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Monday, April 8, 1968
Pog4
The Daily Nebraskon
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PL
emo;
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eaves
surprise
.Bobby
ennedy
968: for
the big
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by rhyllls AdVlsiOB
Junior Staff Writer
Brilliant, ruthless. Politician,
statesman. Hope or damnation of
the country. Controversy swirls
around Robert Francis Kennedy,
junior senator from New York, no
matter where he goes or what he
does. The winds were never so
furious as they were on March IS
when, in the senate caucus room,
backed by his wife Ethel and nine
of their 10 children, Kennedy an
nounced that he would seek the
democratic nomination for presi
dent in 1983.
Since then he has traversed
across the country wooing conven
tion votes and winning the heart
of young America. With the un
expected ennouncement of Lyn
don Johnson not to seek another
term, RFK became "the demo
crat most likely to be nominated,"
"I want the democratic party
to stand for hope," he stated. "'For
reality of the recent events in
Vietnam has been glossed over
with illusions. The report ot the
riot commission has been largely
Ignored. The crisis in gold, the
crisis In our cities, the crisis on
our farms and In our ghettos, all
have been met with too little and
too late. We can do better and
that is why I run."
Suggests bombing bait
Insisting that the South Vietna
mese government play a larger
part In the war, his suggestions
that a bombing halt be called and
negotiations started were met
with cheers throughout his tour.
When President Johnson moved in
that direction, Kennedy praised
his efforts and offered to help
In any way that he could to aid
in bringing peace to the country.
Kennedy also feels that we must
recognize that the National Liber
ation Front is going to play a
part in the future government ot
South Vietnam.
A wave of enthusiasum met him
In Watts where, as in many un-der-privilaged
areas of the coun
try, he stands for hope. One way
to amend the racial problem, not
es Kennedy, would be to offer bet
through the private sector. On the
open housing issue, Kennedy flat
ly stated that if we are to ask
any person to fight and die for
this country, we should also be
willing to have him choose where
ever he would like to live.
U.S. richest country
Noting that we are the richest
country in the world, Kennedy de
plored the farm situation. He
calls for collective bargaining in
the agricultural sector, access to
reasonable low-interest credit, and
tax incentives and credits to lure
industry into rural America.
He adds that a national food re
serve is needed for emergency
use and to feed deprived citizens.
A Harvard graduate, Kennedy's
experience and personally have
made him the only person who
candidate in 1968 after LBJ's with
drawal Johnson himself noted,
"Bobby Kennedy has been a can
didate since the first day I s a t
here." A counsel to the Joe Mdfl)
Carthy investigations subcommit
tee and the later Army-McCarthy
hearings in the middle 50's, ser
vice as Attorney General under
his late brother, and his position
as senator from the third larg
est state in the nation have given
him policial maturity that belie
his 42 years. His ptysical appeal
to a nation teeming with young
Dlood and strong ideals in unde
niable. His spirit is that of America.
With only praise for Senator
Eugene McCarthy, Kennedy has
said he will run not against but
in conjunction with the Minnesota
senator. But a confrontation is in
evitable. And as one Washington
correspondant has noted, both
men stand for the same ideals,
but America must decide if she
wants a winner. Senator Kennedy
is a winner.
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Senator Robert F. Kennedy . . . heir apparent to the Democratic
throne.
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Adlai all over again? To purists McCarthy's the man, but politics after
all is a ruthless business.
by Jim Pederson
Junior Staff Writer
"The issue of the war in Viet
nam is not a separate issue but
is one which must be dealt with
in the configuration of problems
in which it occurs. It is within
this context that I take the case
to the people of the United States."
This is a statement issued by
Senator Eugene McCarthy on No-'
vember 30, 1967, when he an
nounced his candidacy for the
presidency.
Since then Sen. McCarthy has
progressed through a campaign
labeled a joke and a protest cam
paign, to the forefront of the
fight for the Democratic presi
dential nomination.
McCarthy stunned the nation by
polling 42 of the vote in the New
Hampshire primary against
incumbent President Lyndon
Johnson, and followed up with 57
of the vote in the Wisconsin pri
mary after President Johnson
withdrew from the race.
The dignified and confident Mc
Carthy has had great success in
attracting young people. Nearly
20,000 students from surrounding
states helped organize and work
his New Hampshire campaign,
and are attributed with bringing
about much of his success.
An experienced politician, Mc
Carthy has served in the 81st,
82nd, 84th, and 86th Congress, and
has spent his last twelve years in
the Senate representing his na
tive state, Minnesota.
McCarthy has served as the
chairman of the special commit
tee on unemployment, and is pres
ently serving on the Senate Fi
nance committee and the Foreign
Relations committee.
Senator McCorthy has based
his campaign on the major issue
confronting the United States
today, the Vietnam war.
McCarthy has said that he feels
the Vietnam policy is mis
conceived and contrary to the na
tional interest, and that the only
solution is to reverse military
escalation and seek a negotiated
political settlement
In order to bring the Vietnam
war to an honorable conclusion
McCarthy proposes the following
Stop the bombing of North
Vietnam entirely and make a sin
cere attempt to negotiate.
Stop offensive "search and
conve
destroy" missions.
Begin a phased drawback of
American troops and a reduction
in commitment to force the Sai
gon regime r ke on more mili
tary responsibilities.
Press Saigcn authorities to
bring representative civilians into
the government and negotiate with
the National Liberation Front
Any coalition should be decided
by the Vietnamese people them
selves. McCarthy has linked his pol
icies on inflation, taxes, city prob
lems, civil rights, and the gold
drain with the war in Vietnam.
McCarthy feels that the recent .
ten percent income tax surcharge
request by the president was un
wise, unfair, and ill-timed.
According to McCarthy the sur
charge will not curtail the infla
tion which he asserts is stimu
lated directly by the Vietnam
war.
Rising inflation, balance of pay
ments crisis, and the gold drain
are proportionate to the expendi
tures in Vietnam, McCarthy
says.
McCarthy feels that the elimina
tion of slums and the creation of
he 11
q,t to
o
fi tion
a healthy environment In the
cities is a neccessity. We must
establish a vigorous national hous
ing program which will include
annual rehabilitation of living
units, regardless of whether the
nation is at war, according to Mc
Carthy. McCarthy has long been a sup
porter and sponsor of Civil Rights
legislation including the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting
Right Act of 1965.
McCarthy claims that the time
has come to define a civil rights
program which would give Ne
proes these four guarantees:
first, the right k edticauoa; sec
ond, the right to a job and de
cent recompense for work; third,
the right to physical helath and
bodily security; and fourth, the
right to decent housing.
In the light of recent violence
in the cities, McCarthy feels that
crime and rioting should be dealt
with harshly and firmly. Yet
there would not be such rioting,
according to McCarthy if we al
leviate the conditions in our cities
of inadequate homing, limited job
opportunities, and inadequate wel
fare programs.
w
allace presents third wheel
to imbalance 1968 election
Racing from one engage
ment to the next on his cam
paign rounds, pumping hands
always smiling, always con
fident that is how one re
porter has described former
Gov. George C. Wallace.
Wallace, dissatisfied with
the Democratic party plat
form, is heading the Ameri
can Independent Party and
hopes to win in a unique way.
The third-party candidate
seen by several political in
terpreters as a threat to poll
enough votes to throw the
November election to the
House of Representatives
where each state would have
one vote in deciding the next
president.
Should the election go to
the House, Wallace could then
use political sway with the
Southern states and in t h e
end be the sole determiner
of who moves into the White
House.
Wallace speaks of his own
history at every opportunity:
he is the son of a dirt farm
er, he once drove a cab to
help pay his college expenses,
he married a dime-store clerk
and -that he is a part of the
"common folks' toward who
he directs his appeals.
The cigar-smoking Alabam
an is not timid about expound
ing on any issue, hut he does
tsui to shy away from ior-l
eign affairs and concentrate
on domestic problems.
At the top of Wallace's
black list is the American
"socia5-t.liberalist presss;
the traitorous academic free
dom boys" on college facul
ties who criticize the war;
the Supreme Court "which
doesn't have enough sense to
try a chicken thief;" and the
"high falutin eggheads" who
Wallace feels have infiltrated
every level of federal gov
ernment, usurping the pow
ers that ought to be held at
the local level by his "com
mon folks."
Concerning Vietnam, he
wants to turn the "war mess"
over to the joint chiefs of
Staff because there is t o o
much interference from
Washington politicians.
Besides assailing "treason
ous war dissenters, Wallace
has advocated that we cut
off all foreign aid to coun
tries not in support of the
American position in Vienam.
The former governor of Al
abama has a lingering repu
tation outside the South as
a racist, but he tries to over
come this by saying that he
feels "Alabama should be al
lowed to do what it wants
and you folks up here should
be allowed to do what you
want""
Yet he has verbally assail
ed Negro rioters and he pro
poses to terminate free bus
service for all Negro pupils
to predominately white
schools.
In Omaha last month, as
the husband of Alabama's
governor stepped off the plane
surrounded by his own secur
ity guards, he was greeted
with "black power" chanting
of several young Negroes
who had called to Wallace to
shake their hands and he
did.
But Wallace said in Omaha
that he has "never made a
speech in his life that reflect
ed on anyone's race, creed
or color" and that "the over
whelming majority of Ne
groes are against a break
down of law and order.'
Among his other proposals,
Wallace has said that he fa
vors near-elimination of the
foreign aid program, that he
is ready to investigate the
Peace Corps and that he
would "eliminate this whole
damn poverty program"
which has reached its fullest
proportions during the John
son administration.
In a general summation,
Wallace says he feels that
"the solution to problems can
best be found in an orderly
society within the context of
free enterprise and free pro
perty systems which made
our country."
Wallace lambasts the Dem
ocratic and Republican par
ties with, "Not a dime's
worth of difference between
them, while he praises
"working people" and the po
lice and cries out against
street violence.
"George Wallace," said for
mer CORE director James
Farmer, "is a serious politi
cal candidate, an articulate,
intelligent man yno &as a
message to sell and is sell
ing it very effectively."
But others are not so quick
to agree, especially those in
the two other parties.
Former Vice President
Richard Nixon has said that
Wallace's vote will not be sig
nificant in November, and
current Vice President Hu
bert Humphrey was quoted,
"If Wallace runs, all hell got
is exercise."
But according to John C
Twoley, a teacher in the De
partment of communication
Arts at Notre Dame:
"Wallace is a former Gold
en Gloves champion, and he
knows the value of swinging
hard in the late rounds. i
ntmiuiwiuMuiMuumimimnmiiminim
LBJ's suprise retreat
1
leaves senators naming
I shall not seek and 1 1 politics began among the peo-
wui not accept the nomma-iple. It was largely the ex
tion of my party for another
term as your President . . .
With those stunning words,
Lyndon Baines Johnson, the
3Sth United States President
dropped the political bomb
shell which threw the Demo
cratic presidential race into
a two-way confrontation.
By announcing his decision,
which he said was "irrevoca
ble," Johnson thus leaves Sen
ators Robert Kennedy (N.Y.)
and Eugene McCarthy (Minn,
in the race for the Democra
tic presidential bid.
"This change in American
pression of their will that
changed the shape of Amer
ican politics. Now they have
a different choice to make,"
McCarthy said of the Texan's
decision not to seek renomi
nation. Although Johnson had been
elected in 1964 by the largest
majority ever given a Uni
ted State President it was
evident that growing foreign
and domestic issues had
dragged down his popularity.
Vietnam and crime in the
nation's cities undoubtedly
caused, in the opinions of
many political observers,
Johnson's popularity to hit an
all time low last week.
In a Gallup poll just 36
per cent of those questioned
approved of LBJ's conduct in
the presidency and only 26
per cent approved of his con
duct of the Vietnam war. j
In the March 12 New
Hampshire presidential pri
mary, the nation's first vote,
Johnson pulled 50 per cent of
the Democratic vote, while
McCarthy tallied 42 per cent'
In the April 2 Wisconsin
primary, two days after
Johnson announced his unex
pected move, McCarthy drew
fV"" 1 " p""V " l LM .
1
V
Retiring bet hardly retreating -. . a younger President pumping
hands on the campaign treH.
E
E
57 per cent of the Democra
tic vote, Johnson achieved 35
per cent and Kennedy drew
6 per cent on a write-in cam
paign. However, the first bona fide
showdown between the two
opposing senators will come
at the May 7 Indiana presi
dential primary and the fol
lowing week in Nebraska's
all-star primary.
"Until Lyndon got out of
it, it was like three-cushion
bfflards, McCarthy said af
ter the Badger state's elec
tion. "Bobby could hit me only
if he banked it off Lyndon.
was a case of who could
hit Lyndon most and he
seemed to be winning. Now
he will have to hit o; direct
ly." In an effort to bring peace
talks between the United
States and North Vietnam,
Johnson said in his speech
last Sunday that fce is halting
nearly all air an' sea action
against North Vietnam.
In the annual State of the
Union address to a joint ses
sion of Congress Jan. 17, the
incumbent President touched
on many of the problems,
both domestic and foreign,
that haunt this ratios,
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