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friday, november 3, 1 972
lincoln, nebraska vol. 96, no. 36
v.
Anderson contrasts presidential candidates
by Bart Becker
Jack Anderson Thursday told a standing room only
audience that choice in next Tuesday's election is
between "a v who bleeds and sweats for the
people" and 'a inun who is completely pragmatic."
The nationally syndicated columnist described
George McGovern as "a decent man, a compassionate
man.
"Before he got involved in presidential politics, any
senator would have named George McGovern one of
the most decent men in the Senate," Anderson said.
"He is a man of such basic decency and integrity that
politics becomes awkward for him."
Anderson said the Eagleton fiasco was one instance
in which McGovern's compassionate nature caused
him to stub a political toe. By the time the
"political" George McGovern got into it, the damage
was done, according to Anderson.
Anderson said President Nixon has more clearly
defined private and political personalities.
"A friend of mine who stayed with the Nixons for
three weeks says the President is basically a warm
human being and an introvert," Anderson
commented. "But the political Nixon is characterized
by a singlemindedness, an overpowering ambition and
rugged self-discipline in his drive for the presidency."
However, Anderson said, Nixon himself doesn't
separate his two identities.
"When you hit hard you get hit back" the
Washington columnist said. "It was the political
Richard Nixon who did the hitting. The private
Nixon got hit back.
"It left permanent psychological injury. It instilled
a hostility toward the press and the Democrats. He is
the most partisan President ever."
Anderson who was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in
1972, went on to describe Nixon as a "highly
competent" President. He said Nixon requires his
subordinates to present him with every possible
solution to problems.
Nixon then pores over the paperwork before
making a decision. Anderson called him the master of
paperwork, but stressed that Nixon dislikes human
confrontation.
The columnist said at a news conference that the
current presidential campaign is plagued by more
dirty pool than ever before. In the past, Anderson
said, campaign pranks were the order of the day but
"it is quite a more sordid thing today."
He accused Nixon of responsibility in the
Watergate incident.
"The Committee to Re-elect the President is
responsible," Anderson said. "The President, I
understand, is Richard Nixon.
"If he takes the credit for the good things his
administration does-and they have done some good
things-he has to take the blame for the blunders.
Anderson indicated he thought Nixon would
emerge with a larger number of votes in next
Tuesday's election. But he said Nixon's large
statistical support is misleading because it disregards
the human, emotional factor.
"People will be voting with a lump in their throat,"
the investigative columnist said. "Richard Nixon isn't
going to win the election so much as George
McGovern is going to lose it."
" Wish we had a better choise," Anderson said. "I
believe the President should inspire us. Richard Nixon
doesn't. Lyndon Johnson didn't. John Kennedy-I
think so."
Anderson, delivering In an almost evangelistic style,
recounted anecdotes of his years in Washington. He
paid particular tribute to John F. Kennedy as the
presidential epitome.
Anderson further opined that the power of the
presidency corrupts.
"There is something about that high office that
changes men," he said. "We elect the president to be
our servant. But after a few weeks, he no longer feels
like a servant."
Anderson noted the press is the watchdog of the
government and used anecdotes from his own
experience to point out how difficult the watchdog
position can be. He said official policy is made in
secret a"nd compared White House decision making to
that of the Soviet Kremlin.
"The difference is that here we have the right to
dig out the secrets," Anderson said.
He urged the audience to vote in the coming
election.
"The citizen, collectively, has the most important
function in this democracy. It's awfully important to
me, I hope it's important to you. Get out and vote."
Earlier Anderson had commented about
disparaging remarks he had made about Nebraska's U.
S. Senators in a recent Playboy magazine interview.
He had called Carl Curtis and Roman Hruska the
nation's two worst senators.
"I can't understand how one state can produce
such lousy senators," Anderson said Thursday. "They
don't represent Nebraska. They represent big business
in the East."
He said Curtis is held in "the lowest esteem by all
but the most partisan Republicans." Even the straight
Republicans hold a dim view of Curtis privately, but
endorse him for political purposes, according to the
Washington writer.
"The majority of the members of the U.S. Senate
are good, honest men," Anderson said. "There a few
rascals and a few dolts. Nebraska has supplied us with
two of the dolts."
Anderson told of an instance in which he had
queried a senator on a trivial matter which was on the
Senate floor. The senator had replied that another
senator "has a bowel pain that he thinks is an idea.
When he stands up it will go away."
"That's the story I always remember when Roman
Hruska stands up to speak," Anderson said.
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Echoes of
honesty,
decency
Daily Nebraskan staff writer Sara Schwieder spent
Thursday with Washington columnist Jack Anderson and
presents some of her observations here.
by Sara Schwieder
He sits beneath the sweltering lights in the midst of a
crowd, pressured by the crowd's continuously moving arms
and legs, pushing the limits of his time and energy, quietly
bearing the weight of numerous and heavy matters. But Jack
Anderson always preaches the same line: Honesty is the best
policy.
Anderson's ultimate judgment of his fellow beings blooms
delicately from what he calls "decency." But Anderson's
"decency" is, in reality, a number of qualities that make truly
moral men . . . wisdom, integrity, honesty and sensitivity. One
also senses that, above anything else, Anderson calls upon
himself to be a truly moral man. He has probed inside himself
for his version of one who lives his life well.
That he demands much from himself is well and good, for
he could not castigate those that need it if he did not set an
example of good conduct
Photoi by Dan Litdoly
His speech, in private, is witty and poetic. He's got five
laugh lines and a mild demeanor that at once endears him to a
crowd. He doesn't talk like he writes. His speech flows and
moves and borders on a metaphorical garden: he bleeds and
sweats for you, he places you in big black leather chairs, he
puts you in the evening dust in front of French windows.
Anderson is a poet sometimes, but one that deflowers his
speech to fit it into terse news columns -for deeply felt
political purposes. Anderson says he believes wholeheartedly
in liberty and truth, and spends his life fighting for those
precious rights through the news columns with the ardor of
the preacher-man.
There was a strange resemblance to the preacher-man as
Anderson stood before an overflow crowd in the Centennial
Room Thursday. His slightly wrinkled red shirt and definitely
wrinkled pants grew damp and weary as he exhorted the
crowd: "Thoma's Jefferson understood about power. He knew
the government needed a watchdog. The press must do it or
our freedoms will erode away."
