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MADISON, WISC.-Three
years ago, just two days after
Lyndon Johnson narrowly
avoided losing the primary here
by withdrawing from the race,
the voters of Madison turned
down an anti-war referendum.
It declared it to be the policy
of this city that the United
States should withdraw its
troops immediately and
"permit the people of Vietnam
to settle their own problems."
Students at the University
of Wisconsin worked hard
canvassing for the referendum, ,
older peace groups joined in,
but the anti-war side received
only 44 per cent of the vote. It
was strongly opposed by
organized labor and business
and carried only the five
"university" wards.
This month, the issue was
on the municipal ballot again,
without the drawing power of
a "peace" presidential
candidate. It was reworded, to
refer to the people of
"Southeast Asia" instead of
Vietnam. This time it was not
even opposed strongly by
veterans' groups-the West
Madison VFW endorsed the
anti-war campaign-and the
referendum carried with 66 per
cent of the vote.
What happened here should
be of some interest to those
political analysts who have
spent most of the past year
telling us that Mr. Nixon has
"defused" the war as an issue
and that something called the
"social issue"-a collection of
William F. Buckley, Jr
.Nixon and the editors
Three years ago, just before
the national political
conventions, the American
Society of Newspaper Editors .
invited Candidate Richard
Nixon to appear before it, and
to answer questions put to him
by prominent newspaper
editors. I was there, and saw
Mr. Nixon in action, answering
the questions put to him and
his principal
mission endeavoring to
persuade this community of
tough-minded men
that, notwithstanding the
weaknesses so greatly
celebrated, he was presidential
material. I remember that Mr.
Nixon insisted that the podium
be removed before he
approached the microphone.
His point was that unlike other
presidential candidates, he
didn't need notes, or
set-paragraphs. He wanted the
editors to see him there
standing directly in front of a
gaunt microphone. Even when
he delivered the so-called
Checkers speech, he did not
use a prepared text. It is
natural to desire . to exhibit
one's strength.
Last Friday, it was almost
exactly the same audience: the
newspaper editors of America.
But it was after dinner, rather
than after lunch. The audience
was dressed in black tie. The
principal speaker was not
seated at the dais throughout
the meal. The president of the
American Society of
Newspaper Editors delivered
short, graceful, witty remarks,
compressing business and just a
hint of the antic, into a brief
PAGE 4.
address which was hard to
listen to because the
amplification wasn't quite
right.
Then at about one minute
to nine, the chairman began
calling the audience to
attention. Obviously he had
supposed it would take a
minute or so to quiet the
audience. Instead, he found
himself confronted with total
silence: and that, children, will
not do. Because when the
President of the United States
is scheduled to come into the
room at 2100 hours, that does
not mean that, because the
room is ready for him at 2059
hours, you can just push the
button and say, come on in,
Mr. President. Those who are
patient in these matters will
say to themselves: there is a
reason for clockworkolatry,
and we must not permit our
normal impulses for
spontaneity to get in the way
of our recognition that reasons
of state come first, and if it has
been arranged for the President
to come in at 2100 hours, you
may not.must not, usher him in
thirty seconds earlier, let alone
a minute earlier. Suppose it
was Cape Kennedy, would you
expect Apollo 11 to blast off
at 0731, when it was set for
1732, merely on the grounds
that Walter Cronkite had run
out of steam a minute before
the scheduled time?
It isn't only the formalities ,
it is the Secret Service. The
Secret Service is permanently
traumatized as the result of its
indifferent performance in
Dallas, in 1963. I am among
those who did not affix the
blame for that tragedy on the
Secret Service, believing, as Mr.
Kennedy himself once
resignedly put it, that anyone
who is willing to sacrifice his
own life, can probably succeed
in taking the life of the
President. On the other hand
Dallas was one of those
situations where the taking of
the President's life was one
operation, and the surrender of
one's own life was an entirely
different operation, i.e., it was
altogether providential that the
killer was caught. That, really,
was the blow to the pride of
the Secret Service, who had
nothing whatever to do with
the apprehension of Lee
Harvey Oswald.
One supposes that the
Dallas experience, and the
subsequent tragedies at
Memphis and Los Angeles (for
which the SS had not direct
responsibility), were
responsible for the precautions
they take. Anyway, what
obtains nowadays is: The Rule.
And the Rule was an
appearance at 9 p. m.
This was effected well, with
the United States Marine Band
playing "Hail to the Chief".
The United States Marine Band
is not yet a target of Senator
William Fulbright. He has nt
even suggested that it is the
secret intention of Henry
Kissinger and Melvin Laird to
send the United States Marine
Band to Laos, so it performs
serenely. The President came
on, with Mrs. Nixon, who was
also there three years ago, and
looks more and more like a
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
Dresden doll, fine, ornamental,
indestructible, alluring. Mr.
Nixon, as President, didn't
need notes, any more than he
needed notes before he became
President.
The questioners circled him,
and the questions were direct,
intelligent, probing: the
questions you and I would
have wanted put to the
President. One interrogator
smoked a cigarette while he
asked his question, and that
didn't seem quite right-on the
other hand, that was the same
day that the Rock Group,
Warm Dust, was received by
the Pope, the female members
allegedly dressed in Hot Pants.
So, why can't, a guy puff
smoke into the face of the
President, while asking him
whether he intends to'
recognize Red China? The
Secret Service is not mobilized
to object. Though who knows.
Perhaps, in the future, the
Secret Service will instruct
newspaper editors when they
may smoke. After all, in Russia
they also instruct the President
what he can say.
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MICK MORIARTY, editor
CONNIE WINKLER, managing editor
JOHN DVORAK, news editor
GENE HILLMAN, advertising manager
JAMES HORNER, chairman, publications committee
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Obr. Photographers: Gall Folda, Bill Ganzel. Entertainment
editor: Larry Hubert. Literary editor: Alan Boye. East
campus editor: Marlene Timmerman. Artists: Linda Lake,
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Coordinator: Sandra Carter. Salesmen: Steve Yates, Barry
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Published Monday through Friday during the school year
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Address: The Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union.
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68508.
THURSDAY. APRIL 22. 1971