Letter to the Editor
TO: Editor of the “Smoke Signals,’
RE: War and Peace - 11 Nov. issue
The anonymous “War and Peace” article in the November 11 issue
of “Smoke Signals” prompts me to stand in the defense of my prin
ciples as a compassionate yet firm individual and also my country and
its youth from the frenzied philosophy of radical idealists such as the
author of said article obviously positions himself to be. The following
is a step by step explanation of how I feel about his article and the pre
stated subject:
1. I am young and no man has accused me of wiping my feet on
“our country”. How do you account for that exception to your
generalization?
2.1 “back” the war in Viet Nam, yet I have never said, nor have any
of my conservative counterparts, that we need a war every twenty
years. Neither have I advocated the “stick it out no matter what”
policy you so loosely identified all “war backers” with. On the con-
^Xrary, I condone U.S. involvement only until we have insured
^Pemocratic security for South Viet Nam.
3. In your comment, “Young people must have a purpose,...” are
you suggesting that the conservative young peoples of the U.S. haven’t
one?
4. As far as your comments on the futilism of fighting communism is
concerned, you are, in fact, my good fellow, a victim of your own
unreason. I am quite sure of the fact that if a communistic type of
government were to converge on the U.S. today, you and those who
think like you would surely be exterminated in the first purge. Your
“Peacenik” attitudes, I am afraid, would tend to stunt their growth.
5. President Nixon has tried and worked quite diligently to attain
peace in Viet Nam with a rapid withdrawal policy. But I regret to say
his every constructive move toward peace has been nose-thumbed by
North Vietnam negotiators and dissenters at home. Are your remarks
justified? I beg you to look for a moment at the President’s policy in
Vietnam in the light of political and military conditions as they were
and as they are today.
The situation as of January 20, 1969:
Mihtary Conditions:
a. The number of U.S. troops to Vietnam was still increasing. We
were still seeking a military solution.
b. Military operations were characterized by maximum military
pressure on the enemy, through emphasis on offensive operations.
c. Pregress in strengthening the South Vietnamese army was slow;
not enough resources being devoted to that effort.
Political Conditions
a. He found only a general and vague set of proposals for political
settlement of the war. While you are calling for “peace” you offer no
practical solution for achieving it.
b. Mutual withdrawal of forces was provided for under the Manilla
Declaration, which stipulated that the Allied withdrawal would be
completed within six months of the withdrawal of North Vietnamese
forces, but anyone knew at that time that the North Vietnamese were
not about to pull out while we were still there.
The siluation today:
Military conditions:
a. He has instituted a Vietnamization program which envisages
South Vietnamese responsibility fo r all aspects of the war.
b. He has offered the withdrawal of U.S. and Allied Forces over a 12
month period, if North Vietnamese forces also withdraw.
c. he has declared that we would retain no miliarty bases.
d. He has begun to reduce our presence in South Vietnam by setting
motion the replacement of over 60,000 U.S. troops. (This is a
meaningful act of de-escalation.)
Political Conditions:
For the first time, concrete and comprehensive political proposals
for the settlement of the war have been made:
a.^He^^a^prpposp^d^free^^}e^QDffj^.organized fay joint T.'uirnnissiDns
under international supervision.
b. Our Government and the government of South Vietnam have
announced that we are prepared to accept any political outcome which
is arrived at through free elections,
c. He has offered to negotiate supervised ceasefires Under in
ternational supervision to facilitate the process of withdrawal.
d. He has expressed our government’s willingness to discuss the 10-
point program of the ther side, together with plans to be put forward
by the other parties.
Progress to date in Vietnam:
a. The enemy was unable to launch the summer offensive of 1970.
b. The infiltration rate is down by two thirds.
c. Casualties for the first nine months of this year are down one
third.
d. The South Vietnamese army is larger, stronger, and more well-
equipped.
e. The influence of the government of South Vietnam has expanded
throughout the countryside.
That is what is happening in Vietnam. There’s a constructive
program trying to achieve peace in Vietnam. What do you offer in
stead? An idealistic bath of useless rhetoric? A call to lie down and
cease to become a useful part of society, rather than fight for what
your forefathers died to give you on a silver platter? You have shown
me only your lack of knowledge and your weakness in not fighting for
what you have when you have to. You and others like you, secure in
your paper machie world, which protects you from the cold, hard
realities of REAL life, will echo a refugee from North Vietnam who
said, “You don’t know what your freedom is until you’ve lost it.”
Before I close, Mr. Anonyous, let me impress on you that I will not
concede my convictions without logical proof of their fallacy but I do
try to keep an open mind about them. I trust you will do the same. To
retain YOUR rights of speech, freedom, and happiness, I shall fight to
the death. If that entails war, then war it shall be. But above all you
SHALL have it and I shall have it, yes, all Americans shall have their
basic freedoms if it is on my life that it depends. Peace-RGD.
Ronald G. Dunn
THAT \()\E
J V/ETNAM
KOREA
Page 3—Smoke Signals, Wednesday, December 2, 1970
One Nation, Under God . .
Students Should Reconsider
Well Chowan has done it again. I am refering to the Circle K’s Fund
Drive in memory of the players, staff and fans of Marshall University
who lost their lives in the recent tragic airplane crash. The Circle K
requested that everyone donate a little something to the Fund. Out of
both chapels they hoped on getting enough money to make a check out
that would be worthy of 1400 students. Less than $20 was collected
from both chapels. This is not even 2 cents per person. This sounds
rediculous and in reality is. The indifference and selfishness shown by
the Chowan students towards the Circle K’s Fund drive was uncalled
for. Just think 50 cents from each person would mean $700 from
students alone. Even $1 wouldn’t be to much to ask from everyone for
a cause such as this. Think!, $1400 from students alone what would 50
cents or even $1 buy. For 50 cents you could by beer at the Rat, a
hamburger and a small coke at the Patio, or 2 large pepsi’s at the
Student Union.
The money collected from Chowan students combined with funds
collected from faculty civic organizations, and clubs would mean so
much to someone else. Put yourself in the place of those who lost
someone they loved. Wouldn’t you want someone to care. I challenge
all Chowan students to show Marshall University that we do care
about others besides ourselves. Next time you are asked to contribute
to the Marshall University Fund Drive do so, if you haven’t done so
already. Give more than was given in the last chapels.
Circle K members are pictured collecting food for
area needy families.
a
Students participating in “Clean-Up Day.'
By RONALD G. DUNN
Not long ago, I was introduced
to a movement I had completely
no previous knowledge, I feel that
this movement needs to be
brought to the attention of the
student body. The following is a
step in that direction.
Mr. Richard T, Vann, a
member of the Murfreesboro
Exchange Club was our guest
speaker at the Nov. 12 Chapel
program. He spoke of a
movement credited to the
National Exchange Club, of
which the Murfreesboro Ex
change Club is a member. I am of
the opinion that his message and
his explanation of the “One
Nation under God” movement
deserves reprint.
His speech was as follows:
ONE NATION UNDER GOD
“Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am here making this address
today because my service club,
the Exchange Club of Mur
freesboro, sponsors the “One
Nation Under God” program of
The National Exchange Club.
Let me briefly explain about
the “One Nation Under God”
program. It is a relatively new
addition to The National Ex
change Club’s Program of Ser
vice. It was started because we
Exchangites believed the hour
had arrived for an American
service club organization such as
ours to stand up for and
strengthen the concepts of in
dividual moral responsibility and
dependence on God which are
basic to the Christian-Judaic
ethic; concepts which have been
a vital part of the American way
of life since the earliest set
tlements on our shores.
These concepts are under
vigorous, atheistic attack. The
“One Nation Under God”
program provides Exchange
Clubs throughout the United
States and Puerto Rico with a
coordinated, national project to
defend them and revitalize them
in the hearts and minds of all
Americans. Our organization is
convinced that we, as a nation,
have an urgent need to heed the
words of Rudyard Kipling’s poem
“Recessional:”
“Lord God of Hosts be with us
yet,”
“Lest we forget — lest we
forget.”
The “One Nation Under God”
program takes its name, as I’m
sure you all realize, from the
identical phrase in the Pledge of
Allegiance to the Flag. It may
come as a surprise to some of you
to learn that the words “under
God” were not always in the
Pledge. They were inserted by an
Act of Congress signed by
President Eisenhower on Flag
Day, June 14, 1954. In signing he
said, “In this way we are reaf
firming the transcendence of
religious faith in America’s
heritage and future; in this way
we shall constantly strengthen
those spiritual weapons which
forever will be our country’s
most powerful resource in peace
and war.”
We agree with President
Eisehower one hundred percent.
There are however Americans
who are diligently working to
have the words “under God”
removed from the pledge. I am
proud to tell you that Exchange
Clubs are resolved to keep the
words in the pledge and will
resist by every constitutional
means all attempts to remove
them. Our principal hope,
though, is to accomplish our
resolve by education, by in
creasing our schools, at group
meetings, and all public func
tions, We want to inspire
Americans to give the Pledge
with love, reverence and honor;
to feel that in reciting it they are
performing an act of con
secration to their country; that
they are covenanting with
millions of fellow Americans to
preserve their precious heritage
of liberty and justice for all, to
support the policies of their
democratically elected govern
ment, and to defend the United
States of America against all
enemies, domestic and foreign.
The same citizens who would
remove “under God” from the
Pledge of Allegiance have suc
cessfully banned prayer from the
pubUc schools, the use of the
word “God” from jurer’s oaths in
Maryland, and they have moved
to have our national motto “In
God We Trust” stricken from our
currency. They argue that this is
necessary to maintain the
separation of church and state.
The argument is plainly false.
The very idea of a state religion is
unthinkable in America.
Separation of church and state is
fundamental to our concept of
government. And, it has worked
so well under our constitution
that no religious organization
would attempt to change it. The
time is long past in this country
when any church, religious body
or denomination has felt it wise
or necessary to seek govern
mental advantage over any
other. As for religious liberty, the
free excercise of religion is the
constitutionally guaranteed right
of every citizen. But, I beg you to
remember that in excercising
that right we may not deny it to
others or infringe upon their
exercise of it.
No, fellow Americans, the
principle involved is not the
separation of church and state.
That is a smoke screen to capture
the support of pseudo in
tellectuals and ultra-so-called
liberals. “The real issue is
separation of the state from
God,” which is something
frighteningly different. The
purpose is to obliterate God from
everything pertaining to
government and, ultimately, to
make denial of God’s existence a
matter of public policy. This has
been the pattern and the result in
all countries controlled by
communism. May God forbid
that the efforts be successful
here.
We don’t believe the efforts will
succeed. Ours has always been a
deeply religious nation and,
despite some current evidence to
the contrary, it still is. It was a
burning personal need to worship
God in their own way that
brought many colonists across
the Atlantic. And only their faith
in God sustained them during the
early months and years on a
strange and often hostile land.
Trust in God has been a common
denominator of almost all who
migrated to America. If it had not
been, they never would have left
their homelands. All of the worlds
great religions have been planted
and nurtured here by those
forebears of ours, and, today,
there is no interference with the
rights of their adherents to
practice them.
Our people always have given
evidence of their religious faith,
and that faith was abundantly
evident at the birth of our nation.
When it became necessary to
declare independence from the
British Crown, the revolu
tionaries turned to God for
justification and strength. The
very first sentence of the
Declaration of Independence
refers to the laws of “nature’s
god.” The second sentence
declares unequivocably that all
men “are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable
Rights.” The final paragraph
opens with an appeal to “the
Supreme Judge of the world” for
the rectude of the signer’s in
tentions, and it closes with the
profession of their “firm reliance
on the protection of divine
Providence.” Undeniably, the
“founding Fathers” were God
fearing men.
Speaking of fathers, I feel I
must tell you what the Father of
His Country had to say about
religion and morality. I am
convinced the curricula of our
schools offer nothing of greater
significance to young citizens. It
is a portion of his famous
Farewell Address too little
quoted in this day and age; which
is a pity, because every
American should be familiar with
it. Washington said:
“Of all the dispositions and
habits which lead to political
prosperity, religion and morality
are indispensable supports. In
vain would that man claim the
tribute of patriotism who should
labor to subvert these great
pillars of human happiness —
these firmest props of the duties
of men and citizens. The mere
politician, equally with the pious
man, ought to respect and to
cherish them. A volume could not
trace all their connections with
public and private happiness. Let
it be simply asked, \^ere is the
security for property for
reputation, for life, if the sense of
religious obligation “desert” the
oaths which are the instruments
of investigation in courts of
justice? And let us with caution
indulge the supposition that
morality can be maintained
without religion. Whatever may
be conceded to the influence of
refined education on minds of
peculiar structure reason and
experience both forbid us to
expect that national morality can
prevail in exclusion of religious
principle.
With our forefather’s faith and
trust in God went the propriety
and humility to thank him for his
bounty. Thus, a day set apart for
special acknowledgment of God’s
blessings has been an important
part of our way of life since
America’s beginnings.
Thanksgiving Day should be one
of our most meaningful national
holidays. Unfortunately, its true
meaning has largely been ob
scured by overindulgence in food
and sports. Too few regard it as
an opportunity to prayerfully
thank Almighty God for his
blessings of the past year, for the
privilege of living in this won
derful country, for our rights and
liberties, and for His protection
against the enemies who envy us
our bounty and would therefore
destroy us. Surely we should heed
Kipling’s words:
“Judge of the Nations, spare us
yet.
Lest we forget — lest we
forget.”
It is the hope of Exchange
Clubs, through the “One Nation
Under God” program, to
reawaken America to the
spiritual aspects of Thanksgiving
Day; to help re-establish it as a
day when Americans of all
religious faiths congregate in
their houses of worshop to offer
prayers of thanksgiving to their
Creator. This does not mean
foregoing the traditional turkey,
the groaning board, the hot-
fought gridiron battles. It means
devoting only a small portion of
the holiday or holiday eve in
humbly thanking God for the gift
of America.
It is our aspiration that, in
cooperation with religious
leaders of all faiths we may spark
a movement to reinstitute
Thanksgiving 'Day services
where they have been discon
tinued, to recreate interest in
services that are traditional, and
generally to re-emphasize
Thanksgiving Day as a religious
holiday.
We are not so naive, however
as to believe that people who do
not look daily to divine
Providence for inspiration; who
do not trust in God and depend
upon Him. We realize a return to
the traditional spirituality of
Thanksgiving Day will come
about only as part of a year
around awareness of God, with
families worshipping together
regularly each week.
It is our firm conviction that
the full realization of our hope
lies with Young America. It is our
children, the parents, voters,
office holders, the leaders of
tomorrow, who will give the
nation its normal and spiritual
renaissance. They will not fail if
we older Americans guide them
in the paths of righteousness.
Each generation, the old and the
new, has an awesome respon
sibility to insure the tran
scendence of religious faith in
America’s jresent and future. So,
I implore you young people in the
audience to think deeply and
prayerfully about your personal
relationship with Almighty God.
America is depending on you.
Now, in closing, I want to leave
you with some words I pray you
never forget. They were spoken
by a great friend of America, the
Phillippine patriot, soldier and
statesman Carlos P. Romulo. He
served with General MacArthur
during World War II, played a
leading role in creating the
United Nations, became a
President of its General
Assembly, and for many years
held his country’s am
bassadorship to the United
States. When he returned to the
Phillippines, he said:
“I am going home, America —
farewell. For seventeen years, I
have enjoyed your hospitality,
visited every one of your 50
states. I can say I know you well.
I admire and love America. It is
my second home. What I have to
say now in parting is both a
tribute and a warning; Never
forget, Americans, that yours is a
spiritual country. Yes, I know
that you are a practical people.
Like others, I have marveled at
your factories, your skyscrapers
and your arsenals. But un
derlying everything else is the
fact that America began as a
God-loving, God-fearing, God-
worshipping people, knowing that
there is a spark of the Divine in
each of us. It is this respect for
the dignity of the human spirit
which makes America invincible.
May it always endure. And so I
say again in parting, thank you,
America, and farewell. May God
keep you always — and may you
always keep God.”
With those parting words, I also
close.
roiij{ressioiial Recorjl
Since 1833 (when men’s
suits sold for $10.00) the
Con>rres.sional Record has
sold for $1,50 a month.
At last Congress has
taken note of inflation
and announced that,
starting in January 1971,
the price will no up to
$3.75 a month. Actually,
few subscribers pay any
thing because many re
ceive it free of charge
from their Congressman.
This overnight printed
i-ecord of what was said
and done in Congress the
previous day averages
300,000 words in each
edition.
Thrill of Victory
By Donald R. Patten
Chowan’s coach Jim Garrison
with a unprecedented win over
Baltimore Junior College, to kick
off the season, seemed beyond
any doubt to have assembled one
of the finest teams ever in the
history of the college football
program.
With victories over Potomac
State, Ferrum, Lees-McRae,
Worth, Montgomary, and Har
ford College, the Braves looked
more optimistic toward the
possibility of receiving a Bowl
bid.
Loaded with a 7-0 record
beneath their belts, and the
brutal beatings they forced upon
each opponent, they prepared for
the final stage of the season. On
November 7, Chowan was to
have her excellences tested by a
powerhouse of Wolverines, led
by the notorious, muscular, 230-
pound, six-foot bandit, Clarence
Qiiles, a Junior College All
American for two consecutive
years. The team was Wesley, the
site - Dover, Del., the field -
Dover High School Stadium, the
night - perfect.
With a packed house, Wesley
showed qualities of brilliance as
they marched up the field in five
plays after taking the opening
kick off Chowan’s Jimmy
Thomas to score. Chowan was
never really in the contest from
this point on.
Wesley lived up to its
reputation of being one of the
better teams by downing the
Braves 37-17. The defeat denied
Chowan her second chance of
obtaining a Bowl bid.
Showing qualities of still a most
powerful team, Chowan rolled
into Davidson, N.C. and gave the
Davidson Frosh a worse defeat
than they received themselves
the previous week. The victory
enabled Chowan to climb to an 8-1
seasonal mark, identical to that
of five years ago. The defeat by
Wesley knocked Chowan from 7th
place to 12th nationally.
The success of the Braves can
be attributed primarily to the
support they received, that
ranged from kids to presidents.
Credit should also be given to the
coaching staff, headed by Jim
Garrison, and assisted by Jerry
Hawkins and Dan Surface.
Last, are the players, that
great group of Bandits headed by
four candidates for All American
Junior College honors. The
sophomores in the group are
Danny Croom, Norman Cage,
and John Boles, with the lone
candidate, Ronnie Mack, a fresh
man from Delray Beach, Fla.
Mack lead the ground attack,
with help from Ronnie Jarmon
and Horace Bush.
The bomb was very much a
threat with the passing of Paul
Black and Dale McCafferty, and
the receiving of Billy Harris,
Morris Newlin and Nat Wright, a
freshman.
The loss of the Braves’ most
explosive runner was definitely a
tragedy. The runner is Roger
(Rocky) Dunbar, an idol in his
own rights to all, and a target for
all major college scouts. Roger
can only hope for a return to the
gridiron, and as he hopes, he will
watch as others excel in the game
for which he was much a part.
Chowan found winning to be
transitory, but not all together
lost, for this was more of a
rebuilding year for Coach
Garrison. With the return of 35-
plus freshmen to pick up the
pieces where they left off, and
the support they are destined to
receive, they can and will deliver
Chowan her first Bowl Bid. This
is good-bye to 1970 and hello Bowl
City U.S.A.