The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, January 05, 1966, Image 2
Columns • Editorials • News Briefs Cbe Battalion Page 2 College Station, Texas Wednesday, January 5, 1966 • Opinions • Cartoons Features CADET SLOUCH by Jim Earle United States: 1965 Viet Nam War Was Top News By GLENN DROMGOOLE The war in Viet Nam was rated the nation’s top news event of the year by Battalion editors Tuesday night. Escalation of the Southeast Asian conflict during 1965 gained all first place votes from the six student newspapermen. National professional newsmen also rated the Viet Nam War as the major story of the past year, according to a poll by the Associated Press. The Battalion staffers selec ted the men in Viet Nam as top newsmaker of the year. President Lyndon Johnson, win ner of the AP newsmaker award, - finished second. The Top 10 at a glance in cluded: 1. The Viet Nam War. 2. U. S. and U.S.S.R. space flights and probes. 3. Riots in Los Angeles. 4. President Johnson’s legis lative program. 5. Dominican Republic crisis. Winston Churchill’s death. Northeastern power fail- India-Pakistan fighting. Pope Paul VI visits New “Pm having a little trouble picking up where I left off before th’ holidays—do you remember if I have an 8 o’clock class?” v Sportsmanship: No Dirty Word Baylor University — 1965 Southwest Conference sportsmanship champions. The announcement that our friendly rivals from Waco had received the SWC award for being best sports was greeted in College Station with emotions ranging from anger to outright laughter. It was indeed a disappointment to Texas A&M stu dents New Year’s Day when Cotton Bowl queen Cheryl Robbins and SWC Sportsmanship Committee executive secretary Terry Norman presented Baylor with the gigan tic trophy indicating outstanding conduct for the second time in three years. Many Aggies, in eager anticipation of the award, sat in front of their television sets for the halftime award they knew belonged at home. And if ever a student body worked for a sportsman ship title, the Aggies did this fall. But now that the shouting has somewhat sudsided, let’s examine several facts, changes and background of the SWC conduct trophy. 1. Method of selection. The sportsmanship winner is chosen by individual ballots from each opposing school. After every conference football and basketball contest, each institution’s sportsmanship committee grades the op ponent in two areas — team and student body conduct — with a minimum of three and maximum of 12 points in each area. Basketball sportsmanship, therefore, receives an equal rating to football. The ballots are totalled by the committee’s executive secretary at the end of the year and the winner determined. 2. Single incidents as criteria for judgment. Through this method single incidents (such as the Baylor painting spree) carry little weight. While Texas A&M may lower an opponent’s rating for such action, other conference schools grade this same team and student body on its conduct in other contests. For instance, the SMU com mittee probably did not alter Baylor’s score for painting the A&M campus. Also, with two areas of grading used — and these areas broken down into three more definite groups — a single incident cannot justly determine the overall score of a school. 3. Change in selection procedure. Because individual bias, single incidents and inadequate communications often prohibit a school from fairly grading member schools on their overall conference conduct, an additional ballot was added by the SWC Sportsmanship Committee at its meet ing in Dallas New Year’s Eve. Proposed by the A&M delegation, the third ballot will be equal to the basketball and football ratings. A discussion of each student body’s overall conduct for the year will be held during the committee’s fall meeting. Each delegation will then rate all other members on basis of their conference-wide actions instead of single game behavior. The sportsmanship committee is currently exploring ways to further insure objectivity in selecting the winner and to provide a greater spirit of cooperation and sports manship between competing schools. The organization, since its inception in 1948 by The Battalion, has had its weaknesses. But it has also done some good. The trophy it awards each year was indeed a goal of the A&M student body this year, contributing much to the revised, refined and reformed Aggie game conduct this fall. If the A&M student body can improve its basketball conduct and continue the sportsmanlike spirit next foot ball season, Texas A&M would be a likely candidate for the 1966 honors. Conference representatives had nothing but praise during the recent sportsmanship meeting for Aggie conduct. Next year their ballots might also reflect this respect. Let’s try a little harder. THE BATTALION Opinions expressed in The Brittalion The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for i .. 7 __ T republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not OiT€ thOSB Of the Student ivtntevs only. 1 he otherwise credited in the paper and local news of spontaneous Battalion is a non tax-supported non- rcpublication of a11 other profit, self-supporting educational enter- Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas. prise edited and operated by students as Represented nationally by National Advertising Service, a university and community newspaper. Inc., New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. News contributions may be made by telephoning 846-6618 Members of the Student Publications Board are: Joe Buser, or 846-4910 or at the editorial office. Room 4, YMCA Building, chairman ; Dr. David Bowers, College of Liberal Arts ; Dr. F or advertising or delivery call 846-6415. Robert A. Clark, College of Geosciences ; Dr. Frank A. Me- Donald, College of Science: Dr. J. G. McGuire, College of Mail subscriptions are $3.50 per semester; $6 per school Engineering; Dr. Robert S. Titus, College of Veterinary year; $6.50 per full year. All subscriptions subject to 2% Medicine; and Dr. A. B. Wooten, College of Agriculture. sales tax. Advertising rate furnished on request. Address: ' The Battalion, Room 4, YMCA Building, College Station, Texas. The Battalion, a student newspaper at Texas A&M is — published in College Station. Texas daily except Saturday, EDITOR GLENN DROMGOOLE Manuring Editor Gerald Garcia Sports Editor Larry Jerden MEMBER News Editor Tommy DeFrank The Associated Press, Texas Press Association Photographer Herky Killingsworth 6. 7. ure. 8. 9. York. 10. Tie between Air Force Academy scandals and the Selma march and resulting racial strife. The Associated Press rated the riots number two, legislative pro gram third, power failure in the fourth spot, space probes fifth, Selma sixth, Dominican Republic seventh, Churchill’s death eighth, Pope’s visit ninth and the India- Pakistan trouble number 10. Increased military commitment and involvement, anti-Viet Nam demonstrations and administra tion peace efforts made the war 1965’s top event. United States armed forces personnel in Viet Nam rose from only 25,000 in January to 165,- 000 in December, with every in dication pointing to a substantial increase as the new year began, despite concentrated peace ef forts by President Johnson. American and South Vietna mese planes began regular bomb ing missions over North Viet Nam in February, after the third major attack on Americans in Viet Nam in three months. Military equipment reaching Viet Nam rose from 65,000 tons in January to 750,000 tons in November. The war became real in 1965. Its reality gradually gained recognition by the public and various polls indicated strong support of United States involve ment in South Viet Nam. However, not everyone agreed. Strong anti-Viet Nam and anti draft demonstrations cropped up on college campuses, reaching a peak in mid-October with a na tionwide protest by leftist, peace nik college youth. The Justice Department, fearing communist involvement, decided to investi gate, and a larger percentage of college students rallied to sup port the war with petitions, counter demonstrations, Christ mas Cards and gifts, magazines and other expressions of grati tude to the fighting men. Meanwhile, draft calls were accelerating to meet the war’s demands. Induction rose from 3,000 a month to 35,000, and de ferments became more precious. Space exploration received a much higher rating from the stu dent writers, possibly because their poll was taken after the year had ended and included the space rendezvous of mid-Decem ber. The Associated Press fig ures were compiled before the astronauts successfully completed the mission. Other accomplishments in out er space during the year in cluded space walks by Russian Alexei Leonov and American Ed ward White, an eight day flight by Americans Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad, Ranger 9’s crash landing on the moon only 2.76 miles off target, closeup pictures of a lifeless Mars. The long, hot summer that FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover pre dicted last spring erupted Aug. 11 in the Watts District of Los Angeles after a Highway Patrol officer arrested a young Negro on suspicion of drunken driving. Four days later, 34 persons lay dead, 898 injured, more than 1,000 buildings damaged, more than 4,200 people arrested and $50 million damage suffered. President Johnson’s legislative program included 86 major pieces of Great Society legislation. Among LBJ’s priority items okayed by Congress were a $1.3 billion Aid to Education Bill; the Voting Rights Bill; enlarged Social Security benefits including medical care; the controversial $1.1 billion Appalachia Aid Bill; a liberalized immigration policy and the creation of a Depart ment of Housing and Urban De velopment. Fighting in the Dominican Re public and India-Pakistan feud over Kashmir kept the world in a turmoil in 1966. The great English statesman, Sir Winston Churchill, died. Cheating scandals ripped the Air Force Academy. A power failure stunned the na tion when a Canadian power plant four miles from Niagara Falls suffered a malfunction and cut off electricity in Northeast ern United States and part of Ontario, Canada. Pope Paul VI broke precedent and became the first Roman Catholic leader to visit the North American conti nent. A march from Selma, Ala., 50 miles to Montgomery to pro test vote discrimination high lighted racial activity for the year. Gerald Garcia It’s Reds’ Turn For Peace Moves President Johnson has done his part in trying to push for peace in Southeast Asia. Now it is up to the Communists to make the next move. The President has started the second and most dramatic phase of his peace offensive but the Communists are still balking on stopping the Southeast Asian war. Johnson’s first peace phase was the cease-fire on Christmas day. The chief executive agreed to stop fighting on Christmas in order that war zone troops could celebrate Christmas and to stop troop movement. The Commun ists agreed to the terms but used the truce to their advantage. The Reds staged a couple of at tacks during the truce on South Viet Nam government troops and also moved front line troops to better positions. Now the Viet Cong are asking the allies to halt the war for a four-day peri od in late January so they can celebrate their new year. After they broke the Christmas truce, they expect us to agree to such a request? The second phase of adminis trative efforts in pushing the peace offensive was the dispatch ing of envoys to talk with world leaders and the pause of U. S. bombing of the North. Both phases of the second ef fort are still being continued but the Reds still refuse to open negotiations. Since the United States start ed bombing the North, the So viet and East European Com munist governments have been saying that no peace talks would be possible so long as the bomb ing continued. The Russians par ticularly have pressed the Unit ed States to create a better cli mate for opening negotiations by stopping the bombing. Even though the ground war started up again at fullscale in the South after the Christmas truce, Johnson has not ordered the bombing of the North to be resumed. This is what the Communists requested before they would con sider peace talks. The President has stopped bombing of the North for nearly two weeks but the Communists still have not indicated they want to talk peace. If Johnson’s envoys fail in their attempts to get peace for Southeast Asia, Johnson will have no alternative but to start bombing the North again and to increase the war effort in order to drive the Viet Cong out of the South. Johnson is doing his part by complying with the Communists wishes of stopping the bombing of the North. His envoys are also doing their part. It is now up to the Communist leaders to act. ‘We Can Win In Viet Nam’ Sen. John Tower Says After Southeast Asia Tour EDITOR’S NOTE: Sen. John Tower recently returned from a 25-day trip to U. S. Military installations throughout Southeast Asia. This is a special report. As a member of the Sentate Armed Services Committee, I spent some three weeks with U. S. forces in the Philippines, Thailand and South Viet Nam. I visited with scores of young Americans who are proudly and courageously fighting there against Asiatic Communism. And, I can report to the people of Texas that never in our nation’s history has America been represented by more qualified and de dicated troops. I was tremendously impressed by the American men who are helping defend the independence of South Viet Nam and indeed all Southeast Asia. These men are hard fighters. They do their job day in and day out. They don’t gripe. They have high morale. They are doing a magnificent job for the free world. I found, in visiting such places as Da Nang, Bien Hoa, Cam Ranh Bay, Pleiku and the Special Forces camps, that American forces came to the aid of South Vietnam just in the nick of time. Had we not moved quickly, a few months ago, to assist South Viet Nam, thta nation would have been overrun by the communists. Looking at the situation there now, I believe it is correct — as Defense Secretary McNamara has said — that we have stopped losing the war. However, we have not yet started winning it. Both the American troops and their officers indicated to me that additional steps are necessary if victory is to be achieved promptly without unnecessary loss of life. I believe we must now move quickly and decisively to destroy the will of the communists to fight; and to destroy North Viet Nam’s capacity to continue the war. To do this, I believe we must provide additional American man power on the ground to give every American trooper full and adequate support. I think we must send to our men in Viet Nam the new M-16 rifle — a rifle far better suited to jungle combat than the older rifle many of our men have now. My observations and briefings led me to believe, also, that American airpower must be utilized to attack pin-point military targets in the Hanoi area. And, I think we must close the Haiphong harbor. This would deny the communists the war supplies and I anti-aircraft missiles now being landed at Haiphong.. If we do these things, I think we will greatly diminish Hanois’ [ capacity and will to continue the battle. Sometimes it seems every generation of Americans is called upon to make sacrifices in blood to preserve freedom. As I visited the field hospitals, I saw sights I will not forget. And yet, the wounded men I saw understood — just as the American people must understand — that we are making our stand in Viet Nam today to preclude a fight on a much broader front at greater cost later on. Besides fighting, our fine soldiers, sailors and airmen are busy doing many constructive things to help the people of South Viet Nam. They are building schools, teaching local leaders how to govern, teaching about sanitation, giving out soap and food, tending sores and wounds and tropical diseases — all this in marked contrast to the terror of the Viet Cong, who close schools and even force children and girls into combat situations. Many times, the men with whom I visited asked me if the Protseters and Beatnicks and Peacenicks really represented the views of Americans about this confrontation with communism. To these men I answered emphatically — NO! I told them the vast majority of Americans support them fully, as evidenced by the Christmas Gift Lift and the patriotic rallies in many of our cities. I told our men the Peacenicks either are com munist inspired, or are just poor, misguided fools who do not understand what they are talking about. I come home optimistic. We can win in Viet Nam — if we will buckle down and do the job. And, in winning, we will be going a long way toward establishing world order and world peace for the future. Tommy DeFrank 4 101 Aggie Jokes’ Book: Fuel For The Fireplace The booming upsurge in quan tity and simultaneous tailspin in respectability of Aggie jokes in the past few months has been gloriously crowned with recent publication of a collection of Aggie barbs. The volume, now in a second printing and enjoying widespread popularity, is titled “101 Aggie Jokes, or Ts it true what they say about Aggies?’ ” Published by the Gigem Press, the work is crammed with as sorted Aggie jokes liberally sup plemented with illustrations (strongly resembling the style of a prominent Dallas newspaper cartoonist) depicting Aggies as stumbling, bumbling idiots who can neither read, write nor think. The first page reminds readers that “it is not the intention of the publishers to ridicule or de grade any institution or individ ual. The purpose is to chronicle an important chapter in Ameri can humor.” Without providing the basis for including Aggie jokes in a classification of important Amer ican humor like Will Rogers’ material, the protest marchers and Smothers Brothers routines, the publishers nevertheless man age to slip in a few “jokes” that go beyond the vein of legitimate humor. A sample: The first prize at the high school scierice contest was a five dollar bill. The sec ond prize was a four year schol arship to A&M. That’s not degrading an in stitution ? Another example: It is said that an Aggie is the only form of life that can fall into a pile of manure and leave it smellier than before. That’s chronicling an import ant chapter in American humor? The book does include many clever entries that even maligned Aggies can appreciate, like the Aggies who thought vice versa meant a dirty joke. But some selections range from poor humor to off-color to downright sordidness. The last page actually pats the Aggies on the back if we are to believe the publishers. It points out that Aggie jokes are a trib ute, for if A&M students and graduates were not “the proud, dedicated lot they are, they would not rate a second glance.” The tribute then outlines im portant contributions made by Aggies and calls them “among the greatest men of our time.” Douglas MacArthur’s words of praise for Aggie military officers are also included. The testimonial ends by re minding all to “never forget that all of us have a great debt to repay the men of Texas A&M.” But from the material on the 48 pages preceding this last en try, one begins to wonder if this isn’t also intended to be just an other Aggie joke. Aggie jokes will never be elim inated, nor will there ever be means to keep the sordid and malicious from mingling with good-natured lampooning. The Aggie Joke Book may not permanently damage the univer sity's reputation, but then again it likely will not help. Time Magazine suggested last week that so many poor literary efforts evolved from 1965 per haps America should return to book-burning. The Aggie Joke Book should not be overlooked as potential fuel for the fireplace. PEANUTS By Charles M. Schulz ^THIS 60Y \ BORES ME i <TO DEATH! J ( | 51 , CZp** f \ HE'S ALWAYS TALKING ABOUTALL THE WORMS HE'S CAU6HT BECAUSE HE SETS UP SO EARLY IN THE M0RNIN6