European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 19, 1973, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday november 19, 1973 the stars and stripes Page 13 Max Lerner can Ford fool critics and do a Truman ? they were so confidential that we did t James j. Kilpatrick write Down who we passed them around Tor a i a blow against i have had the same ques Tion put to me at every Point in my current travels if Gerald Ford is confirmed As vice presi Dent will he Surprise the people who see him As a nonresidential figure and will he do a Truman the Point of course is that when Harry Truman succeeded Franklin d. Roosevelt he seemed a decent Salty but very Ordinary Little  but when he became president he filled out the presidential office so amply that the consensus of scholarly As Well As of common opinion counts him one of the most effective presidents in our history. Might that happen to Jerry Ford too it might. But i should add that Harry Truman Don t happen often to history. In fact scanning the whole list of presidents for the Squarish common Man Type without social or birth or columns and comment intellectual pretensions both an Drew Johnson and Calvin Coolidge who come to mind immediately did Little to distinguish themselves in the presidential of fice to which they succeeded. Of the other log Cabin presi dents Abe Lincoln is of course the towering figure. But one can scarcely say that he was in distinguished before he became president. Truman was no Lincoln but they shared two characteristics. If they were common or Ordinary men they were very uncommon common men and extraordinary Ordinary men. The second was that they both stretched their potentials All the Way in their presidencies. By the time he became Roose velt s running mate in 1944, Truman had already shown some of his extraordinary Quality As chairman of the Senate commit tee on War contracts. Like Lin Coln he stretched himself much farther toward his capacity when he sat in. That vast frightening cavernous president s chair. I like what we have seen of Gerald Ford and value his decency simplicity and genial warmth. But it does t follow that Ford s qualities Are presidential nor that what happened to Truman would happen to him. By his whole record and by his responses at the confirmation hearings Ford is basically a going along Man. Truman was t. He was stubborn opinionated ornery. We speak of heartland America As covering both men but there have been some very different clusters of traits in heartland America one that is part of the Folk strength and its stamp of authenticity the other part of the com Mon denominator of the  testimony of Ford s for Mer acquaintance Robert win Ter Berger is somewhat Dis the opinions expressed in the column and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way Tobe considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes itself or of the unite states government. Quieting Here. Not because there seems much of the sinister in his Story that Ford accepted Loans from him but because Ford went along grudgingly unwillingly one gathers with his Sugges Tion about paying a visit to or. Arnold Hutschnecker about his depressive mood. Ford now seems to think it was All a publicity Job by both the lobbyist and the doctor. But he seems to have been pretty easy pickings. After Wilson s intellectualism we got Harding s  after Roosevelt s Charisma we got Truman s Little Man touch. After Nixon s Stormy personality Are we Likely to get the in Stormy personality of Ford if history repeats itself even approximately we Are. But i find myself uneasy at the Post watergate idea that salvation lies with a Little Man in the presidency especially amidst the global turmoil of an Imperial democracy. Salvation does t lie with the Little Man unless he is a very uncommon common Man an extraordinary Ordinary Man. Is Ford c los Angeles times Syndicate James Reston president s Gamble is paying off president Nixon took a Chance when he invited the Sena tors and representatives to the White House to question him about watergate but he has made some Progress in these strange and unprecedented efforts to restore Confidence in his battered administration. The Chance he took was fairly obvious. The Congress was be ginning the Long and delicate procedure of impeachment. In this process members of the House of representatives would be in effect a grand jury deciding whether to indict him for High crimes and misdemeanours and members of the Senate were potential judges. Therefore inviting them to the White House to talk things Over was a Little Dicey for in a Way he risked the charge that he was not Only re fusing to meet in private with the Senate watergate committee members who had studied the evidence but that he was actually lobbying the jurors from the House and the judges from the Senate. So far the evidence is that he has dealt with this problem very Well. He started poorly by talking to the first delegation from the Hill about the Middle East. This seemed to some tar be a diversion if not a filibuster but by the time the first senators called on him he seemed More confident. He took them up to the Lovely sunny California room in the White House he greeted them individually by name and showed them his i i console and even said that when he used it he preferred tapes because they were More audible and accurate. Barry Goldwater who comes out of this whole mess with More sanity and even humor than any body else helped ease the tension in the senatorial delegation by giving Nixon a present when it was his turn to shake hands. It was a bottle of whiskey with the new Brand name of water Gate and the senator from Ari Zona suggested that it might make a Man feel better in times of trouble. Thereafter Nixon was apparently More at ease. He skipped the preliminary speech about the perils of the Middle East and the self serving argument that the allies might lean toward Moscow if he were forced out of office and went immediately to questions. Members present agree that he denied All charges of personal involvement in the burglaries or the cover up and offered to hand Over All documents relevant to criminal action by his associates but what was More important about these confrontations was that the president apparently re moved Many serious doubts about his own personal control of himself and his problem. This More than anything else has been the concealed anxiety of congressional leaders. For weeks and even months the president seemed to be isolated and defiant brooding with his staff and roving to his retreats in the Maryland mountains Flor Ida or California. Then suddenly he would appear to Brief the leaders of con Gress on the latest potential Dis Aster. Two incidents illustrate the problem. When he called the congressional leaders to the White House to explain Why he had called a worldwide Alert of the armed forces at the critical Point in the Middle East crisis he was composed solemn and fac Tual. Tip o Neill of Massachusetts the democratic majority Leader of the House was so impressed by the president s presentation of the soviet threat to intervene in the Middle East that when he got Back to the House and found members saying the whole thing was a phony diversion from watergate he took to the floor and rebuked members of his own party. Yet a few Days before in an other meeting Between the con Gressional leaders and the presi Dent the reaction was quite Dif Ferent. At this meeting the purpose was to explain the Politi Cal and strategic problem in the first stages of the Middle Eastern War. Secretary of state Kissinger was explaining the facts. The president was in a Jovial mood and kept interrupting and badgering Kissinger kidding him As a sex Symbol who was going to be celebrated As such in the Cen Ter spread of a popular Maga Zine. The congressional leaders were puzzled by this perform Ance and All the More puzzled when they got Back to their offices and were greeted by special messengers bearing a letter from vice president Agnew saying that by the time they received this Agnew would have resigned and thanking them for their past support and Courtesy. So Why was the president so1 Jolly since he must have known what was coming this is the sort of thing that has been worrying people rather than the specific facts about whether the president knew about the burglaries or the cover . And he is in better shape now with the people on Capitol Hill because he has come out of isolation submitted to question ing and handled the questions calmly and candidly. More important he has handled himself under most difficult circumstances in a Cool and rational manner. C new York times a free press on oct. 15, the . Supreme court entered a laconic order Case no. 72-1511. Dickinson v. . The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied. Or. Justice Douglas would Grant  few persons paid much Atten Tion to the order. Yet the supreme court s refusal to review the sentences imposed in Loui Siana upon Larry Dickinson and Gibbs Adams will rank among the most significant and most ominous events of this term. The effect is to give new and powerful meaning to the concept of Judi Cial supremacy and simultaneously to jeopardize the people s right to know what goes on in their courts. Let me try to give both sides. The Case arose two years ago this month in Baton Rouge where a Black civil rights activist Frank Stewart had been arrested on a charge of conspiracy to murder the mayor. Stewart denied the charge of conspiracy to murder the mayor. Stewart denied the charge absolutely and contended that he was the victim of Trum Ped up accusations by the state. After various Legal Maneu vers the Case wound up before . District judge e. Gordon West for a hearing limited to the single question of whether Stewart s indictment was contrived or legitimate. As the hearing began judge West made a stunning announce ment it. Is ordered that no report of the testimony taken in this Case today shall be made in any newspaper or by radio or television or by any other  that breath taking edict was intended to protect the defendant from the possibility that pre trial. Publicity might jeopardize the selection of a jury later on. Judge West was doing his duty As he saw it and there is no reason to Challenge the sincerity of his intentions. Dickinson and Adams report ers for the morning advocate and state times had a duty of their own. They could not Possi Bly submit to any such gag upon a free press. They therefore wrote accurate straightforward accounts of the hearing. Judge West promptly found them guilty of criminal contempt and fined each of them $300. The effect of the supreme court s order of oct. 15 was to uphold judge West. There is no question that judge West s gag order was in flagrant violation of the Constitution. This was the ruling of the 5th . Circuit in August 1972, when the Case came up on Appeal. But the circuit court nevertheless ruled that the order had to be obeyed. Where does this leave us the hearing before judge West was of compelling Public interest. The people had the right to know of the testimony and the people had a right to know of it then not Days or weeks or months later after the process of judicial re View had run its course. If judges can Issue orders gag Ging a free press and then impose fines or jail sentences for their violation judges become tyrants. C Washington Star Syndicate