European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 6, 1969, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday february 6, 1969 the stars and stripes Page politics making Many when that Bright and genial presidential Aid Jack Valenti capped his White House career with the historic statement that he slept better because Lyndon Johnson was the chief executive he inspired some laughter but he knew whereof he William f. Buckley or. Hupac needs changes spoke thereafter soon the Clayton Fritche president s protege became the head of the motion picture association at $125,000 a year plus expenses and Jack has been sleeping blissfully since. It now appears Valenti set a precedent for White House cheer leaders for Richard Nixon s no. 1 Media Man the Able Herbert Klein has lost no time in telling a selected group of journalists that everybody is already sleep ing better so to speak because Nixon is in the White House. The words Are slightly differ ent but the Melody is the same. Klein whose official title is director of communications of the executive Branch says there Are a lot of ways of capturing the imagination of the people and that his Boss has done it right off by reassuring the people with his air of calmness and con these Are the same Olympia qualities that so impressed Valenti in lbs. It must be remembered however that with Valenti it was no Rush to judgment. He waited until Johnson had been president for a year or two before he Lay himself Down to sleep. Klein needed Only a week to discover that his Man was the answer to the people s prayers. Klein actually is a rather Low key soft sell former newspaper editor widely respected among journalists but there is something about the White House that in Spires the lyrical in the sober est of aides. Even the incomparable Bill Moyers the closest thing lbs Ever had to a no Man had a Brief lapse. As press Secretary he discovered one Day that Johnson had a great natural gift antennae for knowing feeling and sensing the mood of the american the antennae suddenly Dis appeared after Moyers resigned. Some suspect they were really Mayers All the time and that he took them with him. Hell is paved with the Bones of politicians who thought they knew what the american people were thinking. In this instance however Klein is probably tight nimm to off 0 a 80d Start so Good indeed that there is no need for the administration to Iff own Horn disturbing than a Little in bragging u Klein s Intima of that the administration is Foo be paying a lot of of to the Dubue opinion i think the next poll will Art increase in his Nixon s popularity says the president s chief Iceni Logist image poker. So far a added the administration hot net token7any poll to determine Public reaction to he Early moves but he was sure it would this it sad news for the White House correspondents who re member the Days when Lyndon Johnson used to pull polls out of his pocket at the drop of a press conference. In the Good Days when lbs enjoyed High ratings they convinced him he was absolutely right in escalating the Vietnam War. The polls also gave John f. Kennedy his highest rat ing just after the Bay of pigs fiasco but he was amused rather than bemused. He knew bettor than anyone else that he had made a serious mistake whatever a sympathetic Public might temporarily say to the contrary. C 1969, new Day inc. The House committee on in american activities is not much heard about these Days so intimidated is it and its natural publicists by the cumulative Impact of years and years and years of derogation by those who would rather denounce a com Mittee on in american activities than in american activities. When a week or so ago it transpired that congressman Claude Pepper had become a member of Hupac one could Only recall the wonderful fantasy of 1964. In those Days american conserva Tives dreaming of the glorious possibility of a Goldwater Vic tory envisioned the scene on the Capitol Steps during the inauguration ceremony. Do you said supreme court Justice Earl War Ren addressing president elect Barry Goldwater solemnly swear to defend the Constitution of the United states answered president Goldwater i do. You re under arrest a committee on in american activities of which Claude Pepper is a member As Well a commit tee on ethical Union practices of which James Hoffa is a member. Twenty years ago sen. Claude Pepper was parroting the communist party line As ardently As military people May get break a better break May be in store for military people the Pentagon May become less computerized and More humanized under the new administration. Secretary of defense Melvin Laird reportedly is concerned that All the major military morale indices Are Down. One major morale Factor has not received Ira c. Eaker the attention it deserves. In 1961 defense Secretary Robert Mcna Mara issued an order that Mili tary men must submit their pro posed speeches and writings for censorship to his assistant Secre tary of defense for Public affairs. The order also prescribed that when senior military officers were interviewed by the press a representative of the Public affairs office must be present a Carbon copy of the russian commissar system. Criminals Are presumed inno cent until proved guilty but All military men were assumed by the tar Leader to by so parochial a diced or untrustworthy a to unsafe for Contact with the from Harvard Columbia and Mit men without education or experience in military matters. Naturally military morale suffered and dangerous philosophies crept into defense plan Ning and policy such As Superior military strength is pro Vocative parity is adequate weapons and military men cause wars the United states should disarm As an example to the rest of the world the red to. Id is no longer a Monolith and there fore no longer a menace to the free world. Army have deserted to Sweden and during the same period 50, 000 seventh army men volunteered for service in Vietnam. This did not come from a Pentagon release As it should have but from an unpublicized official report. Iveral unfortunate con or to once flowed from this unfair and unnecessary restriction. To was so demeaning and degrading thai military ital tit generally stopped writing and speaking about their profession. The Debat Himkle we Lon on let tary it Man who last is in Megy and weapons we loft to the academicians professors much of this nonsense was exposed by the rape of Czecho Slovakia but even then some of the professors came up with the remarkable discovery that the cruel invasion made Russia less of a menace to the free world. The Pentagon hat not properly represented and protected it voiceless military people. The left Wing press often has vilified military men without protest from the assistant Secretary of defense for Public affairs. Our fighting men in Vietnam have been characterized As brutal and debased their heroic deeds and great have not been properly publicized to our peo ple. Admit Frfd anarchists obtain More publicity than Battlefield heroes. There has for example been much publicity about in a of the seventh army in Germany deserting h i Weflen to avoid service in Vietnam. The fact am that 50 soldiers of the seventh the Pentagon opposed a mod est pay raise for the military pro posed by the last Congress. Money appropriated fast year for military housing was held up despite the fact that Many Mili tary families live in trailers garages and tenements Little bet Ter than City slums. With a mini mum requirement of 50,000 hous ing units for the military funds for Only 5,000 Are in the pro posed 1970 budget recently submitted. The now Deputy assistant Secretary of defense for Public affairs Richard g. Capen jr., Al though in office less than a month already is studying morale in the Terv Kes. Men in uni form May As a result be re stored to full citizenship and their pay and living conditions May approach those of occupation and professions in civilian life requiring Nikfar education and skill hit Wojic in weapons selection May a fettered and they May a permitted and in courage my i express a their Al Law Cut Imti their View on pro Ftp tonal military matters about which they be put a lifetime in study and practice. 0 a. An ral feature corp. A seminarian recites the apostles Creed. But things have changed. Congressman Pepper now has a constituency heavily cuban and it would hardly be profitable to go about the country suggesting Olhorn than that Castro and those who Succour him ate in american activities. The big news is that a major Effort will be made to abolish Hupac. The committee has been under attack for so vary Long that the fiction is widely accepted that the committee has been useless throughout its Ca reer. In fact it has engineered important legislation indeed Only a season ago it drafted and got through Congress a Bill Mak ing it illegal to collect funds for the Benefit of the Viet Cong. Contributors to the volume published in 1962 entitled the committee and its critics adequately established that Over a period of years the committee has investigated activity which Congress should investigate and proposed legislation which Congress should enact. Even so the friends of the com Mittee were Many of them Dis posed to agree on one Point namely that the title of the com Mittee was unfortunate. Accordingly the chairman of the committee or. Richard to Hord of Missouri has joined with or. Ashbrook of Ohio to urge that the name of the committee be changed to the committee on internal More important than nomenclature is the change in the pro posed mandate which drops the committee s Power to investigate such activity As might be protected under the first Amend ment for instance speeches books pamphlets that kind of thing. The new mandate As pro posed by chord and Ashbrook Grants the committee the Power to investigate the extent Char Acter objectives and activities of such groups As would establish or assist in the establish ment of a totalitarian dictator ship with the United states or which would attempt to Over throw the government by Force or violence. Moreover to permit the com Mittee to investigate As any com Mittee on internal Security obviously should the anarchistic or nihilistic groups which think not so much of totalitarian dictator ship As of the lure of chaos the mandate would also enjoin the investigation of activities within the United states of organizations or groups their members agents and affiliates which in cite or employ acts of Force Vio Lence terrorism or any unlawful Means to obstruct or oppose the lawful authority of the govern ment of the United states. One suspects that those con Gressmen who vote against the Ichord Ashbrook Resolution will be doing so precisely because they desire to perpetuate those Fea Tures of Hupac which Are most vulnerable in order to seek eventually to destroy the whole of Wathington Star synd Cau tin opinion sex fretted in the column and cartoon on Uii p0 represent those of the author and a in no Way to a con Jar a a up attn the vim 9
