Newspaper Page Text
— Griffin Daily News Monday, February 9,1976
Page 8
McCarthy: less personal president
By Eugene J. McCarthy
We have to move away from
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the idea of the personalized
imperial Presidency. I was
saying that as early as 1968,
and I had observed the
overpersonalization of the of
fice of the Presidency since
President Truman’s days.
President Eisenhower
overpersonaiized it by omis
sion, saying, “I have the
power, and I'm delegating it,”
so that John Foster Dulles ran
around the world signing us up
anywhere anyone would sign,
and a few places where
nobody would. Then President
Kennedy began a personaliza
tion as to style but also in
bypassing his cabinet
members to go more to his
personal staff for advice on
public policy
President Johnson really
began manifesting the
problem of overpersonaliza
tion when he referred to "my
Cabinet,” ‘‘my Vice
President,” even “my
Congress," and at one point,
when at a military base, to
“my helicopters.” Former
President Nixon was the
culmination, using the in
definite “we” as though he
embodied the nation. He made
no distinction between his
private capacities and his
public office, which led to the
use of the FBI, the CIA and
the IRS as arms of his per
sonal reelection campaign.
President Ford shows no
sign of diminishing the
emphasis on personalizing the
Presidency. In fact, the high
point of the Ford Presidency
was probably the time he was
shown toasting his own muf
fins; unless it was the time
that he without consultation
with the Congress decided to
remove the threat to world
peace which was posed by the
sampans of the Cambodian
navy.
To make an effective
change, the President elected
in the Bicentennial year
should be a person whose
record and whose proposals
support a trend away from ex
cessive emphasis on per
sonality, and toward concen
tration on the real issues fac
ing the nation. A candidate
shouldn’t be concerned with
his place in history, but with
his country’s place in history.
Chief among the issues
which must be explored is the
demilitarization of American
foreign policy, coupled with a
renewed weight to economic
foreign policy. The new Presi
dent should not mention God
at the beginning of his
Inaugural and then proceed to
declare war on the rest of the
world. This alone would be a
refreshing break with the re
cent past.
Second the waste in the
American economy must be
■ - ‘ v.
diminished, partially by cut
ting military expenditures but
also by positive size and
weight regulations of
automobiles which are, in the
aggregate, a greater area of
wasted resources than the
military. If Karl Marx had
known about the automobile,
he would have written another
chapter saying that “to
stimulate capitalism you need
either war or the automobile.
You get the same waste of
resources, production and
lives with either.”
Third, the institutionaliza
tion of poverty and of un
employment must be ended.
The Republicans and the
Democrats propose programs
of handouts and public service
jobs which differ only in
amount, not in conception.
Both parties are willing to
accept, now, seven per cent
unemployment. As recently as
1960 three per cent unemploy-
EDI TOR'S NOTE: Candidates
tor the presidential nomination
of their parties, and other
political leaders, were invited by
Newspaper Enterprise Associa
tion to contribute articles con
cerning presidential character:
what sort of person should be
elected President on Nov. 2,
1976, and why? Following is one
ol these contributions.
Thevis trial is scheduled
ATLANTA (UPI) - The
much-delayed trial of convicted
pornographer Mike Thevis and
four other men on arson
conspiracy charges was sche
duled to start today in U.S.
District Court.
Thevis is now serving a total
of 84 years on three separate
federal obscenity convictions.
The Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals in New Orleans Friday
rejected arguments Thevis’
sentence is too severe.
The 44-year-old Atlantan,
identified in a Reader’s Digest
magazine article as the "Sultan
of Smut,” is charged with
conspiring to burn down a
Louisville, Ky., warehouse in
April, 1970.
Charged with Thevis are
Roger Dean Underhill, William
Ross Mahar, Roger Lee Hood
and Grover Alexander Corbin
Jr. A fifth defendant, Robert
Mitchum, died of a heart attack
in Arizona last fall.
The defense was scheduled to
file several pre-trial motions
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Eugene McCarthy was born in Watkins, Minn., on March 29,
1916. After receiving his B.A. from St. John’s University and
his M.A. from the University of Minnesota, McCarthy worked
as a technician in the Military Intelligence Division of the War
Department during World War 11. He taught economics and
sociology after the war before winning election to the House of
Representatives in 1950. In 1958, McCarthy was elected to the
U.S. Senate from Minnesota. His 12-year tenure was dis
tinguished by his work on the Finance and Government
Operations Committees. In 1968, running on what many called
a one-issue (anti-war) campaign, McCarthy won a stunning 37
per cent of the vote in the New Hampshire Democratic
primary. It was Us strong showing that led President Johnson
to announce, shortly thereafter, that he would not run for re
election. The father of four children, McCarthy separated
from Us wife several years ago.
ment was considered barely
tolerable. We can't stand
much more of this kind of
progress. Only a lowering of
the work year to 48 weeks, or
of the work week to 35 hours,
can begin to reabsorb the
workers who have been sur
passed by technological in
novation. I’ve said for some
time that this country can af
ford the rich, it’s the poor we
can’t afford. We don’t need to
redistribute wealth in this
country, we need to
redistribute work
And fourth, the dominance
of the two-party system over
political life must be challeng
ed. The Vietnam war was a
bipartisan failure. There have
been four recessions, in
cluding the current one, under
bipartisan management
within the lifetime of the
youngest presidential voter.
The false ideas of party loyal
ty and of the loyal opposition
resulted in Democrats suppor
ting President Johnson long
after the war should have
been ended, though they then
turned on President Nixon for
continuing Johnson’s war
policy.
Similarly, Republicans
stood by President Nixon even
after it became evident that
he was unfit to continue ser-
this morning before actual jury
selection can begin.
Thevis’ arson conspiracy trial
has been postponed several
times since first scheduled last
summer. In October, the
Reader’s Digest article began
circulating in Atlanta days
before the trial was to have
begun.
U.S. District Court Judge
William O’Kelley denied a
motion to dismiss the charges
because of the article. Defense
attorneys claimed government
lawyers conspired with the
magazine to publish the article
in order to influence the
outcome of Thevis’ trial.
The warehouse involved in
the charges is owned by Urban
Industries, Inc., a Thevis
competitor which reportedly
manufactures “peep shows”
and distribtes “adult films.”
The firm has filed a civil
damage suit in federal court in
Louisville seeking sl.l million
in damages from Thevis and
his four co-defendants.
ving, until the facts could be
blinked 'no longer. The men
who wrote the Constitution
would have thrown out the
idea of a two-party system
after about five minutes’ con
sideration. John Adams called
the spirit of party and faction
“a prescription for irrespon
sibility.” He may, indeed,
have understated the case
against the parties.
Running for President in
dependently, getting on the
ballot by petition in the states,
I will pose these issues for
popular judgment in 1976, and
seek to inspire the hopes of
the 60 per cent of the people
who failed to exercise their
political freedoms in the last
election.
Recently people have
thought that change was im
possible within the political
system. This is only true if the
system is defined solely as the
two parties. I intend to expand
politics beyond the parties to
provide a real alternative for
1976.
At this stage, the chances of
success for an independent
Presidency are one in three,
which is fair enough. By
November, after the parties
have produced their
lackluster nominees, our
chances of succeeding will be
even greater.
(NEXT: Sargent Shriver)
i NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN I
The Louisville suit names a
fifth defendant in the arson,
Clifford Jennings Wilson, who
reportedly will be a prosecution
witness in the trial.
Thevis has been convicted of
obscenity charges in Atlanta,
New Orleans and Jacksonville,
Fla. The appeals court ruling
Friday involved a three-year
sentence issued here in 1971 for
interstate transportation of
obscene materials.
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