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Friday, November 21, 1975
Hoover an American Himmler?
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In 1945, Vice President Henry Wallace made an entry in his diary
that would have particular significance more than 30 years later on
November 18, 1975, ten years after Wallace's death. In the wake of
World War II, as the Third Reich crumbled, as thousands of
persecuted Jews escaped Auschwitz, Bergen-Pelsen and Lublin,
Wallace predicted that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was "on his
way to becoming an American Himmler." .
Yet that comparison of an American FBI Director and a German
Gestapo chief remained unknown and unpublished until Tuesday
when Wallace's memoirs were uncovered at the University of Iowa
exactly ten years after his death, as stipulated in his will.
The comments of this minor historical figure on America's most
famous and powerful law enforcement agent could not have come to
v
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Martin
Luther
King
Ctaranc Mayo
light at a more appropriate time. Even as the seemingly uneventful
unveiling took place in out of the way Iowa City, the Senate Select
Intelligence Committee in Washington unveiled shocking evidence
that Wallace's prophecy had come true.
The Senate committee took the wraps off the insidious FBI plot of
1964 designed to force Martin Luther king to commit suicide. In
November of that year, 34 days before King was to accep't the Nobel
Peace Prize, the FBI sent him a tape recording of what Nicholas
Horrock of the New York Times called "unsavory activities King had
allegedly engaged in." An attached, unsigned note made the intent of
the blackmail clear:
"King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it
is. You have just 34 days in which to do it . . . You are done. There is
but one way out for you."
This ploy was part of a 6-year effort by the FBI to discredit King,
and, according to one FBI memorandum sent to Hoover himself, to
"knock him off his pedestal."
But the only pedestal that King ever assumed was that of preacher
turned activist. King was a symbol of, and catalyst for, nonviolent
change within the system. His only crimes, unlike those of the
wiretapping, bugging FBI, were his crusades for the underprivileged.
Yet J. Edgar Hoover and his gang decided King was not worthy of
the acclamation he gained from his fellow men. They set out, more
like a Nazi police organ than a law enforcement agency, to discredit
him.
The sad irony is that the Hoover gang broke the law of democracy
in order to protect that democracy from that which they perceived as
a threat. And that threat was a Nobel Peace Prize winner dedicated to
nonviolence, to the principles of democratic change.
Henry Wallace and Himmler are dead. J. Edgar Hoover is dead.
Martin Luther King is dead. But the problem of law-breaking
"national security" agencies as evidenced also by the CIA, lives on.
The Senate Select Committee and the Oval Office must provide a
check and balance for a governmental sector that has run maverick
outside the law for too long. The federal government must provide
some mechanism to protect the common people and the uncommon
people like Martin Luther King from those agencies that supposedly
protect us. The ghost of Himmler seems all too alive in the files and
methods of our national police.
The right to breathe clean air
Today the Faculty Council will consider action on the smoking
ban referendum passed by students by a four to one margin last
month. Two proposals for implementation will be considered. The
first is a complete ban, as advocated by the student referendum. The
second is a class-by-class option to ban or not ban, according to a
vote of each class.
The first proposal is the superior policy. For the Faculty Council
not to act on the matter at all would mean that the council is
insensitive to an issue of importance to students and to the welfare
of students forced to breathe contaminated air. For the council to
adopt the second option would be an acceptance of the right of
students to determine by vote what is permissable regarding
smoking in a classroom.
And if that principle can be accepted, then the first policy ought
to be adopted, because the students have already expressed their
desires in an election.
Some reservations, from proper enforcement to smokers'
"rights," about the ban have been expressed. Once the ban has legal
backing, enforcement should flow first from individual's
recognition of what is and is not acceptable. With legal support,
nonsmokers can pressure those who would disregard the ban.
Student leadership III
(Without legal support, nonsmokers have only their own
persuasive ability to rely upon, and that has not proven effective in
many instances of stubborn smokers and large classrooms.)
As to smokers' rights, society has long accepted the notion that
one's rights end where another's rights begin. We do not tolerate
physical assaults on individuals. We do not tolerate harmful
pollution into air breathed by the nonpolluters. If smoking pollutes
the air and physically assaults nonsmokers (which it does), then there
exist no right for anyone to smoke in the presence of nonsmokers.
That analysis has been accepted by the students of this University
in a collective action. In a class-by-class situation, some insensitive
smokers may outnumber considerate smokers and nonsmokers and
may vote to expose the others to their personal pleasures and
poisons, cigarette smoke. This kind of abberation would violate the
legitimate right of the nonsmoker and selective smoker to
protection by the broader society.
And so, it is incumbent upon the Faculty Council to act in the
interest of the University community as a whole in the recognition of
the rights of the individual. In this instance, that right is the right to
breathe clean air.
University needs a consortium
Today the much-discussed and perhaps pivotal student-faculty
conference on campus governance begins at Camp New Hope, just
beyond the geographical borders of Carolina and Chapel Hill.
What is done at this conference may be of primary importance to
the University. The purpose of the conference is still somewhat
vague. It began as a discussion session over a proposal to create an
institutionalized forum for all sectors of the University to discuss and
pass judgment on various policy issues facing the campus. That
purpose broadened in the sessions of the conference's planning
committee to include discussion of the problems and policy decisions
facing the campus now. .
The conference planners have reserved the Sunday session for
consideration of what ought to be the end product of the conference,
whether it should bequeath to the University a working document, a
readable summary report, "momentum for changes," and or plans
for the development of an institutionalized forum.
All of these end products are potentially valuable to those who
must carry out the daily work of the University. All ought to come
out of the conference. But particular emphasa ugjiQ-bg, placed
upon an institutionalized body to continue the thrust of the
conference, the exchange of ideas and argument to direct the growth
and governance of the University at Chapel Hill.
Change in this academic University is a slow phenomenon. Action
on the proposed smoking ban will probably be taken today by the
Faculty Council, a month after action by the student body seeking
such a ban. That action itself was the outgrowth of an earlier Campus
Governing Council resolution, which was the outgrowth of a
smoking ban in the School of Public Health instituted the previous
year. Several exchanges between the office of the student body
pasident and the office of the chancellor on issues like the Student
Bill of Rights have taken several months, and these exchanges have
involved little more than the swapping of opinions on policy matters.
The Student Bill of Rights is an idea over a year old; the date of its
ratification is still distant. Approval of the student Instrument of
Judicial Governance took several years.
In some cases, these delays may have some justification. I n the case
of an immediate response to the need for student-faculty-administration
interaction on issues before policy decisions are
made, there is little justification for delay. This weekend's conference
should do all that it can to speed such a consortium idea if it is to take
effect before all of the present student population has left for other
pursuits.
The need for such a consortium is more than apparent. Policy
actions from the abandonment of the coed arrangements in Winston
dorm to the search of Mclver dorm to the crackdown on the High
Noon gatherings to the proposed smoking ban to the current
discussions on grade revaluation have directly affected students, yet
have been the untempered prerogative of the administration. A
consortium would allow for active debate .and discussion about
appropriate responses to - cdsis.;uailembers of the
University; mutual understanding and respect for the positions of
various segments would be more likely than under the present system
of press release confrontation and behind the scenes conferences.
A consortium may solve none of the problems we will face in the
next few years. But it may help. It certainly promises to be an
opportunity for students to speak out on critical issues and to assume
some of the responsibility for the University that they ought to bear.
It offers the first step toward the realization of true power sharing
among all elements of this community.
This weekend's conference ought to be a seminal discussion to that
end.
cPjr Satly (Jar Mttl
83 rd Year of Editorial Freedom
Cole C. Campbell
Editor
Jim Grimsley
Managing Editor
Greg Porter
Associate Editor
Jim Roberts
News Editor
Robin Clark
Features Editor
Susan
Shackelford
Sport Editor
Barnie Day
Projects Editor ,
Joyce Fitzpatrick
Graphic Arts Editor
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U.N. equates S. Africa, Israel
To the editor: . " J -v"--:--v
Pat Crockett's letter of itiovp
concerning the recent U.N, resolution
equating Zionism and racisnii Jraises . as
important consideration the extent to
which the American people are ignorant of
conditions in Palestinian refugee camps and
of the basic motivation of anti-Israeli
"Arabs." However, any proper assessment of
the U.N.'s actions must also deal with two
additional factors: the significance of th
term "racism" and the new influence of Arab
states in that organization.
First, let me point out that personally 1 do
not accept the concept of "race" as a valid
description of different human groups. To
me, the actual scientific basis of classifying
people according to "Caucasoid,"
"Negroid," "Mongoloid," etc., is dubious
and unsupportable. However, since the
U.N. resolution includes that term, we must
deal with it. The problem involved with so
called Israeli "racism" is that biological and
anthropological systems classify both
"Jews" and "Arabs" as belonging to the same
"race."
This realization openly points to the real
change in the world balance of power which
made the passage of this resolution
possible the vast new wealth of the anti
Israeli and oil-rich Arab states. I do not
decry the flexing of their new diplomatic
muscle; after all, no nation or alliance in
history that suddenly acquired power has
acted in a totally altruistic manner, including
the United States. But the absurdity of the
concept of "racism" only points out the
purely polemical nature of the resolution.
Since it makes no logical sense, it is merely
another example of the antagonism of
several Arab nations to Israel. The use of
their oil as a persuasive device to line up
votes in the U. N. is common knowledge.
Critics of this position may respond that
the resolution condemned Zionism and not
Israel. Well, let's be realistic. Just as "Red,"
"Pink," "Fellow Traveller" and "Commie"
are used by some people as emotional code
words attacking people and ideas they
oppose, so "Zionist" has become the code
word of those who oppose Israel. In this
vein, the word "racism" has a special
connotation in the U. N. as a code word for
South Africa, and the use of this word in the
resolution was a means of emotionally
connecting anti-South' African sentiment
David Vogel
rthwhicji l totally agree) to anti-Israeli
:ntirneni But the two nations cannot in any
; ane manner be equated as "racist."
Of course the Palestinian question should
be taken seriously by the U.N., and, of
course, the anti-Israeli faction does possess
some cogent arguments. But the
"brainwashing" that Pat Crockett wishes to
escape is best represented by the U.N.
resolution itself, and not by its opponents.
Mark A. Safford
. 38 D Laurel Ridge
Mechanical thinking
To the editor:
. I would like to unite my voice with Mr.
Russell's in his article in the D TH of Nov. 1 8,
"Examining the sex of the suffix." Also, I
would add a few words of my own. If they
clear any issue once obscure, my words have
served well.
Because it suits Mr. Russell's argument so
well, I quote Paolo Milano on Dante: "His
(Dante's) sense of words is not categorical, as
ours often is (the scientific habit has made
our modern languages invertebrate, with
each term a ready-made dress for a
mechanically corresponding concept)." The
same could be said of Chaucer as well as
Dante. Mr. Milano implies that mechanical
usage leads to mechanical thinking.
Forcing women and men to use "-person"
for "-man" in the nouns Mr. Russell
mentions contributes to this mechanical
usage, . the same usage that the most
prominant politicians and columnists
observe daily. I personally wish to defy such
people in their mutilation of English. If these
writers are feminists, I defy them, too.
No enemy of feminism or the DTH, I hope
we all will join in an effort to wake up
English. Instead of chopping up suffixes and
diluting words, our credo should be to use
old Anglo-Saxon words in new contexts, to
discard stale expressions, to talk with
meaningful vigor as did our ancestors, both
poet and farmer, man and woman.
To think freely and use words with their
fullest natural intent is the beginning of
liberation, at least for me.
Mark Gabriel
201 Hillcrest Rd.
O'Neal a bad dream
To the editor.
VVelL, Mike O'Neal has done it again.
UNCs favorite ex-politico has succeeded in
getting his name in the DTH. This time, the
former treasurer is accused of blackening
Bill Bates' reputation by anonymously
sending in a receipt to Carolina and Tar Heel
showing that Bates spent too much money
during his campaign for president.
What is O'Neal going to do next, shoot
Bates in the back during lunch hour in the
Pit? The DTH is not helping matters any by
printing everything that occurs between him
and his former boss. Granted, the students
need to know about what goes on in student
government, but the only thing that the
Bates regime has done is to waste their time
arguing with O'Neal.
This guy seems to go out of his way to get
attention (remember the O'Neal-RHA
presidency controversy last year?) and is
doing very well at it. As long as Bates, the
Tar Heel and Carolina continue to feed his
flames of controversy, he will continue to
behave in his childish ways. If a child
misbehaves, the normal procedure is to
ignore him. I think this method should be
used with Mike O'Neal.
1 am fed up with the continuing saga of
Mike O'Neal and 1 think a lot of other
students are too. Let's just forget about the
guy and maybe, like a bad dream, he will go
away.
Graham Williams
Estes Park Apartments
Carrboro
The Daily Tar Heel welcomes letters to
the editor. Letters must be typed, double
spaced, on a 60-space line and are subject
to condensation or editing for libelous
content, bad taste or wordiness. Letters
must be signed with the address of the
letter writer.
Letters should not run over 40 lines
(300 words) and should be mailed to the
Daily Tar Heel, Carolina Union
Building. Letters will run according to
length, timeliness and the spatial
limitations of the particular day.
Unsigned or initialed columns on this
page represent the opinion of the Daily
Tar Heel.
Gestalt vs. raw-boned studs
Would the collected wisdom of the sages,
culture, experience and just plain Gestalt be
enough to overcome the vulgar, physical
skills of a bunch of raw-boned studs? Or
would the combined effects of creaky
reflexes, years of physical neglect and the
ravages of numerous effete and abstruse
practices take too much of a toll on the wise
and worldly graduate students and cause
them to succumb? Such was the
philosophical question whispered in some
sections of the crowd and the object of
animated debate in the cheaper seats as the
Craige Jerks, alleged diletantes, and the
Teague A Rubes took to court number one
in Woollen Gym in a first round intramural
basketball match.
The lines were drawn, the issues clear in
the mind of the crowd. But as we, the Craige
Jerks, stepped out onto the court, the
crowd's musings faded into the cacophony of
20 other contests resounding with the
poundings of basketballs and the crash
landings of nerveless demons who dove after
loose balls as if they were close friends
dribbling toward the edge of a cliff.
No such weighty question occupied our
minds as we worked up a pregame sweat in a
heated debate over whether Wittgenstein,
was right- or left-handed. We were just in a
mood to hand out a good whupping.
The Rubes shot layups at the other end .
with a graceful precision that generally
verified their ominous description in a
scouting report provided by our own
Mata Hari, Mimi "The FrenchCurve" Tutu"
as tall, fast, strong, good shooters and
great kissers. '
But when, on occasion, we flexed I
forgotten muscles, they popped up in the
same old places, and after our brisk warm-up
we felt as supple and springy as ever. Also,
the Rubes' attenuated center, "Stretch"
Marx, had struck his head on a chandelier,
suffering a mild concussion, and would not
play. So, we were confident.
Our spirit and bodies were dampened
slightly when we were forced to don sweaty
jerseys they had numerals on the backs
w hich would identify us to the scorer. They
.lay in black, steaming piles at the side of the
court where the team that had worn them in
the preceding game had plopped them down
and looked more like specimens for
scatological study than clothing.
Summoning up our collective eloquence, the
product of some of the finest schools in the
nation, we let out a collective "Yeech!"
1 offered to carve any number of the
scorer's choosing on my chest with a shoe
horn, but the cold-hearted knave refused,
and I had to put on my jersey number 34
in your program but number I in your heart.
We overcame our handicap the smell
reminded me of the stench that wafted out of
the sewers of Calcutta several years ago after
the city was hit by a plague of ameobic
dysentary, with perhaps a pinch of garlic
and took the opening tap. But we lost the ball
on a traveling call and went on from there to
play with a cohesiveness reminiscent of the
Democratic party. The outcome was still in
doubt, though, as we trailed at the half only .
22-16.
How shall I describe the second half?
Waterloo, Dunkirk, Dien Bien Phu, New
York City. They all pale in comparison with
the disaster that befell us. Unpressured
passes flew into the enemies' hands or
bounced off our knees; the ball ricocheted
off our ankles when we tried p dribble it and
initiated fast breaks in the opposite
direction; ungainly members of the Rubes,
perhaps spurred on by the cheers of a
bloodthirsty crowd that hadn't seen
anything like this since bear-baiting was
outlawed, now had, in the words of that
eminent sage. Basketball Jones, more moves
than Ex-lax, as they passed behind their
backs, dribbled between their legs and let fly
with accurate 30-foot hook shots.
In their hands, the ball was as docile and
ma na gable as a goose down pillow; in ours, it
was a hyped up Superball the size of a golf
ball.
Eventually it became even too much for
the crowd, which had its original question
answered long ago with a clarity unrivaled in
philosophy, and it thinned out to a few
stragglers who now divided their attention
between watching the game and loitering. .
But let it be known that the Jerks played
hard all the way to the end. I had run up an
, oxygen debt on the order of the Federal
deficit. My aching feet throbbed as thev.
bulged out of holes on the bottom of my
sneakers. Yet pride, and other stupid
reasons, dictated that I and the rest of the
Jerks finish the game. These are the times
that try men's souls.
The final score was 63-2 1 . For those of you
w ithout a calculator handy that works out to
a 41-5 butchering in the second half.
Instead of handing out the whupping, we
were the whuppees.
Whoops.
"Mr. Vogel, a native of the Bronx, Hill',
continue his studies as a graduate student in
journalism as soon as he is released from
intensive care.