill Friedman, weathered and ld. He was talking about Richard Nixon. "People figure he knew all about it all the time, and that'd he my opinion; and they figure, 'Why, some of those boys were guilty, and why didn't he get it out and over with a long time ago?'" Friedman leaned on his hog-sorting pole. "IMPEACHED? I'm not sure about that, but a hell of a lift of them think he should resign, and that's my feeling myself. Now, some peo- ple think he didn't have any- thing ao do with it. And come want to shoot him. But, in gen- eral, a lot of them want him to resign." Hogs were selling for $30 a hundred pounds, cattle $43. Friedman, black hat nulled down over his short-cropped gray hair, learned close, al- most touching his Jimmy l ur- ante nose to his visitor's ear, and out-bellowed the frigntened, glassy-eyed animals. He allowed he hadn't read all of the President's transc.pts of the Watergate tapes. But he said he was 77 and had ueen a livestock broker at the Peoria stockyards for 50 years, ad he figured he knew 'tow to iead farmers. "BEFORE THEM 'rans,'ripts came out, there .vere nore farmers that was Repuniicans than Democrats. 3ut no'w it's down to about S0-S0." "Will it play in Peoria?" John Ehrlichman used to ask When he was the President's top do- mestic adviser and had Middle America in mind. Originally, the line was a vaudeville joke, Peoria, along with Kokomo, Kalamazoo and Cucamonga, was synonmous with squares- To Peorians,, their reputation is hardly a joke. Those w h o grope for the Middle American pulse have fingered Peoria's wrists periodically for years and ribbed Peorians in the bargain. So it was with tired patience that Bill Friedman and o t h e r Peorians in representative jobs and informed positions made it clear last week that, thanks to - his Watergate transcripts, Rich- ard Nixon isn't playing as well in Peoria as he once did. Not that very many persons agree with Goldie Brown, who long before the transcripts were published had established an "Impeach Nixon Committee" headquarters in her small white house on Peoria's older South-' west side. In an interview in February, a month after she had opened up, Mrs. Brown counted 12,000 impeachment sig- natures on her petitions. UNDAUNTED by the small fraction that number represent- ed of the more than 339,600 per- sons in Peoria and its environs, Brown declared the President "a crook." She added: 'lHe ought to be impeached." Now, three months later and nearly three weeks after the transcripts, Brown has gone to Washingtpn. "She's staying at the Watergate Hotel," her hus- band said. Mayor Dick Carver, however, .has sensed no impeachment groundswell. Settling back in the black leather chair Sehind his desk at the Carver Lumber Co., founded by his father, he reported: "Among the people I talk to, I find the desire to see the provisions of the Con- stitution utilized." CARVER SAID there was nothing to show that any over- 'whelming number of Peorians necessarily want to see Nixon resign or the House of Rapre- sentatives actually vote for im- peachment. They simply want, he said, to see proceedings stay within the due process of law. "But the transcripts are dis- turbing as the daylights to me," Carver said. By JEFF SORENSEN Rioger Wilkens, assistant at- torney general under President Johnson, exhorted Unive'sity law school graduates Saturday to learn from the Watergate scandals. "Somewhere down the line some of these men forgot what they'd learned in law schowl," said Wilkens, a 1956 graduate of the law school, in a speech (lur- ing the school's Senior D7ay ceremonies in Rackham I.e 'ture Hall. WILKENS RECENTLY joined the editorial board of the New York Times and was formerly a member of -the edita,';al pcge staff of the Washington Pos:. He is a nephew of Roy Widkens, executive director of the Na- tional Association for the Ad- vancement of Colored People. "The best laws are only as good as the people in _ sciety will them to be," explained Wil- kens. He added that "all lawyers ,I"" oI ~ 55,,. i' "''i" ''- st s s dlnauosapruna s11al say t A noles O1 {d aojuli 00 OHd are essentially public trustees" and that members of the legal profession have a "special re- sponsibility,' to make. the -L w work. WILKENS DENIED that the Johnson Administration, at the time he worked n it, t, part in any such "buggings, fiiongs and bribings" as took place un- der the Nixon leadersaip. "The men in the Justice De- partment at that time, like Ramsey Clark and Cyrus Vance, may have often argued and made mistakes, but we were all going the same way. We under- stood the Constitution," s a i d Wilkens, Wilkens also charged that the Nixon Administration has treat- ed the Constitution "as ifI it vere just a scrap of taper." IE SAID he was "'beiur'ing to wonder whether this I; truly a government of lsrv, i of men." Wilkens said he was "inspir- ed" by the fact that oen ' of the integrity of John De-n, Ar- chibald Cox and Elliot ticaar~d- son were all lawyers." lie said that when ne worked on the Washington Post ie once asked Cox what he would do if the President put pressure on him or tried to limit his inquiry. "I'll do as much as I ccn, as well as I can for as long us 5 can" Cox told Wilkens. Wilkens also stated that work- ing on the Washington 'tst "during the early days of Wa- tergate was a very lonely time. BRITAIN'S LEADING ASTROLOGER R. C. DAVISON WILL SPEAK WEDNESDAY, MAY 221 1974 MICHIGAN LEAGUE-Hussey Room 8 P.M.-$2 DONATION Inquiries: call CIRCLE BOOKS, 769-1583 Mixed Bowling Leagues STILL TIME TO SIGN UP Union Lanes Open 11 a.m. M Pin Bowling ALL Summer Have a few extra moments during the day? Need something to occupy your mind? THEN, tuck a copy of rossword Puzzle under your arm. We will be meeting this coming TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 21, at 7 p.m. in the lobby of HILLEL, 1429 Hill St. This will -be a gathering in memorium for the slaughtered children of MAALOT, ISRAEL There will be no speeches for there is nothing to be said. Each person will memorialize and mourn in his own way. The "Room of Mourn- ing" will be open from 7:00-8:30 p.m. so that you may come and go. Sponsored by: The Jewish Community Council of Washtenow County B'noi Brith Hillel Foundation New Places, New Friends, New Ideas SHARE IN A NEW EXPERIENCE STUDY/TRAVEL ABROAD CONTACT CENTER FOR FOREIGN STUDY EARN UPTO8 HOURS CREDIT Undergrods/Grods Complete Long. Requirement 1974 SUMMER PROGRAM OFFERINGS-APPLY NOW! SPAIN FRANCE." ITALY. GERMAN . language Salamanca Barcelona Paris Paris ± Art Dijon Nice Aix/Avignon Perugia Perugia + Art Florence Heidelberg Vienna Spanish Language, Civilization, History, Lit, Art, Guitar & Dance CU/CFS Theatre Workshop French Language & Culture, Art History, Literature, Theatre, French Cuisine Italian Language & Civilization, Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, Art History German Language & Civilization NEW 1974 SUMMER PROGRAMS " Russian Language & Culture-Leningrad, Moscow * African Civilization, Anthro, Ecology-Nairobi * Scandinavian Studies, Danish Art and Architecture-Copenhagen * International Studies, Political Science, Economics-Geneva " Portuguese Language & Culture-Coimbra * Spanish Language, Latin American Studies--Bogota, Columbia " English Literature, History, Drama-London, Canterbury " Ancient Modern Greek Civilization-Athens, Greece All programs include special excursions & tours, round-trip jet transpor- Potion, ALL European connections, room & board, tuition, f e e s, U-M Profs-Program Advisors. Director of Summer Programs: DR. GLEN R. GALE Applications/information /Appointments 216 South State Street, Suite 1 (above Marti Walker) "ce-. 662-5575 c -