Wednesday, September 11, 1968
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DAILY
Commeiniteiry
NEBRASKAN
Editorials
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Rumblings . . .
Not since the fall of 1965, when Carl Davidson
announced with some truth that he and his rag-tag
band had every administration In the United States
running scared, have there been so many rumblings
of dissent at the University.
Radical students, though still a minority, are
here in greater force than ever before. Some are
veterans of the Davidson days, the pink-cheeked
kids who left here two years ago and have returned
looking like hardened revolutionaries. Many more
were clean-cut youths last spring who have returned
dispirited, disenchanted, and looking for a cause.
IN SUCH a climate, threats abound. Some are
claiming they will take over the University in the
spring. Others want to dissolve the conservative
student senate. Many more just want to register
their protest against the Mayor Daleys of the world.
Whatever the complaints, the hopes, the threats
or the numbers .involved in "The Movement",
however, it is unlikely that administrators are
shaking in their shoes. The radicals of 1968 have
a problem the radicals of 1965 didn't worry about:
they have no leader.
Craig Dreeszen, the ASUN president elected
In last spring's non-election, has proved his standing
as a radical, but he has not emerged as a leader,
either of the student senate or of the radicals.
Phil Scribner, the most talented activist in the
philosophy department, has enrolled too many
"straights" in his New Party to suit the younger
radicals. Many of them are considerably miffed
at the success of his effort, however.
THE STUDENTS for a Democratic Society
(SDS) died for all practical purposes when
Davidson left. The students who still claim
membership in the society are making various
feeble noises, but their actions are meant mainly
as a diversionary tactic to draw attention away
from the Peace and Freedom party, currently the
hangout of most of the veteran radicals.
If any student-administration confrontation is
to take place between this leaderless mass and
the establishment, an issue is needed. The faceless
administration of Nebraska moves with such cau
tion that it does not often provide the kind of
material that excites young radicals to action.
The hard core of the radicals are just plain
angry that the administration exists, but it is
unlikely that they can draw enough followers to
cause trouble unless the administration really steps
on some toes.
Chancellor Hardin and Co., however, would be
advised to tread softly this year. The material
for a Columbia riot is not here, but there are
enough concerned, eloquent students to assure that
the administration will be in trouble if it pursues
unjust policies such as the careless expansion into
the Malone Center.
The administration has a right to expect the
radicals to treat them fairly and not mount un
founded attacks on them. The students of this
University also have a right, to expect our
administrators to act carefully and morally. If the
administration fails, students have the right to
resist
The Carpenter . . .
Hubert Humphrey crawled into his coffin quite
obediently for a fighting politician. Mayor Daley
and his crew nailed it down with their nightsticks,
and there you were.
Gene McCarthy and his little band fought it
with all they had, but Daley nailed them in too.
AS A CARPENTER, Mayor Daley was quite
efficient. Almos: as good, in fact, as the architect,
That Man from Texas. They have built themselves
and the Democratic Party right out of power.
The press has pulled too many punches in talk
ing about Daley. What the Chicago police did was
Inexcusable. It was brutality. It completely justified
all the cries of fascism and all the references
to Nazi Germany that it engendered.
MAYOR DALEY is the sickening example of
what McCarthy and his people set out to change.
What he allowed to happen in Chicago probably
did not change the outcome of the election, but
it certainly prevented any hope the Democrats
might have had this fall.
Before Chicago, there may have been some
doubt about who the enemy was or about why
things like Columbia happen. There is no longer
any doubt Revolution? Why not.
L How Long?
How long is the Omaha World-Herald going
to keep reminding us that the Pueblo is still in
North Korean bands?
JackTadd
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CHICAGO.
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Larry Grossman .
When I heard the news of
the Soviet invasion o f
Czechoslovakia, I felt a deep
sense of shock and disap
pointment. I had shared the
popular idea that the Russ
ians had finally achieved a
sense of international
responsibility and would con
centrate on their own affairs
and leave their neighbors
alone.
The reform movement in
Czechoslovakia seemed to in
dicate that Eastern European
Communism had matured
and could evolve along in
dependent lines suited to the
desires of individual nations.
I cheered the Czechs as they
set about the business of
replacing twenty years of op
pression with eight months of
relative freedom. But then
came the invasion followed by
a week or so of tragi-comic
resistance and finally the
fading of the theme in a
cadence of clanking tank
Our Man Hoppe ...
A battle won
By Art Hoppe
Herewith is another
unwritten chapter in that
political history of our times,
"The Making of a Loser
1968." . It's title, "A Signal
Victory at the Democratic
Convention."
In retrospect, the greatest
single achievement of the 1968
Democratic Convention was
that it finally adjourned.
The vote came on a
minority report challenging a
minority report rejecting a
majority report's rejection of
a minority report
AFTER A BITTER floor
fight the tally was announced
as 14 ayes, 12 no's, 22 dead,
73 injured and 2162 the-hell-with-its.
"The overwhelming adop
tion of this measure," party
chairman John M. Bailey an
nounced elatedly, "shows that
a united Democratic Party is
now ready to march forward
shoulder to shoulder to vic
tory in November.'
Unfortunately, the motion
to adjonra was not adopted
onto November 17 twe
weeks after the general elec
tion. Though a long convention,
most observers agreed that
it had its high points. Who
will ever forget, for example.
John Connally on September
13 leading bis Texans in a
massed "banzai-you-aD"
charge on New York amid
cries of "Remember the
Alamo and Marvin Watson."
Summer, smoke and sorrow
treads and machine gun fire.
THE UNITED STATES
stayed true to form by having
another summer of racial
violence. Although Summer
'68 was not as severe as
previous years, some ominous
signs appeared.
The Cleveland riot, in which
11 people were killed in an
hour and a half in a carefully
planned ambush, seems to
indicate that black militants
have taken a page from
Chairman Mao and will now
engage in guerilla style con
frontations with the police.
The bodies of the slain black
snipers were crisscrossed
with bandoleers of cartridges
and by their sides were found
M-16 rifles fitted with infra
red scopes.
Perhaps the most shocking
event which upset the na
tional equilibrium this sum
mer was the battle o f
Michigan Avenue during the
Or the exciting "Rape of
Kansas' in the early morning
hours of September 21 when
a brave band of Tennessee
mountaineers caught the
Kansas delegates napping and
carried off their women
kicking and screaming.
Or the capture by California
on October 14 of the towering
television-camera platform in
the center of the convention
floor Jesse Unruh and his
besieged forces gallantly
holding out for 16 days until
they were reduced to eating
month-old press releases.
BUT WHILE the convention
had its exciting moments, the
hardships of the delegates
mounted. The custom during
the first week of adjourning
for a few hours every day
or so had to be abandoned
primarily because no
agreement could be reached
on when to reconvene. Or
anything else.
So " the delegates were
meeting around the clock.
And as their hair and beards
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Editorial Staff
Editor Jwt Tidd: MsauiBf Editor E4 bvnogle; News rTlilor Lyn Gottsekaik;
Mifht Kews Fillet KrM Or-ksm; Editonsl Put Assistant Mill Marrrll; Asnotsal
Viiht sx-m Editor PHI MedraM: guorts Editor Mark Ora; Aastsuat fcporu Editor
Bunds Vrt; ftariar fcutH sVnlan: Jotm Dvorak, Larry Fv-lkholl. beorgs Kaufman,
Julie Uorris. Jim Pnkrsea; iauar Surf Writers: Bart Deams, Terry Crotoe. HUy
ftosenriefeer. Bill &mitiermsa, Cooaie Winkler: ferny- Copy Ht"r J"n H's-finer:
Copy fAium- Phyllis A4kisa, Dave Pilipi, Jons Waxeoaer. Aadres Woods; Photo.
rap tine, Vast taMclyj rotwapoa
1 II
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Chicago Democratic Conven
tion. Two returning veterans
of the fracas told me grisly
stories of undisciplined police,
a rag-tag mob of hippies, hard
core radicals, yippies, anti
war liberals, and innocent by
standers fighting it out for
two nights in front of national
television.
The protesters were break
ing the law with their illegal
parades, assemblies, and
meetings, but the Chicago ci
ty officials and police
department ignored and
disgraced the law by their ir
responsible and brutal ac
tions. The rest of the world con
vulsed when the Gaullist
government was almost top
pled by an alliance of
students and workers pro
testing an outmoded educa
tional and economic system.
As if set in motion by sym
an election lost
grew, so did security pro
blems. "I'm not letting a
bunch of hippies in here to
bother the delegates," said
the chief security officer
firmly.
"Those are the delegates,
sir," said his assistant
Conseqnently, security
measures were tightened. All
delegates were tattooed and
dyed bine (alternates,
orange; pros, muve;
guests, cerise).
Entry to the convention hall
was gained only after spec
troscopic saliva tests (green
for Monday, purple for Tues
day and so on.) And after
placing his credential in the
special electronic slot the
delegate followed It
But the convention was not
without its fortunate side
benefits. "To think." said
Huntley to Brinkley o n
November 2 as a Georgia
delegate was skewered on
Maine's standard, "that the
American public can see this
whole convention live, for it
He.
7J-&, Bariaeaa 472-2M.
Jim aoaw; AruWs Brcn Skifiaex as bait
pathetic vibrations, students
in Italy, Mexico, West
Germany, Brazil, and Poland
demonstrated for real and
imaginary causes.
AND MORE . . . starving
children in Biafra, earth
quakes in Iran and Turkey,
artillery duels between Israel
and the Arabs ... the list.
Perhaps the times are no
worse than they have ever
been but everything seems to
be happening at once and
getting closer to home.
One cannot be pessimistic
because a glance at history
will show you that calamity
and disorder have always
plagued and characterized
mankind. Somehow we
blunder through and survive.
But in the meantime the
world convulses along.
Perhaps as a friend suggested
the other day, the only safe
refuge from the madness
around us is the military.
is the ultimate in democracy
in action."
What was fortunate was
that after the first three days
no one was watching. And
thus democracy was saved.
Chronicle Features
Notes from
left field
It's awfully lonely out here
in left field these days. There
just isn't much action coming
this way. Some feisty punk
from Alabama is stealing all
the bases and this real ugly
guy with a long nose who
never shaves is playing cen
terfield clear from left field
to right field.
At the start of the season
when some new fella named
McCarthy was batting around
300, a lotta balls came this
way. He's a left handed bat
ter, you know. But he hurt
hrs knee in August and things
really slowed down after that
Most of us rookies the old
timers call us "the new left"
are thinking about quitting
the game. All the grandstand
can see now is that kid from
the south and the center
fielder. As far as this left-fielder
goes, he's going to forget
about who gets the pennant.
He's gonna be going to a lot of
football games instead. And
he'll be screaming "Go big
red." with all the other fans.
Dan Looker
George Kaufman
Truth survives
political bedlam
Due to all the confusion about what really
happened in Chicago during the Democratic con.,
vention, I felt it my duty to step in and clear
the air of all unfortunate myths and misconcep-:
tions and give the real, true, inside story of what;
really, truly happened.
The first person I interviewed was a McCarthy
worker who had stayed in the Conrad Hilton during
the week and had a bird's-eye view of all the
proceedings. Here, I said, I would obtain the real
truth of what happened from someone who was ...
there. And everybody knows a McCarthy kid
wouldn't lie.
"WAS THERE really police brutality?" I asked,
feeling it important not to hedge around.
"Why, there certainly was," he replied. "Ifl
fact, it was an almost Daley occurence."
"That's a very cute pun," I said, for I really
did admire the wit behind it. I wish I could write
things like that. "But what I'm trying to do is
to get to the truth of what happened from someone
who was there and saw it all. I think it's important '.
to our nation, to it's people and to the entire
world."
That sobered him immediately, for he was
really a clean kid.
"I'm sorry," he said, "but I really haven't
been the same since the convention."
"That's alright," I reassured him. "Now, there
are just a few questions I want to ask you in
order to clear this up. Now, isn't it right that
you went there in order to change things by going
through the legal channels and working within the
Democratic party but when you found the party
to be riddled with bossism and that the party
oldtimers completely ignored the wishes of the
people in the nation's primaries you marched
peacefully in order to show your frustration and
anger and you were then brutally attacked by
Chicago police even though you were just trying
to march without any incidents?"
"Naw, we just wanted to bnst a few cops
heads, man. I mean, yon should have seen those
bottles from the 15th floor. It was really beautiful
the way they sailed out there and Whack!, hit
some bull right on his damned blue helmet. Man,
they were really pigs."
I was shocked. "But what about the convention?
All that work all year to get McCarthy elected?"
"Oh, that. We gave up on the election a month
ago. We just wanted to raise a little action with
the fuzz."
I walked away, dazed. Surely, this could not
be one of America's finest who had gone Clean
For Gene. Where were all the high motives? The
ideals? Then it hit me. Perhaps the other side
was right after all. So I called the Chicago police
department. When the man answered I introduced
myself and explained that I was looking for the
truth behind the convention riots.
HE SAID HE had been on the line that night
himself and would be glad to explain it.
"Oh," I said, "You don't really have to explain.
I just talked to a McCarthy kid who had been
there and what he said really shocked me. I think
I have it figured out now, I just wanted to confirm
it. Now the McCarthy kids came out and provoked
you into an open fight in front of the TV cameras
even though you were just there to protect the
property at the hotel and had orders not to hurt
anyone, right?"
"Oh, no. We had orders to get as many of
the damned degenerates as we could. After all,
you can't have a bunch of Commies and Maoists
running around right there in the middle of a
national convention. Hell, I caught one little long
haired sissie right on the side of the head. Pow!
Went out like a light. Didn't even grunt when
my buddy kicked him in the ribs."
BY THIS TIME I was really disconcerted. I
had started out to get the truth, and here I had
two conflicting reports. How could this be? They
were both there.
Then, suddenly, I realized what I was doing,
wrong. I had asked two people who were involved
in the action. I should have asked someone who
was there, but who was unprejudiced, completely
unbiased and objective. So I went down to the
local newspaper and talked with the editor, who
had gone and seen the whole thing with an objective
set of trained reporter's eyes.
When I explained what I was trying to do, -he
immediately understood and began telling me
the real scoop.
"Oh, it was awful, all those young hoodlums "
causing all that trouble. Why can't they understand
that it's wrong for them to do these things? Why
can't they work through the proper channels? All
they're doing is hurting themselves. The Chicago
police set an example for the rest of the nation." "
"But I thought you went as an unbiased
observer of the events of our time, an unprejudiced
chronicler?" I said, remembering my Journalism
School teachings.
"Well, once there, of course, I didn't allow
any of my outside feelings to interfere with my
reporting. As I always say, a newsman must leave
bis prejudicies at the door anywhere he goes."
"That's commendable," I said, writing it down
In my notebook. "But getting back to the question,
was it really that bad?"
"Bad? It was terrible the way those unruly
students attacked the police. Threw things at them,
called them dirty names and spit in their faces.
Ill never forget that night."
That did it. I thanked him and left in a mood
of despair and frustration. I would never be able
to tell my readers the truth. As I went out the
door into the sunlight, I angrily kicked a parking
meter and a nickel trickled out and bounced on
the pavement.
"Hey, you, kid!"
I turned around and it was a Lincoln policeman,
getting out his nightstick.
"Now look, officer, I was only . . .