'Is this Wallace country?--You bet!'
By DAVID MARGOLICK
'HOUGH THE television cameras
seemed to outnumber the cele-
brants at the Wallace victory party,
those present represented the enthus-
iasm and breadth of George Wallace's
support.
As the early returns trickled in, the
Wallace backers sat in chairs along the
Ramada Inn walls, positioned like jun-
ior high students at their first dance.
They were bedecked with Wallace hats,
Wallace earrings, and Wallace neck-
ties of 1960 width. Many wore Wal-
lace wristwatches and carried George
Wallace souvenir albums s" bargain at
$5.95").
Hubert Humphrey flashed onto one
of the televisions in the hall, and
brushed aside the importance of his
primary debacles by pointing to the
pervading tension and trauma of the
election after the attempt on Wallace's
life.
"Oh, ho," said a man wearing the
ever-present Wallace button on his la-
pel. "I knew he'd come up with that
one. You know, I think he'd sell his
mother's soul."
"Pretty soon all them liberals will be
out of work. Plenty of good jobs at GM
parts lifting crates though," he added.
EVEN THOUGH THE crowd was
sparse, there was a surprising amount
of variety-old and young, long-haired
and balding, people clad in work
clothes, suits, or white racing jackets
with "Ford Cobra" on the sleeves and
"George Wallace for President" stitched
on the back in bowling-alley script.
There was an air of quiet confidence
that Wallace would recover and contin-
ue to lead them; it was punctuated by
frequent whoops as their candidate's
plurality mounted. Few, if any, seemed
ready to support McGovern should
Wallace drop out, as the press had in-
timated; more than one person labeled
McGovern a Communist.
Just as unpalatable to Wallace fol-
when two of his friends we'e killed on
the assembly line had since started his
own business and is making $50,000 a
year.
And a nine-year-old boy, found more
than politics in the governor, "I like
him 'cause he's nice" he declared as his
mother prodded him. "He's going to put
love in the country.
Some insisted that they, like Gover-
nor Wallace, were not really against
blacks. One man stressed that while at
Chrysler he worked for the promotion
of black employes, only to be rebuffed
by supposedly liberal union leaders,
"The difference" he noted, "is that in
the North they claim to love the black
race but they hate the individual, In
the South we may say we hate the race,
but we love the individual."
MOST REMARKABLE was the re-
ligious frenzy of the occasion, rivaling a
William Jennings Bryan rally minus
the cross of gold.
A series of speakers evoked memories
of Sunday school, exhorting the crowd
to pray for the fallen leader.
Then, as the evening drew to a close,
a Wallace organization man in a bright
red jacket muscled tlrough the crowd,
flailing his arms yelling "Moment of
prayer, moment of prayer !"
The invocation was offered by the
same minister who had prayed at a
Dearborn Wallace rally. In a voice re-
sembling a hushed golf announcer,
trailing off into a fervent whisper, he
spokes of "the leadership, life, witness
and testimony of Thy son George, a
man who cannot be bought."
"Thou has given us a man, whom
even the would-be assassin couldn't
stop."
WITH SUCH an endorsement from on-
high, why' had the Almighty allowed
Wallace to be shot? "God made a mis-
take."
lowers was the idea of regulating the the "press" and the stereotypes it has
sale of handguns in light of the shoot- allegedly created. "We're not bigots,"
ing. A retired Chrysler scoffed at the said one woman. "We voted for Gold-
notion. "It's the courts," he stated. "We water in 1964, and he was Jewish."
should have mandatory hangings. For- She went on to say that she "loved
get about all those constitutional rights, everyone," but she hedged when asked
It stopped horse thieves, didn't it?" if her affection extended even to Com-
However, asked to explain his cam- munists.
paign button, which featured a 1960 One lady said she got the Free Press
vintage photograph of Wallace above every day, but "didn't believe anything
the words "Stand up for America," he the newspapers say any more." She
declared, "It's the Constitution. Amer- continues her subscription, she added,
ica and the Constitution are synony- because she liked the comics.
moos."
MANY WALLACE workers laughing-
ly expressed their dissatisfaction with
MANY AT THE.celebration didn't fit
the Archie Bunker cast. One wealthy
man, who had quit working for Ford
ROSE SUE BERSTEIN,
John and Yoko: Deporting rotten apples
IT CERTAINLY makes sense
in the American scheme. Len-
non has been a sinister influ-
ence on the youth of America.
He has taught them again that
joy is not vanished from t h e
earth, that fantasy can flourish
together with down to earth
simple honest living.
He has brought, and followed
too, a new political awakening,
and the tight knit American
culture can't bear him any long-
No one else can mlake You charte
And to see you're meilly only very
small
And life flours on within you and
without you
y'tlset't. ;sk5'ise's
We need John Lennon here in
the U.S.A. Cruel and unfair
punishment like the separation
of families is applied so selec-
tively today that the decisions
appear blatantly political.
A massive petition drive has
been launched to heighten
awareness of John's plight and
Yoko's problem. If enough peo-
ple sign this petition, perhaps
the next hearing, set for July
1, will be more felicitous for the
Lennons.
In contemporary America, rid-
den by plastic militaristic life-
styles, justice seeks to ban a
Lennon. We were supposed to
have learned a lesson from Mc-
Carthy, but rather than aband-
on his witchhunting, we have let
it become more sophisticated.
Even United Auto Workers
President Leonard Woodcock
has joined the National Com-
mittee for John and Yoko.
"It would be an outrage and
a tragedy," Woodcock said, "if
this country deports John Len-
non and his wife Yoko Ono.
Their strong anti-drug stand
and their clear and eloquent
commitments to non-violence
and to participation in action
for constructive social change
are mesages badly needed in
America today, particularly for
our young people."
JOIN WITH the thousands of
others who appreciate J o h n
and Yoko's presence, and sign
the petition to keep theta here.
Don't let them become victims
of the death culture they have
sought to replace.
Are you listening, Immigration
and Naturalization? You'd bet-
ter, because .
Instant karma's gonna get you if
you don't watch out.
I read the news today, oh boy
Abot adlucky man who made the
Well I just had to laugh
And though the news was rather sad
I saw the photograph
N RECENT WEEKS there has
been little in the news to laugh
about. President Nixon has de-
cided to mine the northern har-
bors, George Wallace has won
major primary victories and has
been the victim of an assassina-
tion attempt, police have har-
assed campus protesters in num-
erous skirmishes, including a
riot in Albuquerque where two
students were shot.
And, with all these violent
acts,, little attention has b e e n
focused upon the peculiar prob-
lems of John Lennon and Yoko
Ono. Lennon has been denied
an immigration permit because
he was once convicted in Eng-
land for possession of mari-
juana.
Meanwhile, Ono has beer.
granted custody of her eight-
year old daughter by a previous
marriage - but only if she stays
within the United States. The
child is nowhere to be found,
either, since her father appar-
ently keeps her in hiding.
HOW SAD it is to think that
John Lennon has been classified
undesirable to live in our coun-
try, especially for the reason
given. After all, the current
trend is towards decriminaliza-
tion of marijuana. In addition,
Lennon says he was convicted on
a frame-up. Many American pop
culture stars openly admit to us-
ing drugs, yet none of them are
deported.
-Photo courtesy of the Ann Arbr Sun
If John Lennon is termed un-
desirable, who do we want in
this country?
Imagine al the people .t. .
Riciard Nixon and Spiro
Agsnew asd John Mitchell and
Robert Griffins.
Missiles Manufacturers and war
mongers and soulless profiteers
of poverty.
Billy Graham and John Sten-
nis and Martha Mitchell a n d
Barry Goldwater.
All the faceless bureaucrats
are tolerated, but not a cultur-'
al genius Lennon heralded a
new era in music and life, in
haircuts and consciousness. And
now he is made to pay.
Edited and managed by students at the
University of Michigan
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual
opinions of the author. This must be noted in all reprints.
SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1972 News Phone: 764-0552
NIGHT EDITOR: TAMMY JACOBS
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR: ARTHUR LERNER
PHOTO TECHNICIAN: DAVID MARGOLICK