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EMERALD
Opinions expressed on the editorial page are those of the Emerald and
do not necessarily represent the opinions of the ASUO or the University.
However the Emerald does present on this page columnists and letter
writers whose opinions reflect those of our diverse readership and not
those of the Emerald itself.
RON EACHUS, Editor
RICH JERNSTEDT
Business Manager
John Anderson
Cindy Boydstun
Rick Fitch
Chris Houglum
Associate traitors
Gil Johnson
Linda Meierjurgen
Steve Moore
Doug Onyon
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D. L. Sonnichsen
Jaqi Thompson
DOUG CRICHTON
Advertising Manager
ELLEN EMRY
National Advertising Manager
University of Oregon, Eugene, Monday, January 13, 1969
Atomic threat
in Middle East
The recent report by NBC news that Israel has an
atomic bomb that is or will soon be deliverable is prime
testimony for the necessity of adoption of the nuclear pro
liferation treaty and eventual nuclear disarmament.
Israel has denied the bomb exists, and this may alleviate
the fears of many. It shouldn’t. The mere thought of either
Israel or the Arab world having access to nuclear weapons
is terrifying.
A look at the Mideast situation shows why.
Tension there is obviously high. It may soon become
as high as it lias ever been before. It has become a constant
war between two worlds who fear each other more than
anything else. Like most wars, who is right is becoming
irrelevant. Both Israel and the Arab nations fear the loss
of their lands to the other. And both have been laying
exclusive claim to what was the homeland of both.
The recent events of the crisis should illustrate the
amount of fear and tension that exists in the area.
Furthermore, an escalation of the war could easily bring
the major powers into the conflict and lead to a world
crisis. Indeed many politicians and diplomats have long
maintained that the Mideast and not Vietnam is the most
crucial trouble spot in the world.
Add to this the prospect of an atomic bomb and the
picture becomes even bleaker. The sequence is not hard
to imagine.
The level of fear and tension could easily lead to use of
atomic weapons for quick victory. Such an action could
lead to intervention by one of the major power—the use
of atomic weapons by the “have” nations in support of
the “have not” nation devastated by the bomb. Then comes
the retaliation by other major powers.
At each step the possibility of total nuclear war in
creases.
If nothing else, the NBC report will hopefully provoke
enough thought by those who can lead to elimination of
nuclear weapons. The world cannot afford the introduction
of nuclear weapons into the crisis such as exists in the
Mideast.
3
om
New chairman; new look lor HU AC
but the message is still the same
Editor’s note: Tom Miller is a reporter and
news analyst for College Press Service.
If the two most recent sessions of the House
Committee on Un-American Activities are any
indication, we may as well see a new image
emerge from this perennially controversial tri
bunal. These changes fall very neatly into three
categories, all interrelated: new personnel, new
game, and a new tact.
Coming in as chairman is Richard Ichord, a
Missouri Democrat. Serving only his fourth term,
he will be the youngest House committee chair
man at 42. This is largely by default, though. The
present chairman, Edwin Willis of Louisiana, was
defeated; the number two man, William Tuck
of Virginia, resigned; and next in line, Joe Pool,
died last year. This leaves Ichord, who is in his
fifth year on the Committee.
The new chairman is already making some
staff changes. The main one is a change in coun
sel. Chester Smith, who has been former Chair
man Willis’ favorite is now out, and Ichord
protege Frank Conley, a Missouri Law School
graduate, has replaced him. Remaining with the
committee is their investigator of the left, Herb
Romerstein. Romerstein, who works mainly out of
New York, was active in leftist groups before he
changed politics and went HUAC.
NO SOUTHERNERS
In creating the image, Ichord will probably not
try to get deep-South Congressmen appointed to
HUAC when three vacant seats are filled in Jan
uary. Instead, he will rely on conservatives of
both parties from other parts of the country.
These include Republicans John Ashbrook of
Ohio, Del Clawson of California, Richard Roude
bush of Indiana and Iowa’s Democratic congress
man, John Culver. The only southerner is Albert
Watson of South Carolina, a nominal Republican.
In keeping with the “accent on youth” Richard
Nixon has been pushing, the House group is
shedding its old-age people and promoting its
relatively youthful members. The average age on
the committee as it enters the 91st Congress is
under 45, one of the youngest committees in the
House.
To change image also requires a new name, and
Ichord is quite aware of this. HUAC like so many
other obscenities, has been a dirty word so long
it is almost acceptable, but Ichord will introduce
legislation this session to have the name changed
to the House Committee on Internal Security.
Despite all the pronouncements to “clarify the
committee’s mandate,” all this new name will
probably mean is new stationery for the com
mittee, and a new letterhead for the Los Angeles
based Committee to abolish HUAC.
The new tact is the most subtle difference. i his
becomes more evident after watching HUAC in
action this fall. Unlike the buffoonery perpetrated
by Joe Pool when he held hearings, or the super
ficial red-baiting under former chairman Willis,
Ichord has decided to hear all attacks by wit
nesses against his committee. He claims “it is
very difficult to keep your self-composure when
these psychiatrically disturbed individuals are
testifying.”
LEFT-WING COOPERATION
The “psychiatrically disturbed individuals” also
have a new approach. In the past, witnesses have
traditionally used the first, fourth and fifth
amendments in refusing to cooperate with the
committee, dating back to its origin over thirty
years ago. The New Left, though, has been using
a new method: over-cooperation. All the left’s
witnesses this fall have given full, sometimes
overcomplete, answers to committee counsel
queries, specifying date, place, people and when
relevant, political affiliation.
Moreover, the witnesses have been spelling out
to the fullest their own personal political philoso
phies. Tom Hayden, for instance, spent over six
hours before the committee expounding his own
ideas on America’s social and political sickness.
Toward the end, he said the reason there were
no demonstrators or picketers outside the hear
ings was that “the job has already been done
on HUAC. Appearances before HUAC are taken
as a sign of respectability on campuses—or at
least as a joke.”
Ichord, more than any HUAC chairman before
him, at least showed a vague understanding of
what Hayden was alluding to. He told Mobe
chairman Dave Dellinger of the anguish one of
his constituents had with two sons; one who vol
unteered for Vietnam and the other who is con
sidering emigration to Canada to avoid military
service.
MORE LITERATE
Committee counsel Conley is doing less guilt
by-association questioning than his predecessor.
He is even injecting a bit of literary knowledge—
in his final question to Hayden he quoted from
Ambrose Bierce in The Devil’s Dictionary.
The only vivid representative of IlUAC’s past is
Congressman Albert Watson. He continually got
into discussion with witnesses on superficial
points, and invariably lost out. On a couple of
occasions he was even gaveled down by the com
mittee chairman.
Like so many other rightist groups, HUAC is
adopting more sophisticated techniques. T h e
image may be changing, but it seems fair to say
the message will remain the same.
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Emerald Editor:
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Revolutionary
Emerald Editor:
The term “establishment” has
been added to the currency of
American speech in recent
years and one thing is clear so
far as the establishment in Ore
gon is concerned:
Most people can't define it
and haven’t the faintest idea
what it is. Back in the 1950’s
the establishment in Oregon
began showing signs of wear
and tear and I wrote a book
about it and circulated it here
in Oregon and New England in
an attempt to straighten it out.
Here follows a few conclusions
I arrived at in this book which
was privately circulated. These
points for reasons of space will
be limited to the establishment
in Oregon as it has functioned
in the last 100 years. I will not
attempt to prove them in a
short letter.
1. The establishment is con
siderably more revolutionary for
the long pull than the commu
nists ever dreamed of. Since
John Milton and John Bunyan
the establishment including that
of Oregon has bet its shirt on
redemption through higher ed
ucation and total revolution
through learning.
2. The purpose of the estab
lishment in Oregon is to get
one up on Harvard and stay
there. One example might be the
life of E. B. McNaughton, late
(Continued on page 7)
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