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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1970)
World /national news Speaker McCormack will retire this year WASHINGTON UP> — Speaker John McCormack announced Wednesday he will not seek re election to Congress in Novem her. The 78-year-old Massachusetts Democrat’s decision presumably paved the way for election of Rep. Carl Albert of Oklahoma to the speakership next January if Democrats retain control of the House. Albert, who is 62, now is major ity floor leader. Albert’s elevation to the top House position could lead to a political free-for-all by those seek ing the No. 2 spot of floor leader. Hep. Hale Boggs of Louisiana, the present Democratic whip, is next in line for Albert’s job if it becomes vacant. The powerful Democratic Study Committee is expected to run its own candi date for the floor leadership, and to support Albert for speaker. McCormack distributed the fol lowing statement at a news con ference: “I will not seek reelection as a representative of the Ninth Con gressional District of Massachu setts. "This is not a hasty decision on my part. I made this decision prior to the 1968 election. For some years Mrs. McCormack and I have been looking forward to a period of rest and relaxation. “I take this opportunity of deeply thanking the people of my district for the faith, confidence and support they have always giv en me. I cannot by words con vey my deep feelings of appreci ation. “I take great pride and I am also humbly grateful to my Deni ocratic colleagues in selecting and electing me in caucus as ma jority leader, and now, speak er, and to all the members of the House for the many courte sies they have extended to me throughout the years. I shall al ways treasure our association and be grateful to them. “On May 29 I will have been speaker the second longest in the history of our country, the ex ception being my late dear friend, Sam Raeburn. On the same date I will also be speaker longest in point of continuous service. “While I am leaving elective office, I will always take an ac tive interest in matters con - cerning the welfare of our peo ple, and the national interests of our country.” News roundup From AP Reports SAIGON—Thousands of South Vietnamese infantrymen plunged into Cambodia on a new front Wednesday in a drive to smash the last of the known enemy sanctuaries near the border. Their target was the Communist command’s B3 front, which controls all North Vietnamese and Viet Cong opera tions in the Central Highlands provinces of South Vietnam. ★ ★ ★ JACKSON, Miss.—A federal judge ruled today that state in vestigators may remove portions of the college dormitory where two Negro youths died in a fusillade of police gunfire, but the state said it will wait until the tense situation here calms down. ★ ★ ★ WASHINGTON—A move to block construction of Safeguard antimissile sites was defeated by the House Wednesday despite arguments the system would be only a limited defense if it works at all. An amendment by Rep. Otis Pike, D-N.Y. to cut all $322 million for construction of three antimissile sites from the $2 billion military construction authorization bill was de feated 146 to 76. ★ ★ ★ KASSEL, Germany—Demonstrators from the far left and far right filed into this West German border city Wednesday for the meeting between Chancellor Willy Brandt and Premier Willi Stoph of East Germany. Leftists came to hail the East German leader and the rightists to attempt to enforce their demands that Stoph be arrested as soon as he sets foot on West German soil Thursday morning. Pro Nixon demonstration draws thousands in NY NEW YORK (AP) — More than 150,000 construction work ers, longshoremen and office em ployees jammed downtown Man hattan Wednesday for a rally supporting President Nixon’s war policy. The rally was peaceful. The crowd estimate was made by newsmen after consulting with police officials. After listening to speeches near City Hall, the crowd marched slowly down Broadway, with po lice clearing the way. In the vanguard was a truck carrying about 25 construction workers with a sign reading “Impeach the Red Mayor.” Mayor John Lindsay is an oponent of Nixon’s war policy. Some of the workers, carrying American flags, arrived early in the morning for the noon hour demonstration. It was the second peaceful pro-Nixon and anti-Lindsay dem onstration in the city since May 8, when 70 people were injured as construction workers attacked long-haired anti-war students in Wall Street and the City Hall area. About 2,700 extra policemen were stationed in the area at a cost of $180,000 in overtime pay. In a speech at the new demon stration Peter Brennan, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council, urged coopera tion with the police because “they have been whipping boys too long.” The union leader told the workers to “look over thi election ballot in November and vote for the men who will dc something for America.” Lindsay was reelected last November. Abernathy joins march; asks federal protection FORT VALLEY, Ga. (AP) — The Rev. Ralph David Aber nathy took over the reins of a mule-drawn wagon Wednesday and led about 400 marchers to ward Macon after calling for fed eral protection for the group. Abernathy, head of the spon soring Southern Christian Lead ership Conference, climbed into the driver’s seat of the wagon soon after arriving from Atlanta to join the group. He wore a faded blue denim jacket and trousers, a symbol of the 1968 Poor Peoples’ Campaign, which also featured mule-drawn wagons on a march to Washington. Abernathy, who said he will be with the march the rest oi the way to Atlanta, called for federal protection after noting that Gov. Lester Maddox de clined to provide a police escort as requested by SCLC. The governor assigned state patrolmen to observe the march and put down any disorder if it should occur. Like making Edsels Combodia move 'profit and loss' failure Bv STANLEY KAKNOW The Washington Post HONG KONG—The well-known pundit Art Buchwald once pointed out that if Robert McNamara had managed Ford the way he ran the Vietnam war, he would have gone on producing Edsels until the company went bank rupt. That acute observation bears recalling at the moment, as administration publicists strive to portray President Nixon's thrust into Cambodia as a stupendous success. For in purely profit and loss terms, the Cambodian operation has scarcely been worth the political, social, diplomatic and psychological costs at home and abroad no matter how much it may have achieved on the ground. By the same measure, the entire American commit ment to Vietnam over the years has plainly been a lousy investment that even the most simple-minded businessman would have written off long ago. One of the fascinating features in the Cambodian affair has been the dramatic contrast between the Presi dent's original expectations and the real results of his decision His drive into Cambodia, he proclaimed on April 30. would smash the Communist command structure, shorten the Vietnam war and demonstrate that the United States is not a pitiful, helpless giant. Since then, however, administration spokesmen have ruefully conceded that the Communist headquarters tar geted for destruction was actually a permanent floating crap game that must have escaped to the Bronx. Moreover, far from hastening an end to the war, the venture promises to lengthen and broaden the conflict for at least three reasons. First, it has strengthened the Hanoi hawks and their hard-line Chinese supporters and. in the process, re duced the prospects of a negotiated settlement within the foreseeable future. Second, it is prompting the Communists to initiate diversionary moves in Laos that threaten to turn that primitive kingdom into a more active battlefield than it has been until now. Third, it has supplied the Saigon regime with the pretext to send troops deep into Cambodia, thus augur ing larger Indochina conflagration that is bound to in volve the United States either openly or covertly. As for Mr. Nixon’s assertion that the Cambodian in vasion would prove America’s omnipotence and his own determination, just the opposite impact has reverberated around the world. DIAGNOSIS: VERY SICK Student disorders, the Senate revolt and dissension inside the Cabinet are diagnosed overseas as symptoms of a very sick nation, while the President himself has earned the image of a weak, vacillating man dominated by incompetent or evil advisers. A curious paradox in Mr. Nixon’s position, as in the whole U.S. experience in Vietnam dating back a decade, is its betrayal of the concept Americans have of them selves as hard-headed pragmatists who want value for their money. Again and again. Congressmen who pinch pennies on appropriations for housing and education and welfare have given the Pentagon blank checks for dozens of Vietnam Projects that were doomed from the start. Assessing the bombing of North Vietnam, for ex ample, even McCNamara finally admitted to the sense lessness of spending millions of dollars to destroy bam boo bridges and grass shacks that could be rebuilt over night for a couple of bucks. LUDICROUS FOLLY Equally ludicrous was the notion, obviously inspired 1 by political considerations, that the country could wage an expensive war without applying domestic economic controls, in part, the inflation is testimony to that folly. To a significant extent, these blunders may stem from the conviction of American leaders that they are still defending the Alamo and charging up San Juan Hill. Judging from his performance, Mr. Nixon was apparent ly guided by the motto: “Shoot first, answer questions after.” That the questions he faced later were embarrassing is apparent in the fact that White House flacks no longer announce the apocalypse but claim instead that the Cambodian foray was really intended to buy six or eight months in which to improve the South' Viet namese army. However, a perceptive European diplomat who often' visits Hanoi emerged from the North Vietnamese capital last week to report that the fallout from the Cambodian operation has heartened the Communists even though they lost their sanctuaries. “Six months ago,” the diplomat said, “they seemed to be worried by two things—that Vietnamization might work and that anti war sentiment in the United States was waning. But now, looking at the chaos in America, they figure that time is on their side.” Los Angeles Times/Washington Post News Service
