Viewpoint
The Battalion • Texas A&M University • Thursday • August 9, 1979
SALT II changes good
By HELEN THOMAS
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Carter’s
strategists now say the chances for Senate
ratification of the Strategic Arms Limita
tion Treaty (SALT II) are good. The pact
appears to be surviving the tough scrutiny
of the opposition.
Many who questioned the accord now
appear to be satisfied on the verification
issue. But the SALT critics have adopted a
fallback position.
Some senators who probably are loathe
to cast a vote against arms control are now
stressing huge increases to the tune of $5
billion to $7 billion in defense spending as
a trade-off for their votes.
The opposition has coordinated its cam
paign to increase military spending, put
ting Carter on the spot with liberal Demo
cratic senators such as George McGovern
of South Dakota. McGovern wrote the
president that they are “gravely con
cerned” over the attempts of some of their
colleagues to hold the treaty hostage to in
creased defense spending.
The signers called it an “unacceptable
price to pay,” preferring to see more
money spent on social programs.
Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., a strong advo
cate of bigger Pentagon spending, has
conditioned his vote for SALT on a sub
stantial increase in the defense budget.
The military services have all indicated
they would like to have the money for new
bombers, new tanks, new carriers and
more fighters.
The long-awaited testimony of former
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger also
linked approval to more military spending,
and to a host of other relationships with
the Soviets.
There is a special irony to Kissinger’s
testimony seeking linkage between SALT
and the other political problems that have
strained relations between the United
States and the Soviets at different times.
Kissinger repeatedly rejected any sugges
tion that there should be, or in fact was,
any “linkage” in his dealings with Russia
when he was running the diplomatic show.
Kissinger, the foreign policy mentor for
presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald
Ford, is singing a different tune from the
days when he was struggling to win ratifi
cation of SALT I without tying it to Soviet
immigration policies.
Those who want to condition acceptance
of SALT on heavy spending for new
sophisticated weapons include Ford. The
former president is reported to favor ex
panding the defense budget by $10 billion.
Carter reportedly has set up a special
committee to sift through the requests for
bigger spending. The House appropria
tions defense subcommittee has already
slashed $2.2 billion out of the president’s
$129.6 million Pentagon request for 1980,
although it is still $6.5 billion above the
1979 fiscal year budget.
In addition. Sen. Frank Church,
D-Idaho, chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, and Sen. Jacob
Javits, D-N.Y., the ranking Republican on
the panel, want to attach a series of reser
vations to the pact. One would declare
legally binding the pledge by Soviet Pres
ident Leonid Brezhnev to restrict produc
tion of the Backfire bomber to 30 planes
per year.
Another would be an understanding
that the United States retain the right to
give its allies nuclear and conventional
weapons for common defense.
But for all that, the political climate is
improving for approval of the treaty.
The senate is expected to debate the
treaty for five to six weeks in October and
then vote. If the treaty is ratified, Carter
believes it will be a signal to the Russians
and the world that the United States still is
interested in putting a cap on the nuclear
arms race.
Decade in review
Seeds planted for catastrophe
Editor’s note: With the 70s coming to a end in just
four months, it’s time for America to take a look at
what it has accomplished and what we need to do to
survive the 80s. This article begins a three-part series
on the major political events in this decade.
By ARNOLD SAWISLAK
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The summer of 1969 was one of
the most peaceful of the decade. As if exhausted by the
spasm of riots and assassinations of the recent past, the
United States seemed to be entering a period of calm.
Not so. The seeds of the most cataclysmic U.S. polit-
- ical events of the century were being sown that sum
mer. It was a time when, like Elisha in the Old Testa
ment story, a prophet could have seen the tempest
being born.
The New Mobilization Committee to End the War in
Vietnam was organized on July 4 and even as a half
million rock and roll lemmings streamed toward
Woodstock in mid-August, plans were afoot for demon
strations dwarfing previous Vietnam War protests.
The demonstrations of October and November
scared the Nixon administration. From them, as much
as from any other single cause, grew the siege mental
ity that spawned Watergate. And Watergate set off a
series of events that profoundly altered the American
political scene.
There also were less visible movements that had
political impact. One, the Democrats’ painful self-
examination after the divisive campaign of 1968, was
part of the reason the political consequences of the
Watergate scandal were delayed four years.
The FDR coalition of labor, farmers, ethnics and city
machines, which had delivered victory in 8 of 10 presi
dential elections before 1964, was shredded, not only
over by the war but also by discord over long-standing
practices of party leadership.
The fight was over more than who got to wear the
fanciest badge at conventions. At issue was control of
the party’s policy-making and nomination process by
elected officials, party professionals and labor leaders.
A cadre of party activists materialized to demand
“democratization” of the Democratic Party.
The leaders of this group came from the upper mid
dle west, once staunchly Republican but the scene of a
dramatic Democratic upsurge after World War II.
Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota was the first of
these hard-charging liberals, but he was soon followed
by men like George McGovern of South Dakota,
William Proxmire of Wisconsin, Harold Hughes of
Iowa and Philip Hart of Michigan.
Although the reformers were outraged by the
methods used to assure the 1968 nomination for Hum
phrey, they won major victories in the form of conven
tion mandates for rules reform.
McGovern started as chairman of the reform com
mission in 1969; Rep. Donald Fraser, another Min
nesota liberal, took over when the South Dakotan went
for the presidency. The result was a rules revision that
transformed the 1972 national convention: three times
as many women and blacks and five times as many
young people as delegates than 1968.
Some say McGovern won in 1972 because he was the
only candidate who understood the new rules. That is
an injustice; the rules were clear to all. But McGovern
may have been the only one who believed they would
be enforced.
A full 40 percent of the original delegates were chal
lenged and many, including Richard Daley, the
kingmaker mayor of Chicago, were forced to watch the
convention on television.
Like generals re-fighting the last war, most candi
dates planned 1972 on the basis of what worked in
1968.
Sen. Edmund Muskie went out and got
endorsements from scores of Democratic bigwigs, just
as Humphrey had done in 1968. The net result was that
Muskie’s bigwigs also remained home.
Gov. George Wallace understood and excelled at the
primary game, but had trouble with states that selected
delegates in caucuses and conventions. Humphrey,
starting late, got more primary votes than McGovern.
He was trying to to establish a bandwagon effect, but
too many delegates were nailed down.
Back at the White House, Nixon was fretting. He
had some flak from both the left and right in the GOP,
but he was worried about the Democrats, including
Sen. Edward Kennedy — who stayed out of the 1972
nomination scramble but continued to be the favorite
of many in his party.
Nixon and his people had come to regard campaign
espionage and sabotage as a fact of political life. They
had an agent on hand soon after learning of Kennedy’s
Chappaquiddick accident in 1969.
No simple reason has been given for the break-ins
and wiretapping of Democratic National Committee
telephones at the Watergate, but if the first-person
books about the episode are to be believed, it had to do
with an effort to dig up some dirt on the party chair
man, Lawrence O’Brien.
Letter to the Editor
th e small society
by Brickman
/
KK attitude is shocking
Editor:
I am starting my senior year here at
TAMU and want to say that I am proud
and pleased to be an Aggie. Never in my
past 3V£ years here have I ever been
ashamed to call myself such or to be as
sociated with this institution because of
any embarrassing situations or blunders
created by students, staff, or faculty here
at A&M. That is, until last Saturday.
I was pulled over by one of A&M’s de
voted campus policemen and was never so
appalled or shocked at the attitude of this
“public servant. ” He treated me as if I was
a hardened criminal. I have never been
pulled over or have received a ticket in my
five years of driving. I will appeal my case
on the grounds that I, was not in the wrong
and also for the fact that I was humiliated
to find that this young fellow did not be
have in the proper conduct expected of an
officer of the law.
Does the University Police Department
not realize the opinion of all of those
whose paths have crossed here at TAMU?
I have only one question to ask: Why must
a 20-year-old, honest, working student be
pulled over on her way home from
Baskins-Robbins (study break) by some
“little” guy who has nothing better to do
with his time than to act like some BIG
STUD instead of actually patroling the
campus for real violators of the law (drugs,
robbery, assault and rape).
Col. Tom Parsons and Capt. Elmer
Schneider, please take note: If you want to
improve the attitude that the students,
staff and faculty at A&M all share about
your so-called KKs, then I highly recom
mend that you find, hire and train more
suitable, responsible, adequately intelli
gent, polite, respectful, courteous, con
siderate and well-mannered men and
women to fulfill the necessary duties
needed by this University. I’m sure there
will be more cooperation by all concerned
with A&M if the KKs would be a little
more pratical and use their discretion in
certain situations instead of trying to build
up an image that they will never be able to
fidfill.
To say the least, I am disappointed and
sorry to have discovered the few weak
spots in the university police system. I
hope A&M can salvage this department by
picking out the bad apples before it’s too
late.
— MR. 80
Editor’s note: Lt. Jack Bruce dismissed
the case Wednesday, stating he did not
want student animosity toward the Uni
versity Police to continue.
News Capsules
NATION
Sticky fingered guard gets probation
James Harrington, 27, a black belt karate expert and former body
guard for Mick Jagger, was sentenced to three years’ probation in Los
Angeles Tuesday for being the almost-nude thief the rock singer found
in his bedroom closet. Harrington, who worked as a guard for the
Rolling Stones’ U.S. tour last summer until he was fired by Jagger,
reportedly had a key to the singer’s mansion. Harrington, who was
accused of stealing $13,000 in cash and jewelery from Jagger’s man
sion, was also ordered by Superior Court Judge Carlos E. Velarde to
pay on unspecified amount of restitution to Jagger. The probation
department will determine the specific amount of restitution, but
Deputy District Attorney Marsh Goldstein estimated it would be
about $9,000.
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BilVs got a date for Christmas
It’s official. Sumatran Bill, one of two Sumatran tigers in the United
States, will get a girlfriend for Christmas. His keeper. Superintendent
Randall Carney of Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington, Ill., announced
Tuesday the sleek, 210-pound tiger will begin sharing quarters with a
female Sumatran by the end of November or December if transfer
permits are approved by the Netherlands’ Rotterdam Zoo. Carney had
begun a fund-raising campaign earlier this summer to raise the $2,500
needed to purchase a mate for Bill from the Rotterdam Zoo and
Tuesday, he announced contributions mailed to the zoo totaled about
$100 more than needed.
Infant dies from hailstone injury
A 3-month-old girl hit by a large hailstone died at Poudre Valley
Memorial Hospital in Fort Collins, Colo., late Tuesday, eight days
after the accident. Jolene Kapelman was believed to be only the second
person in the country to have died from an injury suffered by a
hailstone, according to the local office of the National Weather Service.
The child was struck in the head July 30 while in her mother’s arms.
She had not regain consciousness since she was hospitalized.
Hailstones the size of grapefruit pummeled the Fort Collins area that
day, injuring more than 20 people. The storm also caused widespread
damage to cars, windows, roofs and crops.
WORLD
New sweetner to he sold in France
Aspartame, a new artificial sweetener seen as a possible replace
ment for saccharin, will soon be on the market in France. The
sweetener. Aspartame, is still under investigation in the United
States. The Food and Drug Administration said June 1 it was forminga
public board of inquiry to study the chemical and make a recommenda
tion on its future. The FDA approved Aspartame for some uses in
1974, but withdrew that approval before any products containing
Aspartame could be marketed because of allegations it could cause
brain damage or mental retardation. Approval by the French au
thorities “is an important step in making Aspartame available to con
sumers throughout the world,” said G. D. Searle and Co., manufactur
ers of the sweetener. In France, the product will be marketed in tablet
form, for sweetening beverages, under the trade name Canderel.
Forest fire in Spain kills 22
Hundreds of firemen, civil guards, forest rangers, soldiers and
volunteers, aided by three planes, were fighting to keep flames from a
forest fire near the resort town ofBlanes in Spain just south ofLloretde
Mar, from crossing the Vidreras-Toas highway to another developed
area. The fires broke out at about 9 a.m. Tuesday, and, fanned by
strong winds, consumed some 2,500 acres of pine woodland by Tues
day night. Twenty-two vacationers unable to outrun the blaze were
killed. Forestry officials said they suspected arson because fires started
simultaneous at three points within a two-mile area near Blanes. The
bodies of the victims were so badly burned their names and na
tionalities could not immediately be determined, except for one victim
identified by a necklace as a resident of Barcelona.
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Zapata s son to fight ‘grave move
Mexican authorities had planned to move Emiliano Zapata’s remains
from Cuatla, 45 miles south of Mexico City, to the Revolutionary
Monument, a massive arch where nearly all the heroes of the 1910
revolution are buried, in time for the celebration of his 100th birthday
Wednesday, led by President Jose Lopez Portillo. The government
also will issue a postal stamp bearing the revolutionary’s likeness to
commemorate the occasion. However, Zapata’s son, Mateo Emiliano
Zapata, said he won’t allow his father’s body to be moved until all
political prisoners and campesinos (peasants) imprisoned over land
disputes in the family’s home state of Morelos are freed. Like their
father, Zapata’s children for years have fought for more land reform,
pressuring the government to do more to help small farmers.
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The Battalion
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