n Daily
s
II x x f A
Friday, October 29, 1982
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 82, No. 51
Jordan: History will look favorably on Carter
By Pat Higgins
Hamilton Jordan, Chief of Staff in
the Carter administration, came to the
Nebraska Bookstore Thursday afternoon
to peddle copies of his new book. Jordan's
book is titled "Crisis: The Last Year of
the Carter Presidency."
Portions of the book were excerpted
in Newsweek recently, and it is climbing
the best-seller list. Sporting a conservat
ive blue suit with a red tie, Jordan dis
played a wry sense of humor and a fair
amount of candor on a wide range of
topics including Jimmy Carter, Ronald
Reagan, writing and beer.
"Crisis: The Last Year of the Carter
Presidency" has been praised by literary
critics for being well written.
"I'm not sure if I am a writer. I've
never written in this style till this book.
Most of the writing I've done has been
of an analytical nature on politics," Jor
dan said.
Jordan said he read Southern writers
including William Faulkner and Thomas
Wolfe while growing up in Georgia. Be
fore this book, Jordan was best known
as a writer when he drafted the blue
print plan for Carter to win the presid
ency in 1976.
"If we would have lost nobody would
have remembered that plan," Jordan said.
In addition to teaching at Emory Univer
sity in Atlanta, Jordan spent the last year
researching and writing his book.
History kind
History will judge the Carter administ
ration more kindly than current public
opinion does, Jordan said. Since leaving
office, he hasn't been in close contact
with Carter.
"Maybe history will judge by the sales
figures of the book. It's on the best-seller
lists now. You don't mind me being
immodest, do you?"
On a personal basis, Jordan was most
pleased with his role in the Camp David
peace process. The most serious failure
of the Carter administration was dealing
with inflation, he said.
"We didn't focus on inflation early
enough. The economic policy of those
four years ,were a series, of reactions to
world energy prices," Jordan said. 4When
we ame in oil was $8 a barrel. When we
left it cost $35," he said.
"As far as personal accomplishments
go, I'm proud that I convinced President
Carter to call the Camp David summit.
It seemed that if problems between Is
real and Egypt couldn't be solved by
the three principals, the diplomatic bur
eaucracy could never do it."
In his book, Jordan describes some
inner workings of diplomacy that were
down home in. approach. One anecdote
involves Panamanian strongman Gen. Tor
rijos giving Jordan a six-pack to go when
leaving Panama.
Personal attacks
While in Washington, Jordan was
subject to a series of allegations con
cerning his personal behavior.
"None of those charges were true at
all. Somebody would make an anonymous
charge and then I would deny it. It seemed
like the denial would never catch up to
the allegation," he said.
Because most of the inner circle of the
Carter administration was from Georgia,
Jordan said, the Washington establish
ment was suspicious of them.
. "There we were, from Georgia of all
pTaC8sr WeweWdTfcrv WCirfettelh'bfnf'
we'd been from Nebraska. There was
an enormous curiosity about the presii
dent and his people. That left us very
vulnerable to those charges but that's
just part of being in government these'
days," he Said.
The. elections on Tuesday have been
overplayed, Jordan said. If the Demo
crats gain around 20 seats in the House
as has been frequently predicted, not
much will change in Washington.
I
sun
J&UKitaA I Ail
I!
ij,,, f T
V- !
Staff Photo by Dave Bent
Hamilton Jordan, chief of staff during the Carter administration, autographs a
- copy of his new book during a session at Nebraska Bookstore Thursday.
"I live in a little town in Georgia. You years, Jordan said.
probably have better information than
I do on the election. People have a na
tural inclination to want the president
to succeed. I want him to succeed. I
pay taxes, too," Jordan said.
The Carter administration had to
take both credit and blame for the eco
nomy within a few months after taking
office, he said. President Reagan still is
blaming President Carter after nearly two
I think it s bogus. To his credit,
President Reagan had his entire econo
mic program passed withint a few months
after taking office, . but he only takes
credit for the good things in the econ
omy," Jordan said.
Jordan said there is a record number
of unemployed and farm failures and
the federal budget will have the larg-
Continued on Page 2
Union Board denies request to waive room fees
By Ward Triplett
Calling it a move to set a precedent, the Nebraska
Union Board voted Wednesday to deny a request from
Richard Armstrong, vice chancellor for student. affairs,
to waive room reservation fees for the organizers of the
1983 Big Eight Conference on Black Student Govern
ment. The board then voted down a second motion to
reduce those room rates in half.
Armstrong had sent a letter to the board before its
Oct. 13 meeting, stating that the students would be
short in reaching their projected budget goal and sug
gesting the board consider waiving the $490 room fee.
Board member Tim O'Keefe objected to the motion,
saying the board rejected a similar request by the Greek
Yearbook Staff earlier this year.
"I feel we should stick by that decision," O'Keefe
said. "We should, by this decision, tell other campus
organizations what our position is on room fee waivers."
Referring to the $154 room fee set by the conference
budget committee, O'Keefe said he believed the budget
was made under the assumption that "they (the Afrikan
Peoples Union) knew they would get a rate reduction."
Other board members who objected to the waiver
were Pat Meister, Sue Noel, Brian Wacker, Molly Platter
I f w-
I
dy, V . H vr
li . - - .X-
MP
0
A
f M r
'Lie-.
1 v..
"rflfc. jjn ,fr&
,,1
Chances are that not too many trick-or-treaters will be stopping by this north Lincoln house, but wait ... A
trail of Reese's Pieces!
and Sid Pinney. They all cited the need for the board to
establish a consistent policy on the matter.
"We had the chance to reduce rooms rates for 3,700
fee-paying students and we didn't," Meister said. "I can
see the need here, but I can also see the economic need
for the unipn, which is why I can't support it."
About 200 UNL students will attend the conference,
scheduled for February, according to the conference
chairperson, Cynthia Gooch. Gooch spoke at the
meeting's open forum.
After the original motion was voted down, Kay King
proposed a reduction of the rates.
"I think- they (the Afrikan Peoples Union) made a
mistake in budgeting. The university is not able to help
them out like they expected," King said, adding that
"we could reduce the fees as our way of helping them
out."
"1 think our consistency standpoint overrides a 'ges
ture to help this group out," O'Keefe said.
The motion failed 6-5.
Board President Laura Meyer referred to the matter
as a "no-win situation," but said she was proud of the
way the board handled the discussion.
In other action, a request by the UPC-Video
Committee to use the small TV room during the noon
hour for the "Rockworld" program was tabled, but com
mittee director. Regina Crapson will be asked to find
another location.
O'Keefe presented a proposal concerning the union
contingency fund. He said it would set guidelines for
the Committee for Fees Allocation's handling of the
account and establish an amount that could be used to
accommodate any large emergency the union might
have.
'The fund, which Union Director Daryl Swan son said
should stand, at $150,000, has been used to finance
the East Union, to aid renovation in the city union in
1971 and to pay for small purchases.
The proposal also raises the question of whether
small purchases should be included in the contingency
fund, O'Keefe said.
The next board meeting will be Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. in
the Nebraska Union.
