European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 14, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse It the stars and stripes Page 9 p. Belil a or. Agnew known As defender of civil rights the s61ection of 0�v. To at we All know a sort Row Ujj ii in fake lon9 for the delegates to get Over it. Instant Arch info the history of the. Relatively obscure lawyer who a few months ago was clamor ing for he nomination of or. Nixon s Arch antagonist Nelson Rockefeller fails to betray any serious weakness the democrats Are Likely to profit from. He res cued Maryland in 1966, from the leadership of a Democrat committed to segregationist and did so Only two years after George Wallace running in a presidential primary had demonstrated How greatly disposed Maryland was to the old allure of segregation. Indeed the candidacy of Agnew was endorsed by the Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun. So much for pre 1968. But then gov. Agnew in the Spring of this year took certain measures and made certain Toffi Tomens which distinguished him from the school of men that bravely justifies any civil disorder at All on the grounds that 400 years ago slaves were brought into this country by our forefathers. Gov. Agnew an swered a sit Down seizure of a local College by arresting a Cou ple of Hundred students no less. He then read a lecture to local negro leaders instructing them that their own interests to say nothing of those of the Community of Baltimore Lay in a firm repudiation of such As rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael. He went on to deplore and for such penetration and courage he should have drawn National at Tention the Kerner commis Sion report wherein we were instructed that the reason Why we have had riots and disorders is that White americans Are racist. Gov. Agnew s position is that such an analysis is at Best in Complete and at worst mislead ing. No doubt it was his stand on that report combined with his stand against riots and disorder in general that Drew him to the attention of Southern leaders As out of the Ordinary among civil rights governors. And then hav ing earlier resigned himself with no apparent trauma to Nelson Rockefeller s unavailability to make the race for the presidency gov. Agnew popped up in sup port of Richard Nixon. His doing so attracted a great Deal of at Tention and in due course what do you know he was singled out by the presidential nominee or. Nixon As his running mate. There was considerable con fusion in Miami Beach when the announcement was made. For one thing it is generally sup posed it having been stressed Over recent years that he is a cunning Crafty Man that or. Nixon was being permitted to get away with something. Had he put something Over on some the Church will forgive Ernest Cuneo the american military government in Italy near the end of the War sardonically reported to Washington that any deficiency in Italy s steel production was being More than met by the irony of the italians. Som grizzled old members of the italian bar were consultants to the Ameri cans. They were As much philosophers a Law yers. With elaborate politeness the younger americans explained that their stay would be Brief but they thought that even a temporary government of Italy by foreign ers would be interesting. The Dean of the old italian lawyers drily observed that it would be Little less than fascinating since italians had been attempting to govern italians for 1,500 years without noticeable result. He continued that with alertness however the Ameri cans might learn in a few months what it took Mussolini 20 years to find out namely that it can t be done. He added that governments do not govern Italy for All italian Laws Are unwritten Cus Toms. Italy he said was governed from the Bottom up not from the top Down. The americans frankly stated that Washington was definitively dear that they were to avoid offending the Vatican. To govern Italy and avoid offending the Vatican is practically impossible said the Kalian with a patient smile. However this is a cause for no undue a Arm because while it difficult not to offend the Vatican in governing Italy it is Al but impossible to alienate it any More than an owner is like y to abandon his property be cause there h a squatter on reason it never deserts the ultimate source of All Power the family. This is the Basic unit he said and not the individual. There Are no individuals in Naples tonight just families of Par ent and children. Thus the Church knows that the family is the most incorruptible and unfailing unit of civil administration. If an italian Mother out there tonight had eight rations for eight children they will get their food though she goes hungry. No other government can duplicate this and the Church understands this. Is this italian no it is Universal and because it knows that the Church is uni Versal. In 2,000 years the Church has excommunicated Kings and emperors nations and empires. But its Laws show not one against the Bonds of the family. It knows that blood is thicker than water perhaps holy water in what about birth control asked the americans. Of that said the italian lawyer with a slight gesture. The Church will continue its Broad policy. It won t condone it but it will forgive it. Millions of catholics Are practising it and being forgiven. Take the even More mortal sin of adultery. The Church will never condone adultery but it will forgive it and it will not permit even adultery to break up a family. It will never permit it but it will always forgive it. The idea of the Church breaking up a family because of birth control is historically but what of those who observe birth control asked the americans. My Friend said the italian lawyer who yields to temptation gains Only earthly gratification but the one who resists it thereby gains eternal Joy for Ever. This eternal Joy starts on Earth for what greater satisfaction to the upright than to con template the fallen in truth a feeling of private righteousness though derived from the sins of others is legitimate if used in moderation. Unbounded however this can result in attempting to pre vent others from sinning and then it becomes a Public Nuis Ance. The Church historically has never had any difficulty with sin ners. Its great problems have Arisen from its militant righteous and Here happily it displays its True majesty for the Church will even forgive the North newspaper alli.in.? body there was a lot of Mur Muring. Little mutinous blips showed up on the screen and indeed gov. Romney permitted a few zealous supporters to put up his own name As an alternative. But the opposition was anarchic and diffuse. Moreover it was impossible to sustain it by moral arguments. A moral Case against gov. Agnew was simply not available. Such a Case against him As was attempted was to the effect that his nomination was done in order to appease the by some people this charge is deployed As a dreadnought. There Are those however who pause to recall that the South like other sections of the country is inhabited by americans and until we hear otherwise from the supreme court they too Are entitled to political consideration. It is hardly As though or. Nixon had nominated George Wallace for vice president. His nomination of a southerner whose reputation arose from his defense of civil rights is hardly in the order of an affront but rather in the order of giving encouragement to civil rights South Erners who however draw a line Between the exercise of civil rights and of civil disorder. Or. Agnew to judge from his acceptance speech is unlikely to emerge As a great magnetic Field. It will be Nixon s Campaign All the Way even As it was Eisenhower s Campaign in 1952, when Richard Nixon tagged along for vice president. But the presence of Agnew there should reassure not Only South Erners but also liberals who be Lieve that it is if anything Over due for the Republican Parry to put Forward Public officials who Are attempting a reconciliation Between civil rights for a minority and civil right for the majority. A. .w4, of \ \ j gop seen swinging More to right the Power of the Church he i i min Al Lilii Iio Pho Sophiie is that unlike the governments of men it never its Power Ftouma of ii u is p 3 rent giant to be co,1u and a � " n have you noticed said Illinois energetic Young sen. Charles Percy the language of the country club and the Lan Guage of the ghetto Are moving Percy did t mean the in printable words but the words of ambition ownership property initiative Power. The implications of that re Mark Are the key to what happened to the Republican Patty at Miami Beach. It would be Flora Lewis of i n Tuuu or wilful blindness and there was some in Miami Beach to think this Maiu thai the it Concilia Tion on the tip of almost every political Tongue is becoming a racial and social reality in the country. But it is becoming a reality in the upper realms of republicanism. The popular explanation that the party Learned the lesson of too much conservatism in the 1964 Goldwater fiasco and has moved Back to the Center. But a closer look at the convention be lies that easy answer or anyway belies its simple assumptions. Barry Goldwater was the hero of the Day and his speech was Little diff int from the Way he talked in 1964, except for a willingness to defend racial Equality and offend tie South but so he scorned the use of Laws to enforce Justice that in t even ski deep and called on people to change their hearts. This year the Goldwater fans were at Miami Beach in Force though Only 31 per cent of the delegates in Miami were Dele Gates or alternates to the 1964 convention they showed their feeling when Goldwater spoke and yet the same people applauded if less heartily when new York mayor John Lindsa preached the urgency of change and they listened politely to Massachusetts sen. Edward Brooke first negro member of the Senate since reconstruction. But i it the republicans who have changed or their belief that they Don t have to shout so loud in 1968 to catch the ear of the Cou try the ultraconservative. The Money men who backed Gold water and then launched Rea Gan spoke with a Confidence they did t have before. The country is moving to the right they said. People want order morality and the govern ment out of their it s what they have been saying for years. The difference is that it does t sound so Ultra any More and that sense of the times moving with them has changed their tone
