Gen. Westmoreland:
American ideal or
history's prisoner?
News Opinion by
DAVE BRINK
Nebraskan Staff Writer
A butcher with the blood of
40,000 American boys on his
hands or a great military
leader?
William Westmoreland was
called these things and more as
he won the admiration of many
youth and most of their elders
during his weekend in Lincoln.
At the same time, he was scorn
ed with voices and placards by a
small group of war pro
testers. There are undoubtably many
draft age men 1 (and their
women) who don't see
Westmoreland" as the . shining
knight on a white horse. But,
they may' be beating a dead
horse since the general got
"kicked upstairs" following the
disastrous Tet Offensive that
took place during his tenure as
Vietnam commander.
Still, he is the Army Chief of
Staff and, whether peace freak
or hardhat Nebraskans
can't be too choosy about theFr
symbolic figures of protest.
Demonstrators at the hotel
thought the, General looked;
very ''uptight" and un
comfortable during the brief .
confrontation.. He still seemed
ill at ease under the floodlights
during his Saturday press con
ference. Westmoreland answered;
questions about f o o t b a 1 1
censorship in the Army troop
withdrawals and the Middle
East in a confident, although
fairly predictable manner. He
talked about a volunteer army,
which he opposes because he
doesn't think it can attract
enough men and about ROTC,
which in Westmoreland's opi
nion, is "good for the in
dividual" and the nation.
On Vietnam he said that the
United States doesn't "want to
influence them (the Viet
Signs, slogans
Some of the signs readr
"Mom and Dad Your silence
is killing me;" "War is good
business, Invest your son;" and
"Must we see any more op
pression?" The chants were not new:
"Peace now." "One two
three, four What in the hell are
we fighting for?"
But the object of this protest
was new. Never before had
Nebraskans been given the op
portunity to show an Army
Chief of Staff what they thought
of the Vietnam War.
"Gen. William C
Westmoreland is one of the
tithor of t!e war," Fdgar A.
Peartstein proftsior of
physics, said at a Friday rally
in the Nebraska Union. "We've
got to show the people ol this
state that he can't come on our
campus unnoticed."'
Westmoreland, commander
of allied troops In Vietnam
from 1963 to 1968, flew Into
Lincoln late Friday for a
speech at the Radisson
Cornhusker Hotel. He left town
after the football game Saturday.
namese) into a mold of ours"
but added that some
Americanization is "helpful."
"helpful."
After the other newspaper
people left, he stopped for a
informal chat with a handful of
middle-aged ladies about
their son's military service. As
he spoke with them, a different,
more relaxed man began to
emerge. From spit shined
shoes to a chest filled with the
ribbons from three wars, the
, graying officer reminded me of
a Steve Canyon, a paragon of
the old American masculine
ideal. ; . ,
He mentioned universities,
saying that men should go into
' the military where they could
mature before college and fhen,
as veterans, make better
students. He talked of always
being against college
deferments and how he felt that
some students' anti-war views
were'Yationalizations" of their
failure to serve the country.
When he discovered that I
had served under him in Asia,
the general asked about my
Army experiences and related
some of his. He spoke of having
a brother-in-law in my division,
who was killed in Vietnam. I
kept thinking that this man had
so much of himself invested in
the Army and the war that no
matter how bad it became he
would have to go on defending
it. Because if Vietnam was
wrong then Westmoreland must
also be wrong.
Finally, he shook hands and
strode away down the hall ac
companied by his aides. As I
checked my hand for any blood
that might have rubbed off, one
of the ladies sighed "He looks
so much better in person than
on TV." Giggling like ninth
graders admiring the high
school football hero, the others
nodded in agreement.
About 250 students, a few
faculty members and some non
students marched to the front
door of the hotel after the Union
rally. There could be little
doubt they were noticed.
Cocktail sipping businessmen
attending conventions at the
hotel crowded around doors
and windows to observe the
boisterous, predominately long
haired group of young people.
Westmoreland was behind
schedule so the protestors sat
stood and reclined on the
sidewalk, waiting. From time
to time they chanted anti-war
slogans quipped with police
officers who guarded the group
and ate donuts and rolls.
Then the general in a sleek
black automobile, convoyed by
Lincoln police droye up to the
front door. Students, held back
by police, crowded forward so
that the general and his staff
had only about a four-foot-wide
passage to the door.
Demonstrators shouted,
"Peace now" and "Stop the
War."
. Westmoreland strode to the
hotel door smiling slightly and
't it i r i
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Gen. Westmoreland
v
greet Westmoreland
nodding to the demonstrators.
He went straight to his eighth
floor suite. The demonstrators
returned to campus, as
peacefully as they had come.
Many of the sume people
gathered, again Saturday af
ternoon east of Memorial
Stadium. They carried many of
the same signs and shouted
"LADIES
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Welcome, Gen. Westmoreland
many of the same slogans.
Many of the football fans who
passed the protest seemed to
agree with a banker at the
hotel who said the day before,
"It's all a waste of time. I think
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Hotel admist anti-war slogans
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they're rude."
Gov. tiert T. Tiemann,
one of Westmoreland's hosts,
concuriiJ. "It's a shameful
way to treat a U.S. dignitary "
he said.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1970
THE NEBRASKAN
PAGE 11