The Akron Beacon Journal from Akron, Ohio • Page 98

1 John S. Knight's Notebook i AKRON BEACON JOURNAL JOHN S. KNIGHT, Pnaldtnt and Iditorial Chairman KNIOHT, PufcHilw, 1907-133 IfM MADINBM6, hihlthm WILLIAM A. Off, Gintnrf Maitaur FIW MORGAN, Uh KOtW H. STOPHrt, frfjforial Pa9 Uitet ubliihtd Daily and Sunday by tfw laacon Journal Publishing Co.

feundad April IS, 113 The People's Voice i ,1 I i D2 Sunday, July 16, 1972 Heard At lami Democrats Poor? No, Just Big Spenders the last 40, with four presidents being Democratic and only two Republican. With this record it does not 'appear that they are going out of existence, it Just shows that they are big spenders. Their problem of not being able to manage the party budget and stay out of the red is thrown in the lap of the public under the guise that the two-party system is threatened. It really has fooled no one, it was just another way of the big spender (it cost over $1 million for the 23 hours) getting exposure for the Democratic party and expecting the public to pay for it. ROY E.

VERNON 821 LaFayette Dr. MIAMI BEACH As the magic number passed 1509 delegate votes and George McGovern became the Democratic presidential candidate, his pretty wife, Eleanor exclaimed: "It's unbelievable, just unbelievable." Eleanor McGovern had campaigned by her husband's side in other elections and often when he was the underdog in Republican South Dakota. She had seen him struggle, as executive secretary, to build a viable Democratic organization in the Coyote State. Only a few months ago, the pollsters gave Sen. McGovern a slim five to 10 pet.

of his party's preference. But the open primaries changed all that as the old politics gave way to the new. One month ago I wrote: "McGovern, the prairie preacher who didn't have a chance when the politicking began, now looks like a sure thing at Miami Beach in July. Sen. McGovern simply has too much going for him." By the time the South Dakotan had moved into his Doral Hotel suite on Collins Avenue, it was all over.

Hubert Humphrey was still making a valiant bid for delegates; Sen. Muskie fumbled with his uncertain mental processes; Sen. Henry Jackson coddled the conservative elements and the old pros huddled in futile stop-McGovern deliberations. McGOVERN had planned well in his primary successes with an effective organization which aroused the admiration of even such an experienced politician as Resident NLxon. He succeeded in mobilizing the young, the antiwar liberals and the new breed of Democrats who viewed Govern as the foe of privilege and the embodiment of integrity.

This convention, unlike any other I have ever witnessed, was truly expressing the people's will. The delegates were selected by true democratic means, not merely named by party stalwarts as in the past. They wanted no truck with the Dick Daleys or other old-line political leaders. The amateurs, the young and idealists simply took charge. They believed in what they were doing, delighted in playing a role hitherto denied them and pressed their cause with ardor and determination.

Mind you, these new crusaders were not all for George McGovern. Many had other favorites Humphrey, Jackson; a few even lingered with Sen. Muskie. Their hopes To The Editor: The Democratic Telethon supposedly was set up to keep the two-party system in existence. The many tears shed for the Democratic party during the program Indicated that they have had little to do with governing this country.

If my rememberer is correct they have controlled the presidency 28 years out of Why Not Smaller Portions For Elderly? To The Editor: This is a suggestion to Akron's many restaurant owners. Why not serve a child's portion of food to older people? Everybody knows we older folk cannot eat as much as we could when we were younger, and can't clean our plates. The food is too good to leave, what with prices today. No, we don't like to ask for "doggie bags," either. Serving smaller amounts would encourage the elderly to eat out more often, don't you think? We like to eat in our nice restaurants and eat all, rather than eating alone at home.

MRS. C. S. HAMILTON 214 N. Portage Path The High Cost Of Winning A War To The Editor: Our bombs, tanks, artillery, ships and soldiers during World War devastated Europe, Japan and Pacific islands.

We then sent the "losers" Care packages and spent billions to build them into prosperous nations and fierce competitors. Now we have done a good job on Vietnam and soon can expect to be doing a big repair job for the suffering masses. Better we should hurry and lose this one. JOHNNANASHE 1210 Mac dr. Stow Hooray For Parks9 Setting Up Trails To The Editor: Hooray! Somebody finally woke up to the fact that passing ordinances against the use of mini-bikes and snowmobiles isn't going to make them disappear.

Congratulations to the Akron Metropolitan Parks for recognizing the need for setting up trails for them. MRS. L. A. YOHO 3S71 Orchard st.

Mogadore No Litter Left After Explo 72 To The Editor: I don't know how many readers noticed the "day after" contrast between the musical climax of the recent Explo '72 (130,000 attending) in Dallas and the rock festival last weekend at Pocono Raceway, Pa. (estimated attending). After Explo, J. M. Souter of the Dallas police was quoted as saying: "These people were on thce fairgrounds all day and at the end it was neater than I ever saw it In contrast, your photo of July 10, on the front page, showing litter at Pocono.

How do you explain one group young people leaving a neat, orderly environment while a second group of youth leaves the scene in a state of environmental shame? MR. AND MRS. ROBERT H. PARRISH 20S6 Graham rd. Stow To The Editor: Why didn't we have pictures of the cleanup after Explo '72 on your front page? Probably because their Jesus rock for thousands didn't even leave an empty cola bottle behind.

MRS. JAMES H. 850 Shullo dr. To The Editor: As a delegate to Explo '72 at Dallas in June, I find a very interesting contrast between the recent rock concert at the Rubber Bowl and Explo. After passing the Rubber Bowl and noticing the tons of garbage and litter, I can only recall the words of surprise and disbelief from the manager of the Cotton Bowl as to how spotless thousands of young people left his stadium and fairgrounds each night.

After reading about the injured Akron policemen and the rock fans arrested, I recall with joy the testimony of numerous Dallas policemen who said that the thousands of enthusiastic young people at Explo were the most polite and well-mannered group of young people they had ever seen. J. BYRON LUTON 1837 Piercy dr. junior Senator from Missouri, as McGovern's running mate, was more than a mild surprise. Eagleton was a late deadline choice when Teddy Kennedy and Sen.

Abraham Ribicoff declined the Vice Presidential bid, and other candidates were discarded. Whether Eagleton will add anything to the ticket remains to be seen. He is young, articulate, a Catholic, pro-labor and in general accord with the McGovern philosophy. Though he is hardly a "household name" at this stage, neither was Spiro Agnew when the unlikely choice was made by Dick Nixon in 1968. "TITE have no word on Mr.

Nixon's prob-V able campaign strategy, but offer this unsolicited advice: The Republicans, as with many disaffected Democrats, are certain that McGovern will be roundly defeated. Well, as the old saying goes, this "ain't necessarily so." There is a new mood pervading the country, one of discontent mingled with lack of faith in the government's credibility. People are hoping that Nixon will get us out of Vietnam, that the high cost of living and unemployment can be brought down and business conditions continue to improve. Yet they are not sure and will remain skeptical until these ends are actually accomplished. Naturally, President Nixon enjoys many advantages over George McGovern and you may be sure they will be exploited to the utmost.

But even as the President appears to be sitting in the catbird seat, he could be undone by the Agnews, Haldemans, Ehrlich-mans and other administration spokesmen who specialize in political overkill. Today's voters are not easily fooled by old slogans and unsupportable allegations. They listen instead to the voices of persuasion and reason. This could be the year when the issues are discussed calmly, factually and with a paucity of reckless rhetoric which serves neither to illuminate nor inform. Only the candidates can decide whether to take the high road or mess around in the muck.

Only the voter will make the final judgment. JOHN S. KNIGHT the warring factions within his party, the task is greatly complicated by those who have other, and they think bigger, fish to fry. FOR A time at Miami Beach, there was another undisclosed effort to stop George McGovern. It was said to include Rep.

Wilbur Mills, potent chairman of the House Ways and Means committee, some of Hubert Humphrey's strategists and friends of former Treasury Secretary John Con-nally. The scheme was based on the theory that if McGovern lost on the California credentials challenge, his delegate count would never reach the required majority. At that time, according to my information from the highest sources, Teddy Kennedy would move into the vacuum with a Kennedy-Mills ticket. I was also assured that Teddy liked the idea, and Lyndon Johnson had approved by telephone. The plan was doomed when McGovern won the California battle and with it restoration of 131 disputed delegates, which made him unbeatable.

Yet, as the victor, George McGovern still faces some trying days in reconciling the disenchanted and disgruntled within his own party. AS FOR the campaign itself, Saul Friedman of the Knight News Service reports that "George McGovern, who in 18, months moved from invisibility to invincibility in the Democratic Party, is planning the same sneak-up strategy in his Fall campaign against Richard Nixon." McGovern's staff is confident that it can pull the same trick again. Friedman quotes McGovern's young pollster, Pat Caddell, as saying: "This is the year of the importance of being behind. The political graveyard is full of people who were ahead." Caddell indicates that the McGovern campaign timetable shows him corning up behind President Nixon in mid-October and beating him four weeks later. The strategy, according to Friedman "is to surprise Nixon in the polls, make him come out of the White House, force him to drop the statesmanlike posture of an incumbent President and fight like a common politician." The McGovernites claim that if their candidate is no more than five or six points behind Nixon in mid-October, "it will be a sure sign we are going to clobber him." They might also have pointed out that this is what nearly happened in 1963 when Hubert Humphrey closed a big gap on Selection of Thomas F.

Eagleton, the Didn't Think Float Was Funny To The Editor: Considering the seriousness of the matter of "bugging" in Stow, I did not think that float with Mayor Howard and a telephone in the Fourth of July parade was very funny. KATHRYN PIERCE 2306 Graham rd. Stow Arts Calendar Useful Guide To The Editor: Many thanks for the Arts Calendar you published June 25. We have been able to schedule our July free time to very good advantage. We thoroughly enjoyed the ballet at Cascade.

With seven children, ranging in age from 6 to 14, we would not have been able to afford to pay for tickets when we were not were aasnea wnen numpnrey ana iviusKie faced reality and pulled out. The Jackson people, 534 of them, were loyal to the end. to Eleanor McGovern, it might have appeared unbelievable that her husband had reached the party's summit. Yet one sensed from the opening session that she knew the score, and how it would all turn out. SO what now? Robert S.

Boyd, James McCartney and Clark Hoyt of our Washington bureau have been poking about in the embers of Opposition House home of the labor-backed coalition which sought unsuccessfully to block McGovern's nomination and find these sparks of hope still aglow. The reborn coalition which includes powerful Democratic leaders, governors, congressmen, advisers to the losing candidates and labor chieftains hopes to regain control of the Democratic Party next year. During this year's election, they will concentrate their efforts on helping members of Congress, governors and state and local officials. Coalition leaders say they will do nothing to harm George McGovern. They may even support him.

But their main objective Is to recapture party leadership in the event McGovern goes down to defeat. A background figure in this intrigue is AFL-CIO president George Meany, who remained secluded in the Americana Hotel but gave directions to his labor operatives as they shuttled in and out of his quarters. So as Sen. McGovern moves to reunite sure the children would like it. They are anxious to return to Cascade for another evening of ballet.

We are very fortunate to have these art- iorms avauaoie to tnose wno wm puu tnem-selves from the never-never land of TV and give their children a new learning are few davs parents can't find some "I'm very liberal until It comes to soak-the-ricb tax program!" time to show children something interesting. It is unfortunate to hear people say "THERE IS NOTHING TO DO." Maybe they were not informed, but with your calendar, there is no excuse. THE BACK FAMILY 1104 N. Howard st. Editor's Note: In cooperation with the Greater Akron Arts Federation, we publish a lengthy calendar of coming events the last Sunday of each month.

It has proved to be quite popular with readers. A Suggestion ri ri Triumphant Return To Bastogne -Oh, Nuts! rur Cleanup To The Editor: With rubbish strewn all over Kenmore because of the City workers' strike, I suggest Dr. Morley's Etaff of Environmental Housing Inspectors (experts in the field of rubbish cleanup) be assigned the job of cleaning up the mess. ROBERT E. EURDETTE 974 Kenmore blvd.

Days." As that work has long been out of print, this is no plug. Yet I hardly expected my brief to outrun myth forever, and it didn't. Writers like John Eisenhower, Peter Elstob and Robert Merriam later wrote their own books about the Bat-' tie of the Bulge. When it came to the crisis episode at Bastogne, they were not content with the printed story of what happened, spinning embroidery. HOW THEY changed it was almost predictable.

What came forth was in some cases the implication, and in others the flat statement, that McAuliffe hadn't said "Nuts" at all but had used the same four-letter word that the commander of the Old Guard had employed at Waterloo when asked to surrender. A monument on that battlefield bears witness. So when Kinnard and I landed in Paris, we made our billet at the Ho- tel Chateau Frontenac. Then I saw the American Legion directly across the street and it struck me as a place to buy a short beer, since beers short or long are somewhat expensive elsewhere in Paris. No sooner had Harry and I braced the bar than we met an expatriate vet named McCann.

Thereon I introduce my friend as the man who had set up the perimeter defenses of Bastogne. "I KNOW ALL about it," said McCann, "and all about that guy, McAuliffe. He didn't say 'nuts' at all. That's not the way generals talked. WTiat he said was Right there, Harry broke in, or at least tried.

He said: "Just wait a minute. I am the man who suggested to Tony what we ought to reply and he did it. I saw what was written and so did Ned Moore and Col. Bud Harper." Harry Kinnard. Our most brilliant field performer in Vietnam, he is now a Los Angeles business executive but during the Bulge Battle, he set the defenses of Bastogne and it was Harry who suggested to Gen.

Tony McAuliffe that "Nuts!" would be a proper reply to the German demand for surrender of the garrison. HOW DO I know that? For one thing, Harry was my roommate at Bastogne, and for another, it was McAuliffe who told me that Harry had prompted him. Last, Gen. Hein-rich von Luttwitz, who made the demand and received the message, was my prisoner for six months. When his fellow general, Fritz Bayerlein, who disliked Luttwitz, wanted to get his goat completely, he would say: "Nuts! Nuts! Nuts!" Altogether I got the episode down pat and wrote it that way in my book, "Bastogne: The First Eight By Brig.

Gen. (Ret.) S.L-A. MARSHALL Military AHalrt Analyst Having long been a cynic about the dependability of military history, I am neither surprised nor disappointed when I scan that which half convinces me that I couldn't have been there, Charley. Until lately, however, I did not realize that the shock to the eyewitness of being told that he's all mixed up is enough to send a steady man to a psychiatrist. MY COMPANION on a recent jaunt in Western Europe was Gen.

Harry W. O. Kinnard. We went there to re-fight the Battle of the Bulge on French government TV with a group of Allied and German generals. This was done by first airing "Battleground," the movie built around the defense of Bastogne.

Here something must be said shout ALL TOO CLEARLY, we were not getting anywhere. We left the bar and settled on a divan in a cozy corner. Three more Legionnaires joined us 'and began talking about the upcoming TV Spectacular. Again I introduced Kinnard in the same way, which was a second mistake. "I hope that picture tells it like it was," said one of the boys.

"The newspapers never do. Now you take that incident where the general of the 101st is supposed to have said He never said any such a damn thing. What he said was BULLS-EYE. We got out. Hardly had we made the TV studio that evening when one of the Germans started the same song and dance.

Kinnard was all but speechless. He turned toward me and gasped: "Nuts." -A INTERCEPTED LETTERS BOBBY FISCHER American Chess Player Reykjavik, Iceland Dear Bobby: AS international ambassadors of good will, our chess don't seem to have the knack of our ping pong players, golfers and baseball teams. AKRON, Jr. i.