European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 29, 1969, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday january 2$, 1969 the stars and stripes Page t Maxl Rinir us about this present Johnson left in my office. ,. After All the palaver and gushing about the new presi Dent Day and ways we shall have to 0et Back to the gut reality of the whacking problems the nation faces. The honest at counts of the inauguration agree that it was a Flat uninspiring Day built around an uninspiring Man. This raises the haunting question How shall we explain the fact that at a time of Tower ing difficulties american have chosen a figure As a heroic As Richard Nixon. One answer i suppose is that when we find a hero we kill him As with Robert Kennedy. But a Beffer answer May he in the resources America has for resolving its crisis. The French and British have real technological and economic deficits. The americans Don t. They have too much of every thing too much technology too much Power too much affluence too Many claims and demands too Many freedoms too much violence and confrontation too fast change too Many problems. Where other nations feel they have plenty of nothing America has plenty of plenty except for whatever May be needed to Cope with the flood of everything. Thus the problem of the presi Dency i not having too Little but too much. Richard Nixon a entered on a too much presi Dency. Perhaps the american people sensing this have chosen in an anti heroic mood to live with an a heroic figure and like it. True there Are still Heartbreak ing scarcities and absurd poverty. In a nation which seems to be drowning in surfeit there Are too Many people who eat too Little too Many children who suf Fer from rickets too Many social program that have had to be Cut to the Bone. But that is part of the Paradox of this America of excesses. If you look at the budget that Lyn Don Johnson left behind you will find that 41 cents of every budget Dollar goes to arms just $1 million Short of $81 Bil lion. And out of that 41 cents 13 cents is tagged for the Viet namese War. Only 12 cents of the budget Dollar represents our total investment in education and other major social  this kind of social insanity Only underscores the wild contradictions in our too much society. America s problem is not in the. Extent of its resources but in the design of their allocation. There is plenty in american society and there Are Power and Freedom but they Are like characters in search of an author in a Pirandello play. They Are in search of a Frame of application and meaning. John p. Roche intellectuals feared lbs the trouble thus far is that none of the frames has worked Well. Richard Nixon s approach seems to be not Only to discard the grand phrases and theories of the Kennedy Johnson intellectuals but also to discard the Frame to go Back to the traditional simplicities like local initiative and group self help and focus governmental resources on programs that will show quicker tangible results. In Short it is a kind of Politi Cal and rhetorical deflation if i am sceptical about its Success it is because i believe that the pragmatic is never enough in it self. There must be an Over All informing design for the myriad efforts and projects of a new government which will be better than the designs that did t work. The press motto for last week was be Nice to Lyndon but i have found myself incapable of sitting Down and formulating a tribute. I have never been a hero worshipper and have in deed gotten something of a reputation As a Lone Porcupine. When i said Goodby to president and mrs. Johnson however i was heartsick. Partly this arises from deep affection. I know it is in american to like Lyndon John son but i do. Partly however it grew out of my conviction that this strange Complex Brilliant tumultuous Man was Sand bagged by forces he never understood. He was an old fashioned american Democrat who was incapable of making the transition to urbanity. Tutors have gone wandering off on false scents and an under standing of Lyndon Johnson is an absolute prerequisite for any assessment of the last five years. There is always a great Hue and cry about his passion for secrecy but the key to the Man Ironi Cally enough is his incapacity to separate his Public and private personalities. The whole Lyndon All six feet four is always on exhibit. John f. Kennedy iced off his private life Johnson has no private life. Was never particularly startled to see the president marching around in a Towel or going Over a speech while getting a Mas Sage. Johnson just took it for granted that the president like the rest of us puts on his pants one leg at a time. C 1969. Lot Angeles times it is far too soon to attempt an objective evaluation of his accomplishments yet i think that some analysis of his character might be useful. Here in my judgment virtually All commen by impulse he is therefore a Complete jacksonian who believes the president belongs to the peo ple warts and All. This led to All sorts of scandalous behaviour in the eyes of the sophisticates. Like Hubert Humphrey who comes from the same tradition he was quite capable of doing business in the Bathtub with staff Drifting in and out. After three years in the army and a Good Deal of time in locker rooms i William f. Buckley or. The move to recognize peking similarly with language. Men in politics have a Lingua Franca that is often quite vulgar and Johnson s Talent for earthy metaphors was spectacular. How Ever i never Learned a word i had t known in Brooklyn by age 10. And John Kennedy As i once Learned when i wrote a critical article suggesting less profile and More courage could swear the leaves off the Trees. Kennedy though did t do it in Public. I almost split a gut one Day when lbs was describing to a few staff members one of the stuff est critics of his foreign policy the next Day to my horror he used the same pungent barnyard summary to a group of visiting academicians. Of course they roared but then they went off to the faculty club to confirm the image that Johnson so was a crude peasant utterly lacking in taste. These words Are written be fore the Center for the study of democratic institutions releases its recommendations on a new China policy but it is Safe to pre dict the thrust of those forthcoming recommendations recognize red China. The background of the meet ing being held at Santa Barbara calif., is fascinating. Suppose that you were a prominent japanese and you wanted for whatever reason to induce the United state to alter is China policy. What would you do whom would Yov consult your own government the american ambassador congressional leaders the White House Walter Lipp Man no for some reason the prominent japanese in question turned to the Center for the study of democratic involution which obligingly a spender its work on a new Constitution for the United state they Call themselves Over at the Center the new founding fathers Hohein order to play Host to the japanese at a con Ference for the purpose of Devis ing a new China  invited to participate at the conference and indicative of just How exploratory the conference will be Are sen. Mark Hatfield the progressive Republican sen. John Sherman Cooper,.the other progressive Republican sen. Eugene Mccarthy the most progressive Democrat sen. Edward Ken Nedy the a Ond Moit progressive Democrat and to keep those contentious people from tearing at each others throats Arthur Goldberg. Representing the Cen Ter for the study of democratic institution we have of court pre eminently or. Robert Hutchi is and member of he staff a Type Cal specimen of which i Profe Eor Fred Warner Neal who a few year ago was ask noted with the committee of correspondent which in seeking a new foreign policy for the United state recommended unilateral disarmament. The japanese visitors Are an interesting lot. The most prominent member of the delegation is or. Riichiro Fujiyama who until Early in 1968 was minister of foreign affairs. Or. Fujiyama re signed his Post in order to Campaign for the leadership of the Liberal Democrat party which had he won it would have put him automatically in line to become prime minister. Having diligently campaigned for office he arrived at the convention whose 400 de Legates elected not Fujiyama but Sato. When the balloting was announced it transpired that Fujiyama had got one 1 vote that i to say his own some peo ple wonder that he earned it. Another member of the Japa Nese delegation i or. Tokuma Utsunomiya Tif of the association for the promotion of International Trade which organization has a it single noticeable objective it creasing Trade with red China. It All begin to found like an operation does it not Bui held there is More to come. The National committee on United state China relations inc., whose 120 members include four showcase conservatives All the rest of them being gentlemen whose China policy varies from recognize red China and pull out of Formosa to a two China policy the extreme right Wingis scheduling a conference of its own on a new China policy for March 20-21. If Law and order is a codeword for racism i divulge the code word for lets recognize red Funa. It appears in the statement of the National com Mittee s invitation to the March conference to wit the participants Wui represent a spectrum of viewpoints on the various is sues involved in our relationships with China s 700 million  anytime you see a reference any where to China having 700 Mil lion people believe me that Means we should recognize red China. Try it. Washington Star Syndicate recently prof. Eric Goldman has related his tribulations. I have no intention of exploring his tale of woe on its merits though one of the Points he made is apposite to the proposition i am suggesting. When a group of visiting intellectuals decided to capitalize on the president s hospitality and turn an arts festival into an anti Vietnam happen ing the president Goldman says got absolutely furious. I am not sure what Goldman thinks he should have done award them the medal of Freedom what is significant is not that Johnson got mad but that he made his anger a matter of pub Lic record. From accounts Given to me by friends who were there at the time he was furious for weeks and never concealed h from any visitor or new pc or Man. C 1949, King features Syndicate the opinion expressed in the column and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to t considered As representing the View of the Star and stripes itself w of the United state government