European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 27, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The stars and stripes August w7 Tom Wicker t still merits a id of liberals Fyhen a group of Moll it new York gathered in a Good cause not surprisingly one of dominant subjects of conversation was president Carters nomination of judge Frank Johnson to be the director of the Federal Bureau of what was was that w much doubt shut of hostility was expressed about the three reasons were apparent to a dismayed one wan that he is a southerner and a either of which in circles is a term of Auto Malte another was that he had been appointed on the advice of attorney general a Riffle neither of whom has yet won the real admiration of Liberal fad made the mis take in Liberal eyes of saying that i Hope i can be As line a Leader As Edgar nothing about Hoover is acas acceptable by whim people but the facts Are that Tai in terms of shaping Ihu feb to his own Ocsina and perceptions of the Edgar Lla Over was a magnificently off Eutivi loader and Ita anyone liking Over i i institution created in too Vars and aiming to Chang and a form it would be to say the la Slart such a difficult task by Chili Jiing the fabled if the doubts expressed Al the Kant Hampton purty Are us Ute its Loi bad Johnson will need and certainly us Sorisi Liberal its shaky Assumption that in a South urn Republican with a Liberal already confirmed As a Federal judge by the tit Wilt quickly be confirmed As kill director ranking Southern members of the judiciary committee like James a Strind and Strom Thurmond and uighur Southern Iliou Sierers like Jim Allen Utida Jesse hims will no quickly Fosgitt Johnsons Southern and beyond his non the judge also will need Liberal support fur the vast Effort still needed to make k i an i Guncy americans can both rely on and live with on Frank Johnson is an Ideal after 20 years As Federal judge for the Middle District of during which he displayed remarkable Cliar Acter and Devotion to the principle of the equal Protection of the Etc held the Montgomery bus segregation Laws unconstitutional in the first application of supreme court school desegregation decisions to no school mat declared Public Park segregation in Montgomery unconstitutional decreed the game standards for registering Blacks and whiles to vote ordered a total Reform of the discriminatory Alabama property tax forced the integration of the stale police and the inclusion of Blacks and women on and More recently ordered mini mum constitutional standards to be met in Alabama As a member of three judge he also wrote majority decisions liar abolished inc Alabama poll lax m a require ment for ordered the first statewide and listed the on vote later upheld by the supremo even that distinguished record  necessarily make Johnson the tight Man to head the but those who know him Wall believe he is precisely the right Man a former prosecutor and judge with a Pas Sion for Rulh a disciplinarian with an aversion to spying on democratic political or politically Active i divid As Well As a narrow concept of National Security thai loophole in the idea of Tough enemy of whether by Iho numerous Alabama legislator and officials he has sent to or by or the or Law unto Cement personnel supposedly enforcing the Iau Orney cd neral has reserved to himself Alt decisions on culling Fri agents and officials for past of he already has decided not to prosecute the superiors of agent John who alone hag been indicted for illegal acts against the weath Erman that decision does not Bode Well for a cleansing of the Johnson is a Republican from a county that seceded from Alabama when Ala Bama seceded from the in his a time to Charles Morgan described him us one Century Lalur a pro Union loner in a society to Federal Law and William Buckley no surprises Likely in canal pact there has been much talk lately about the exact language of the pro posed Panama canal and one respects the inclination to if we did not need worry about exact what would we do with All our lawyers gun answer that in it is unlikely that ambassador Ellsworth Bunker and sol Lino Stu Are engaged in duplicitous the treaty May or May not be approved by inc 1 a climb it will be and should we i safety assume that the when it is finally found xeroxed and will not bring us any la anybody seriously worried about it for instance a Bright conservative journalist wanders whether the text will disclose that military intervention to protect the canal can Only be invoked by an Appeal from the Panama we All recall that such were the terms Al the Seato treaty the participating Powers could Only Send in help Al the specific request of the government against which aggression was being carried hut in the instant such an arrange ment is inconceivable although the treaty la obviously not going to footnote the the government of Panama is notoriously Al the hearings to discuss the sceptics arc bound to Deal extensively with columns and comments a hypothetical situation in which the government Al Panama is taken Over by a Cas Toile instructed by the soviet Union to close the canal what rights do we have in that Bunker if he is not in position to say thai what Ever the president decides to he is authorized to do under the the treaty Wilt sink into the so that there Are for t that the text will not bring any president Ford has said yes to the and so has Henry it is relevant to recall the paradoxical jux Tapo two Yean Ford and Kissinger pleaded with Congress to permit us to carry out our commitment to intervene in Vietnam in the event of a violation of the treaty of Congress did flow it is Congress dial is looked to by the american people to a the cautious Ford and Kissinger know from Hitler experience that written obligations Are Only As Good As congressional the same Congress that would never tear up the Seato treaty is capable of declining to accept responsibilities under the tame Congress that conceivably would Dechape to alter the nature of our arraignments in Panama is perfectly capable of refusing to authorize substantial military action to maintain the status quo Barry Gold Walsh has in this the Point be made a year ago when he startled the conservative Community by endorsing the notion of a re Vised Goldwater was on the poor when his colleagues sat around filing their nails White the North vietnamese Jungfer Naused into making minced my of the and incidentally tools out of m under certain circumstances h could happen again in it logic in psychological Ritelli Gont to adapt to us current an the pro posed treaty does it we have the in awl guns authority to move in any desire to keep the canal How move a that will rest with the commander chief my with James drawing on bit infinite reserves of makes the Point neatly that we after interested in the use of the not in owners Ftp 9l it who cares who owns Shea Stu urn keep ing it open is but in of we of ingot let the Security of hang on our ability to a we do not even under existing if the Good lord poured Lead into the canal at Midnight the would be not put it we have a right to fight for our Conven the new treaty permits in to do choosing our own