Page 10-Saturday, May 23, 1981--The Michigan Daily
SAYS RACIAL QUOTAS'SOCIALLYDIVISIVE'
Atty. Gen. decries busing
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From AP and UPI
WASHINGTON - Attorney General
William French Smith said yesterday
that compulsory school busing and
minority hiring quotas have "divided
our people and retarded the develop-
ment of a just society" as much as the
racial segregation they were intended
to remedy.
In a speech prepared for delivery
before the American Law Institute in
Philadelphia, the attorney general said
the time has come to re-examine the
nation's remedies for racial
discrimination and to find more prac-
tical solutions, because "some
remedies have not been remedial."
"FOR MOST OF our life as a nation,
government has differentiated between
individuals on the basis of race," Smith
said. "First, to further segregation.
Later, to remedy segregation and its ef-
fects. In both instances, discrimination
by government on the basis of race has
" divided our people and retarded the
development of a just society.
"The ideals of America require that,
one day, all government action must be
color-blind," Smith said.
To that end, he pledged that the
Reagan administration would seek "to
engage in practical problem-solving
and adopt measures that will
realistically remedy the direct results
of discrimination. That means the
nation must end its over-reliance on
remedial devices aimed solely at
achieving inflexible and predetermined
mathematical balance."
BUT THE attorney general said he
wanted to emphasize "that it would be a
serious mistake to interpret this change
of focus at the remedial level as a signal
that the Justice Department will not
vigorously prosecute any governmental
attempts to foster segregation."
Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary
Subcommittee on Separation of
Powers began hearings yesterday on
bills to curb court-ordered busing.
Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Whsh.), author
of one bill, said he is "convinced this
session of Congress is almost certain to
do something about this busing."
Committee chairman Sen. John East
(R-N.C.), said policy decisions in such
areas should be made by Congress,
"but we have been circumvented by the
courts."
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I' ~ to cruise Daily Photo by PAUL EGTO
Startm ocrie
DOMENIC DASCOLA, 1936 graduate of the University, crank starts a 1917 Overland, a predecessor of
the Jeep. The car cruises at 35 miles an hour and everyone on the street always waves or honks their
horn, says owner Bruce Waggoner (seated). The car gets 15 mpg. Options include expandable luggage
rack, oil pressure guage snd a convertible top. Original sticker price: $550.
Reagan stands by Lefever
despite growing opposition.
From AP and UPI as Reagan flew to California to spend the weekend at
WASHINGTON - President Reagan yesterday his ranch, said objections to Lefever are based on his
stood by his controversial human rights nominee, philosophy and ideology and aren't grounds for
Ernest Lefever, despite strong indications the Senate rejection of Lefever.,
nomination would not be approved by the Senate "Since there's no reason to question his
Foreign Relations Committee. qualification," Meese said, "we don't think the
Sen. Rudy Boschwitz of Minnesota, a Republican president's appointee should not be confirmed simply
member of the committee, said he will vote against because some people seem to disagree with the
recommending Lefever's confirmation. His vote, philosophy or ideology. What he espouses is directly
combined with solid Democratic opposition, would be what the president is interested in."
enough to defeat the nomination. BEFORE REAGAN LEFT the White House, Sen.
"I WOULD VOTE against the confirmation of Dr. Howard Baker, Senate majority leader, "laid out for
Lefever, and that is probably a significant vote them the facts" about the mounting opposition to
because there are nine Republicans and eight Lefever, said one source, who asked not to be iden-
Democrats on the committee," Boschwitz said. tified. But the source said Baker did not suggest that
"Quite clearly, Dr. Lefever is not going to be con- the controversial nomination be withdrawn.
firmed by the Foreign Relations Committee," "He left the decision up to them," the source said.
Boschwitz told United Press International. "This is a Earlier this week, Sen. Charles H. Percy, (R-Ill.),
bad choice ... and he is certainly the wrong man" to chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Commit-
be the State Department's human rights spokesman. tee, privately urged the White House to withdraw the
Despite this growing opposition, Reagan's top nomination, according to Senate and White House
policy adviser said yesterday the administration will sources.
still push for Lefever's confirmation. The administration so far has stood by Lefever.
"THERE'S NO REASON not to" seek Lefever's The State Department issued a statement yesterday
confirmation. "He's an outstanding nominee," White saying that Secretary of State Alexander Haig Jr.
House counsellor Edwin Meese III told reporters. "has reiterated his complete support of Dr. Lefever's
Meese, speaking to reporters aboard Air Fort G(i'Orid't' a - '+ ,a
Conservative
Sen. Denton
rekindles
memories of
Vietnam War
WASHINGTON (AP)-It is 8,300 miles from Sen.
Jeremiah Denton's sunlit offices on Capitol Hill to the
grim camps of North Vietnam where he spent seven
years and seven months asa prisoner of war.
While the retired Navy admiral's POW days are far
behind him in distance and time, they have becomea
focus of Denton's early career in the Senate.
DURING SENATE hearings, Denton has told of
physical ailments that linger as a result of his cap-
tivity, described "an anti-war Air Force physician"
who misdiagnosed another medical problem, and
criticized media coverage of the war in Vietnam.
He has declared that one of his major goals in the
Senate will be to convince the public that the Vietnam
War was worth its cost in lives and money.
Among the big crop of conservative freshman
Republicans, Denton, of Alabama, has become one of
the most visible, in part because he:
" Convened the first hearings of the new Senate
subcommittee on terrorism and security, and com-
plained later that there was not enough emphasis in
press coverage on Soviet influence among terrorists
around the world.
CIVIL LIBERTARIANS express fears that the
subcommittee would repeat the "witch hunts" at-
tributed to similar investigations of the 1950s. Denton
denies any such intention and the panel thus far has
made no effort to identify communists working
within the United States.
Security was tight at an April 24 session where Den-
ton announced that he'd been asked by a reporter if
he was wearing a bullet-proof vest. The 56-year-old
legislator pulled open the front of his shirt and said,
"I am not."
* Sponsored legislation that would provide $30
million to promote "self-discipline and chastity"
among teen-agers. During his 1980 campaign, in
which he had the enthusiastic endorsement of the
Moral Majority, Denton said, "No nation can survive
long unless it can teach its young to withhold in-
dulgence in their sexual appetites until marriage."
HE PERSUADED Attorney General William
French Smith to drop language from a voting rights
suit alleging that officials had long attempted to per-
petuate "white supremacy" in Denton's hometown of
Mobile, Ala.
Denton said later he did not believe "my hometown
is guilty of the allegations made in the complaint,
certainly not since I've been back home."
* Became a major supporter of legislation to boost
veterans benefits for 98,000 former prisoners of war.
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