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 al reprints
SATURDAY, MAY 27, 1972 News Phone: 764 0552
Nixon and the press
THERE IS no love lost between Richard Nixon and the
press. This in itself is no surprise; the relationship
between the occupant of the White House and the work-
ing press has historically been stormy. But this admin-
istration spends more.time and resources than any other
in recent memory has to intimidate and harass the media.
The President's favorite tactic in this campaign is
to issue threatening statements released by adminis-
tration officials, who may range from obscure aides to
the Vice President.
The latest example is the administration's response
to the stories filed from Hanoi by New York Times cor-
respondent Anthony Lewis.
Lewis' dispatches from the North Vietnamese capital
are among the most explicit and revealing reports of the
Indochina War.
He has, for example, set forth evidence, that the
victims of U.S. air attacks have not always been "mili-
tary targets," and that the North Vietnamese are sur-
mounting the problems caused by the recent U.S. block-
ade of their harbors.
In an apparent attempt to get even with Lewis, the
administration last week lashed out against him-pre-
sumably because the Times hasn't followed the Washing-
ton edition of the war story. An obscure White House
aide termed Lewis' reports "a conduit of enemy propa-
ganda."
AND, by a strange coin-
cidence, a few days
later the government did
w . not see fit to invite a Times
reporter to one of its reg-
ular briefing sessions.
No snub was intended,
h a w e v e r, administra-
tion officials say. It was
explained that one report-
er from a New York news-
paper - the Daily News-
had already been invited,
and that the administra-
tion did not think another
one was necessary.
Such petty harassment
would seem beneath the
dignity even of the Nixon
administration.
WHAT IT REALLY proves, however, is that there has
been no remarkable transformation from the old
"You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore," Nixon
to the so-called new Nixon.
Nixon has continually revealed-as in this case-that
he has not lost his taste for the "low blow" sort of in-
fighting which has characterized his political career
since the days of red baiting Helen Douglas and Alger
Hiss.
The only difference is that now he hires hacks to
execute tasks which the "dignity" of his office will not
permit him to do himself.
A recent rash of commentaries by conservative
writers complains that the majority of the "liberal press"
hates and distrusts the President.
If this is indeed true, the reasons must be painfully
clear. The American press is used to friendly antagon-
ism from the White House. It cannot, however, inure itself
to bullying and harassment.
THE PRESIDENT may well believe that the press has
been unfair to him. But he certainly should not ex-
pect a dramatic change in relations while he persists in
tactics like those employed against the Times.
-CHRIS PARKS
NIGHT EDI-OR: JAN BENEDETTI
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR: ROSE SUE BERSTEIN
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITOR: DIANE LEVICK
PHOTO TECHNICIAN: DAVID MARGOLICK
ROSE SUE BERSTEIN --
Who's the biggest father
of them all? -- Spiro!
The length of skirts and the
arrangement of hair and t h e
slang of the streets change, but
basic morality cannot funda-
mentally change if civilization
as we know it is to survive.
Vice President Spiro Agnew,
May 25
AH, YES.' Seasons may come
and fashions may go, but Spiro
Agnew rambles on forever.
The Vice President's latest voci-
ferous voice-raisings came 1ast
Thursday when he spoke in New
York, accepting the Father of the
Year award of the National Fath-
ers Day Committee.
Agnew let loose a tongue lash-
ing at critics of the Indochina war,
at modern morals and parental
permisiveness.
Sugar daddy Spiro, with father-
ly concern, compared those who
ignored the screams of Kitty
Genovese - who was stabbed to
death in New York in 1964 while
28 New Yorkers watched - to
those who "insist we abandon
South Vietnam."
POOR SPIRO. He can rave and
rant that North Vietnan is "an
international bandit that preys on
its neighbors, that savagely bul-
lies its ways across borders estab-
lished by treaty, that has already
swallowed up pieces of Laos and
Cambodia and seems intent on
conquering all three," but he
doesn't see fit to criticize his ad-
ministration's blatant disregard for
the territorial rights of N o r t h
Vietnam'stharbors, or the callous
invasions of Laos and Cambodia.
Agnew further lambasted t h e
"new morality." He said it t snot
morality at all but "just a cheap,
easy rationale for doing whatever
you damn well please."
Perhaps that's why it was all
right for the U.S. to bomb Hanoi,
to mine the northern harbors and
to assist in the destruction of
An Loc. That was certainly cheap,
and easy, and whatever they damn
well pleased. Touche, Spiro!
But the funny thing about Spiro's
speaking is that he fails to look
beneath his nose - at the home
front. Among those war protest-
ers he chastizes so soundly is his
15 year old daughter.
The Vice President also thought
it sad that parents quoted in a
New York Times article on the'
sexual behavior of teenagers said
they found it difficult to regulate
their own children's morals when
there were no public moral stand--
ards.
Not too long ago, however, col-
umnist Jack Anderson reported
that Agnew's own unmarried son
was living-"in sin," presumably-
with a female friend. Tsk, tsk!!:
TALK AS HE may of permis-
sive parents, Daddy Agnew seems
to suffer from the very same prob-
lems as all other fathers these s
days. Why then did this commit-
tee - made up of clothing manu-
facturers and men's wear retail-
ers - choose him as father of the
year?
Perhaps it was that fatherly
concern he exhibited when he
spoke of Kitty Genovese,
Or maybe the paternal pride he
has in South Vietnam's govern-
ment.
Was it the stern sobriety he un-
doubtedly eihibits in dealing withr
his own children?
Could it be a reward for his
eloquent effusiveness? His grandi-
loquent grumblings?
FORGIVE HIM, fathers, for he
knows not what he does.
Letters to The Daily
To The Daily:
COLUMBIA University's Presi-
dent, William McGill, in his May
5 Commencement Address at the
University, has continued his at-
tack on the Department of Health,
Education and Welfare's efforts to
eliminate sex discrimination by
hsolding major American universi-
ties accountable for their hiring
and admisions practices. McGill
has waved the red flag of aca-
demic freedom and has called for
all concerned academiciansto ral-
ly 'round to preserve their privi-
leged position.
It all sounds unhappily like a re-
casting of the segregationsts' cry,
'Freedom of Choice." Both bast-
ardize cherished concepts of
American democracy in an ef-
fort to retain the status quo, which
is favorable to the old guard.
Segregationists and McGill's ad-
herents are attempting to distort
society's need to extend-the rights
and privileges enjoyed by the few
to those who have not been so
fortunate. Both are attacking oth-
er groups in an efort to camou-
flage the fact that their attitudes
and practices have created unjust
situations which must not continue
unchallenged.
In caling academic freedom "a
form of special privilege," McGill
has turned his back on the Ameri-
can belief that academic pursuits
are undertaken in an effort to
broaden man/womankind's know-
ledge of him/herself and his/her
universe. not to insure the main-
tenance of an oligarchy. McGill
further contends that "academic
freedom must continually diminish
under the presure of external
agencies unless we are willing to
make the most powerful efforts to
sustain it." He speaks as though
tIe universities in their 'privileg-
s'd positions" are immsune from
scruting under law, and are not
answerable to the subjective cri-
teria of relevance cooa effective-
ness.
McGill implies that by definition,
any effort to bring about change
within the university that has not
originated with and -is not imple-
mented by top professional staff
and top administrative personnel,
is unacceptable. Undoubtedly,
with this attitude, McGill feels as
though his "academic freedom" is
being threatened, as groups which
the universities serve seek admin-
.istrative accountability and recog-
nition in the decision making pro-
cess.
HEW and the affected groups
within the University have no in-
tention of curbing academic free-
dom, unless "academic freedom"
is defined as a license to main-
tain an elitist club which denies
membership to minority groups
and women. To date, "academic
freedom" is ironically restrictive.
Yet, to survive as a viable institu-
tion, American universities m u s t
broaden their horizons to recognize
the validity of pursuits and con-
cerns which are not within the
traditional academic mainstreara,
but are certainly capable of en-
riching the universities' scholastic
environment.
Margaret Houy
May 25
Letters to The Daily should
be mailed to the Editorial Di-
rector or delivered to M a r y
Rafferty in the Student Pub-
lications business office in the
Michigan Daily huilding. Let-
ters should be typed, double-
spaced and normally should
not exceed 250 words. The
Editorial Directors reserve the
eightto edit all letters sub-
mitted.
Pieta