Former law dean's words still relevant today
Editor's note: This article is a spe
cial submission to the law school
edition of the Emerald and therefore
is longer than the standard 550
word limit for guest commentaries.
Long before the news media began
to reart to what some now bluntly call
lies of the Bush administration, the
voice of a
former 1.1m— m mm,
v e r s i t y X
school of COMMENTARY
Law dean__
was resur
rected to speak defiance once again, a
quarter century after his death.
Words of Oregon Senator Wayne
Morse — the nation's youngest law
dean when he took the Oregon post
at 30 in 1931 — have been evoked for
the past two years by those concerned
with loss of civil liberties in the wake
of Sept. 11,2001.
A parallel seemed clear to them be
cause of the notoriety — then fame —
Morse gained by speaking out against
the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in an
other time of patriotic fervor, 1964.
That courageous action — viewed
by many as unpatriotic — objected to
an illegal resolution of President Lyn
don Johnson that turned Vietnam
into a full-scale war. Much of what
Morse said then echoes uncomfort
ably in the ears of today's Democrat
legislators who have been co-opted
from being the "loyal opposition" by
a need to be seen as patriotic. In the
attack on Iraq, all but a few accepted
the government's global edict: "You
are either for us or against us."
In 24 years as United States senator
(as a Republican, then an Independent
then a Democrat), the former Universi
ty Law dean was the consistent — often
the only — voice of dissent against gov
ernment malfeasance. Mis ringing
words were heard once again last spring
in a one-man play based on words
from Morse's fiery mouth. The play, by
University graduate and Portland resi
dent Charles Deemer, was staged at the
Morse Ranch, now within the Eugene
city limits on Crest Boulevard.
Deemer used Morse's words that
retain a lively relevance as, decades
later, they seem to perfectly fit some
issues plaguing the nation today.
Mere is a sampling from the play "An
American Gadfly*:
The party system discouraged Morse.
"You don't have two parties in this
country. You've got a coalition of reac
tionary Republicans and reactionary
Democrats who are running Ameri
can politics, irrespective of what party
label they wear."
In his independent mode Morse
felt like a political outcast, a status
that suited him.
"The Republicans disown me. The
Democrats have nothing to offer me.
I'll bring my own chair to the Senate
and sit in the aisle. I'm not sure which
political convention I'll go to. Maybe
I'll have my own. I could hold it in a
phone booth. I reserve the right to be
independent, no matter what party
I'm affiliated with."
The environment and access to in
formation were issues in Morse's time.
"The president sided with economic
pirates to begin a systematic and com
plete giveaway of this country's valuable
natural resources, and the Republican
press was conducting a virtual news
blockade against letting the American
people know what was going on. They
will try to make monsters out of those
who try to prevent this giveaway pro
gram of the people's treasure. Our pa
triotism will be attacked.*
In 1955, the safety of Formosa was
at stake, and tiny islands of Matsu and
Quemoy, just off the Chinese main
land, were the pawns.
"So who is the real aggressor and
the real threat to peace? Who is be
having like an international bandit?
We have no business making these
unilateral resolutions when we
should be taking the entire dilemma
to the United Nations."
Morse saw merit in fighting for
losing causes.
"Great good can be accomplished
by entering fights and espousing poli
cies even though they, at the moment,
will be unsuccessful. It wakes people
up. It makes them think. Our great
cancer is that politicians don't enter
fights, and don't battle for policies un
less they believe they can win.”
He challenged President johnson
about psychological habituation to war.
"Mr. President, the article discusses
the techniques employed by the gov
ernment to reduce opposition to the
war in Vietnam."
Why there is so much anti-U.S. feel
ing in the world.
"Are we surprised at all the criticism
begin shot at us from all around the
world? Does it really come as any sur
prise that we are becoming the most
feared country in the world? 1 don't
care if people don't want to hear this.
It's the truth!"
Ihere is a way to win the peace.
"Peace can be won and maintained
only if we convince freedom-loving
people elsewhere in the world that the
mle of reason, procedures of interna
tional justice, and the relinquishment
of selfish interests are essential. These
must be substituted in the thinking of
people everywhere in place of emo
tional nationalism that still domi
nates the world."
Wayne Morse left the Senate when
defeated at the polls by Robert Pack
wood, whose legislative legacy was in
strong contrast to his predecessor's.
Morse was campaigning to regain his
seat when he died at 73 in 1974. His
words testify to his unselfish commit
ment to justice and public service. I Iis
most fitting eulogy was spoken cen
turies before him by an independent
man of courage:
"1 am that gadfly which the gods
have attached to the State. You think
you might easily strike me dead. Then
you would sleep on for the remainder
of your lives, unless the gods in their
care of you sent you another gadfly."
That was Socrates in his own de
fense — a voice, like that of his 20th
century incarnation, Wayne Morse,
the former University Law dean so
sorely missed in public life today.
George Beres, a former University sports
information director, lives in Eugene.
ashion
hat pays
be me.
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