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The Roar of The Tiger; DeFanged
By SCOTT SPTTT AL
The Tiger as the Senate sail roars,
bougt now tbe thunder erf his passing
stirs nc ears in the paLmca! j.mgVe
except be famt hope <rf his cabs
Wayne Morse is 73 He has no hope for
future pahticai coenba: The ejecoac erf
T2 defanged him He has not heki
puhiic office in six years In mas:
likelihood be never wul agarr
Tbe need ic speak oat ac tbe issues
iha: iabeied his The Tiger The
Senator. remain
Tbe faithful still bebeve and gather
round as they did las: Sattr-day a:
Hams Mali for a meetmg of tbe
Democratic parry precinct workers
They each noticed The Senator s:ti^
it. ’be free: corner as be ouonse: nr.
atnitar.xr flanked by a friend x
waiting
Each, ir ms own way. geoofieeSai as
bey passed ny
HeDo Senator
Too re .renting good Sc—tor '
Ho» ve ya teen Senator ~
Sm_e tremnlmg wt± ave Nice to
see yos_ Senator
The Senator Never ex-Senator.
forme: Senatx ooce upoe a star
Senator
The Senatx Lie ‘The Coicoet "
The G-ovemx A utie passed oc by
seniority. a perpetually granted
reminder
He dxkit need die wtcte socktan fefe
penned "S My Name Wayne
Morse pinned to his lapel He was
am zeg His People Some ’■ere not eves
dote wises Wayne Morse started the
firs: of ins M years is the Senate.
CAbers had believed throughout his
bombastic Senate campaign and
through the -xesace su years as enie
B* today is .971 They sell beheve.
They are Oregon liberals. Wayne
Morse is The Cresoc Liberal
Lane County Democratic Chair
person Jim Kkc«e*rsfc spoke "He
ioesn : need an introdactxc He sands
as Mr Lane County. Mr
Oregon Mr United States
Senate -Sesame Wayne Morse “
The faithfai stood in knee-jerk
standing ovatwe for The Senator
slboueced under the votive candles oi
TV rights
He thanked the precinct workers for
them aid Them by verse and chapter to
an audience who expected die service
"T cannot Kress the importance of the
~4 eieetieB to the destiny of die
repufabc
"Never m oar history have the
Amen can people ever been subject to
such a ccmgM admimstranoc.
"This country is beaded by the most
corrupt president in the history of this
nation He should have been impeached
long ago
“We must impeach Richard Nixon.
We cannot stand another three and a
half years of his rule.”
Wayne Morse stood calmly in the
pulpit His voice and gestures remained
mild compared to the punching
gestures and blistering, husky voice he
used in speaking about the campaign
He did not need his fabled thunder
today The faithful Democrats believe.
They listen to the man. their man, the
man who has been There. He was not a
peon who carped on street corners and
passed leaflets and bitched at the TV
press conference Wayne Morse was
hatching when it was damned un
fashionable to bitch about about offing
goofcs on the floor of the Senate.
Some elevate him to the status of
Prophet on the Vietnam war But the
Gulf of Tonkin vote was 10 years ago.
To the faithful gathered, his words were
a litany, a comforting rosary from The
Senator
The Senator has carried the litany of
ihe Liberal to a retired deification—the
Totemization of Wayne Morse, if you
will.
He has been chanting the litany to the
newsmedia for years The media listen,
as the faithful listen. He is good copy—
Wayne Morse never misses the op
portunity for a jibe.
He talked to one reporter, and as the
cold autumn wind wotaid around the
comer and ruffled the eyebrows curling
over the bifocals, the reporter asked the
cruel questions
Do people listen anymore, do the
words still have an effect? Is the litany
you chant heard only by those who
believe’ Are you becoming the eider
stateman, a fond memory’
The old man seemed not to have
heard “Well, yes, they listen.” He wait
on to talk about bow he had given his
statements on Nixon’s impeachment
until 2 a m., and had barely finished
when a man called from Boston and
said how much he appreciated Morse.
He quickly slipped into the comfort of
reaction. “Do you know you live in a
police state” as if be didn't notice the
change in topic
The reporter pauses to ask again, but
he left Without a good-bye, or barely a
glance, he turned and walked out of the
Hall, off to the jungle wars
It doesn’t seem to matter if Wayne
Morse is heard anymore, or if be bears
It doesn’t matter if the Roar of the
Tiger DeFanged only sen es to remind
a glance at the faded, patchwork fir
Die faithful listen They must listen.
It is the Senator’s life.
Spittal is an Emerald staff writer.
Letters
Back b at Greg
Las~ spring twerty-twc of us students
paired off anc aer la red candidacy for the
A5ITG Lots of reasons mine twr was
try.ng :c .impress this neb young Ms down
the st*e? I shU dec', cscm what she
mug- of it all Gaos I kicked tie a mutt
potting :r oeeoone-er for the French
Poodle nert doer Least I «a5 toad that bv
Other politicians nad their reasons too
nut when it came to a solid session of ex
plain it or what do you know about
government'' some of us looked a little raw
to be vying for a job that controls the
ASUO. Greg and Debbie didn't come oc
that way Both had explored Political
Science and Student Government till they
knew how it worked and that was long
before they even came to the U of 0 They
just had it together, no jibing Debbie had
something extra to add. she was of the
negroid race and knew- intimately the
problems the racial minorities laced here
at this mige sloppy-rich Oregoc excuse for
2 University. Well at leas to some of the
students. Gregor appears mooed They
noth stumped their rear ends of? dumrg the
campaign finding -out wnat was what Aad
people knew it Uafcrtanaleiy they made
art unpopular decost or with Day Care
neneftttee s m order x awe the majority
scene hacks Which alarmed daycare
Seneftttee s no end It stL. rase t ended
They fee tne nudget tar. ne stretched
i. UN dofian ary oud me x bafcymt them
L_ -ChiLum Now I a dm re L_ rSrCrjff toe
nut I dor t rave ary and I wager neither
at A IM i my febow flakoh wnc read
tut e er
Prtoaay no wnere ei» c*hd a Good
Poiruaaa ra-.e made a mire wae-wpwae
drrrtttw Ft c a wnttwig at a~ for ar ex
Dayeare Beaefruee to dairy react the
pose: wnere lull •'ThtTngy appear to be ar
xprodurine wats: is ha Me aad
tompaae iowdy abn* c. I would be
laeaug IOC Becky a la fact if I bad Lil
Q.ilhg» I migrr. e-rec copy cat Jtno’i
plight tbo that's precy mean
'**(
^ - Ml*
NOW, ON WITH THE INVESTIGATION . . .
Tti.: & d l warn : of the- majority who
oenefittesc, Do you trr-ig they'Z ever stop
bitch o Gref’
Ex-USMC.
Pre-Med
Rickard M Bireher
1b the EahiM ) report of the panel
dacsanon of "Nixon Saw'*" that the
Political So ere* Student UmoB sponsored
on * October your reporter referred to a
source that I had quoted on usog the
tactKS of rmimiiiiqr to fight COED -
man bbt. The quotation came from the Las
Aagefcs Tines of II March ISC.
In am editorial of 12 March, the Times
had criticized the John Birch Society for
fighting “Communists in Communist
fash*® .”
The editorial attracted national at
tention probably in large part because the
then new publisher of the Times. Otis
Chandler had recently succeeded his
father and was breaking with the reac
tionary traditions of the Otis and Chandler
families The next weekend, the Times
published a collection of letters about the
editorial mo6t of them commendatory,
including one letter that in turn attracted
national attention
Tbe author wrote, in part. “I can well
'-mderstand how many well-intentioned
people tend to reach the conclusion that
the only effective way to fight (sub
versive i organizations is to use the same
evil methods they employ.. .But there
could be no more damgerous fallacy. One of
'be most indelible lessons of human
history is that those who adopt the doctrine
that the end justifies the means inevitably
find the means become the end.”
If the language suggests unwillingness
to break altogether with the Birchers. it
probably suited the purposes of the author,
who was preparing for a campaign in
which he accused Governor Brown of
California of being “soft on communism."
although he was also embarrassed at the
Birchers' attacks on President
Eisenhower as pro-Communst.
Certainly the sentiments were neither
original nor a firm restatement of
traditional liberalism. But the signature
made them news, according to the classic
formula of man biting dog.
It was that of Richard M. Nixon.
Earl Pomeroy
Professor of History