European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 11, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 12 the stars and stripes monday september 11, 1978 James Reston Don t count big Jawn out As top contender John Connally of Texas and his Lovely lady Nellie were in Washington again retelling the ghoulish Story of presi Dent Kennedy s murder. Why it is Neces sary 15 years after that disaster to keep digging at this grave is a morbid mystery but the Congress insists and Connally has never been reluctant to play a dramatic role in the nation s capital. Big Jawn has always fascinated this City darting in and out first As an ally of Lyndon Johnson in the Congress then As Secretary of the Navy under president Kennedy and Secretary of the Treasury under president Nixon always in the Middle of some controversy with his ardent sup porters and irreconcilable detractors once a promising Texas governor and potential democratic presidential candidate and then a Republican and Richard Nix on s chosen instrument for the Republican presidential nomination. Now the popular political judgment Here is that at 61, he is finished too old and too hot resented by the democrats As a deserter and by Many Republican Lead ers As a Pushy newcomer without even a solid political base in Texas and maybe even As a spoiler to the candidacy of George Bush Texas bid As a new Genera Tion candidate. But Connally who has survived so Many accidents including being shot with Ken Nedy in the Back seat of that presidential car in Dallas 15 years ago obviously does t feel like a has been or drop out in the 1980 presidential stakes. He still looks More presidential than anybody in the race with his handsome sculptured face and his Silvery hair. No theatrical producer on television or in hol Lywood could possibly produce out of Cen trial casting a More theatrical presidential  has other equally important political qualities including his Nellie which even Kis political enemies concede. These Quali ties were on display again during the con Gressional hearings on the Kennedy disaster. Connally has a commanding personal presence not Only because of his attractive appearance but because of his Confidence and eloquence. He seems More Seri Ous and muted now on Capitol Hill. But on the political platform he is a More impressive and emotional Public speaker in a Large Hall than anybody else in american politics with the possible exception of sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. For this reason in this Early pre Conven Tion period he is the most popular speaker at rallies for gop candidates in the no vember congressional elections and he is working the congressional circuit with More Energy than Reagan Ford Baker Dole Bush or any of the other Republican presidential hopefuls. His Opportunity lies in the fact that there will be More than 30 primary elections in 1980, and that even without a solid Politi Cal base in Texas he might have More pop ular Appeal in the primaries among the people of the states if he decides to make a serious run against the other candidates. The question is whether he will really commit himself All the Way to fight for the nomination in the Long expensive and exhausting struggles through More than 30 state primaries. If he does his appear Ance personality Confidence and popular Ity with the business Community could conceivably carry him through but it is not at All Clear that he is prepared to fight like John Kennedy Richard Nixon or Jimmy Carter through the two pre convention years. He has always put limits on his commit ment to Washington in for a while with Johnson on Capitol Hill and then at the Pentagon and the Treasury but always out again impatient and tugged both by the Good life of his ranch and his business in Texas. Still As president Carter s popularity declines in the polls and the Republican candidates Are split Between older men Reagan and Ford and younger Candi dates like Baker Bush and Dole who Are relatively unknown Connally has a Chance in the primaries which should not be in  an age of doubt and feeble optimism he has few doubts and boundless Confidence in himself and the conservative philosophy. In a Field of inarticulate and even Tongue tied candidates he is still the most eloquent shouter of them All. Against a president who tends to agree with everybody but intimidates nobody Connally could still be a More formidable candidate than almost anybody in his party if he decides to go for the nomination All the Way. He is not saying now that he will or he won t he fiddled with it again Here in Washington but it s apparent to anyone watching him Here that he has clearly not Given up. He has organized his own fund raising system and has a Long list of speaking dates for Republican candidates in this year s congressional elections and wherever he goes in these political rallies the is immensely popular. This will not please either Reagan or Ford or their supporters but the test Iti the end will be the votes in the primaries. And if Connally tries to overcome All his losses and switches and disappointments of the past he could still be a formidable candidate for the Republican nomination and against Carter a serious threat for the presidency. C new York times i he an Davff Lotf a lastni6htws Ysuf on Sake and a noticed John Roche Cambodia idealists in quandary Between the wish and the act wrote . Eliot Falls a  this Shadow has now fallen Over american human rights advocates appalled by communist butchery in Indochina but desperately opposed to the use of Force. By their bitter opposition to the Vietnam War they painted themselves into a Corner to advocate forceful action would concede the Validity of our efforts to hold off the barbarians to hold open As i put it in 1968, the option of a non totalitarian  some of my political allies relish the Opportunity to rub Salt in the psychic wounds of these decent people who were never Hanoi Hawks by chanting we told you  i find this egregious cruelty prob ably because i made the same error of judgment they did Only in a far More per Ilous context. I just fished out of my files a copy of an anti War pamphlet entitled we hate Hitler  a group of us Young socialists drafted it in 1941 and i recall pass ing it out at a number of America first anti world War ii rallies in new  the America first movement was quite conservative in character and opposed european intervention on classic isolationist grounds we socialists had to Frame our opposition in an internationalist context. Our Central argument thus be came the threat of american militarism to our civil rights and the prediction that in order to defeat nazism the United states would become a fascist regime. Norma Thomas went so far As to predict that if we entered the War the 1940 presidential elec Tion would be our last in Short we argued nazism was evil Butto employ War As the Means of destroying this wicked regime would Lead both to the destruction of German totalitarianism and of american Freedom. Rereading the yellowed Handbill i find it quite Persua Sive except for one thing in terms of the 1941 world it was nonsense a sentimental Effort to rearrange history to avoid facing the hard Choice. Like the honest anti Viet Nam activists constant refrain about fight ing to save dictator Thieu we dilate endlessly on the beastly polish colonels whose government the British and French intervened to save. We passionately evaded analysis of the real nature of the enemy. This is not a request for absolution honestly believed what i wrote and said and at 18, suffered from the common Youthful illusion the world began the Day i was born. Moreover i Learned a lot fro the experience most significantly that life does not permit individuals or nations to shape their own options. Whether you like it or not and i hate it there Are time when you either employ Force or Send a Wreath. Rhetoric however Noble and up lifting is no substitute for a policy. Furthermore and this is Strong medi Cine for intellectuals who live in an abstract world where ideas Are play dough one must face the Stark truth that inaction is a form of action. In Arthur Koestler a arrival and departure there is a dream scene reminiscent of Kafka in which the protagonist finds himself on trial for an unknown offence. The judge jury prosecutor and defense attorney Are All in his own likeness. The defense proclaims my Cli ent never killed a Fly the prosecution re Plues yes and the flies he did t kill brought pestilence to a province As the genocidal pestilence rages in Cambodia and South Vietnam where 10million Urban folks will relocate As Farmers in a tropical gulag the Ameri can idealists wrestle with their con sciences. Some Wash their hands and say it was All our fault we taught these gentle people  that May play i Cambridge but Don t try it on a Vietnam Ese or Cambodia historian the Vietnam Ese have been chewing up Khmer for Hun to dress of years and were Only stopped in the " 19th Century by the French. The gentle people in the area Are the lao and they have been worked Over by everybody. Sooner or later most idealists come to agree that All Steps Short of action is hard by a realistic antidote for mass murder however their pavlovian response bars american action since As is Well known,.the United states fights Only immoral of scene wars. Then the Light goes on As it did recently for sen. George Mcgovern and the Call goes out for multilateral or International police action \ during the 1967 Middle East War for example John Kenneth Galbraith then head of Ada barred unilateral american action to support Israel but conceded that if necessary we should rally the International Community. When i suggested this would be equivalent to reciting the hebrew prayer for the dead i was chastised for crudeness. Fortunately Israel did not got into a real Jam As it did in 1973. If in 197i the israelis had to await Succour from the International Community they would he where the cambodians Are now. Perhaps our idealists should learn the Khmer prayer for the dead c King features Syndicate