Viewpoint
The Battalion • Texas A&M University
Tuesday
August 14, 1979
Nation in turmoil
Nixon’s new staff
inexperienced
Say, isn’t that ^ j , ii> ,v
Jane Fonda?
Editor’s note: This is second in a
three-part story about politics in the 70s.
Much has been said about Nixon putting
his 1972 campaign into the hands of loyal
but immature aides. Supposedly it was
their zeal and inexperience that caused
Watergate and all the other hare-brained
concoctions of the Committee to Re-elect
the President.
That might soothe some politicians, but
they know there always are a lot of rash
and untested people in campaigns. More
plausible is the simple explanation that
power corrupts. The Nixon people had it
and they abused it. When they got caught,
they made it worse with an attempted
coverup.
From a technical standpoint, Nixon ran
a masterful 1972 campaign. Nixon sat tight
on the presidency and let McGovern beat
himself with such gaffes as the Eagleton
vice-presidential choice and the $1,000
welfare payment.
Nixon’s overwhelming victory made
him independent of the Republican Party.
He controlled the national GOP, but
never tried to rejuvenate a party that was
rotting at the bottom while it bloomed at
the top.
In 1972, Nixon carried 49 states, but the
GOP lost three Senate seats and two gov
ernorships and gained only 12 House
seats. That left the party with barely a
third of the nation’s major political offices.
Nixon went down with Watergate, but
the Republican Party bobbed to the sur
face. One of Gerald Ford’s first political
acts was to install a woman in the GOP
chairmanship. Regarded as tokenism by
some, it happened that Mary Louise
Smith of Iowa was a natural in the kind of
organizational work the GOP needed in its
extremity.
Robert S. Strauss, a Texan many Demo
crats thought was just another creature of
the LBJ-John Connally school of politics,
was the party’s big surprise.
Taking over the Demcratic National
Committee after 1972, Strauss sought to
restore unity to a party torn, by dissension.
^ and saddled by debt. . >
Strauss turned out to be’ a genius jug
gler. When he seemed to be favoring con
servative regulars, he did something for
liberal reformers to restore at the image of
balance.
In everything he said, Strauss reaf
firmed the party’s commitment to the re
forms of 1972, but he always added that
the whole idea was to win elections — a
pragmatic damper on intraparty throat
cutting.
As a result of Strauss’ exertions, the
party was able to coalesce in mid-1976
when Jimmy Carter came from obscurity
to win its presidential nomination.
Carter won the nomination because his
plans, his people and his personality fit the
times. He made much of being an “out
sider” but it was his sincerity and confi
dence that sold best when many candi
dates relied on “view with alarm” themes
delivered to the accompaniment of orator
ical thunder.
The 1976 election was close, but really
not very exciting. This was because
neither Carter nor Ford were exciting
candidates and the reliance of both on
pre-tested campaign tactics. There was lit
tle innovation in either tactics or sub
stance, and the result was an almost even
split of both votes and states.
Carter won by raising from the grave
the FDR Coalition, with emphasis on the
South. Ford made it close by taking some
eastern “bedroom” states — Jersey and
Connecticut — winning the industrial
midwest and all but sweeping the west.
Carter talked about managing govern
ment more efficiently and with more at
tention to the wishes and rights of the
people. Ford said he already was doing
that and blamed bad situations on the
Democrats controlling Congress.
In the end, the voters decided to hire a
new manager. If they were looking for a
charismatic leader, they had no one to
vote for. If they were seeking new ap
proaches to the great global issues of war
and peace and the tough problems of
energy and inflation, there was little to
chose between.
Carter came to office in what historians
doubtless will classify as a transitional
time.
The imperial presidency had been given
a dirty name by Richard Nixon and Con
gress had grabbed a number of old and
new powers for itself, but a working rela
tionship between White House and
Capitol Hill had not been achieved.
(Carter was to be constantly criticized
for not knowing how to work with Con
gress, but as his term wore on it became
; clear congressional leaders didn’t know
how to deal with Congress either.)
The values of the “Me Generation” had
seeped into Congress and the bureau
cracy. In the face of stubborn unemploy
ment and ominous inflation across the
country. Congress gave itself and its staffs
hefty pay increases.
Appeals to the public, business and
labor for restraint in using gasoline, raising
prices and demanding wage increases in
itially were met with sullen rejoinders of
“what is the other guy giving up?”
Hightower’s a
conference hit
Laissez-faire best
policy for Chrysler
Chrysler Corp., one of the big three auto manufacturers, is begging for govern
ment aid in the form of $1 billion in tax credits to return to financial health. The latest
news reports indicate the Carter administration may recommend that Congress ap
prove the loan although it would be “considerably less” than $1 billion.
A touchy subject since it involves government meddling in the free enterprise
system. Proponents of the tax credit argue that if Chrylser fails, the auto industry will
be dominated by Ford and General Motors. Apparently it already is somewhat
dominated by those two, since Chrysler was edged out in sales.
The free enterprise system is based on survival of the fittest. If a company fails, the
entreprenuer should regroup and learn from his mistakes. With government aid to a
financially wobbly company the bureaucrats would argue thay should have a say in
the way the company is run. .After all, don't some stockholders have voting rights?
Big government has already proved it can’t run the country, so why turn big
business over to them? g-
By DAVID BRODER
WASHINGTON — When the steering
committee of the Conference on Alterna
tive State and Local Policies was debating
the location of its fifth annual meeting, it
decided it should be held in an eastern
city.
The conference is a loose-knit collection
of elected officials, union organizers,
community and public-interest group
workers, bound together in part by past
ties to the civil rights and anti-war
movements of the 1960s-
Their first four conferences were held in
Madison, Wis., Denver, Austin and St.
Paul, so they thought this year they should
come to an eastern city, where they could
bold their debates among the people they
were trying to reach.
Instead, for reasons that were never
quite clear, they ended up meeting last
weekend on the campus of Bryn Mawr
College, an elite women’s school in a fancy
Main Line suburb 12 miles from
downtown Philadelphia.
That missed direction was somehow
characteristic of the position of these New
Left activists, who are approaching the
1980 election in more than their custom
ary disarray.
There are, as always, more organiza
tions being created by the frenetic energy
and the fragmented ideology of the Left
than there are members to support them.
Out west in California, where the cli
mate seems to draw many interested in
restructuring American society, the most
obvious schism centers on the personality
and policies of 1980 presidential hopeful
Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown, Jr. (D).
Brown has successfully courted Tom
Hayden, the onetime Chicago Seven de
fendant who is as close to a focal figure as
the New Left has, and his wife, actress
Jane Fonda. But others in the Left are less
tolerant of Brown s embrace of Proposition
13 and sponsorship of a federal balanced-
budget amendment than are Hayden and
Fonda.
The result was something unthinkable.
Hayden was hissed by his own longtime
friends at this conference, when he gave
Brown a favorable mention in his speech.
There is broad distaste for President
Garter among the New-Left organizers.
There is disquiet about Sen. Edward M.
Kennedy (D-Mass.), a mixture of ap
prehension that he may not run and fear
that, if he does, he will immediately, as
socialist author Michael Harrington said.
“head straight for the center, like all
politicians do.”
With a few people eyeing a third-party
option and others ready to write off 1980 as
a lost year for politics of the Left at the
presidential level, there was a sense of
aimlessness that was unusual for a group
that is accustomed to having a cause for
which to fight.
But for all their problems, it is probably
a mistake to dismiss these folks as irrele
vant. Their local grassroots organizations
are growing in numbers, and the energy-
fueled inflation is giving them their best
talking point against big business in many
years.
District of Columbia Mayor Marion
Barry, one of the many alumni of the
group who has succeeded in local politics,
brought them back to earth with a remin
der that, however unfashionable, it might
not hurt the New Left to rededicate itself
to such plebian goals as full employment,
fair income distribution and adequate
housing and health care.
After three days of droning discourse,
there was palpable joy when Jim High
tower, a young Texas journalisLpolitician,
reminded them that political points can be
made with humor as easily as with dialec
tic.
Hightower is planning a longshot cam
paign for a seat on the Texas Railroad
Commission, the powerful state body
which regulates the oil and gas industry
and which has traditionally been a captive
of the industry it is regulating.
When solar collectors were installed on
the roof of the commission’s new building
in Austin “to impress us environmental
freaks,” Hightower said, “it was like put
ting earrings on a hog — you can’t hide the
ugliness.”
He urged his pals to climb down from
their ideological perches and dirty their
hands with politics, arguing that ever since
the 1972 McGovern for President cam
paign, “the progressive movement has
been afraid of the people — afraid of rejec
tion.”
Instead of cowering, he said, they
should adopt the slogan of an Austin car
tage company, Hightower said: Tfwecan
get it loose, we can move it.”
With a few more Hightowers and a lot
less New Society groups, they might even
do it. But not in 1980.
fcj 1979, The Washington Post
Letters to the Editor
A&M not for everyone
Editor:
Until recently I was a probationary
transfer student at A&M (out of school five
years). A grave personal loss made me
<SKAPUAT)N<5 SENIOR
miss my required GPA, and I How cannot
reregister. Were it an illness or injury, the
story would be different indeed.
However, I am far more upset by the
conduct of a highly placed professor from
whom I sought advice. I received instead
rudeness, contempt and sarcasm. He even
refused to shake hands upon introduction
— something I learned to do in grade
school.
If this kind of arrogance is the norm,
then I am ashamed to admit I "'as once an
Aggie. It is a good thing Highway 6 runs
both ways.
—WilUam Fulton
Some cops OK
Editor:
I want to personally thank Lt. Jack
Bruce for his consideration and patience
with me last Wednesday afternoon. I hope
I have not offended anyone but I needed
to let off some steam. I appreciate Lt.
Bruce’s understanding and he>p and was
glad to see that the University Police De
partment does indeed have a few §ood
men. Thank you.
—M R., ’80
Readers’ Forum
Guest viewpoints, in addition to
Letters to the Editor, are welcome.
All pieces submitted to Riders
forum should be:
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News Capsules
CAMPUS
Street to be blocked for stadium worl
The east-bound lane of Joe Routt Street will be closed from Bailey
Street to Houston Street during the period of August 19-24. This
temporary blockage is required by the renovation work being done
on Kyle Field, according to the Campus Police. The west-bound lane
of Joe Routt will be temporarily marked for two-lane traffic from
Bailey to Houston. Parking, including service vehicles, will prohib
ited on this segment. Persons with valid random street parking per
mits will be authorized to park in either PA 48 or PA 62 during this
time.
STATE
Houston to draw up 9-5 districts
Houston Mayor Jim McConn will try to start hearings Thursday on
drawing boundaries for the nine new single-member City Council
districts voters approved in a weekend charter election prompted by
Justice Department pressure. “I realize that it is short notice,
McConn said. “Whether it is possible or not I don’t know.” Eleven
percent of Houston voters Saturday decided 47,706 to 26,385 to ex
pand City Council from eight members, all chosen city-wide, to 14
members — nine elected by district and five at-large. The mayor will
remain on the council. The Justice Department had demanded that
the city change council makeup to overcome the dilution of black and
Mexican-American voting power federal experts said would result
from 1977 and 1978 annexations of mostly white areas. McConn said
he planned early hearings on boundaries to try to avoid delay of the
Nov. 6 local election. The law requires 30-day public notice of an
election. McConn said he hoped boundaries can win federal approval
by Oct. 6.
NATION
Stadium roof collapse kills five
The roof of a stadium under construction in Rosemont, Ill., col
lapsed in an earth-shaking roar Monday, killing at least five workers
and injuring more than a dozen others inside. About 15 workers were
trapped when the half-completed Rosemont Horizon Stadium, 25
miles northwest of the Chicago Loop, collapsed about 8:30 a.m. but
were freed about 45 minutes later. A Rosemont police spokesman had
reported eight dead but a spokesman for the Cook County Medical
Examiner’s office said his office could account for only five dead. I
couldn’t say if that (the five confirmed) is the final count, but that sail
the bodies that have been recovered so far, said Roy Dames, an
administrative assistant. A temporary morgue was set up at the
Rockford Paper Mills Inc. plant near the stadium site. At least 15
persons were reported injured and taken to three area hospitals, two
reported in critical condition.
Six Haitians drown near Florida
Six Haitian refugees, including four small children, drowned
Monday morning after they were forced at gunpoint to jump from a
boat and swim to shore, police in West Palm Beach, Fla., said. Nine
refugees made the half-mile swim to shore and three others were
missing, said Palm Beach County Sheriff Richard Wille. They were
coming into the country on a small boat about 6 a.m., Wille said.
“When they got near shore, the person bringing them in forced them
overboard at gunpoint.” Wille said a suspect found in a nearby
waterway in a 34-foot cabin cruiser was being questioned. However
no one had been arrested. There was no immediate identification of
any of those aboard. But, Wille said the four children who drowned
were between the ages of 4 and 12.
Pope might visit Harlem on NY visif
Church officials are considering plans to have Pope John Paul II
visit Harlem and hold masses in Shea and Yankee stadiums on his trip
to New York in October, a spokesman said in New York Monday. The
pontiff is scheduled to arrive Oct. 2 for a 24-hour visit in which his
only definite plan so far is an address to the United Nations General
Assembly. Tentative plans call for the pontiff to arrive the morning of
Oct. 2 at Kennedy International Airport, on a flight from Ireland via
Boston. The pope mingled with neighborhood residents during his
visits to Mexico and the Dominican Republic last January and to
Poland in June. Also on the agenda for the pope’s United States visit
are stops in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, with possible visits
to Philadelphia, Boston and Detroit.
WORLD
Floods kill three in Mexico City
Torrential rains killed three people and flooded more than 200
houses over the weekend in the western Mexico City suburb of
Naucalpan, authorities said. Two rivers overflowed, flooding some
areas with as much as 6V6 feet of water following the downpours and
hailstorms on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Red Cross
spokesmen said two people drowned and one person was electro
cuted as a result of the rains. / Six houses were destroyed and 200
others were flooded.
United
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The Battalion
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