European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 29, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday september 29, 1991 the stars and strikes a Pago 13 James j. Kilpatric throw out tvs and read books Byrd believes commentary at a Mere 73, Robert Byrd of West Virginia is Only the fifth oldest member of the Senate but he has a patriarchal air about him that his four ciders somehow Lack. He walks into the chamber As if he had just Hung his Toga in the cloakroom. Not Long ago Byrd took the floor to talk about the budget for education. He got off on his own continuing education and to Coin a phrase he set some trains of thought in motion. Byrds education began in a two room schoolhouse in the Coal mining country of Mercer county . A i had Good teachers a he recalled. Much later in his spare time he put in 10 years getting a Law degree from american University. Byrd reads insatiably often late at night. He is in Large part a self educated Man a and that education continues. A i still am trying to educate myself. Nobody tells me that i have to read books on Napoleon or Alexander the great or Hannibal. Nobody tells me that i have to read Polybius histories or the histories of Livy or the annals of Tacitus. But 1 do so because i want to improve myself. I want to continue to educate myself. Nobody drives me to do that. The drive comes from  warming to his theme Byrd made a recommendation that Many parents would like to adopt a the very first thing 1 would suggest that be done to make better students out of our Young people would be to throw the television sets out. Throw the sets out encourage our Young people to read Good books  the senator is a classicist. His idea of a Good books certainly would not be everybody a idea of Good books. The student who tackles Livy on the history of Rome or thucydides on the peloponnesian wars is in for some heavy lifting. Tacitus As i dimly recall is better but one can live to a contented old age without wading through the annals. A classical education is Fine but in his concentration on the greeks and romans Byrd is missing a great Deal. In his recent remarks he speculated that not Many Good books have been written within the last 50 years. He Wasny to sure about this a because i do not spend much time Reading books that have been written within the last 50  As his self education continues Byrd truly ought to try the 20th Century. It takes nothing from Gibbons masterful decline to remark that Samuel Eliot Mori son Douglas Freeman Bruce Catton and Dumas Malone have produced superlative history in our own time. Churchill a history of world War ii will be read Many centuries from now. Taking Byrds time Frame 1941-1991, one finds riches at least equal to those he cites from the Distant past. Every fourth year student of latin has dallied at translating the odes of Horace. Good stuff in their Way. But contemporary poets have left work More Beautiful. Spend an evening i would say to the senator with Eliot Auden Lowell Larkin Frost Sandburg Warren or w Ith Sylvia Plath and Marianne Moore. The senator revels in Plutarch a lives. I would nudge him toward. Leon Edels biography of Henry James and Edmund Morris life of Theodore Roosevelt. There is a Universal tendency a philosopher once remarked to exalt the past and to deprecate the present. We might do better by turning that around. Such playwrights As Thornton Wilder Tennessee Williams Eugene o Neill and Arthur Miller have produced contemporary drama that will be staged As Long As there is a stage for actors to act on. Are Faulkner Hemingway and Bellow inferior novelists their stories will be read for years to come. On the lower slopes of Olympus As newsman Gerald Johnson once defined them the past 50 years have produced american writers who Survey the passing scene As skilfully As any Addison or Steele. I think of Charles Krauthammer George will Meg Greenfield Baitec Morrow Roger Rosenblatt and Mary Mcgrory at her Best. When Bob Byrd Speaks of continuing self education a charts a course Tor All of us to steel by. Classroom education is essential of course but teachers and textbooks can to do it All. The Reading that Means the most As Byrd has discovered is the Reading we do ourselves. C univ Siil Pioss Syndicate Helen Thomas Bush fits his Campaign into Domestic Agenda president Bush a re election Campaign strategy is predictable and in the tradition of most of his predecessors. He will maintain a High a a presidential profile avoiding the Label a a politicians and a a candidate As Long As tie civil pohts Presto Estr a seas is amp or the  r0ssto&tr possible. In his Case the president plans to hold off until january a formal announcement of his inevitable intention to seek a second term. Over the next few months he can take to the hustings to promote other Republican candidates particularly at Money raisers and at the same time give himself a political boost. The president has a non Stop travel schedule both at Home and abroad this fall. Often Only a Fine line will define which appearances Are designed to enhance his candidacy and which ones fall within the Purview of official duties. Bush a recent Westward swing Replete web a photo opportunities and picturesque backdrops such As the grand Canyon were a dead Giveaway. No matter that his arduous hike Down and up the Canyon Trail also depicted his physical fitness while almost laying Low Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan who tried to keep up and the press corps that went along huffing and puffing. The president gives the impression that he is Impromptu sometimes impulsive freewheeling and immune to popularity polls. But on a closer look that does not appear to be the Case. Actually the planning is methodical and highly motivated. His Calendar is set months ahead with the possibility of changes. But invitations Are accepted or rejected months in Advance and the acceptances As the 1992 election nears become More understandable. In mid november the president will travel to Down and out Detroit for speaking appearances including the dedication of the new inner City Chrysler Plant which is expected to give a lift to the scores of jobless in that hapless Metropolis. Part of the picture also was for the president to undergo a final cardiac evaluation by a team of eminent doctors which gave him a clean Bill of health and pronounced his hyperthyroid ailment under control. Bush had indicated in the past that Only his health would interfere with his intention to run again. T he widely Puhlin sized Green Light from the physicians cleared that hurdle. On his Way to the Hospital Bush told reporters a a in be got to prove in a  so the Republican party a National ticket is just about set barring unforeseen developments. The president has said unequivocally Over and Over again that vice president Dan Quayle will be his running mate again and has reassured Quayle who is beginning to enjoy the Job that he will be on the ticket. Aides say Bush is following the re election pattern set by his predecessor Ronald Reagan in refraining from putting a formal stamp on his political plans until next year. The Republican National committee or stale gop committees will pay for trips around the country. But Bush is managing to mix those trips with a crusade for his Domestic Agenda ephemeral As that seems at times and so assigning costs is difficult. Be sure that the american taxpayer will Bear the bulk of the Burden for presidential travel including the staff he must have on hand at All times and the round the clock Protection.  to priv. A i