Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / July 8, 1965, edition 1 / Page 5
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Thursday, July 8, 1963 THE TAR HEETJ Page o r Washington Froghawh: Rare Find By ART BUCHWALD New York Herald Tribune A whole new set of terms are now in order concerning the position people have tak en in Washington in the last few months. During the Cu ban crisis the town was divid ed between the Doves and the Hawks and this made life very simple for everybody. But as our foreign position becomes more complex so do the designations of people who are involved. For example an ultra - con servative Hawk is someone who wants to bomb Hanoi and Peking with atomic weapons. A moderate Hawk is someone who wants to bomb Hanoi with conventional weapons and Pe king with the hydrogen bomb. A liberal Hawk is someone who wants to bomb only North Viet Nam, including Hanoi, but reserves the right to pur sue communist planes into China if it becomes necessary. A moderate Dove believes we should bomb only the Viet Cong in South Viet Nam and fight for what we now hold until we can get negotiations.' A liberal Dove is one who doesn't think we should get out of Viet Nam, but also feels there is no reason to be there in the first place. An ultra - conservative Dove on the other hand believes we should bomb all of North Viet Nam except Hanoi, and in crease our ground commitment to show the North Vietnamese we mean business. Then there are the Frogs. The Frog designation came in to being when President John son told a story about a farm er who was kept awake by frogs croaking in a pond all night long. The farmer finally drained the pond and found only two frogs. Therefore, according to the President, any Senator who disagrees with the Administra tion's Viet Nam policy, and says so out loud, is a well meaning, but badly misin formed Bullfrog. People who are for a strong American policy in the Domini can Republic are Sharks. And those who believe we should never have sent troops into Santo Domingo are Sardines. So it isn't strange to have people in Washington who are known as Hawk - Sharks, Sar dine - Hawks, Shark - Doves and Dove - Frogs. It's rare to find a Frog-Hawk at least one who will speak for attribution. The President maintains he is neither Hawk nor Dove. Shark nor Sardine, and cer tainly not a Frog. He sees him-" self as just a large benign Eagle, flying around with an olive branch in his mouth and a bomb in each claw, willing to sit down with any bird who is willing to sit down with him. Letters The Tar Heel welcomes letters to the editor on any subject, especially those of campus or community in terest. Letters should be typed double spaced and kept as brief as possible. They must include the name and ad dress of the sender. Names and addresses will not be omitted in publication. Emotional Innuendos Characterize Morgan's Verbal Assaults On UNC (ED. NOTE Stevens was co-editor of the Daily Tar Heel during the 1964-65 school year. He is at UNC this summer working with the team which is compiling a history of the UNC Student Government.) By HUGH STEVENS It is almost axiomatic by now that whenever State Sen. Robert B. Morgan of Harnett County opens his mouth to say something about the Universi ty of North Carolina, the re sult is nasty. Ever since the 1960 guber natorial primary, when Mor gan twisted the truth about an appearance by Langston Hughes on the Chapel Hill campus in an attempt to aid I. Beverly Lake's chances, he has been broadcasting a mes sage of "subversion and com munism in the University" to the state's right wing. Morgan's innuendos and al legations, supported more by emotion than fact, have in the course of time become an in evitable (if not enjoyable) part of the state political scene. After all, Morgan is really nothing new. Other small-minded, big - mouthed, flint-hearted men ahave vocally cruci fied the University almost since its inception, and the Univer sity has weathered their ver bal gale's. " . Further Than Usual On Sunday, however, Mor gan went even further than usual in a speech to the Amer ican Legion's statewide gath ering in Dunn. I got mad and so did a lot of other peo ple. I'm still mad, and proba bly will be until somebody washes Morgan's mouth out with truth. For the remarks he made, for all intents and purposes, were lies. Hererare some of the things he said: v ". ... I must recognize that the people have rightly in many instances lost confidence in these boards (of trustees) to clean their own house." ". . . Communist leaders . . . desire more than anything else to gain respectability by ap pearing on the same platforms on which great Americans have appeared. If they should lead only one more Larry Phelps to their cause, then they have destroyed a little bit of democracy." Look at that first statement.' It cunningly says that those people who label Chapel Hill and the University "a hotbed of communism" are right. Further, it implies that the boards of trustees of the Uni versity and other, state schools have shirked their duties and their "housecleaning." Such accusations are nothing less than outright falsehoods, as the Chapel Hill Weekly so pointedly stated a few weeks ago when it offered to pay $100 for the name of each com munist in the University. Fear not, my friends the Week ly's bank account will remain unscathed, because the Robert Morgans and Chub Seawells of the state cannot produce a sin gle person to back up their wild claims. But, vile as it is, this first statement is fairly common place. Dave Clark, the Char lotte textile executive who loosed his venom on the Uni made similar unfair allega tions many times, and such statements have been repeat ed by John Birchers and oth er right - wingers for years. Today, as in the past, such remarks serve only to reen force the shameful dichotomy between those who accept the principle of freedom for the University and those who would pervert its purposes to their own ends. Today, as in the past, the University can best discredit such lies by ig noring them. Senator Morgan's remark about Larry Phelps, . however, is even more misleading and dirty. It implies that Commu nist speakers "led" Phelps down the road to Marxism and the repudiation of his country, and that more appearances by "subversive" speakers will re sult in a mass rejection of de mocracy by Carolina gentle men and ladies. Let's call a spade a spade; that's what we're here for. Phelps became a Marxist be cause he wanted to, and for no other reason. Nobody led him down any path; he chose the path and walked down it un der his own steam. Now, lest that be taken as an attempt to cast undue as persions upon a tragic individ ual, let's set the record straight. I knew Phelps. I went to high school with him and I knew him at the University, and I was not particularly sur prised when he adopted his radical views. I was distrubed, yes, and I got a little sick to my stom ach when I got a call at my office saying he sas dead, stabbed by a hysterical ex STUDENT Cars, Grades Greeks Draw Student Gripes By BEV COLEMAN When given the chance, UNC students can complain about campus facilities, activities, or what not. The complaints range from parking facilities to fraternity villains. One coed remarked about fraternity men: "I am sick and tired of fraternity villains. They think they are God's gift to women because they wear a jeweled pin on their V-neck cashmere sweater. You see them trot along at every function with their madras flask. They consider themselves men of the world just because they are in a fraternity. To hell with fraternities. I am not a beatnik or a social outcast. I may be the girl you are dating, fraternity villain." These are other complaints issued by students: Betty Young, junior, secondary education, Aiken, S. C. "The parking facilities are a disgrace at Carolina. You might as well not have a car because you have to walk so far from parking lots to class. The police around UNC are slap happy with tickets. I protest! Something should be done about the parking facilities around here, and fast." Walter Brown, sophomore, Radio-TV, Charlotte "Students who don't have 2.0's can't have cars in the summer." Jack Allison, senior, chemistry, Avon Park, Fla. I don't like introductory courses where the garder doesn't attend class." Dan Welch, junior, political science, Jacksonville "No cartoons, no cross word puzzles. The movie schedule is not as extensive as it should be. It should include all the Durham movie listings. We need better summer flicks. We also need better sports coverage." Charles Shore, junior, business, Thoinasville "The parking problem is very bad. They should have you park according to where you live. You have to walk miles to your classes." Tommy Cavalaris, sophomore, history, Charlotte "I don't like 7:30 classes for those who live a half a mile away and have no car because of a 2.0 average." Visiting Student, junior, political science, Pennsylvania "The campus is dead. I don't know how it is in the winter, but the summer session could be the most monotonous event I've ever attended. I have found few people with interests lying out of the realm of partying. It is not that I am against partying, I just get bored with it after continuous repetition. It is a shame that the fine faculty here can't provoke any extra-curricular interest. Even in glancing over this list of complaints, the most apparent manifestation of the student apathy is the constant complaint that the University is not pro viding enough for you - the student. Well, I would say, open your eyes and just try to realize all that the University does offer you. Fellow Tar Heels, asknot what the University can do for you, but what you can do with the University." t tremist in a dingy Harlem of fice; but I was not surprised. Needed Attention Phelps, moody and intro verted, needed something to attract attention to himself, and he chose Marxism and a defiant trip to Cuba. It could just as easily have been ice boating or nudism or Zen. But once this young man, brood ing and unsuccessful, chose his unusual path, the entire University was indicted as a place where radicals lurked behind every door and Marx ism was taken straight,- like the whiskey at an American Legion convention. To even imply that speakers on a public platform "turned Larry Phelps into a Commu nist" is to distort the truth be yond all reason. Worse, it is to use as a scapegoat for one's conservative fear of academ ic freedom a young man whose own fears and inability to cope with society resulted in his adoption of an extreme way of life. To indict the University on the basis of Phelps, then, is like indicting an entire coun try club because an alcoholic on its membership list hap pened to do a little of his drink ing in the locker room. Those who imply that Phelps would be alive today if it were not for "communistic influences in the University" should place the blame where it really lies on a severe home life, or OPINION rejection by the fickle, ma terialistic society of a typical large high school. Larry Phelps was not a close friend of mine, but I felt sorry for him because I knew he was troubled and felt that he was making a dangerous mistake. I do not even know Robert Welch, head of the John Birch society, but I feel sorry for him, also. I think he is mak ing no less an error than did Larry Phelps by spreading his hallucinatory fears of deep rooted communist influences into the lives of well - mean ing citizens. The funny thing is that Rob ert Welch is also a graduate of this University, but I have yet to hear anyone attribute his political paranoia to "con servative influences in the Uni versity." I have never heard Robert Welch used as a scape goat in a political speech by a man like Robert Morgan, and certainly I have not heard an advocate of the speaker ban law state that it should also cover extreme right - wingers lest they "lead only one more Robert Welch to their cause ... Remember The Facts So, if Morgan and his com rades wish to vent their wrath on the University, let them do so. But let us also keep the people of the state attuned to the facts which the Robert Mor gans so cleverly bend, or stretch, or even avoid entire ly. And the facts, so far as this particular incident is con cerned, are these: (1) the Uni versity does not need to do such have-you-stopped-beating-your-wif e accusations should no longer be tolerated by respon sible citizens, especially from men who are supposed to be of integrity (such as state sena tors); (2) no one "led" Larry Phelps to communism at the University, and implications . that such was the case are ma licious, irresponsible and brut al. One further fact, which should be applied in every in cident of this type, is this: for every unusual character such ar a Larry Phelps or a Rob ert Welch turned out by this University, thousands of re sponsible citizens also go forth from her educational portals. Yet, by accusing the institu tion itself, disgusting individ uals such as Robert Morgan go a long way toward demean ing the institution which has helped make these thousands of individuals progressive citi zens in a progressive state. No doubt they do it out of fear ungrounded, ridiculous fear that free, intelligent young people will hate democracy or despise their country unless, like the citizens of a totalitari an nation, their thoughts are shaped for them. I've been an enthusiastic participant in the life of this University for four years, and it hasn't caused me to despise anything. It has only made me feel sympathy for the tortured individuals whose depth of un derstanding makes them in capable of coping with the tre mendous responsibilities which democracy demands. I speak of men like Larry Phelps and Robett Welch and Robert B.Morgan. J
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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July 8, 1965, edition 1
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