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Campus "Unrest" demonstrations and consequences, 1970-1971

1971-11-12 American Report: Review of Religion and American Power Page 8

4-S AMERICAN REPORT NOVEMBER 12, 1971

The Nixon Administration As Anti-Student 

"...Responsibility for disruption of a university campus rests squarely on the shoulders of the disrupters - and those among their elders in the faculty and the larger community who encourage or condone disruption."
PRESIDENT NIXON 
In a letter to William Scranton 
December 10, 1970

by Robert E. Jones

If there is one consistent thread running through the present Administration's policies it is that the student is a proper target for criticism and scapegoatting. Time and again, Administration spokesmen, most notably Vice President Agnew, have harped on the student radical theme, playing on the fears and insecurities of Middle America. 
In a whole series of actions and non-actions the Administration had demonstrated this anti-student bent. In both the 1968 and 1970 campaigns, the specter of campus violence and radicalism and was used to frighten the voters. Hardhats have been played up to by the President and his Administration; witness the invitation to construction workers' leaders to visit the White House shortly after students and hard hats had mixed it up in counter demonstrations on the Cambodia war issue. 
The decision by Attorney General Mitchell not to proceed with a Federal Grand Jury on the Kent State killings in May 1970, a singular non-action is but the latest manifestation of Administration attitudes toward the student population. Federal grand juries have been convened on far less substance. Radicals 

DEPT. OF JUSTICE ANNOUNCEMENT: OFFICIALS WILL VISIT CAMPUSES FOR DISCUSSIONS WITH STUDENTS. 

1970 HERBLOCK 

"You'll Have To Remember That Some Students You Talk To Will Not Be FBI Agents"

can justifiably claim that the Justice Department has had no hesitancy in calling grand juries where "conspiracies" on the Left are involved; witness the Harrisburg Six. 
The true feelings of the President were probably best expressed when he referred to student dissenters as "burns" in an off the cuff talk to employees at the Pentagon shortly after his Cambodia address and before the Kent State tragedy. Tom Wicker, writing in The New York Times, commented that "Mr. Nixon blurted condemnation of "bums" on the campus is all the more culpable for apparently having been spontaneous and from the heart, a true revelation of his inmost feelings."
The President's syntax is embarrassing but instructive:

I got down to the conclusion and you say well, the usual thing, you ask for support for the President and all that guff, and you finally think of those kids out there (in Viet Nam) I say kids - I've seen 'em. They're the greatest. You know, you see these bums, you know, blowing up the campuses - listen the boys that are on the college campuses today are the luckiest people in the world, going to the greatest universities and here they are burning up the books, I mean storming around about this issue, I mean you name it, get rid of the war, there'll be another one. And then, out there, we got kids who are just doing their duty, and I've seen 'em and they stand tall, and they're proud. I'm sure they're scared. I was when I was there, but when it really comes down to it they stand up. Boy, you gotta talk up to those men, and they're going to do find, We gotta stand back of them. 

Wrapped up in that little extemporaneous speech is the basic political strategy of the Administration - not to "bring us together" but to divide the hardworking, patriotic people of Middle America, who support their "boys in Viet Nam" from the campus protesters, the "boys" lucky enough to be in college. There are votes to be has in appealing to class envy, anti intellectualism, and unquestioning nationalism.
It is a strategy which has been worked unremittingly by Vice President Agnew in his attacks on "effete snobs", "permissiveness" and like, though in recent months Agnew appears to have somewhat moderated his rhetoric, and , indeed, is the subject of speculation whether the President had not found him to be too much baggage to carry in to his reelection campaign as a running mate. 
Whether the President's reference to college "bums" fired some of the angry campus dissent can only be speculated upon . Certainly, the initial campus outbursts followed the Cambodian invasion, but most campus strikes came in response to the killings at Kent. Arthur Krause, father of Allison who was killed at Kent State, speaking of his daughter, said "She resented being called a bum because she disagreed with someone else's opinion. She felt that war in Cambodia was wrong. Is this dissent a crime? Is this a reason for killing her? Have we come to such a state in this country that a young girl has to be shot because she disagrees deeply with the actions of her government?"
The late Whitney Young Jr., of the National Urban League, saw the President's language encouraging official violence. He told a Senate hearing following Jackson State, "When the President labels young people 'bums' and the Vice President 'rotten apples' to the mentality of the Southern law enforcement official, you almost give him a license. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't expecting to receive Medal of Freedom awards or something."
While regretting later that his use of the word "bums" was "interpreted to apply to those who dissent," the President went on to define what he meant: "When students on university campuses burn buildings, when they engage in violence, when they break up furniture, when they terrorize their fellow students and terrorize the faculty, I think 'bums' is perhaps too king a work to applu to that kind of person. They are the kind I was referring to."
It was after Kent State, while marchers were descending on the Capital and Regular Army troops were staked out in the White House, that President Nixon made his celebrated but baffling dawn visit to talk with the youthful demonstrators at the Lincoln Memorial on May 9, 1970.
He tried pathetically to relate to the students in that encounter, recalling that he had though Neville Chamberlain was "the greatest man living" in 1938-39 and that Churchill "was a mad man." "It was not until years later that I realized that Chamberlain was a good man but Churchill was right," the President said, apparently hoping the much over worked Munich analogy would be impressive to students who know only Viet Nam. 
As is to atone for his earlier harsh words about "bums" the President told The Washington Star after this dawn patrol that "They were fine kids from all over the country."
That the President has learned little from Kent State, Jackson State, and other tragedies, seems apparent from his reaction to the Scranton Commission report on Campus Unrest. There was only the mildest condemnation of official violence and his response was mostly a self serving recitation of Administration statements and actions. Like President Johnson before him who has cold shouldered his own Kerner Commission Report on Civil Disorders when it made its findings, President Nixon acted as if the Scranton Report was an affront to his Administration and held the Commission report and its chairman at arms length.
The President rejected the crowning recommendation of the Scranton panel which was to have the President exercise his moral authority as a reconciling force, saying in reply to Governor Scranton: 

Moral authority in a great and diverse nation such as ours does not reside in the Presidency alone. There are thousands upon thousands of individuals - clergy, teachers, public officials, scholars, writers - to whom segments of the nation look for moral, intellectual and political leadership. 
Over the decade of disorders just ended some of these leaders of the national community have spoken or acted with forthrightness and courage, on and off the campus, unequivocally condemning violence and disruption as instruments of change and reaffirming the principles upon which continuance of a free society depends. 

Then, to add insult to injury, he added:

High in that category I would place the Vice President of the United States. 

Robert E. Jones is executive director, Joint Washington Office for Social Concern representing the American Ethical Union, the American Humanist Association, and the Unitarian Univerlist Association.

"... The concentrated an vigorous efforts of the Administration to ignore and insult, to investigate and incarcerate its opponents, especially the young ones, had begun to take its toll. You had watched as the President rejected the call of the Scranton Commission for reconciling leadership, as he fired the only Cabinet member who dared to suggest that the President listen to youth, and as he based a national campaign on making voters fear and hate their children. You had learned how the Government sent agents to spy on ecology rallies and arrogated to itself the power, unchecked by any court, to listen to telephone conversations of dissenters. You saw it combat lawlessness of Mayday with its own lawlessness, unconstitutional mass arrests and detention of guilty and innocent alike. You read of its attempt to resuscitate that throwback to McCarthyism, the Subversive Activities Control Board. And most disheartening you saw its Justice Department - which has no conpunctions about dragging dozens of young people before grand juries investigating antiwar activities of Daniel Ellsberg - refuse even to convene a grand jury to investigate the killings of four unarmed students protesting the invasion of Cambodia . And so you learned the lesson that the squeaking hinge, instead of being oiled, get harrassed, or prosecuted or even shot..."

SEN. EDWARD M. KENNEDY 
Before the Harvard Law School Forum 
September 27, 1971

Saving...

4-S AMERICAN REPORT NOVEMBER 12, 1971 The Nixon Administration As Anti-Student "...Responsibility for disruption of a university campus rests squarely on the shoulders of the disrupters - and those among their elders in the faculty and the larger community who encourage or condone disruption." PRESIDENT NIXON In a letter to William Scranton December 10, 1970 by Robert E. Jones If there is one consistent thread running through the present Administration's policies it is that the student is a proper target for criticism and scapegoatting. Time and again, Administration spokesmen, most notably Vice President Agnew, have harped on the student radical theme, playing on the fears and insecurities of Middle America. In a whole series of actions and non-actions the Administration had demonstrated this anti-student bent. In both the 1968 and 1970 campaigns, the specter of campus violence and radicalism and was used to frighten the voters. Hardhats have been played up to by the President and his Administration; witness the invitation to construction workers' leaders to visit the White House shortly after students and hard hats had mixed it up in counter demonstrations on the Cambodia war issue. The decision by Attorney General Mitchell not to proceed with a Federal Grand Jury on the Kent State killings in May 1970, a singular non-action is but the latest manifestation of Administration attitudes toward the student population. Federal grand juries have been convened on far less substance. Radicals DEPT. OF JUSTICE ANNOUNCEMENT: OFFICIALS WILL VISIT CAMPUSES FOR DISCUSSIONS WITH STUDENTS. 1970 HERBLOCK "You'll Have To Remember That Some Students You Talk To Will Not Be FBI Agents" can justifiably claim that the Justice Department has had no hesitancy in calling grand juries where "conspiracies" on the Left are involved; witness the Harrisburg Six. The true feelings of the President were probably best expressed when he referred to student dissenters as "burns" in an off the cuff talk to employees at the Pentagon shortly after his Cambodia address and before the Kent State tragedy. Tom Wicker, writing in The New York Times, commented that "Mr. Nixon blurted condemnation of "bums" on the campus is all the more culpable for apparently having been spontaneous and from the heart, a true revelation of his inmost feelings." The President's syntax is embarrassing but instructive: I got down to the conclusion and you say well, the usual thing, you ask for support for the President and all that guff, and you finally think of those kids out there (in Viet Nam) I say kids - I've seen 'em. They're the greatest. You know, you see these bums, you know, blowing up the campuses - listen the boys that are on the college campuses today are the luckiest people in the world, going to the greatest universities and here they are burning up the books, I mean storming around about this issue, I mean you name it, get rid of the war, there'll be another one. And then, out there, we got kids who are just doing their duty, and I've seen 'em and they stand tall, and they're proud. I'm sure they're scared. I was when I was there, but when it really comes down to it they stand up. Boy, you gotta talk up to those men, and they're going to do find, We gotta stand back of them. Wrapped up in that little extemporaneous speech is the basic political strategy of the Administration - not to "bring us together" but to divide the hardworking, patriotic people of Middle America, who support their "boys in Viet Nam" from the campus protesters, the "boys" lucky enough to be in college. There are votes to be has in appealing to class envy, anti intellectualism, and unquestioning nationalism. It is a strategy which has been worked unremittingly by Vice President Agnew in his attacks on "effete snobs", "permissiveness" and like, though in recent months Agnew appears to have somewhat moderated his rhetoric, and , indeed, is the subject of speculation whether the President had not found him to be too much baggage to carry in to his reelection campaign as a running mate. Whether the President's reference to college "bums" fired some of the angry campus dissent can only be speculated upon . Certainly, the initial campus outbursts followed the Cambodian invasion, but most campus strikes came in response to the killings at Kent. Arthur Krause, father of Allison who was killed at Kent State, speaking of his daughter, said "She resented being called a bum because she disagreed with someone else's opinion. She felt that war in Cambodia was wrong. Is this dissent a crime? Is this a reason for killing her? Have we come to such a state in this country that a young girl has to be shot because she disagrees deeply with the actions of her government?" The late Whitney Young Jr., of the National Urban League, saw the President's language encouraging official violence. He told a Senate hearing following Jackson State, "When the President labels young people 'bums' and the Vice President 'rotten apples' to the mentality of the Southern law enforcement official, you almost give him a license. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't expecting to receive Medal of Freedom awards or something." While regretting later that his use of the word "bums" was "interpreted to apply to those who dissent," the President went on to define what he meant: "When students on university campuses burn buildings, when they engage in violence, when they break up furniture, when they terrorize their fellow students and terrorize the faculty, I think 'bums' is perhaps too king a work to applu to that kind of person. They are the kind I was referring to." It was after Kent State, while marchers were descending on the Capital and Regular Army troops were staked out in the White House, that President Nixon made his celebrated but baffling dawn visit to talk with the youthful demonstrators at the Lincoln Memorial on May 9, 1970. He tried pathetically to relate to the students in that encounter, recalling that he had though Neville Chamberlain was "the greatest man living" in 1938-39 and that Churchill "was a mad man." "It was not until years later that I realized that Chamberlain was a good man but Churchill was right," the President said, apparently hoping the much over worked Munich analogy would be impressive to students who know only Viet Nam. As is to atone for his earlier harsh words about "bums" the President told The Washington Star after this dawn patrol that "They were fine kids from all over the country." That the President has learned little from Kent State, Jackson State, and other tragedies, seems apparent from his reaction to the Scranton Commission report on Campus Unrest. There was only the mildest condemnation of official violence and his response was mostly a self serving recitation of Administration statements and actions. Like President Johnson before him who has cold shouldered his own Kerner Commission Report on Civil Disorders when it made its findings, President Nixon acted as if the Scranton Report was an affront to his Administration and held the Commission report and its chairman at arms length. The President rejected the crowning recommendation of the Scranton panel which was to have the President exercise his moral authority as a reconciling force, saying in reply to Governor Scranton: Moral authority in a great and diverse nation such as ours does not reside in the Presidency alone. There are thousands upon thousands of individuals - clergy, teachers, public officials, scholars, writers - to whom segments of the nation look for moral, intellectual and political leadership. Over the decade of disorders just ended some of these leaders of the national community have spoken or acted with forthrightness and courage, on and off the campus, unequivocally condemning violence and disruption as instruments of change and reaffirming the principles upon which continuance of a free society depends. Then, to add insult to injury, he added: High in that category I would place the Vice President of the United States. Robert E. Jones is executive director, Joint Washington Office for Social Concern representing the American Ethical Union, the American Humanist Association, and the Unitarian Univerlist Association. "... The concentrated an vigorous efforts of the Administration to ignore and insult, to investigate and incarcerate its opponents, especially the young ones, had begun to take its toll. You had watched as the President rejected the call of the Scranton Commission for reconciling leadership, as he fired the only Cabinet member who dared to suggest that the President listen to youth, and as he based a national campaign on making voters fear and hate their children. You had learned how the Government sent agents to spy on ecology rallies and arrogated to itself the power, unchecked by any court, to listen to telephone conversations of dissenters. You saw it combat lawlessness of Mayday with its own lawlessness, unconstitutional mass arrests and detention of guilty and innocent alike. You read of its attempt to resuscitate that throwback to McCarthyism, the Subversive Activities Control Board. And most disheartening you saw its Justice Department - which has no conpunctions about dragging dozens of young people before grand juries investigating antiwar activities of Daniel Ellsberg - refuse even to convene a grand jury to investigate the killings of four unarmed students protesting the invasion of Cambodia . And so you learned the lesson that the squeaking hinge, instead of being oiled, get harrassed, or prosecuted or even shot..." SEN. EDWARD M. KENNEDY Before the Harvard Law School Forum September 27, 1971