THE RIPON

NEWSLETTER OF FOR THE RIPON SOCIETY MARCH· APRIL, 1966 VOL. II, No. 3 The View From Here THE YOUNG AMERICANS: A MESSAGE FOR THE GRAND OLD PARTY By William E. Wessels, Porum Editorial Board A poll taken shortly before the election showed The United States is entering a new political era. an almost total preoccupation with how others viewed By 1968, at least half of the American people will be us and our obvious failure to guarantee justice and equal under 25. By the mid 70's, a third of the population opportunities for alI Americans. When asked what they will be in school and education will cost more than considered our most important problem, 51 per cent defense. Americans voting for the first time in the replied international aHairs and 38 percent die racial next election will have no personal knowledge of the question. Only 4 per cent said unemployment and 3 Korean War, World War II, or the long agony of the per cent the cost of living. Thirties. To them, the debate over social and economic: In October, 1964, Max Ways interpreted the Presi­ issues· which has dominated American· politics ever dent's poverty program as an "appeal to a spiritual dis­ since Franklin Roosevelt first made canes rattle in club­ content among many of the non-poor who regard con­ rooms more than thirty years ago, will seem abOut as tinued poverty as an aesthetic blot upon an a1Buent stimulating as Calvin Coolidge dozing over national society." It was no longer a confrontation of Republican aHairs after a New England boiled dinner. The new haves and Democratic have nots. To the dwindling, voters will have to choose between the last of the New unhappy few in the clubrooms Nelson Rockefeller was Dealers, presiding skillfully - if somewhat unhappily just as much a "traitor to his class" as Franklin Roosevelt - over this increasing}y noisy revolution, and someone at his egalitarian worst but most people had money and brave enough to sar lie ~an do more to improve the time enough to be concerned abOut the failures of our the quality of Amencan life. Both candidates will have society. to preach political morality at home and abroad to appeal OUT OF Out of this troubled a1Buence to a very powerful new voting bloc, the educated young AFFLUENCE has come a new, politically ~ impatient for change and ready to act to get it. AWARENESS :'aware" gen~tion.. 9ften .mal- . . In 1960, John Kennedy's youth, flair and intelligence Igned for thett aCtlViSt fnnge, made· enough people feel like ris~ a little security they are skeptical, pragmatic and better-educated than to discover their potential. Mr. NIXon could justly their parents. Encouraged by the Civil Rights movement claint more "experience" but his colorless campaign and and the too brief Kennedy experience, t'liey combine a inescapable association with a political status quo ~ deep sense of the lingering injustice in American life ~,in the unhappy role of a middle-aged suitor trying wit&. a willingness to act and, if necessary, go to jail to compete with Lochinvar. Most young people voting fQr their beliefs. After the "silent generation" of the 'for, the first time just wouldn't acc;ept die promise of 50'~, they come as something of a shock to their troubled life as usual ' .elders. . BEYOND By 1964; with the missile crisis, . When the new voters leave school and move into the rapidly expanding suburbs, their views will shift f· MATERIAL the Test Ban Treaty, the March .. : WEALTH on. Wasbington, and Dallas be- to the center. They won't, however, fif neady into .. . bind them, Americans .seemed Nelson Rockefeller's mainstream or Lyndon johnson's primarily concerned with our moral stature at home and consensus. They will still care abOut foreign aBairs, Quoad. Senator Goldwater talked about "crime in the Civil Rights, and the. elimination of poverty but a,ny Streets" and restoring a proper moral climate but we candidate they vote for will have to be relatively young were. still ~ragmatic enough to prefer working for an - preferably with some of the Kennedy flair - well -improved If not a great society to returning to a golden educated, and full of good ideas about education and age that never was .in search of the "whole man." But how to make our cities livable. in his otherwise disastrous acceptance speech, he captured THE KENNEDY It. is difficult to say how much something of the mood of the United S~tes. Still . President Kennedy meant to recovering from November 22, 1963 and richer than ever INFLUENCE young people. The first "young" before, Americans were looking "beyond material wealth President since Theodore Roosevelt, he was certainly the to the inner meaning of their lives." first to make them feel like a part of the country. A recent Newsweek poll of teenagers found that 58 per cent considered him. a "great" President. Although STRENGTH OF But genuine accomplishment CONVICTION and str~gth of convf.ction can- Abraham Lincoln ran a respectable second, George not be Ignored. Burnmg a draft Was~gton, and Lyndon Jolulson ran very far behind. card in the face of severe penalties requires more than In spite of the "cult of personality" that has been a little courage. Whatever its shortcomings, Y.A.F. created about him, they see a troubled pragmatist like provided many of the hard-eyed young conservatives themselves who took chances for what ne believed in who cleared (some would say "bulldozed") the path and, by creating the Peace Corps, gave them a chance to for Senator Goldwater's nomination. Since it was m~e something other than a military contribution to sooety. founded in 1961 by a Yale freshman, the Northern Student Movement has supplied books and tutors for The same Newsweek poll indicates that we are Negro schoolchildren and sent many of its members to moving further and further away from the relative com­ live and work in Northern ghettos. The struggle of the placency of the Eisenhower era. Fifty-eight per cent of Civil Rights movement now bears a measure of federal those interviewed considered "avoiding war" our most sanctity 6ut students continue to work in voter education important problem and, sixteen per cent, the elimination and registration, risking the anger of the oighttiders of racial discrimination. Most striking of all was the who do not agree with Senator Dirksen that the time survey of that most personal of all liberal dilemmas, has come. Perhaps one of the most important voices of the Negro next door. "Nearly half" of the parents progress in the South could be the Southern· Courier, interviewed in an earlier poll said they would object an Alabama newspaper founded in the summer of 1965 to Negroes living next Goor but only "just over a by members of the Harvard. Crimson and staffed by qUlWter" of their children had similar objections. white and Negro reporters who battle Negro suspicion A DEVELOPING A thirteen-year old Iowa farm and white hostility for $20 a week. SOCIAL boy thinks "it's a shame to let the "EDUCATION It is already clear that educa- CONSCIENCE poor go so low. But now that STATE" WILL tion will repla~ the welfare they're there, what do we do state as our most unportant dom- about it? It isn't always the person's fault." A New BE THE ISSUE estic political issue. Mountains of York prep-school boy tutors on Saturday because he "baby-boom" statistics show that, within the next five "sort of felt" he "should." A fourteen-rear old Houston to eight years, the number of college students will in­ girl works as a nurse's aide and is trylDg to learn sign crease fifty per cent. The school age r<>pulation will language to help deaf students. Alteady acting out of jump from 68 million in 1965, to 77 million in 1970 and a vaguely-defined but unmistakable social conscience, 103 million in 1985. Just about half of our high-school they are part of the most enlightened and responsible seniors go to college now and that figure may soon generation in our history. reach 70 per cent. Teachers are already our biggest single occupational group but the number of teachers We have a long and healthy tradition of dissent. per student will continue to decline. Programmed in­ One can always cite Anne Hutchfuson, Roger Williams, struction and team-teaching will have to ill the gap but John Peter Zenger and, of course, Henry Thoreau. Abra­ a machine, however efficient, cannot teach values or ham Lincoln spent only one term in Congress because generate intellectual excitement. "Meaning" is still our he opposed the Mexican War. We have had young greatest educational problem and a poor boy, white activists before. Eighteen-year old Alexander Hamilton or Negro, in a big city high school bas a hard time and some of his fellow King's College (Columbia) finding it. . students forced their Torr president to leave the country. He also led the mob whim pulled down King George's INADEQUATE As a freshman he will probably statue and melted it into bullets. Before the Civil PUBLIC have to go to an annex ~hich 15 War, Oberlin College stUdents ran an underground rail­ SCHOOLS usually older and shabbier than the parent schooL His English road. Two of them died in southern jails. teacher· may assign The Lady of the Lake or A Mi­ ROOTS IN If the activists of the 60's have summer Nighfs Dream but he may never have seen CIVIL RIGHTS ~~eable. roots, they are in. the a lake and all that a sumnier night evokes for hinds MOVEMENT Civil. Rights mo;ement. Smce the smell of hot tar and uncollected garbage and the Mart1n Luther King's successful wail of a police car. If he wants to play football he boycott of the segregated buses in Montgomery, Ala­ may have to practice in a hard-topped school yard '()r bama, and the first "sit-in" at a Greensboro, North a parking lot. If he goes out for winter ttack, he will Carblina, lunch counter, thousands of students have probably have to practice in school corridors and com­ joined organizations which usually have only two things pete in drafty armories. He is used to fifteen-year old in common: a refusal to accept their parents excuses textbooks, teachers who have long since quit trying and for the world as it is, and an almost evangelistic sense give half their classes "study periods," and staggered of their mission to reform society. Since 1960, student twenty-minute lunches in which he may eat off ~er­ organizations ___ especially of the self-styled "new left" gency counters on the basement corridor wall because have multiplied so. rapidly that many people would no he can't find a seat in the cafeteria. doubt prefer to dismiss them as so much alphabet soup. LACK OF He sees a thousand 19th-ceo- It is easy to be put off by such well-publicized folly as tury variations of mens sana in blood drives for the Viet Cong, Joan Baez's school for MEANING AND LACK OF corpore sana on the walls and he non-violence, and the Berkeley Vietnam Day Commit­ can't help thinking that the head- tee's attempts to stop troop trains. Such engaging per­ LEARNING master woo quotes this is a phony. sonalities as Barry McGuire and Mr. Robert Zimmerman­ If he wakes up in his senior year and decides he wants Dylan of Duluth do little to win the sym,Pathies of any­ to &0 to college, he may have to spend a year in a one untrustworthy enough to be over thfrty. speoal prep school to learn all they didn't teach him. 2 in the previous four. Used to short CIlts, he read Classic levelled the wilderness and conquered the devils and Comics for his book reports in high school and now now we bear half the world's burdens on our shoulders. he reads the ClifJ's Notes on Catcher in the Rye. If he If our party is to survive, it must be a source of stren2th, was a faithful memorizer and made it into college, his not opposition, to the young shoulders which will Dear freshman composition teacher quickly informs him of the burdens of the future. his barbarous English and at mid-year the Dean may tell him he never learned to study. A NEW The costs of providing even SINCERELY# BARRY GOLDWATER GENERATION'S this kind of education will con­ The January FORUM noted that the Ripon Society tinue to rise. But clearly we can­ had sent a list of its membership to Barry Goldwater DEMANDS not continue to provide this in answer to his suggestion that our membership list squalid preparation for a modern and increasingly tech­ was unavailable to the public, it la mode John Birch. nical society. The quality of life and the quality of In return, we r«='J.uested a membership list of the Free education are linked too closely to permit one to founder Society Association, of which Mr. Goldwater is Chair­ in pursuit of the other. The parents of the near future man. will not condone the continuation of the brand of Early in February we received a reply from Barry education they were exposed to, and the GOP must be Goldwater, informing us that he had asked Denison prepared to meet this dissatisfaction with clear and Kitchel to send us a complete membership list for the practical remedies. Court-inspired reapportionment will Free Society Association. Subsequendy, Mr. Kitchel bring new and powerful representation to the cities wrote us with the information that the Free Society and their suburbs, handing to the groups most likely Association's membership was too large - 35,000 he to be most concerned about education t6.e means with said - to send lists out on request, but that we could which to accomplish their objectives. certainly have a list if we were willing to pay $300, to AND THEIR State and local expenditures for cover the costs of assembling it. COSTS education have risen from 3 bil- AN INVALUABLE An expenditure of this magni- lion in 1945 to 22 billion in 1964. LIST tude is presendy beyond our re- They will double within the next seven years. Obviously sources, but it has been suggested federal money will be needed and yet neither party has that we ask our membership - and FORUM subSCribers really offered any workable long-range plan that will - for their assessment of this offer. We are prepared, get enough money to the cities and states and minimize moreover, to set up a special account for contributions federal control. Walter Heller proposed that excess from members to assist us in 'purchasing this list. It federal revenue be returned to the states to meet some would be invaluable to the Ripon Society in putting of these costs. The Ripon Society and the Republican our ideas before a group who may well see the GOP's Governors endorsed this proposal last summer. Even chance for future success only in terms of an attach­ Senator Goldwater approved of it but the President ment to ideas which - if they ever did have validity remains strangely silent on the matter. for the American system - certainly are no longer Both parties must readjust to appeal to the best­ applicable to the experiences of a modern, urban elector­ educated, most afBuent generation in our history. If the ate. We ask all readers, therefore, to let us know their Republican Party wants to survi,:e it cannot contin~e views on this matter. Write to The Ripon Society, P.O. deploring the encroachment of big government while Box 138, Cambridge, Mass. 02138. offering no solution to the growing problems of our MR In the January FORUM, also, cities. What Peter Ducker calls the new "Technical­ "TER there was an editorial entided managerial class' will live: in giant .urban belts stretc!t­ GOLDWA "Misuse of Funds", which at- ing from Boston to Washington, Milwaukee to DetrOIt, TAKES ISSUE tacked the decision of the Citizens and San Francisco to San Diego. They will require clean for Goldwater-Miller Committee to use the surplus air and water, efficient public transportation and quality from the 1964 campaign to aid the re-election of in­ education for their children. The number of young CIlIDbent conservative members of Congress. In his volunteers in Mr. Lindsay's campaign should have con­ letter, Barry Goldwater alluded to this article: "This vinced our custodial leadership of this by now. We money was raised for Bill Miller and me and I can assure cannot continue to fight reapportionment and allow you that the people who sent this money would not rural minorities to strangle the cities and still expect have sent it had we enjored the hbera1 minority, so to become a ttulymajor paro/ again. Only o?e out of I believe that the COmmlttee spoke· out properly in four Americans will admic to being a Republican now. sayin~ they would give money to the candidates of their If we trot out the same tired horse in 1968 - no m3ltter select1on, which I strongly assume will be those who what colors he may wear for the race - Republicans represent the great majority of the party, those who may become as rare as the buffalo. call themselves conservatives." THE GOP AND . A seventeen-year ol~ ~alif0rnl:'­ RIPON In a reply letter, Ripon Presi- THE FUTURE ~l talks about le~g matl- dent Dr. John Saloma noted that: Juana and homosexuality, works REPLIES "Millions of Republicans, 'liberal', for a high school branch of the University of C~­ 'moderate', and 'conservative' worked for you, contribu­ fornia's Vietnam Day Committee, and marches on lQ­ ted to your campaign, and voted for you because rou duction centers whenever the opportunity presents itself. were the nominee of our party. You appear to believe She did, however, spend a summer working with Negro that you owe most of your support to the 'conservatives' children. If she can manage to leaven her hysteria and not to the rank and file of the Republican Party. with accomplishment, we can still be a "great society." . . . I disagree with your interpretation, as do all the Once we were the children of God, set down in the post-election polls and analyses of your 1964 support. wilderness, surrounded by what we thought were I believe you owe the Republican party a good deal more "devils", but determined to build a new society. We than you have been willing to credit it." 3 Congressman Tupper Speaks An Exclusive Ripon Interview Editor's note: When Congressman Stanley Tupper of sentatives remains a bulwark for mid-western oriented M.4ine announced in March that he had accepted a post conservative Republicanism. Despite the disastrous re­ as American Ambassador to the Canadtan World sults of the 1964 experiment with rigid conservatism, Exhibition, we were interested in his reasons for leaving there have been few signs of change as far as the House the seat in Congress for which he had tought so hard. is concerned. The small band of Republicans in the MMch of what we suspected is borne out y the Congress­ House trying to restore the daring and imagination of maWs responses - tbe difficulty a progressive Republi­ Theodore Rooseelt to our Party, sadly, is not growing can encounters in making headway against the conserv­ numerically. ative House leadership, the frustration a moderate feels Q. But you are a friend of House Majority Leader when the views of rank arid file Republicans are con­ Gerald Ford? sistently unrepresented by entrencfJed Congressional A. Yes indeed, and I respect the fact that he conservatives sincerely believes in his own brand of Republicanism. We wish Congressman Tupper well, and hope to Q. Isn't there a need for Republicans like you see him return in the future once again to assist his party. to continue to make a stand for progressive measures on the Republican side in the House? Q. Congressman, would you tell us why you are A. I can only speak for myself and I must reluct­ leaving Congress at the end of the current session to antly say that the struggle must first be waged on other become American Ambassador to the Canadian World battle grounds. There must be moderating influences Exhibition? on the GOP organization and leadership nation-wide. A. This new post offers me an opportunity to The fact that the voices of the overwhelming rank make a more direct and more significant contribution to and file of the GOP are not heard by the House Repub­ my country than by remaining in the U.S. House of lican leadership any more than they were heard at the Representatives. last Republican National Convention at San Francisco U.S.-Canadian relations have been one of my major is the fault of moderate and liberal Republicans. Jhey interests for a number of years. Coming from a State simply have not in enough instances taken the time to where a very large percentage of the population is. of attend local Party caucuses so that they could ha~e CanadiaJi ancestry, and where our important reaeatlon participated in the selection of local Party leaders. While business depends heavily upon Canadian visitors, my moderates and liberals have been silent and inactive, interest is a natural one. ultra-conservatives representing a small minority have For the sixth consecutive year I am a member of too often filled the vacuum. the Canada-U.S. Interparliamentary Gr

4 TH.E RAT FINKS RICHARD NIXON, ESQUIRE The public hearings into the activities of the New Richard Nixon was clearly on top of the world as Jersey "Rat Finks" are over. Those hearings that finally he commented on the Esquire magazme survey of Re­ did take place occurred on Friday and Saturday, March publican leaders (see "The Best Republican for '68" 18 and 19, in Newark, New Jersey. There was another by Steven V. Roberts, Esquire, March, 1966.) "I think hearing scheduled for Saturday, March 26, but that one it proves the validity of my approach. And others was cancelled. of course can acquire the same credibility in the party by taking that approach." The ~ll showed 42% of The original controversy stems from alleged distri­ 162 Republican leaders who replied predicting that the bution and use of a "New Jersey Rat Fink Song Book" former Vice-President would head the national ticket. which consisted of seven mimeographed pages of anti­ Why? Summarized Esquire: "Unitr above all, unity Semitic, anti-Negro, and anti-Catholic lyrics to be sung with Nixon was their answer to cnsis in all parts of to the tunes of "Jingle Bells" and "Where Have All the the country, in all offices, on all p()ints of the spectrum." Flowers Gone". A New Jersey Republican Committee What else did the poll reveal? Two broad groups of was set up to "investigate" the allegations and to recom­ Republican leaders - "the majority which said unity mend "remedial" action to the state Young Republicans. is the primary value, and the minority which said the party must be more progressive if it is to ada,Pt to change DILATORY The first two sessions were and regain any hope of winning on a national level" TACTICS dominated by the procedural tac- We feel that the latter of these approaches has the tics of the Rat Fink lawyers - evidentiary challenges, long sequences greater credibilit}' to the young voters of America. And of stalling ques­ the Republican Party must take its point of reference tions, etc. When the issue of who had participated in from the future. Perhaps the most significant part of the singing was finally put, each Rat Fink witness the Esquire survey was its concluding paragraph: "But "absolutely and categorically" denied his own partici­ the Republican nomination in 1968 will be most im­ pation; however, many of the Rat Finks were able to portant for what it will reveal about the pace of modert?-­ point to others who had "positively" taken part in the ization within the party in the months to come. This singing of the offensive songs. As a whole the testimony is the early line. On the final results might rest the is a compendium of procedural trivia and a spider-web of question of the party's continued existence or its ultimate conflicting accusation, denial, and counter-accusation. demise." The hearings unfortunately will not provide an intel­ ligible record for later examination. THE FOG One further session was sched- R'ipon Spotlight ROLLS IN uled for Saturday,. March 26: But then Tom Van Sickle, Chattman of the Young Republican National Federation, made RIPON, WISCONSIN the scene with his team of investigators from National Since 1949 the community of Ripon, Wisconsin - Young Republican headquarters in Washington, D.C. birthplace of the Republican Party - has dreamed of What happened thereafter is clear to no one. For some becoming a GOP shrine. The story of that dream was reason, the New Jersey Young Republicans called off recently told in the Madison Capital Times, which the Saturday session. Whether their motive was national attributed its collapse to the disapproval of President intervention in a state YR controversy, or the poindess­ Eisenhower when it became clear that the promoters ness of continuing the procedural hassles of the prior envisioned a national headquarters for the conservative week cannot even now be determined. movement, publishing a magazine called the Conserva­ tive Review. "It was an idea not unlike Goldwater's In any event, the inquiry was abandoned to re­ today," former project director Norris Nelson told the convene at the call of the chairman, and one can only Capital Times. Over $500,000 was pledged, but the speculate whether further hearings will take place. project lost steam, changed its name to the Foundation In the episode's latest installment the New Jersey for American Principles and Traditions, and finally Republican State Committee has ordered the Young collapsed. Nelson, a former publicity chief for the GOP National Committee now living in Phoenix, Republicans to expel the 10 Rat Finks who were shown Arizona, departed Ripon in 1956 - leaving a bitter even by these scanty hearings to have been involved and disillUSIOned community behind him. in the singing and song-writing. While expulsion from Of interest to our readers· should be the conclusion a political organization that wishes to be as inclusive of the Capital Times story: "Ironically, and especially as possible is a drastic move, not lightly to be condoned, to Norris Nelson's disgust, a private Republican .re­ there are are circumstances such as the Rat Fink scandal search group has formed an organization known as the in which every party must take a stand. Ripon Society - after the birthplace of the Republican Party. The Society, known as a liberal Republican To the New Jersey Republicans who have watched, group, is trying to become a power within the Repub­ paralyzed, over recent years as the GOP has declined ·lican National Committee • . . Maybe the Republican sharply as a factor in state politics, the Rat-Fink inci­ Party hasn't deserted Ripon after all:' dent must be confirmatory of the sickness in the Party. Perhaps just this sort of rude shock will bring the picture back into focus and afford the New Jersey GOP GEORGE ROMNEY the opportunity to rid itself over time of those who Despite somewhat vague declarations in support have no place within the Republican Party. of "morality" and "family ties", George Romney is 5 slowly acquiring support among Republican leaders who FOREIGN The statement on foreign aid are casting anxiously about even now for a "winner" is the product of a six-month who will carry the (;oP standard in 1968. It is far AI D study br minority members of the too early, of course, to forecast or measure strength, Foreign Affairs and Appropnations Committees. Their but renewed focus on the Romney candidacy was brought analysis is comprehensIve and provocative. Pointing about last month by a comment attributed to Congress­ out that "if we make no effort to guide the revolution man Melvin Laird of Wisconsin, generally considered of rising ~ectations in a peaceful course toward po­ a power among conservative Congressional Republicans. litical stability and economic prosperitr, we will soon Alter joining with Romney in a call for a GOP plat­ have to choose between 'wars or nattonal hoeration' form-writing meeting well in advance of the nominating everywhere or an illusory isolation in a world where convention - a move designed to alleviate spill-overs the cause of freedom seems doomed to failure," the of candidate rivalries into platform committee delibera­ Congressmen assert that "{aln economic infrastructure tions - Laird predicted that if the Michigan Governor cannot provide meaningful human progress unless it were to win impressively in his race for reelection in springs lrom a vibrant human infrastructure." Michigan this rear, and to carry Republican Senatorial POPULAR Specifically, the Republicans candidate William Griffin with him mto office, Romney PARTICIPATION recommend .de6.n~. cnteria to would be the Republican Presidential nominee in 1968. AND assure that aid reaplents are en­ ONCE OVER .This ~rising expression couraging broad popular partici- brmgs to mina the fact that many EFFICIENCY pation in government and devel- LIGHTLY . GOP leaders have already made, opment, and are taking steps to minimize inefficiency. or will soon make, appearances in Michigan within a E"mphasiziog the short as well as the long term role four-month ~iod. Those who aJ!pear interested in the education must pia}" the statement calls for: the estab­ "new boy" mclude former Pre5laent Eisenhower, Ray lishment of a Lattn American Civil Service Academy Bliss, Everett Dirksen, .Lucius Clay, William Scranton, funded in part by the U.S.; a Latin American Institute Mark Hatfield, Thruston Morton, George Murphy, and for Democratic Development under the joint sponsor­ Robert Taft. So impressive a guest list, however, has not ship of the Republican and Democratic Parties; technical prevented Romney from travelling out of state, where and management training by U.S. business abroad; ex­ he has also picked up public expressions of a1?proval. panded links between U.S. labor unions and workers in In February alone Romney was well received m New the developing countries; and increased efforts by U.S. Hampshire, Denver, Boston, and Topeka, Kansas, a di­ farm and agricultural workers' organizations to export versity with some significance for stuClents of recent Re­ agricultural modernization. publican politics. PRIVATE Urging a greater role for the A BURDEN Still, there are few indications SECTOR ROLE private sector of the U.S. econ- that Romney is more than of omy, the Congressmen recom­ OF PR OOF passing interest to those who have mend: the loan by business (at its own ex.Pense) of ventured to his doorstep. The 1966 elections are crucial junior executive talent to AID on a rotattng I-year to Romney's candidacy because he has yet to prove that basis; Congressional consideration of the Watson Com­ his personal popularity can rub off on the GOP gen­ mittee recommendations to increase U.S. investment in erally. The Esquire poll, published in February and the developing countries; and greater use of U.S. private discussed separately in this issue of the FORUM, reveals investment to fund and manage specific projects, there­ that Republican leaders are reluctant to change mounts at by freeing AID to concentrate on the overall political mid-river. That Republicans want to be shown, however, administration of development. is hardly discouraging. It was only in 1964 that the Perhaps the most innovative proposal is that the Goldwater candidacy had mesmerized too many Repub­ U.S. states establish aid programs to individual countries licans into an indifference to the realities of politics. in Latin America by enlisting the state's business, George Romney's candidacy will stand or fall on his academic and professional communities' support of a ability to demonstrate his power. at the polls; for a state coordinated program. political party it can hardly 6e otherwise. A NEW . The thrust of the analysis is that APPROACH u.s. !oreign aid must be used ag- gressIvely rather than as an exer- cise in goodwill. The concrete recommendations coa­ Politi~al Scene lesce in a plea for recognition ,of an obvious fact Demo­ Last month forty-five different House Republicans cratic aclminiStrations insist on ignoring; ~at thete are joined in groups of varying size to issue two in-de1?th some things the federal government cannot do better. statements, one on the draft, the other on foreign aid; It is sho~ighted to think that AID officials are always eighteen introduced a Civil Rights Law Enforcement more compete~t than practicing businessmen and law­ Act of major· significance. The spearhead for this yers to forge the tools of economic development. Con­ initiative was once again the Wednesday Group of versely, the statement recognizes that political.super­ moderate Republicans, joined in the draft study by vision and overall administration by AID is essential. Congressmen John Anderson (Ill.), Tom Curtis (Mo.), THE The statement calling fQr an Albert Quie (Minn.) and Don Rumsfield (Ill.). DRAFT immediate Congressional investi- It is good to see initiative among Congressional gation of the draft and the Republicans, in spite of glaring non-leadership at the methods used to persuade our allies to su1?ply manpower top. At long last, it appears, Republicans who want to Vietnanl ana Southeast Asia reCeived extensive the GOP to have the opportunity someday to solve coverage by national news media. It charges inequities the nation's problems have set about themselves to in the ad hoc prescription of limits on age, mental and convince the voters that Republicans have something physical capaaty, and inequities in the operation of worthwhile to say. ill-defined guidelines for student deferment. It charged 6 bureaucratic inefficiency in the processing of papers, tion for private advisors, the minority party in Congress and Defense Department inefficiency in the employment by comparison has no such resources, nor innate attrac­ of drafted service personnel on jobs (such as golf tion. course maintenance and officer club bartending) which itT his is a problem of the preponderance of Exec­ should be held by civilians. utive Branch knowledge, combined with power, over the STUDY Finally, the Congressmen ~int minority, and essentially, this problem is an institutional TABLED out that a year ago the President one. No mechanism in our society can now focus dissent directed the Secretary of Defense on economic issues!' to undertake a study of the Selective Service System and REDUCED The system, Curtis observed, to provide precise recommendations on how the service INCENTIVE FOR "reduces .the incen.tive to criticize manpower needs of the nation could best be met. The by creating allegIances between completed study, which General Hershey has never CRITICISM private consultants and the gov­ seen, sits unpublicized on Mr. McNamara's desk. emment," a situation which favors the party in power. AND CIVIL The introduction by Republi- The Curtis-Widnall solution would enable minority RIGHTS can Congressmen of the Civil party representatives in Congress better to analyze and Rights Law Enforcement Act of present minority alternatives to Administrative eCon­ 1966 is a notable event in the PartY'S history. The omic policy decisions. The three-man Minority Econ­ legislators recognize that courts are handicapped by omic Council would have a full time professional staff inadequate, imprecise and antiquated criminal statutes. which would establish a research organization extend­ With studied deference to the federal system they also ing to centers of learning and economic thought through­ recognize that the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment out the country. It would provide travel money for is broad enough to accommodate legislation aimed at: persons contributing their time and knoweldge and a PERMISSABLE providing an objective and equit­ center in Washington in which to meet. It would be FEDERAL AIMS able s~dar~ !or jury selection; a means whereby business, labor, agriculture, and aca­ protect:1ng avil nghts workers demic economists, and any other practicing economists, from privately organized violence; and making govern­ can influence fublic policy. mental employers civilly liable in damages for acts In view 0 the increased complexity and sophistica­ of violence committed by public officials. Recent Supreme tion of economic analysis and policy a concept of a Court opinions in the Guest and Price cases would seem Minority Economic Council appears to be both a logical to support this judgment. The progress of the bill extension of the Employment Act and an intriguing should-be watched with care; we intend to do so. suggestion for improved decision making. in economic affairs. BUSTING THE BRAINPOWER TRUST Republicans have frequently attacked the growing centralization of power under the Johnson AdtDinistra­ tion, although usually in general terms. One specific P'olitical approach to ~ problem has been proposed in legisla~ • The Young Republicans of Washington State .tlon recently IOtroduced by Congressman Thomas B. University until recently were more concerned with .Curtis (R-Mo.) and William B. Widnall (R-N.J.). It pushing None Dare Call It Treason than with the deserves thoughtful consideration. Republican Party and its future. The Curtis Widnall bill would amend the Em~ Things have changed dramatically - at their ployment Act of 1946 (which set up the Executive February meeting subscribing members of the Ripon Branch's Council of Economic Advisors) to provide for Society were elected to the group's two top positions. a "Minority Economic Council" funded by Congress New President Sam Reed, a graduate student in political but directly r~nsible to whichever party does not science, ,was active in the 1964 gubernatorial campaign control the White House_ as Eastern Washin~on director of College Students NEED FOR Congressman Curtis first spelled for Dan Evans. V Ice President Bill Gunderson is a uINSTITUTION. out the !ationale_ for the Minorio/ fonner Peace Corps volunteer. Congratulations to ALiZED EconolD;lc C?uncil at. an Eco!lOmlC WSU's new YR leadership. " SymposIUm 10 Washingt.on 10 late • Republicans in Milwaukee have recently fonned CHALLENGER February commemorating the the Greater Milwaukee Republican League. . The pur­ twentieth anniversary of the Employment Act • He pose of the group is to elect GOP candidates by - stressed a point that "debate on economic issues is and this is the "radical" part - adopting programS today not extensive enough or thorough enough." Ad­ aimed. at getting votes. Where Republicans have con~ ministration economic policy lacks an "institutionalized sistently conceded seats in the Assembly to the Dem~ challenger." Curtis noted the concentration of economic crats, the League plans a real challenge. They ~ brainpower within the Executive. "Though the Council this year with tries for three seats from racially mixed is itself small, it can draw on the almost limitless wards. statistical and program resources of the other fourteen • In August, 1964, American voters viewed the Executive Departments and countless other agencies. Democratic Party as the party most likely to keep the The Council of Economic Advisors, rooted in academic Fce by a margin of Ho-l. A GalluJ? Poll refeased institutions, has kept open its lines in communication 10 February, however, reveals a dramatic decline. The with academic and- other economic thinkers. It and new returns: Democrats - 28% ; Republicans --25%; the Executive Departments which also retain consult­ No difference between the Parties - 310/0- ants are lodestones for professional economists through­ .Former Congressman and National Committee­ out the country. Thus, while the Executive has at its man Perkins Bass is reported to be preparing to chal­ command vast internal resources, and a strong attrae- lenge conservative fonner Air Force General Harrison 7 Thyng in the race for the Republican Senatorial nom­ is a former member of the Boston Ripon Chapter and ination in New Hampshire. a member of the Executive Board of the Ripon Society • To insure that none of the aedit is rustled by of Southern California. the city folks, the Johnson Administration has required • Yale also figures in another bit of Ripon Society contractors working on public buildings being construc­ expansion news. Republican Advance at Yale, a dynamic ted with as little as 10% federal funds to erect a sign GOP organization at Yale University, is presently con­ bearing the President's name. Printed instructions, ac­ sidering a merger with the Ripon Society. The Yale companied by actual draftsmen's diagrams, have been group, incidentally, in conjunction with Republicans For sent out, and reports are that failure to comply brings Progress, has published a detailed study of southern a threat of withdrawal of federal aid. politics. The report is the most thoroughly researched • Speaking before a forum organized by Repub­ and thou~tful paper on the south ever put forth by lican Advance at Yale, political public relations consult­ a Republican organization, and the press reaction to ant Frederick H. Sontag asked: "Today, Vietnam, in­ its call for a progressive Republican Party in the south flation and civil rights are the major worries of the has been excellent. American people. Where are the minority {party] task • The Ripon Society of Southern California, the forces, ideas, constructive suggestions, and national and :6.rst of the chapters in the national Ripon organization, state party follow-through on them?" - has begun to make its ideas felt in California. Late in • In his try for re-election, Republican Senator February the group published a 113-page study of the Carl T. Curtis of Nebraska, a Goldwater stalwart in California Republican Party which received muCh atten­ 1964, is facing an extremely serious challenge from tion in the press. The report analyzed the "balkaniza­ the popular Democratic Governor, Frank Morrison. tion" of the state GOP and recommended policies which • Three identfied members of the John Birch would bring about the unity necessary for GOP victories. Society were elected to the posts of Executive Vice [n addition, at the February meeting of the State Central President, Treasurer, and National Committeeman at Committee, a RiF Society proposal favoring Federal the recent California Young Republican Convention. tax revenue shanng with the state was passed by the The new President of the group, not a Bircher, never­ Resolutions Committee, 22-8.· . theless favors U.S. withdrawal £rom the Unite

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