TlE Michigan Daily Edited and managed by Students at the University of Michigan Wednesday, August 21, 1974 News Phone: 764-0552 Unconditional, candlor 4 LTHOUGH PRESIDENT FORD'S limited amnesty pro- posal is not exactly what is called for, we welcome this step toward healing the wounds of the Vietnam war. Ford seems set on carrying forth his ideals of con- ciliation, compromise, and cooperation into the presi- dency. He truly wants to carry out the hollow promise of the Nixon campaign to "bring us together." While Nixon said "never," President Ford is recep- tive to some form of amnesty for the real prisoners of war-the ones who fled the country because they could not, in conscience, fight in an illegal and immoral war. Amnesty implies overlooking an offense. We see nothing wrong with refusing to fight in a war that was wrong from the start. Therefore, we see unconditional amnesty as the only answer. But "Ford has a better idea" than his predecessor. At least he is willing to listen and to try a limited form of amnesty. WE MUST ALSO APPLAUD the president for his cour- age in makin" hipsprunosal in front of the organiza- tion most onnosed to amnesty -- the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The VFW has lone been in the forefront of the "love it or leave it" frowd and has opposed any form of amnesty at all. Frd w' not ,frsid to speak out in front of them rather thin mamore friendly audience. He is willine t( t'We h-it frsh hre"Pe of candor he brought to the Whitt -n'oe ont to the rest of the country. Noth- ing could he more welcome. you should pardon the phrase, "at this point in time." Watereate Tas a direct manifestation of the para- noia generated in the corridors of the White House by its own iTndochins naliev. That is why Nixon opposed am- nesty: like so many nower-hungry men, he could never admit he was wrong. Watergate, Kent State, and Viet- nam are interwoven in the political tapestry of the Nixon years. But Ford has no such shackles on him, and perhaps this is why he felt he could make such a proposal. 4 FINAL PERSONAL note: this editorial writer is a Viet- nam veteran. We veterans of the Indochina conflict know from firsthand experience what horror our coun- try sowed in Southeast Asia, and what psychic scars it left on us. Had we known that before we went, we, too, would have taken that road to Canada to escape. We do not see that they shirked their duty; rather, they per- formed an act of moral courage that we could not, They fought the hardest battle of all. -GARY THOMAS JERRY DONS HELMET Up from banalit By BETH NISSEN We have barely been given enough time to IT HAS BEEN ALMOST two weeks since the begin diagnosis of our past illnesses, let alone nation watched a withdrawing power-addicted comment on our present condition. We are rely- Nixon give up his Presidency. Since then, we ing on the pages of weekly newsmagazines docu- have had time to catch our political breaths menting the life of the Fords, and the nightly and begin to comment on the changing of the comments of Walter Cronkite or the video-taped White House guard from a retrospective vantage instant replays of Fords speeches thus far to point of thirteen days. give us some indication of how we are doing. Nixon's resignation was not a startling sur- From all written and verbal accounts, our new prise; increased Capitol Hill and public senti- President seems honest through to his spinal ment against him following his Monday release fluids. He seems totally lacking in that shift-eyed of an additional two tapes was considered by political shrewdness that was the trademark press, advisors and colleagues as his Seventh and of his predecessor. Final Crisis. Still, Nixon's resignation was a political action FORD SEEMS BOTH unaffected by the power we were not altogether prepared for. The only of his office and highly affected by its responsi- related experience in our history when a Presi- bilities and his own limitations. Ideologically, dent prematurely left his office was under the Ford seems to be travelling down the same path sorrowful condition of assassination. as his precursor, but facing in an opposite direc- Under the conditions of Nixon's resignation, we tion. Where Nixon seemed to face inward upon could grieve over any death unless it was that himself, Ford seems to be facing outward and of the former President's political career, nor upward to an even higher power than that which could we be joyous at the fall of an administra- accompanies his office. tion visibly spoiled by a cultured mold of cor- Ford seems a hihly sociable man; his style ruption and personal gai when that admimstra- is easy and unpretentious. His public speaking tion had cost the lives and careers of many and style has a definite and refreshing - if Walt wasted the time of a country Disneyish - sense of humor. Ford shows pro- mise of keeping friendly paths between the White PERHAPS WE LIFTED a national eyebrow House and Congressional chambers well-worm, over Nixon's actual voluntary departure after and of opening friendly exchange between Press months of beligerent self-defense and televised andopeing frth angereteen Prss assurances that he was welding himself into his and President for the first time in almost six office, come hell or high water. When both the years. hell of loss of personal prestige and the high So far, Ford has done little that is objection- waters of Watergate descended, Nixon separated able. His two blockades to acceptance by the lib- himself from both the blame and the office and eral populace are his reputation as a block- relinquished control to his hand-picked successor. headed moronic political center and his horrify- Neither the nation nor the designated first fam- ing voting record - support of increased mili- ily had more than twenty-four hours to adjust to tary spending, support of the Cambodia bomb- a new President. ings, and opposition to almost all progressive There was less shock than nervous anticipa- social legislation, including Rat Control. tion in reaction. Would someone fumble and drop the country in the process of passing it from THERE IS NO REASON to assume he will hand to hand? What kind of President would change his way of thinking, but since he took Gerald Ford be? He was not elected to his new the Presidential oath, he has been less willing to office; the only Americans to ever cast votes make decisions without first recognizing his in- for the new President-designate lived in the abilities to make decisions alone, and then ask- Grand Rapids area of Michigan. ing for advice from those who are reputed ex- perts. The results has been a show of a surpris- THE SILENT UNDERRUNNING question fol- ingly progressive attitude for a characterized lowing Nixon's resignation announcement was not brick-brained conservative. so much whether the nation would survive what The only people who may be bemoaning Ford's it had been through, but what it was exactly occupation of the Presidential parking place in that it had been through, and what it was left the White House garage are those special in- with. terest groups who paid a high and heavy fare We cattiously checked our body politic for for Nixon's entrance to the White House and his broken structure: we seemed to be intact and promised protection of their interests. They are recovering amazingly well from the sudden re- left with little to do but cry over spilt milk moal of an operable cancer. money. A MNEsTY7 FOR N ON. NIXON'S X^ / }x > - 2.x 'Say. Isn't that Ronald Reagan leading the new wave of permissiveness?'