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THE WHITE House
WASHINGTON
ICB-
Save the
whole Mag. in
your new file R5
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
ewsw
OCTOBER 6, 1969 50c
TROUBLED
PRESERVATION COPY
AMERICAN
A Special Report on the Majority
Top of the Week
The Troubled American Majority PAGE 28
No one can mark the precise moment when the new current began
running deep in the American psyche. It surfaced in fragmentary ways-
backlashy election returns, defeated school-bond issues, angry white
counterdemonstrations against unrelenting black demands, and a sullen
new tone in the talk; at laundermats and corner taverns, the barber
shops and beauty parlors where Richard Nixon's "forgotten Americans"
gather. The white middle-class majority was rediscovering itself, totting
up its discontents and beginning to reassert its political clout. But how
strong was the new tide and what did it portend for the nation?
Three months ago, Newsweek's editors decided to undertake a major
assessment of the shifting American mood. National Affairs editor Edward
Kosner organized the effort that brought together editors and correspond-
PRESERVATION COPY
ents from New York and eight domestic bureaus, the resources of The
Gallup Organization and the expertise of Newsweek's polling consultant,
Richard M. Scammon. For this week's special survey, Gallup interviewers
polled an outsize sampling of 2,165 white Americans. Los Angeles bu-
reau chief Karl Fleming toured the nation for a personal report on what
Kosner
Auchincloss, Martz
Fleming on tour
Mathews, Imperiale
Middle America is talking about. In Washington, bureauman Richard Stout
reported the view from the Capital, while a score of other correspondents
around the U.S. interviewed political scientists, sociologists and local
politicians-among them, Newark's chesty Tony Imperiale, who gave
porter Tom Mathews an impromptu lesson in karate.
The resulting 32-page special report on The Troubled American
cludes Kosner's survey of the new mood, General Editor Lawrence
Martz's analysis of the poll, General Editor Kenneth Auchincloss's profile
PRESERVATION COPY
of the emerging new breed of outspoken folk politicians, Fleming's report
Scammon's discussion of the national political implications of the new
balance of power, and nine pages of color photographs of life in Middle
America. (Newsweek cover photo by Charles Harbutt-Magnum.)
THE ARTS
THE COLUMNISTS
Newsweek
ART
96
Paul A. Samuelson-True Income
108
BOOKS
127
Stewart Alsop-A Lesson of the '60s
134
MOVIES
118
(Kenneth Crawford is on vacation; his Wash-
MUSIC
132
ington column will resume on his return.)
THEATER
132
© 1969 by Newsweek, Inc., 444 Madison Ave-
Contents
October 6, 1969
nue, New York, N.Y. 10022. All rights reserved.
BUSINESS AND FINANCE
103
101
NEWSWEEK, October 6, 1969. Volume LXXIV,
EDUCATION
INTERNATIONAL
OTHER DEPARTMENTS
No. 14. NEWSWEEK is published weekly, $12 a year,
83
by NEWSWEEK, INC., 350 Dennison Ave., Dayton,
THE MEDIA
113
Ohio 45401. Printed in U.S.A. Second Class postage
Letters
6
paid at New York, N.Y. and at additional mailing
MEDICINE
116
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
75
Where Are They Now?
20
Registrado offices. como articulo de segunda clase en la
Administracion Central de Correos de esta Capital,
SPECIAL REPORT
28
Periscope
24
con fecha 17 de marzo de 1944. Mexico. D.F.
SPORTS
95
Newsmakers
94
POSTMASTERS: Send form 3579 to NEWSWEEK,
117 East Third Street, Dayton, Ohio 45402.
THE WAR IN VIETNAM
92
Transition
115
DC
5
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
raged by Negro job demands in Pittsburgh last
month and again last week in Chicago (page 105).
NEWSWEEK'S survey yielded provocative evidence
of a deep crisis of the spirit in Middle America-but
so far, at least, no real indication of outright rebel-
lion. The average white American feels relatively
optimistic about his own personal prospects, but he
fears that the country itself has changed for the worse,
that it will deteriorate further in years to come, that
his government is not coping with its problems, that
America's troubles may be so overwhelming that the
nation may not be able to solve them at all. He
thinks the war in Vietnam is America's most pressing
concern right now, feels it was probably a mistake to
send American troops to fight it, but has no clear
idea how to get them home with honor. He gives
President Nixon a generally favorable rating (high-
est in the South) and is inclined to prolong the new
President's honeymoon, but he shows no deep en-
Burk Uzzle-Magnum
thusiasm for Mr. Nixon.
He
bitterly opposes much of what is happening in
the country. The Middle American complains
that standards of morality have declined and that the
exploitation of sex and nudity in the mass media
erodes morals further every passing day. He is relent-
lessly opposed to violent tactics by blacks and campus
radicals and believes that the police should have
more power to curb crime and unrest. Out of perver-
sity or ignorance, he is convinced that Negroes actu-
ally have a better chance to get ahead in America
than he does and that any troubles blacks suffer are
probably their own fault. Yet he does not reject black
aspirations altogether. And, despite his rejection of
campus revolutionaries, the average white has a
favorable attitude about young people and thinks
much of their criticism of the society is warranted.
Perhaps most encouraging of all, the middle-class
American wants the government to start moving on
the nation's domestic ills. Even though he grumbles
that taxes are too high, he would favor spending
money on such programs as training for the unem-
ployed and housing for the ghetto poor.
Newsweek-Wally McNamee
The statistics flesh out only one dimension of the
Charles Harbutt-Magnum from "America In Crisis"
story, of course. For all the essential stability the
numbers indicate, the people of Middle America
talk with eloquent bitterness or forlorn resignation
about the state of the nation. There is a strong strain
of fear in their conversation. "The honest person
doesn't stand a chance because of what the Supreme
Court has done," a Boston cabbie complained to a
NEWSWEEK correspondent. "People are scared and
they've changed. Ten years ago if you were getting
beaten up you could expect some help. Now people
just walk by-they're afraid for their lives." In Ingle-
wood, Calif., a dentist wonderingly recalls a confron-
A feeling of
tation with a booted band of motorcyclists: "When
being cheated
the light changed they didn't move off so I blew my
INTERNATIONAL
by affluence
horn. One of them yelled, 'What do you want, you
old son of a bitch?' I was SO scared and nervous I
didn't even get their license numbers."
There is a pervasive feeling of being cheated by
ABOVO
the affluent society. "Why, I can't even afford a
color-TV set!" explodes a Los Angeles plumber. And
there is the conviction that the government has its
priorities wrong. "They spend $50 million to send a
f------ monkey around the moon and there are people
starving at home," growls a Milwaukee garage man.
But most of all there is a sense of loss and neglect.
30
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Muse
THE
TROUBLED
AMERICAN
PRESERVATION COPY
A Special Report on the White Majority
A"
through the skittish 1960s, America has been
Himself a prototypical expression of the middle-class
almost obsessed with its alienated minorities
majority ("These are my people," he says. "We speak
-the incendiary black militant and the welfare moth-
the same language"), the President presides over a
er, the hedonistic hippie and the campus revolu-
nation nervously edging rightward in a desperate
tionary. But now the pendulum of public attention
try to catch its balance after years of upheaval.
is in the midst of one of those great swings that pro-
The reassertion of traditional values has festooned
foundly change the way the nation thinks about it-
millions of automobile windows with American-flag
self. Suddenly, the focus is on the citizen who out-
decals, generated nationwide crusades to restore
'You better
numbers, outvotes and could, if he chose to, outgun
prayers to the schoolroom, to ban sex education, to
watch out-
the fringe rebel. After years of feeling himself a be-
curb pornography. The uneasy new mood has also
the common man
sieged minority, the man in the middle-represent-
spawned a coast-to-coast surge to law-and-order pol-
ing America's vast white middle-class majority-is
iticians-one of them a roly-poly Malaprop named
is standing up'
giving vent to his frustration, his disillusionment-
Mario Procaccino, who may oust America's most out-
and his anger.
spokenly progressive mayor, John V. Lindsay, in New
"You better watch out," barks Eric Hoffer, San
York City, once the Athens of American liberalism.
Francisco's bare-knuckle philosopher. "The common
man is standing up and someday he's going to elect
a policeman President of the United States.'
How fed up is the little guy, the average white
F
or the Negro, the turn in the tide can have the
most momentous consequences. More and more
citizen who has been dubbed "the Middle Ameri-
American institutions are opening their doors to Ne-
can"? Is the country sliding inexorably toward an
groes-mostly as a result of the social momentum gen-
apocalyptic spasm-perhaps racial or class warfare
erated in the Kennedy-Johnson years. Still, with the
or a turn to a grass-roots dictator who would prom-
Nixon Administration setting the tone, the country
ise to restore domestic tranquillity by suppressing
seems to be retreating from active concern with its
all dissent and unrest? To get a definitive reading
black minority-as the nation did nearly a century
on the mood of the American majority, NEWSWEEK
ago with the demise of Reconstruction. Self-reliant
commissioned The Gallup Organization to survey
or self-delusive, the trend to separatism among
the white population with special attention to the
younger blacks only intensifies the withdrawal. More
middle-income group-the blue- and white-collar
ominous, even well-educated liberal whites have be-
families who make up three-fifths of U.S. whites.
gun once more to speak openly of genetic differences
The survey, bolstered by reports from NEWSWEEK
between the races, an intellectual vogue before the
correspondents around the country, suggests that
turn of the century. "One has to consider the evi-
the average American is more deeply troubled
dence that the Negro may be inherently inferior to
about his country's future than at any time since the
the white and incapable of competing with him,"
Great Depression. The surface concerns are easy
says an MIT professor. "Look at the ones who have
to catalogue: a futile war abroad and a malignant
succeeded-they're almost all light-colored."
racial atmosphere at home, unnerving inflation and
Such talk is only the tip of the iceberg. All around
scarifying crime rates, the implacable hostility of
the country-especially among blue-collar workers-
much of the young. But the Middle American ma-
whites feel increasingly free to voice their prejudices
laise cuts much deeper-right to those fundamental
and their hostility. "Everybody wants a gun," reports
questions of the sanctity of work and the stability of
a community worker in a Slavic neighborhood in Mil-
the family, of whether a rewarding middle-class
waukee. "They think they've heard from black pow-
life is still possible in modern America.
er, wait till they hear from white power-the little
America has always been the most middle-class of
slob, GI Joe, the guy who breaks his ass and makes
nations, the most generous and the most optimistic.
this country go. Boy, he's getting sick and tired of all
But the pressures of the times have produced con-
this mess. One day he'll get fed up and when he
fused and contradictory impulses among the people
does, look out!" A sign of the times: near-violent
Richard Nixon likes to call "the forgotten Americans."
demonstrations by white construction workers en-
Color photo by Burk Uzzle
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
29
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
No hero to millions of Americans in life, John F.
Kennedy has been elevated in death to an almost
magical place in the hearts of his countrymen. "Ken-
nedy put the spirit back in people," says a factory
hand in Tyler, Texas. "He would have done some
good if they would of gave him some time and
hadn't killed him." And, feeling himself the spokes-
man of the oppressed majority, a hard-hatted San
Francisco construction worker gripes: "The niggers
are all organized. So are the Mexicans, even the In-
dians. But who the hell speaks for me?" Adds Paul
Deac, head of the National Confederation of Amer-
ican Ethnic Groups: "We spend millions and the
Negroes get everything and we get nothing."
Resentment over compensatory programs for
blacks feeds the Middle American's sense of himself
as the ultimate victim. The experts typically disagree
over whether the middle-class white is as victimized
'We've entered
by the society as he feels himself to be. Some con-
paradise-and
tend that the white reaction is a rational response to
it looks like
the squeeze of taxes and inflation (despite big wage
increases the average factory worker's real income
the place we
has declined $1.09 per week in the past year) and
just left'
the authentic danger of rising crime. Others point
out that Middle Americans tend to ignore the large
government subsidies they get in such benefits as
tax write-offs for mortgage interest payments; still
Burk Uzzle-Magnum
others say unrealistic expectations are bred by the
myth of affluence. "Middle-class people," says Uni-
versity of Michigan philosopher Abraham Kaplan,
"look around and say, 'We've entered paradise and it
looks like the place we just left. And if this is para-
dise why am I so miserable?' Then, says Kaplan,
they look for scapegoats among those who are attack-
ing middle-class values.
I
ndeed, the most deeply rooted source of the white
American malaise is the plain fact that middle-
IN
class values are under more obdurate attack today
than ever before. "The values that we held so dear
are being shot to hell," says George Culberson of
the government's Community Relations Service. "Ev-
erything is being attacked-what you believed in,
what you learned in school, in church, from your par-
Charles Harbutt-Magnum
ents. So the middle class is sort of losing heart. They
had their eye on where they were going and sud-
denly it's all shifting sands."
The sands are shifting beneath all the familiar to-
tems-the work ethic, premarital chastity, the notion
of postponing gratification, and filial gratitude for pa-
rental sacrifice. Middle-class folk, says philosopher
Kaplan, are infuriated by college demonstrations be-
cause they "upset their image of what college is-a
place where there are trees, where the kids drink
cocoa, eat marshmallows, read Shakespeare and once
in the spring the boys can look at the girls' under-
things." Says radical writer Paul Jacobs, once a union
organizer: "The notion of work that they had been
brought up to deify is being undermined by the
young people. The hippies, Woodstock, all those
broads walking around with their boobs bouncing.
Not only do young people do it, but the media seem
to approve it and the upper class does these things,
too. Television is the most subversive enemy of the
old ways. "Through television," says Anthony Downs,
PRESERVATION COPY
a consultant to LBJ's riot commission, "we are en-
couraging, on the consumption side, things which are
entirely inconsistent with the disciplines necessary
for our production side. Look at what television ad-
Jack Hamilton-The New York Times
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
31
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
PRESERVATION
COPY encourages: immediate gratification, do it
now, buy it now, pay later, leisure time, hedonism."
Beyond that, TV enhances the Middle American's
feeling that he is enveloped in a chaotic world he
never made and cannot control. "You have violence
and sex and drugs on television," says Chicago psy-
chiatrist Dr. Jarl Dyrud, whose patients are mostly
drawn from the middle class. "You have the news
about the Vietnam war, the protests of the kids on
campus, the protests of the blacks. It's hard to es-
cape any more." "Every time you turn around, there's
a crisis of some sort," says community organizer Saul
Alinsky, a brassy anti-Establishmentarian now con-
centrating his efforts on white communities. "You
have the black crisis, the urban crisis-it's just one
goddam crisis after another. It's just too much for the
average middle-class Joe to take. There's always
something else to worry about. But the worst thing
about it for the middle class is that they feel power-
less to do anything about anything."
T
he more precarious a family's hold on economic
security, the more menaced it feels by the
pressures of black militancy and inflation. The gov-
ernment estimates that it costs at least $10,000 a year
for a family of four to maintain a moderate standard
of living-yet 26.3 million white families fall below
that level. And, despite nine consecutive years of
prosperity, many a breadwinner can't forget the
specter of the wolf in the carport. "Blue collar and
white collar alike still live too near 'layoffs,' 'reduc-
tions,' 'strikes,' 'plant relocations' to be personally se-
cure,' says former HUD Under Secretary Robert
Wood, now head of the Harvard-MIT Joint Center
for Urban Studies.
With little equity but his mortgaged home and his
union card, the white worker is especially resistant to
integration efforts that appear to threaten his small
stake in the world. "I believe that an apprenticeship
in my union is no more a public trust to be shared by
all, than a millionaire's money is a public trust," one
worker wrote to The New York Times. "Why should
the government
have any more right to decide
how I dispose of my heritage than it does how the
corner grocer disposes of his?" "Second-generation
people inherit from their parents a reverence for
their own home," says Rep. Roman Pucinski, a Chi-
cago Democrat who takes the pulse of his district
each Saturday. "The Polish have a word, grunt-a
base, a foundation. They know intégration has to
come, but their big concern is property values."
T
he hunt for scapegoats goes beyond the blacks to
their allies: the liberal white elite. Many lower-
middle-class whites feel that an unholy alliance has
grown up between the liberal Establishment and Ne-
gro militants to reshape American life at their ex-
pense. School busing to achieve integration, for ex-
ample, is probably the least popular social nostrum
of the 1960s. And the Kerner commission's well-pub-
licized conclusion that "white racism" is the basic
cause of black riots touched off howls of indignation.
"They resent their leaders' hypocrisy," says Paul
Jacobs, "-especially the rich liberal politicians who
send their own kids to private school."
There has always been a streak of anti-intellectu-
alism in Middle America. It bubbles to the surface
when the country feels itself betrayed-as it did in
Elliott Erwitt-Magnum from "America In Crisis"
32
Newsweek
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
the days before Joe McCarthy's rampages. All
sult of the new white nationalism is a greater will-
through the late 1960s, liberals and radicals have
ingness to express anti-black feelings-intensified
been predicting a revival of know-nothingism. So far,
by Negro job competition. "They've always been
it has failed to materialize to any great degree-al-
anti-Negro,' says one old union hand. "But they've
though George Wallace did his best last year with his
never been pressured to say it publicly before."
diatribes against "pointy heads" and such enemies
of the common man. Today, a growing sense of be-
trayal undoubtedly is percolating in many middle-
I
n the current atmosphere, liberal groups are de-
class hearts. The anti-middle-class bias of collége
voting new attention to the hyphenated Ameri-
radicals contributes to the problem. "Many of the
can. The American Jewish Committee has conducted
young people see middle-class people as nothing but
substantial research on the subject, and Americans
a bunch of big-bosomed, beer-drinking, drum-and-
for Democratic Action is making a major thrust to try
bugle-corps types," says Rep. Allard Lowenstein,
to keep ethnic voters in the Democratic coalition.
who tries to keep up his contacts both on the campus
"Any politician who ignores 40 million ethnics is a
and in his middle-class Long Island district.
fool," says Leon Shull, executive director of the ADA.
S.I. Hayakawa, who became something of a Mid-
Paul Deac, of the Washington-based ethnic lobby, is
dle American folk hero by suppressing demonstra-
trying to pry anti-poverty money and other consid-
tions at San Francisco State College last year, thinks
erations for his people from the Administration.
the educated elite is dangerously out of touch with
"Right now, the ethnic vote is up for grabs," insists
the middle-class masses. "You and I," he tells a visi-
Deac. "Our people are as gun-shy of the Republicans
The melting pot
tor, "can live in the suburbs and demand integration
as of the liberal Democrats. If the Republicans grab
never worked
in the schools downtown. We can make the moral de-
the opportunity they can forge an alliance with
so well in life
mands and someone else has to live with them. We
ethnics and remain in power for a long time."
can say the war in Vietnam is a dirty, immoral act
Except for the Italians, few of the nation's later im-
as in myth
while our children are in college, exempt from the
migrant groups have had much use for the Republi-
draft. The working people's children are in Vietnam
can Party. And no one can say for certain how suc-
and they're praying for victory. They want to believe
cessful Richard Nixon will be if he tries to entice
America is right."
ethnic voters into his new centrist coalition. The
More bluntly, Eric Hoffer rages: "We are told we
President's strong anti-Communist stand over the
have to feel guilty. We've been poor all our lives and
years-and his recent trip to Rumania-are likely to
now we're being preached to by every son of a bitch
enhance Mr. Nixon's appeal. Just such a thrust is at
who comes along. The ethnics are discovering that
the heart of a GOP battle plan devised by Kevin P.
you can't trust those Mayflower boys."
Phillips, a 28-year-old Justice Department aide, in a
Hoffer's observation is symptomatic of the new
much-discussed book called "The Emerging Repub-
mood of ethnic chauvinism taking hold in Middle
lican Majority." As Phillips envisages it, the Re-
America. "The rise of Negro militancy," says Congress-
publicans could cement their hold by building an
man Pucinski, "has brought a revival of ethnic orien-
alliance based on the South and the traditional
tation in all the other groups." The hard truth is
heartland, and whites disgruntled by Democratic
that the celebrated American melting pot has never
"social engineering." The President professed last
worked quite so well in life as in nostalgic myth. As
week not to have read the book. And, basically, Mr.
Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan pointed out
Nixon will stand or fall on his over-all ability to con-
six years ago in "Beyond the Melting Pot,' Americans
vince America that he can end the war, reorder
tend to maintain their sense of ethnic identity far
priorities and bring greater stability to the U.S.
more tenaciously than was once supposed. One re-
On that score, the President seems to have a num-
PRESERVATION COPY
Frank Mastro
33
October 6, 1969
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
ber of advantages. "Nixon is tremendously reassuring
to middle-class Americans," says sociologist Robert
Nisbet of the University of California at Riverside.
"If you started out to design a human being who
would be an answer for this kind of person in this
kind of time, you couldn't design a better one than
Nixon. His kind of corny, square, ketchup-on-cot-
tage-cheese image is very reassuring to these peo-
ple." What's more, says Brandeis University his-
torian John Roche, who was once LBJ's intellectual-
in-residence, government-Nixon style-has reduced
the level of disorder in America. "The edge is al-
ready off," says Roche, "because the election of Nix-
on put into office people who are not going to be
responsible for demonstrations. There will be no
great riots-you don't riot against your enemies but
against your friends, because you know your friends
'We need more
don't shoot. [Attorney General John] Mitchell means
programs for
business."
Even if he should end the war and further cool
Mr. Forgotten
the ghettos and campuses, the President faces the
American'
more fundamental problem of giving the white ma-
jority a greater sense of participation and reward in
the life of the society. And he must somehow accom-
How It Feels
plish this while maintaining the nation's commitments
to its non-white minorities, especially the Negroes.
"The ethnic groups, the Irish and the Jews don't
To Be Caught
want to penalize the Negro but they feel strongly
that the rules they came up with should apply," says
In the Middle
Roche. "To change rules now is basically unfair."
"WAmerican," more programs for Mr. Forgotten
says a Washington liberal. The fact
is, however, that very little thought has gone into
There's racial problems, money problems, more
crime
the problems of the white middle class. Foundations
Everything has gone to pieces.
and think tanks have primarily been concerned with
-A Kalamazoo, Mich., housewife
the plight of the minorities. A turnabout of sorts is
under way. The Harvard-MIT Joint Center for Ur-
I
n this harvest season of 1969, that is the voice of
ban Studies has made Middle America its target
Middle America-the white middle class, the
subject for the new year, and the Ford Foundation
backbone of the country, the people who have tak-
plans to focus some of its attention on the middle
en to thinking of themselves as "forgotten."
class. Concrete ideas are sparse. Mitchell Sviridoff,
NEWSWEEK'S special poll of white Americans, con-
Ford's vice president for national affairs, speaks
ducted by The Gallup Organization in an unusually
rather vaguely of expanding medicaid programs and
wide sampling of public opinion, found the white
of retraining the middle-aged white worker trapped
majority profoundly troubled-but not, as some have
in a dead-end assembly-line job.
suggested, on the brink of violent rebellion. There is
But the underlying necessity is to find the national
a heavy undertone of resentment-a dark suspicion
resources to help both the majority white and his
that the rules are being changed in the middle of
non-white counterpart. "We've stimulated the mi-
the game, that the dice are loaded in somebody
norities to believe that something is going to happen
else's favor. But at bottom, the mood adds up to a
for them. If we slow down, as we have, their frustra-
nagging sense that life is going sour-that, whatever
tions will be so seriously exacerbated that they will
is wrong, the whole society somehow has lost its way.
be pushed to more militant behavior," argues Sviri-
This new pessimism has serious implications for the
doff. "Then the majority will be pushed to more re-
nation, because Middle America, in a real sense, is
pressive behavior and we will have an absolutely
America. For the NEWSWEEK survey, Gallup inter-
impossible situation on our hands."
viewers talked to 2,165 adults comprising a cross-
Some think that the problem goes far beyond the
section of the entire white population (which, in
reach of even the most imaginative government.
turn, is almost 90 per cent of the total population).
"When the hippies go to Woodstock," says Paul Ja-
The sample included a middle-class group large
cobs, "they are building a new community of their
enough for detailed analysis: 1,321 Americans with
own. The worker's community is disintegrating. He
household incomes ranging from $5,000 to $15,000,
doesn't know where to find a new one. So he keeps
representing 61 per cent of the white population.
harking back to the old days and the old values. But
By themselves, the Middle Americans are a ma-
it is not possible to go back. And there is no new
jority of the nation-and the strength of their opin-
community to replace the old."
ions outweighs their numbers. In the NEWSWEEK
Can Middle America somehow create a new plu-
Poll, the attitudes of the middle-income group
ralist community to satisfy its new needs? On the
showed hardly any significant variation from those
answer to that question rests much of the destiny
of the total white group on any question.
of the nation in the years ahead.
As the Middle American sees it, his country is be-
34
PRESERVATION COPY
Newsweek!
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
For all that, most middle-class Americans expect
to prosper in coming years. Nearly two-thirds of the
sampling feel that five years from now they will be at
least as well off as they are today-or better off. But
they are afraid they will enjoy it less. Fully 46 per
cent agree that the nation has changed for the worse
in the past ten years. Opinion splits on whether the
United States can solve its problems at all. Fifty-nine
per cent believe that the danger of racial conflict is on
the rise-and 58 per cent feel that the United States,
on the whole, is likely to change for the worse in the
years ahead.
M
iddle America itself is hardly monolithic; its
over-all statistical unity conceals many shad-
ings of opinions. The biggest differences match edu-
cational levels, Thus, people who went to college
tend to have better jobs, earn more money and be
more tolerant on racial issues and less disturbed by
'I don't like a
D. Gorton
youth protests. Those whose education ended in
war where there
set by a sea of troubles. The war in Vietnam op-
grade school tend to hold blue-collar jobs-and to be
couldn't be a
presses the nation-nearly two out of three of those
financially insecure and angry, over the accelerating
polled cite it as one of America's top problems. "I
pace of social change (page 46). The educational
winner'
don't like a war where there couldn't be a winner,"
split was neatly shown by a question asking whether
complains an electrician in Mineral Wells, Texas.
the United States is becoming too materialistic. Some
There is the endless, abrasive racial crisis, mentioned
54 per cent of those who had gone to college agreed
by 41 per cent. "We could have a civil war," warns a
-but only 36 per cent of the grade-school group
county employee in Stanwood, Wash. There are the
would go along.
nagging pocketbook issues: inflation erodes every-
Other significant divisions of opinion stem from
body's pay check, and 78 per cent think Federal
age, sex and region of the country. Women, for in-
taxes are just plain too high. There is crime and de-
stance, tend to be less hawkish than men on Viet-
linquency and a gnawing feeling of powerlessness.
nam. Westerners worry most about drugs and air
The government, says a Chicago truck driver,
pollution. And surprisingly, adults under 30 tend to
"doesn't know I exist-or care." And there is a sense
disapprove of modern youth more vehemently than
that solid old values are crumbling. "Seems like we
do people aged 30 to 55.
have lost respect for ourselves," says a housewife in
Despite these internal differences, however, Mid-
Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo.
dle America is united in its discontent-and, increas-
Save for the war, the nation's brooding is almost
ingly, sees itself as an oppressed majority. "I think
exclusively inward. Only 2 per cent of the sampling
the middle class is getting the short end of the stick
thought to mention nuclear war as a problem facing
on everything," says a computer technician from
the country; fewer than 1 per cent listed Russia or
Brooklyn. "The welfare people get out of taxes, and
Red China. But the internal discontents are as varied
so do the rich," says a construction foreman in Balti-
as they are pervasive. "This sex education shouldn't
more. "The middle-class family is just forgotten."
be in the small grades, like I heard they're going to
The worst frustration is the war in Vietnam. It is,
have," said the wife of a laborer in South Bend, Ind.
by now, a war that has come very close to home; 55
LOOKING AHEAD: PESSIMISM
WANTED: 'LAW AND ORDER'
No
Agree
Disagree
Change
Yes
No
The U.S. has changed for the worse over
46%
36%
13%
Local police do a good job of
78%
the past decade
preventing crime
16%
The danger of racial violence is
59%
63%
26%
12%
Police should have more power
35%
increasing
Suspects who might commit another
The U.S. is likely to change for the worse
58%
crime before they come to trial should
68%
23%
over the next decade
19%
14%
be held without bail
Black militants have been treated too
85%
The U.S. is less able to solve its problems
40%
40%
leniently
8%
than it was five years ago
16%
College demonstrators have been
84%
Undecided omitted
treated too leniently
11%
Undecided omitted
Newsweek
October 6, 1969
35
PRESERVATION COPY
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
per cent of the NEWSWEEK Middle American sam-
Keansburg, N.J. "They should blast them all and
pling said they were personally acquainted with
come home."
someone who had been killed or wounded in Viet-
In contrast, the dovish opinions sounded oddly un-
nam. Yet people are frankly and bitterly confused
certain; opponents of the war cited passionless argu-
as to the conduct of the war, the reasons for Ameri-
ments on the theme that the U.S. should not have
can involvement and what should be done next.
been involved in the first place, or that it was time
There is general agreement on only one thing:
for the war to end. "I can't remember when we start-
that the war is not going well. Only 8 per cent be-
ed fighting there," said 22-year-old William H. Neu-
lieve that the U.S. and South Vietnam are winning.
mann Jr., manager of a restaurant in Sarasota, Fla.,
One in five said the war was being lost, and two-
"but I do think we should have been out a long time
thirds of the sampling opted for the euphemistic
ago." One of the most curious findings of the survey
"holding our own." Nearly three in five said the U.S.
was the almost total absence of moral arguments
was justified in intervening in the war-but 70 per
against the war. Despite the clamor of the most vocal
cent argued that, justified or not, the nation should
doves over the past four years, only a handful of the
have kept its sons at home.
sampling argued that the war was simply wrong. In-
stead, opinions both pro and con were thoroughly
pragmatic; as a New York City housewife phrased
At
the extremes, hawks and doves were almost
her case: "There's nothing to be gained."
evenly divided. Approximately one in five said
On issues closer to home, the Middle American is
that the U.S. had "no right or reason" to fight in Vi-
considerably more emotional. He is in a financial
etnam; one in four said it was "our right and duty." In
vise, with inflation and rising taxes threatening what
volunteered opinions, however, the strongest expres-
precarious security he has-and to make this threat
sions were hawkish, with 21 per cent urging a more
worse, black Americans are demanding an ever-
aggressive, fight-to-win policy. "I can't figure it out,"
greater economic share.
complained a retired sand-and-gravel dealer in Fort
Resentment of Negroes is at once the most ob-
Loramie, Ohio. "If you can't go into North Vietnam,
vious and the most complex note in the new mood of
what's the use of fighting? If you hit me and go into
Middle America. It is not outright racism, in the
the next rocm and I can't follow, what the hell's the
sense that Negroes are hated because they are
use?" "Don't bomb here, don't bomb there-it's a
black. As recently as 1966, a NEWSWEEK survey found
cuddly war," snapped a nurse who lives in East
(Continued on Page 45)
At the Crossroads
P
ittsburgh lies at Middle America's crossroads,
are on their own. And, indeed, the city poverty of-
where ethric white meets militant black and
fice confirms that while 69 per cent of Pittsburgh's
there is no right of way. For generations they have
poor are white, 79 per cent of its anti-poverty funds
lived a world apart. On the South Side, the Polish,
go to blacks. "They see everything going to the col-
German and Croatian housewives swept and
ored," says Stephen Wajert, who calls himself a "half-
scrubbed their front steps each morning, baked their
breed"-half-German, half-Pole. "All they ask is, 'If
own bread and strolled happily to corner grocery
there's a break for somebody, give us a break too'."
stores. In the Hill District, the Negro population-
a fairly stable 19 per cent in recent years-lived
out the separate life of the ghetto. But industry was
T
he National Confederation of American Ethnic
prospering, jobs seemed ample, some of the smoke
Groups, a lobby devoted to the cause of conti-
had been cleaned from the air, and Pittsburgh
nental European nationality groups, hopes to cor-
appeared in the midst of the "renaissance" so en-
rect this imbalance by applying political pressure
thusiastically proclaimed by Mayor Joseph Barr.
for more job training and college scholarships for
Suddenly last summer, the troubles began. Black
poor whites and a restoration of ethnic neighbor-
demonstrators closed down fifteen major construction
hoods. Its campaign will be launched this fall, and
sites, demanding an end to the de facto color bar
Pittsburgh is the first target city.
that has kept the city's building-trades unions nearly
It just happens that Pittsburgh is holding a mayoral
lily-white. Almost 3,000 white union members, smart-
election in November, and no one doubts that the
ing at the loss of pay, marched in a counterdemon-
winner will be the man who can best attract the
stration, and last week intricate negotiations to open
restive white workers into his camp. Old pro Joe Barr,
up the construction unions to black members were
63, has chosen to step down, and the two main
still deadlocked.
contenders are cut from very different political
The dispute unleashed pent-up racial resentments
cloth: reform Democrat Peter Flaherty, 45, and
among whites fiercely protective of their unions' strict
Rockefeller-style Republican John Tabor, 48. Both
apprenticeship rules. "The Negroes want $200 a
are trying to reassure the white majority without
week after six to eight months' training when my
further embittering the black minority. It is a deli-
husband and father had to work six or eight years to
cate mission, and on its success will depend much of
get that," groused one white woman hunched over
Pittsburgh's future, either onward to the renaissance
her bingo card at St. Michael's Church. "Why can't
or back to a grimmer age.
they work up to it like anybody else?"
Pittsburgh's whites, fearful that a recession may
be on the way and jobs may turn scarce, complain
Life in Middle America: A skyscraper crew on the
that Negroes are getting a helping hand while they
job-beginning an eight-page Pittsburgh portfolio
36
PRESERVATION COPY
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
USS
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PRESERVATION COPY
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museu
Burk Uzzle
Elliott Erwitt
Pittsburgh, 4 p.m.
The whistle has just
blown at the steel
mills, and the day
shift sprints to the
parking lot to try to
beat the traffic jam.
For some, there is
a quick detour to
Carl's Corner Tavern
for a boilermaker
(shots of whisky
chased by beer). At
the Heinz plant, an
inspector keeps lone-
ly watch over an end-
less march of vine-
gar bottles. Across
town, the vigil un-
der the hair driers is
drawing to a close.
Photographed for Newsweek by
Elliott Erwitt, Charles Harbutt
and Burk Uzzle of Magnum
PRESERVATION COPY
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Charles Harbutt
A drum majorette
flashes a metal-
lic smile in ninth
annual Commu-
nity Day Parade
Pirate fans (top)
watch the team
lose to Mets in fi-
nal season at mold-
ering Forbes Field
Ersatz mayhem
(right) has a liv-
ing-room following.
The arena: a local
television studio.
Maternal coaching
(far right) for
Monongahela Val-
ley Royal Ambassa-
PRESERVATION
Charles Harbutt dors Drill Team COPY
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Charles Harbutt
SAY IT LOUD
ΓM BLACK
rm PROUD
Charles Harbutt
Middle America feels the pressures of an
unsettled society: Above, a demonstration
by black militants against job discrimina-
tion in the construction industry; an over-
burdened police force, soaring prices
and the continuing ag PRESERVATION COPY
Burk Uzzle
MIX EM MATCH EM
39
YOUR CHOICE BARS
(Continued from Page 36)
white Americans agreeing, by more than 2 to 1, that
Negroes were discriminated against and deserved
THE BLACKS: TOO MUCH, TOO SOON?
better. Fully 70 per cent of whites then said that,
like it or not, they would probably be living in in-
Do Negroes today have a better chance or
tegrated housing in five years' time-and there was
worse chance than people like yourself-
a similarly grudging acceptance of black gains in
Better
Worse
Same
jobs and education. But with this acceptance went a
strong feeling among whites that Negroes were try-
To get well-paying jobs?
44%
21%
31%
ing to win too much, too fast-and this attitude is
as strong as ever.
To get a good education for their children?
41%
16%
41%
Recent progress for Negroes-particularly in jobs,
education and housing-has come partly at the 'ex-
To get good housing at a reasonable cost?
35%
30%
27%
pense of the middle class. What's worse, some black
demands and white-liberal rhetoric have focused on
To get financial help from the government
65%
4%
22%
the concept of reparations for years in discrimina-
when they're out of work?
tion-an idea that Middle America sees simply as a
new form of reverse discrimination. "I see the Negro
Undecided omitted
stepping on my rights," said a finance manager in
Newsweek
Los Angeles. "He is asking for more than is justifi-
ably his."
Whatever the facts of the case, a substantial mi-
integration reflects a genuine fear that the quality of
nority of white America professes to believe that the
education may deteriorate. And for all his resent-
black man already has the advantage. More than
ment at black activism, the Middle American still
four out of ten in the sampling said Negroes actually
has a basic sympathy for the Negro's aspirations. Sig-
have a better chance than whites to get a good job
nificantly, nearly seven out of ten agreed that at least
or a good education for their children, and nearly
some of the demands presented by Negro leaders
two-thirds said Negroes got preference in unem-
were justified. Equally to the point, the same pro-
ployment benefits from the government. "The Ne-
portion also agreed that "it will take some time" to
groes think they are having a disadvantage, which is
meet the demands.
not true," said Mrs. John Tiedje, in Clarksville, N.Y.
White America's prejudice is most obvious when it
Ludicrous as the idea sounds to Negroes, many Mid-
comes to the crime problem-which large numbers
Many think the
dle Americans are convinced that police and the
automatically associate with Negroes. "We are really
blacks live
courts give blacks especially lenient treatment. "It
afraid," said a North Carolina woman, "with the col-
by their own
looks," said an oil-refinery worker in Galena Park,
ored right in our backyard." Asked to define "law
Texas, "like whites don't have the rights that Ne-
and order," an investment adviser in King of Prussia,
set of rules
groes do."
Pa., said, "Get the niggers. Nothing else."
Crime, the survey showed, is considered one of
the nation's most serious problems-but oddly enough,
B
lacks are also perceived by many as morally dif-
it is generally thought to be worst in somebody else's
ferent from whites: they don't seem to live by
backyard. Only 10 per cent of the sampling volun-
the rules of the basically Puritan white middle class.
teered crime in their own listing of the nation's prob-
"They are given jobs by good companies and they
lems, and fewer than half considered it a serious is-
don't work,' says a New York policeman. "The back-
sue in their own communities. Yet nearly two-thirds
ers of the Negro are making them think that we
checked it off as one of the worst problems facing
owe them jobs, and we owe them housing, food,
the cities-and suburbanites were more likely to
money, for nothing." This attitude is astonishingly
think so than city dwellers themselves.
widespread; 73 per cent of the NEWSWEEK sampling
Despite the furor over crime in recent months,
agreed that blacks "could have done something'
about slum conditions, and 55 per cent thought Ne-
groes were similarly to blame for their unemploy-
ment rate. What's more, nearly four out of five de-
clared that half or more of the nation's welfare
BLACK SCHOOLS-OR MIXED?
recipients-who tend to be thought of mainly as Ne-
groes-could earn their own way if they tried.
What should be done about Negro
With such basic attitudes, it is hardly surprising
demands for better education?
that Middle America shows little enthusiasm for
Improve schools where Negro children go
40%
what it thinks of as sacrifice to advance the black
cause. In education, for instance, only 2 per cent of
those polled favored busing to improve racial bal-
Move toward integration
25%
ance in the schools. In fact, only one out of four
favored further integration at all. Given their choice,
Let Negroes run their own schools
24%
nearly two-thirds would either improve Negro
schools or let blacks run their own schools.
Integrate schools by busing children
2%
Even this attitude is not unalloyed bigotry. Un-
fashionable as it is to credit racial rationalizations at
Ignore demands because they are not
3%
face value, much white middle-class opposition to
justified
Undecided omitted
The view from the hills: Coming of age in Pittsburgh
Charles Harbutt
Newsweek
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
PRESERVATION
45
COPY
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
only three in ten said they had changed their habits
ita, Kans. "I think of law and order as what I do."
to protect themselves; those few were mainly locking
If crime is a threat to the Middle American's
doors and windows formerly left unlatched. And
safety, the much-publicized youth rebellion is an
despite widespread reports of an arms buildup, only
equally real challenge to his self-esteem. Whether
4 per cent volunteered that they kept guns to pro-
Despite every-
picketing on campus or parading barefoot in hippie
tect themselves, and fewer than 1 per cent said they
regalia, the younger generation seems to be telling
thing, a vote
had installed burglar alarms. Others mentioned tear-
him that his way of life is corrupt, his goals worthless
for youth
gas guns and judo lessons. "We've started feeding
and his treasured institutions doomed. Logically
an ugly dog," reported David Ingraham, owner of a
enough, a good many middle-class citizens tend to
service station in Clarksville, N.Y.
resent the message. "It's horrible. They are going
to the dogs," said Mrs. Cecil L. Davis of Wichita
Falls, Texas. The overwhelming majority in the poll
N
early four out of five' are satisfied with their lo-
made it clear that they had little sympathy for the
cal police, reporting that the officers do a good
outright rebels among the younger generation; 84
job of preventing local crime. Nonetheless, 63 per
per cent said campus demonstrators had been treat-
cent of the sampling said police didn't have enough
ed too leniently, and nearly three out of five said
power in dealing with suspected criminals, and more
the demonstrators had little or no justification for
than two-thirds agreed that judges should have the
their actions.
right to deny pretrial bail to suspects considered
Nonetheless, most Middle Americans make a clear
likely to commit a crime while on the loose-a crime-
distinction between youthful rebels and the greater
fighting step of dubious constitutionality.
number of what they think of as normal youngsters.
A significant minority worried that more police
"These college rioters should be put in concentration
power could bring on a police state-"Hitler had law
camps," said Herbert R. Parsons Jr., a furniture store
and order," observed Mrs. Marjorie Runner, a San
manager of Peru, Ind. "But by and large, the ma-
Francisco housewife. But the majority of those
jority are fine young people." Some 59 per cent of
polled were convinced that thugs were getting too
those polled agreed that their impression of most
many breaks. To most people, the possibility of add-
young people was favorable.
ed police power offers no conceivable threat to any-
And in his heart, the Middle American isn't all that
one but wrongdoers. "Behave yourself and there's
sure that even the rebels are altogether wrong. Some
no problem," declared a construction worker in Wich-
54 per cent of those polled, in fact, agreed that
U.S. SPENDING:
NEW PRIORITIES
On which problems do you think the government
Hot Under the
should be spending more money - and on which
should it be spending less money?
More
Less
Blue Collar
Money
Money
Job training for the unemployed
56%
7%
T
he disgruntlement of Middle America finds its
cutting edge in the nation's traditional working
Air and water pollution
56%
3%
class-families whose breadwinners have at most a
high-school education, hold blue-collar jobs and
Fighting organized crime
55%
3%
bring home incomes of $5,000 to $10,000 a year. In
this supposed age of affluence and upward mobility,
Medical care for the old and
such families feel trapped in a marginal life. But
47%
needy
5%
they comprise 23 per cent of the white population,
nearly twice the black population, and a fifth of the
Fighting crime in the streets
44%
4%
total country. It is in this group that troubled dis-
content shades closest to angry violence.
Improving schools
44%
The root of the problem is that the blue-collar
7%
worker, much more than the rest of Middle America,
is convinced that prosperity is passing him by. Fewer
Providing better housing for the
39%
13%
than one in three of the working-class group say
poor-especially in the ghettos
they are better off now than five years ago; by con-
Building highways
23%
14%
trast, 44 per cent of the white-collar workers polled
feel more prosperous. And the blue-collar group is
even less confident about the future. Only 28 per
Defense expenditures
16%
26%
cent expect to be better off five years from now.
"With the high cost of living and the taxes, we can't
Space exploration
10%
56%
survive," said a Brooklyn machinist.
This sense that the economic pie is dwindling
Foreign economic aid
6%
57%
makes it even more difficult for the working class to
accept Negro gains that may increase the competi-
tion. Characteristically, blue-collar workers tend to
Foreign military aid
1%
66%
blame Negroes themselves for any problems blacks
may have (79 per cent said Negroes "could have
done something" about living conditions in the slums,
Newsweek
46
PRESERVATION COPY
Newsweek!
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
young people were not unduly critical of their coun-
feel increasingly powerless to shape their own des-
try, and that criticism was actually needed. But this
tiny. In the face of the complexity of the modern
sentiment reflects not so much tolerance of the young
world, a bare half of the sampling thought they
as a deep-seated fear that the whole system is some-
should have any say in their country's defense and
how failing, that the quality of life is declining and
foreign policy. "We are not well-informed enough to
that the middle-class citizen's own place is no long-
give solutions," said a Chicago accountant.
er secure.
What the middle class does want is stability-or at
This painful awareness that things just aren't what
least the illusion of stability. If change is inevitable,
they used to be is at the bottom of the nation's new
in race relations, for example, it should come without
discontent. "Conditions are changing for the worse,"
upheaval. "I think Negroes have justified reasons,"
mused a farmer from Bald Knob, Ark. "Conditions
said the wife of a utility serviceman in St. Paul,
are unstable, and getting worse." Solid old values
Minn., "but they are going about it in the wrong way
seem to be deteriorating; seven-tenths of the sam-
with the wrong leaders."
pling agreed that people now were less religious than
they were five years ago, and 86 per cent said sex-
ual permissiveness was undermining the nation's mor-
als. "I really worry sometimes about this country, if
I
n such a national dilemma, it would be natural for
people to turn on their leaders-and there is, to
we don't change our ways and return to religion,"
be sure, no lack of grumbling in Middle America
said another farmer in Timmonsville, S.C.
about the government. Only 24 per cent of the sam-
'I really wor-
And this erosion of values extends to the interper-
pling said the government was doing a "good" or
ry about this
sonal links that foster security and stability in any so-
"excellent" job of dealing with the nation's prob-
ciety. Only 39 per cent of those polled feel most peo-
lems; two-thirds said "fair" or "poor."
country'
ple "really care" what happens to strangers. About
The grumbling is loudest, of course, over the
the same percentage said it wasn't likely that anyone
pocketbook issues of taxes and inflation. Despite the
would help them if they were robbed on the street
vaunted prosperity of the nation during the 1960s,
in their own neighborhoods. More than half said they
one out of every four middle-class Americans said
put only "some" trust in the news media and the Fed-
the rising cost of living had forced a cutback on
eral government to tell the truth about what was go-
purchases; another 44 per cent said they were just
ing on; some 30 per cent said they had little trust or
managing to stay even. Nearly eight out of ten said
none at all. But however skeptical, Middle Americans
Federal taxes were too steep, and 59 per cent
vs. 63 per cent of the white-collar group). Increasing-
ly, they are convinced that blacks already have
whatever improvements they deserve (nearly one-
third of the blue-collar group described Negro de-
mands as unjustified, vs. one-fifth of the white-collar
sampling). And fully 49 per cent of the blue-collar
group said blacks actually have a better chance than
they do to get a good job.
Blue-collar workers similarly resent the challenge
to their values and aspirations that is posed by sexual
permissiveness in the arts and the wave of rebellion
among college youth. Nearly seven in ten said the
stress on sex and nudity was doing "a great deal" to
undermine the nation's morals; 57 per cent of white-
collar workers felt that way. And fewer than half
said their impression of modern youth was generally
favorable, whereas two-thirds of the white-collar
sampling approved.
And these frustrations and resentments, in the
working-class view of the world, are unlikely to be
redressed by the machinery of democracy. Vol-
unteered responses showed a dyed-in-the-blue-
collar distrust of politicians. Said the wife of a
PRESERVATION COPY
Navy truck driver in San Diego: "This is the
truth-it makes no difference who gets in."
Will there be a working-class rebellion? Proph-
ecies of a rising in the white ghettos are surely
exaggerated. The blue-collar worker, indeed,
tends a bit to dramatic exaggeration himself; if he
thinks there's a problem, he is more apt to see it
as "very serious" than "fairly serious." Nonethe-
less, the potential for trouble is there; as the black
militants have amply proved, even a minority of a
minority can be more than enough to start serious
disruptions-and ultimately swing far more than
Newsweek-Karl Fleming
its political weight.
Union carnival in Indiana: 'We can't. survive'
October 6, 1969
47
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
thought local taxes excessive. "We had to sell our
home because our taxes were too high," said G.W.
Loenstein, a retired grocer in Oakland, Calif.
For the most part, however, the middle class has
a weary sort of tolerance for their elected represent-
atives. "It's not really the government's fault," said
Thomas Silevitch, a Christmas-tree-bulb maker in
Dorchester, Mass. "The government can't solve ev-
eryone's problems." Asked to rate President Nixon's
performance in office, nearly half of the sampling-
49 per cent-gave him favorable marks, with 31 per
cent less enthusiastic and only 15 per cent down-
right critical. There was no great yearning for an-
other leader; only 12 per cent thought the country
would be better off with George Wallace at the
helm, and a bare 10 per cent thought Hubert Hum-
phrey would do better. But there was little enthusi-
asm for Mr. Nixon. In fact, people had a tendency to
praise him with faint damns, explaining their ratings
by saying that he had done all right so far, or seemed
to be working for peace. "He is doing the best he can
with the ability he has, which I don't think is too
much," said a housewife in Jacksonville, Fla.
W
hatever its resentments and frustrations, then,
Middle America is not about to take to the bar-
ricades-or even to slump into mulish apathy. In-
deed, the most encouraging finding of the NEWS-
WEEK Poll is the extent to which people are willing to
Malaise goes
seek fresh solutions; a clear plurality of 48 per cent
Shelley Katz-Camera 5
against the
agreed that "we need to experiment with new ways
WOODLEE: 'When the unions give us a raise, the
Middle Amer-
of dealing with the nation's problems." Even the cel-
supermarkets go up 2 cents on canned goods.
ebrated tax revolt turns out, on close scrutiny, to be a
The workingman has always paid the load and
ican grain
paper dragon. The chief complaint is not SO much the
come home with less money in his pocket.'
level of taxation but rather that the government has
its priorities wrong. "Nobody has the right to take a
hard-working man's money and waste it, but they all
do," said Mrs. Margaret Donovan, a housewife in
Albany, N.Y. "Our money just isn't used right."
By a clear margin, the middle class is more con-
cerned with solving problems than with governmen-
The Square
tal economies. Asked how the government should
use any unexpected surplus in revenues, fully 48 per
cent said the money should go to improve conditions
American
in the country; only one in three favored a tax cut,
and 16 per cent wanted to reduce the national debt.
In specific terms, the sampling favored added spend-
Speaks Out
ing for such programs as job training, pollution con-
trol, medicare, slum housing and crime control. But a
good many thought money was being wasted in for-
eign aid and defense spending-and even in the
Newsweek's Los Angeles bureau chief crisscrossed
afterglow of the moon landing, fully 56 per cent
the country to sample the feelings of Richard Nix-
thought the government should spend less on space.
on's "forgotten Americans"-especially working-class
In the end, this willingness to tackle the nation's
whites. His report:
problems tempers Middle America's pessimism.
"Change is not bad," said John King, a Mississippi
cattle raiser. "But there may be a period of time
BY KARL FLEMING
when things worsen before we settle on a course
again." In the long run, said the owner of a printing
T
ravels with Mister Charlie in white America.
shop in Cleveland, "I have great confidence in our
Talking to the folks. Not the Athletic Club fat
ability to find the right answers. We're great oppor-
cats, the poor white trash, the intellectual pointy-
tunists and improvisers." A touch of malaise may be
heads, or the groovy people. Just the square
fashionable, and all very well for a while, but it goes
American.
against the Middle American grain. If something has
He wears white starched shirts, suits with baggy
gone wrong, it will simply have to be fixed; after all,
pants, work shirts with his name in red on the breast,
says a San Diego aircraft inspector, "We won't just sit
white ankle-high cotton socks. Toothpicks. Lunch in
around and let the country go down the drain." And
a paper sack. Off-duty, bourbon and 7-up.
in this troubled harvest season, the hope is that his
She wears wire-stiff bouffants, girdles, at-the-knee
is the real voice of the country.
print dresses. She saves Green Stamps, is active in
48
Newsweek
PRESERVATION COPY
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
the Girl Scouts and PTA. A Bible adorns her coffee
a living room for Franks's three-bedroom home.
table and there's an American-flag decal on the fam-
Woodlee, dressed in overalls and brogans, a chubby
ily car. She lives for "the kids."
carpenter's pencil over his ear, bites a wad out of a
They live in a box-like suburban tract house or
plug of Red Man chewing tobacco. "I got cows in
just ahead of the urban-renewal wreckers in a gritty,
the bank and money out West," he says sardonical-
decayed inner-city neighborhood.
ly. "Aw, hell, if the little people would stick together
Vacation is visiting relatives, or staying home and
they could make the big boys get off their chairs and
painting the house. "Mother" doesn't play golf or
do something. But they won't."
have cocktail parties. A treat is dinner at the Burger
"When taxes go up, they put them on us," says
King, or a movie. Family fun is a Sunday drive, a
maintenance man Franks, wiping a sweaty hand on
backyard hamburger barbecue, or watching TV.
his T-shirt. "When I got married 22 years ago, I
Television is more than ever the national narcotic for
made 60 cents an hour and my wife was jerking so-
Mad at the
the financially immobilized. That's one reason the old
das. We're not much better off now. I get mad when
'rich kids
spirit of neighborliness is dying.
I see these rich kids tearing up the schools and
As I rambled 5,000 miles across America, from
throwing away that opportunity. I had to work. I
tearing up
Portland, Ore., to Springfield, Mass., from Milwaukee
would have liked to go to college so I could have a
the schools'
to Atlanta, talking to Middle Americans where I
job where I could sit up there all day and be clean."
chanced upon them, they would say again and again
"Ain't no way," drawls sheet-metal worker Wood-
that people just don't care about each other the way
lee. "When the unions give us a raise, the super-
they once did.
markets go up 2 cents on canned goods. And the
One reason, they said, is the church. Its influence
politician don't help. He's only for himself."
is rapidly declining and many of the once pious and
"We shouldn't be spending all this money on for-
faithful are now hostile and absent. Said an apostate
eign countries. All we get back is war," says Franks.
in Minneapolis: "I used to go to church and the
"The rich man ought to have to pay taxes. The
preacher would talk about God, Jesus and the Bible.
country is supposed to be justice for all, not just for
Now he tells me why I shouldn't buy grapes."
one or two, isn't it?" asks Woodlee. "But things ain't
People seemed almost pathetically eager to talk,
gonna get much better. The working man has always
as if nobody had ever asked before, and almost uni-
paid the load, fought the battles and come home
versally they were in a fretful, fearful, disquieted
with less money in his pocket."
mood. What people seem to want above all else is
Still, Woodlee and Franks lead relatively placid
order: they want everybody to just quiet down and
and pleasant lives within the bounds of their in-
quit threatening to destroy what they have worked
comes. They enjoy their families. Most weekends,
so hard to build and preserve. They are hostile to-
they load their pickup-truck camper and head for
ward poor and rich alike-toward the poor for being
lake or wood to fish and hunt.
on welfare, toward the rich for not paying taxes-and
they are increasingly cynical about politicians.
From one side of the little Wolf Lake city park in
Hammond, Ind., billows of noxious smoke pour from
It is a Saturday afternoon in a post-World War II
a row of grim steel mills. From the other, plumes of
neighborhood of modest GI homes on mimosa-lined
nauseating fumes spew from a huge oil refinery.
streets in East Dallas, kids wheeling bikes and tri-
Blobs of green slime and yellow foam float along the
cycles on the sidewalk.
shore. The narrow beach is crowded with swimmers
and picnickers.
Under the carport are brothers-in-law Eddie
Franks and Jack Woodlee. They are pounding nails
"Daddy, daddy, I went under. I was breathing
and sawing used lumber, converting the carport into
and I seen bubbles," cries the dripping 5-year-old
Newsweek-Jef Lowenthall
Newsweek-Karl Fleming
THE HUFFS: 'Life is getting faster and furiouser.
SEMLER: 'It galls me. Billions and billions of
Sometimes you feel like throwing up your hands
dollars, and I don't know how many have been
and saying to hell with it and going so far back
killed in Vietnam. To pull their chestnuts out
in the hills they'll have to pipe sunshine in.'
of the fire with the lives of our boys-unh-unh.'
October 6, 1969
49
PRESERVATION COPY
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Newsweek-Karl Fleming
Newsweek-Karl Fleming
BROOKS: 'Hell, when I was a kid, I wore bell-
MRS. RIEL: 'People like us don't count for any-
bottom pants to school. But I couldn't wait to
thing any more. One woman can stop prayer in
get out and get a piece of capitalism. But to
the schools. And a man with a prison record is
these kids the future is nothing. It's very sad.'
patted on the head and told to go do it again.'
boy, rushing into the outstretched arms of truck
Of
the people I talked to, the most frustrated and
driver Fred Huff, 41.
angry were those trapped in spirit-numbing jobs
"Darlin', I told you to hold your breath," says Huff
and in neighborhoods besieged by pollution, noise,
soothingly. He is there picnicking with his wife and
traffic, decay and crime. The happiest were those
four children. He rents the two-story downstairs
whose jobs gave them some relief from tedium, and
half of a paint-peeled old wood house on nearby
a chance to live near open fields and green trees,
Carroll Street. There is a framed picture of Jesus on
sunlight, creeks and country roads.
the dining-room wall, a single window air condition-
er, under which his infant granddaughter naps on
a cot when she visits.
In the carpeted, brightly lit rear of Weiner's cloth-
Huff drives 2,000 miles a week through five
ing store in sparkling Portland, Ore., jovial Jerry
states. He and his wife, who works as a truck-line
Semler is bantering with a customer.
dispatcher, earn about $10,000 a year. His eldest
son, 22, lives at home, badly disabled from Vietnam
"I'm just a shoe dog," he says. "I've been peddling
mortar wounds.
shoes all my life. And in this business, if you're not
"We're luckier than some. At least we got him
happy, you're dead. I'd possibly like to do something
back alive. I guess I'm more for the war than against
else, but I don't know what it would be.
A lot of TV,
it," Huff says uncertainly. "When some country is
"I love my wife. I've got three fine children. I've
a little beer
threatening your way of life, it has to be stopped
got a nice house in a middle-class neighborhood.
and no real
somewhere. But I don't know. It's bad enough to lose
Friends come over and we turn off the boob tube and
vacation
all these boys. But for something that's pointless? No.
talk. I get two weeks vacation a year-I go up to
I'm afraid it's gonna be another Korea."
Lake Tahoe and booze it up a little. I'm my own
in ten years
Huff and his family haven't been away on vaca-
man," he says happily.
tion in ten years. But he watches the Cubs on TV,
Semler, 54, had a heart attack in 1956-"at 12:10,
drinks a little beer and in general enjoys life. He
Sept. 30, sitting in a green chair"-but is as active
doesn't really like Hammond. "It's just the money
these days as he ever was. "Whoever pulls the cards
place to be," he says. "The steel mills and the re-
out of the rack upstairs wasn't ready to pull mine,"
fineries make the air so bad it smarts the old eyeballs
he says.
and makes you nauseated. Everything is getting
The thing that bothers Semler the most is the war.
uglier and uglier. You can go 30 miles into the coun-
"It just galls me every time someone is killed," he
try and get away from it. But then it costs too much
says. "Billions and billions of dollars, and I don't
to commute. It's having an effect. People get irri-
know how many have been killed in Vietnam. To
tated now over things they would have laughed at
pull their chestnuts out of the fire with the lives of
years ago. There's a lack of friendliness. No close-
our boys-unh-unh."
ness. Half the time you don't even know who your
neighbor is, unless there's a fight. Something seems
to have gone out of people.
There is a picture of Custer's last stand on the
"Life," he sighs, "is getting faster and furiouser.
wall. On the cluttered desk is a small American flag,
Sometimes you feel like throwing up your hands and
the pledge inscribed on its base. Ray Brooks, shirt-
saying to hell with it and going so far back in the hills
sleeved editor of Sunland and Tujunga's semiweek-
they'll have to pipe sunshine in. We've only got a
ly Record Ledger in the smoggy foothills of the Ver-
few more years to contend with it. That's why we
dugo Mountains near Los Angeles, shakes his bald
rent, SO when we're ready, all we have to do is pack
head sadly.
and tell the kids good-by. Then mamma and I will
bum around out West until we find a place. There's
"We just seemed to be headed toward a collapse
still a lot of beautiful country."
of everything," he muses. "I'm upset about the kids
50
PRESERVATION COPY
Newsweek
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Newsweek-Karl Fleming
Newsweek-Karl Fleming
ROTH: 'People are fed up that 1 per cent of the
LAYOS: 'These black guys think they've got it
population is allowed to have legal theft with cops
tough. When my father came to this country from
looking the other way. Looters should be shot-
Greece in 1910, he could speak five or six lan-
if they're 6 foot 9, 2 foot 6, green or yellow.'
guages. People laughed and called him stupid.'
and the hippies and the absolute disregard for law
don't have backbone. They give them welfare just
and order and any kind of convention. It isn't the
to keep them quiet. The police aren't tough enough.
clothes. Hell, when I was a kid, I wore bell-bottom
They're scared. I get nervous, too. Ten years ago
pants to school with silver bells on the side. But
if somebody came in here and gave me some balo-
No votes for
when I was the age of these hippies, I couldn't wait
ney, I'd throw his ass out. Today, you never know if
18-year-olds
to get out and get a piece of capitalism and become
they're hopped up on dope or something. I see them
part of the Establishment. But these kids grow up
take candy out of the counter and I just let them go.
'the way
and don't want to be a part of it. That's what makes
You never know what they're gonna do. If you and I
they're act-
people mad. To these kids the future is nothing. To
stole a doughnut, we'd be put in jail. But they walk
ing now'
us, it was everything. It's sad. It's very sad."
out with TV sets and the police are afraid to do any-
Mrs. Emma Riel lives in a little three-bedroom
thing about it."
home not far away from Brooks's newspaper office.
To supplement her husband's $10,000 income as a
sewer-equipment salesman, she sews and makes
The sign on the box office of Springfield's rundown
plastic-flower arrangements. Her gray hair is tied in
Paramount Theater says, NO ONE WILL BE ALLOWED
a neat bun on the back of her head. Her pale blue
IN THE THEATER WITHOUT SHOES ON THEIR FEET. Up
eyes flash angrily. She nods toward the American
Main Street, in the city's biggest department store,
flag that is mounted on the white picket fence in
Forbes & Wallace, dark-haired, sideburned salesman
the front yard.
El Roth, 48, is carefully filling out a receipt. Just
"Everybody wants the same thing: decency. But
this morning, over eggs and toast, his daughter
people like us don't count for anything any more,"
Barbara, 14, asked him if he thought 18-year-olds
she says. "One woman can stop prayer in the schools.
should be allowed to vote.
And a man with a prison record is patted on the
head and told to go do it again. Because Mr. War-
"Ordinarily, yes," he told her. "But the way
ren handcuffed our police, our laws are not pro-
they're acting now, I'd be afraid to let them vote."
tecting anyone.
"She just looked at me and smiled," he recalls.
"And the kids-they want it all right now, the
"But she's a good kid."
things it took us a lifetime to get. A bath, a haircut,
Like Layos, Roth frets about looters and law-
and a good old-fashioned strap would get most of
breakers. "People are fed up with the way 1 per cent
them back in line. But their mothers are too busy at
of the population is allowed to have legal theft with
cocktail parties and bridge clubs to be mothers."
police looking the other way. Looters should be shot,
whether they're 6 foot 9, 2 foot 6, green or yellow.
It's all just stealing," he says. "But in this store, if you
Behind the long counter of the Nuttie Goodie Tea
see a colored person take something, you don't say
Room on Main Street in quiet Springfield, Mass., an
anything. The store might be hit. It isn't worth a $25
aproned, open-faced George Layos, 36, stands fry-
sweater.'
ing eggs.
Roth has a little side business-retail clothing-and
lives fairly well, although he foresees the need for a
"I've never collected a day of welfare in my life,"
government loan to send his two children to college.
he says. "In my family, if you stay home and don't
But he's not happy. "The pressure of wanting mate-
work, you're a bum and a criminal. These black guys
rial things that I don't have is always there," he says.
think they've got it tough. When my father came to
this country from Greece in 1910, he could speak five
or six languages. People laughed at him and called
It is a hot, smoggy morning in San Leandro, Calif.,
him stupid.
a middle-class white enclave on the outskirts of Oak-
"There's plenty of work around. These people just
land. On the gravel apron of Dick Linton's body shop,
October 6, 1969
51
PRESERVATION COPY
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Jacks-of-all-trades Frank Reis, 48, and David Ped-
He works long, eighteen-hour days five months a
roza, 44, partners in a house-repairing business, are
year. But the rest of the year he fishes and hunts.
waiting for their truck to be fixed.
Compton sits with his feet propped up on the
They are smoking, occasionally kicking their toes
back of his red truck, his Texas hat pushed back.
into the gravel, talking to proprietor Linton, a bald,
"I'm like that man on the bucking horse: I ain't
squat man of 39 in a T-shirt.
going anywhere. I just want to stay where I am," he
Pedroza, who wears a toóthpick-thin mustache,
drawls. He is incensed about welfare recipients, col-
snarls: "Look at those riots. What the f--- do you
lege demonstrators, draft dodgers and such. But he
think would happen to us if we went over there and
doesn't think the country is collapsing.
For a few,
started a riot?"
"The old backbone of America-they're still just as
revolution
Says Reis with a wry grin: "They'd kill us."
good as they were 100 years ago," he says. "With
is the only
"F
right they would," says Pedroza.
them it's still the land of the free and the home of
"Paint your face black and you can get a new
the brave. But the United States has opened its
answer
Cadillac and the county will come in and feed your
doors to so many low-classed people. I tell you
family. What do they call it? Prejudice, or some-
what: I could get 40 or 50 of my old South Pacific
thing? That's all they've got to holler and they've got
buddies with grease guns and stop all these damn
it made. Let a f------ patrolman stop me, and I've got
riots. When ol' Mayor Daley give the police in Chi-
to pay," says Reis.
cago the right to shoot to kill, it stopped all of that
"What do you think would happen to us if we
crap, didn't it? I betcha by God if ol' Wallace runs
went around calling police 'pigs'? And let me be
again he'll give them a run for their money."
starving and steal a loaf of bread and they'd throw
my ass in jail. There's nobody behind us hollering
'prejudice',' says Linton.
Earnest (Pee Wee) Hayes is 58. For 37 years he
"There's only one way to solve this, and that's gon-
has worked the same humdrum but grueling job at
na be with a revolution. I'm for fighting it out be-
the Armco steel plant in Middletown, Ohio. His fa-
tween us," Pedroza says angrily.
ther migrated north from Kentucky in the Depres-
"And I'd go for that. Just give me a machine gun,"
sion. When Pee Wee started work, he earned $3.85
Reis agrees.
for an eight-hour day. Now he gets $3.96 an hour,
"That's why I went out and bought me some
makes $10,000-plus a year. He has money stashed in
guns," says Linton.
the company credit union. He gets four weeks' vaca-
"What do you call dragging the American flag on
tion a year, and every fifth year he gets thirteen. He
the ground and burning draft cards and all that
has a freezer, a relatively new Buick, all but owns
s---?" asks Reis.
the $15,000 home he bought twenty years ago for
"Treason," says Pedroza.
$5,300. The company pays all his expenses in a gun
"We should have a Hitler here to get rid of the
club. And there is a generous retirement plan.
troublemakers the way they did with the Jews in
Germany," says Reis.
For most of his working life, Pee Wee has stood in
the same little 12-by-12 area, operating a machine
that shears rough edges off long lengths of steel.
He has one of those classic Texas faces: tanned
"The older you get the worse it gets," he says. "The
leathery cheeks, a finely cut jaw, blue eyes, strong
pressure and tension keep building up. More ton-
hands with which he rolls a cigarette from a Prince
nage. You get behind the 8-ball. I've worked hard.
Albert can. Ray Compton, 47, is a farmer who raises
I've wore out three machines.
100 acres of okra which he sells to 150 markets and
"We do all the work. The niggers have got it
to retail customers at the Dallas municipal market.
made," he says. "They keep closing in and closing in,
Newsweek-Karl Fleming
Shelley Katz-Camera 5
REIS, PEDROZA AND LINTON: 'Paint your face
COMPTON: 'The U.S. has opened its doors to so
black and the county will feed your family. We
many low-classed people. I tell you what: I could
should have a Hitler here to get rid of the
get 40 or 50 of my old South Pacific buddies
troublemakers the way they did with the Jews.'
with grease guns and stop all these damn riots.'
52
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
PRESERVATION COPY
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
AMERICA
LOVE IT 08 LEAVE IT
Newsweek Karl Fleming
Newsweek-Kar Fleming
WALCZAK: 'I've been in the shops since I was 16.
SMITH: 'When I look at my paycheck and see
Day after day, year after year, climbing those
what they take out, I hate to work. After the
steps, punching that card. Standing in that same
Depression, I worked in a CCC camp for $30 a
goddam spot grinding those goddam holes.'
week. Life is almost as much of a hassle now.'
working their way into everything. Last three or four
"Day after day, year after year, climbing those
months you can't even turn on the damn TVwithout
same steps, punching that time card. Standing in
seeing a nigger. They're even playing cowboys.
that same goddam spot grinding those same god-
"Us briarhoppers [transplanted Southerners] ain't
dam holes.'
gonna stand for it. And 90 per cent of Middletown is
briarhoppers. And those sons of bitches will kill you,
know what I mean? If a bunch of good ol' briarhop-
Beetle-browed Balazar Smith, 53, is a plumber.
per Ku Kluxers had got ahold of Martin Luther King,
He lives in the noisy glide path of planes headed for
he wouldn't have lived as long as he did."
Los Angeles International Airport. But he occasion-
ally manages to escape to the beach and to his sis-
ter's ranch in New Mexico.
In Milwaukee, they call the Menomonee valley
in midtown "the Mason-Dixon line." On one side
Sitting in his panel truck on a quiet Inglewood
live the blacks. On the other live the working-class
street, making out a bill for $33, the charge for un-
whites, mainly Poles. Adjacent to the white side
stopping a residential toilet, Smith says: "When I
Those ever-
is the oppressively Dickensian old Allen-Bradley
look at my paycheck and see what they take out, I
mounting
heavy-machinery factory. Lately, Father James
hate to work. After the Depression, I worked in a
debts: T've
Groppi and some militants have been picketing, de-
CCC camp for $30 a week. And life is almost as
manding more minority jobs.
much of a hassle as it was then."
never cried
Smith earns about $200 a week, but he is heavily
for help'
Just at 3 p.m., gig grinder Ray Walczak, 44, weari-
in debt, mostly because of medical bills. His wife was
ly emerges from his shift and crosses the street to
hospitalized for two weeks with kidney stones.
his rusting old '64 Buick. He is going home to pack
Smith's insurance paid $12 a day on her room. It
his modest trailer, and take his son camping. But he
cost $54. "I've got to pony up about $2,300 some-
can't resist pausing to watch the pickets.
how," Smith says. "But I've never cried for help. All
"Look at that," he says. "Bastards don't want jobs.
I need is a little time and I'll pay my bills. Well, any-
If you offered them jobs now, 90 per cent of them
way, thank God my family and things have turned
would run like hell. They ought to take machine
out all right. We've had no hippie trouble with our
guns and shoot the bastards. Period. The Polish race
three children. None of that pot," he says.
years ago didn't go out and riot and ruin people's
property. It took a helluva lot of years for us to get
in, and when we did, we had to take the S--- jobs.
Near where steelworker Jimmy Slavo, 57, lives in
Hell, I don't know how many companies I went to
Hammond, Ind., there is a dingy old high school.
back then and they'd say 'Sorry, we ain't hiring any-
On its grounds there is a weekend carnival and
body right now.'
Slavo, on this late-summer evening, is strolling about
"I've been in the shops since I was 16. I worked
holding hands with his wife, Lula Belle, drinking a
like a goddam fool," he says bitterly. "I've been
Budweiser and dipping Copenhagen snuff. Slavo
here eighteen years and if I live to be 100 I'll prob-
has been working the steel mills since 1928. He
ably be doing the same job.
earns $3.67 an hour. His wife has been ill, and he
"The only raise I ever got was a union raise. I've
owes $7,000 in medical bills. So he tries to work a lot
begged and argued with the bosses, 'I'm not asking
of overtime. But Slavo is a steel pourer, and he
for a quarter. Just a nickel.' But never a merit raise.
works in an area where the temperature averages
They say, 'Be patient, be patient.' They ought to
115 degrees, so he can't work all the hours he'd like.
give you a medal for patience. But they don't care.
We're just peons. And if you don't like it, there's
"I sweat so much salt that when I undress, my
always somebody waiting for your job.
pants stand up by themselves," he says. "The heat
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
57
PRESERVATION COPY
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Newsweek-Karl Fleming
Newsweek-Karl Fleming
THE SLAVOS: 'Guys on relief are a lot happier.
PATENAUD: 'It's a womb-to-tomb life. They lead
They got cars. They got food. I work, and what
you into the bathroom. You piddle, then go back
the hell have I got? I can't ask for charity. I'm
and do your job. It's frustrating. You go home
too damned proud for that. I'll pay my bills.'
wondering, "What the hell did I do today?"'
knocks you on your hind end." "The heat seems to
"Sure, I wish I was a little different," says one of
give him power," his wife says with great pride.
his colleagues, Steve Guarrera, 33, "but, what the
His gross pay averages $850 a month, but $200
hell, I made this bed, I made the choice, so I have
automatically comes off for deductions, and the fam-
to live with it. I'm just an average slob. They wind
ily's regular bills come to about $450-including $80
us up in the morning and we go all day. But is that
On $820 a
in house payments, $145 on a bank note, $40 on
so bad? On the whole I'm happy."
month, happi-
medical bills, $22 life insurance. Not much is left for
"The thing is," says another employee, Roger
ness is a
operating expenses. To help feed and clothe their
White, 26, "you could leave here and go to work
home in the
three children, Mrs. Slavo bakes and sews, and they
somewhere else, and how much different would it
keep a tiny garden in the summer. They bought a
be? It might be more money, but you wouldn't neces-
country
freezer four years ago, hoping they could buy bulk
sarily be any happier."
foodstuffs and thus save money, but for lack of cash
"There's you and your family, and that's your
they have only been able to fill it twice.
world," says Patenaud. "If your neighbor dies tomor-
Slavo has never been on an airplane or in a night-
row, just throw a little sand on him and that's about
club. He and Lula Belle haven't been to a movie in
it. People don't want to get involved. Everybody's
ten years. For vacation, they visit relatives in Min-
concern is not to be concerned."
nesota. Mrs. Slavo said the last time she was out to
dinner was on her birthday three years ago. She had
fried chicken.
Blue-eyed senior mechanic Bill Scudder, 33, fin-
"Guys on relief are a lot happier," says her hus-
ishes repairing a leak in the aileron-boost system of a
band. "They got cars. They got food. I work, and
Piedmont Airlines jet at the Atlanta Airport, wipes
what the hell have I got? I can't ask for charity. I'm
his hands, returns to the shop to continue his lunch-
too damned proud. I'll pay my bills. Anyway, to hell
a tuna sandwich and homemade cookies.
with the money. I've still got my wife," he says,
squeezing her hand affectionately. "If sickness would
Scudder has to feed four children on an $820-
stay away, we'd be happy. All I care about is my
a-month salary. But he does it, even tucks away $80
family."
a month in the company credit union. His wife bakes
bread and cakes, cans beans, tomatoes and okra from
a summer garden on their 240- by 240-foot lot. They
Television cameras eye cars and people approach-
chip in with neighbors to buy potatoes and meat at
ing the huge, severe-looking Massachusetts Mutual
wholesale prices. One neighbor helped him get some
Life Insurance Co. headquarters compound in
used plumbing and Scudder added a bathroom to
Springfield. And one has to get past a security gate
the basement of his home-for $40. For fun, his fam-
to enter the building. There are 2,100 employees,
ily camps. And they are deeply involved in the
1,800 of them women. There's a company store, a
church and scouts.
bank, a credit union, umbrellas when it rains, 80-cent
"I guess I've been too busy to sit down and figure
lunches and all kinds of recreational facilities.
out what my problems are," Scudder says. "I'm hap-
py." The big reason: he lives "in the country," 15
"It's a womb-to-tomb life," says black-haired su-
miles from his work. "Cities make me nervous. Coun-
pervisor Mark Patenaud, 26. "They lead you into the
try people are outgoing and friendly but city life
bathroom. You piddle. And then you go back and do
keeps people so tense they don't want to talk to
your job. It becomes frustrating. You go home won-
anybody," he says.
dering, 'What the hell did I do today?' Sometimes
"All I want out of life is for my kids to grow up to
I'd like to see some good come of what I did in a
be decent citizens. I'm happy with my family, so I'm
day. But you're such a small cog in such a big wheel
happy with the world. All I need to do is wake up in
that it all gets lost in the whole mishmash."
the morning and hear the birds. That gives me joy."
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
59
Reproduced at the Richard PRESERVATION Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
for example, includes a significant share of conven-
tional liberals and moderates. Only a fortnight ago,
a Negro candidate topped the field in the Detroit
mayoral primary, and progressive Lindsay may yet
eke out a victory in New York next month. But-espe-
cially in close-to-home city politics-the frustrated
middle-class majority has increasingly been turning
to newfound champions drawn from its own ranks.
The seeds of popular rebellion have been long im-
planted beneath the surface of liberal hegemony.
'We came down
Even as John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson held
and kicked
sway in Washington, Barry Goldwater astounded
the crap outa
the political pros with his temporary seizure of the
22 junkies'
GOP, Ronald Reagan carried the banner of the
"citizen politician" from the movie lots to the Cali-
fornia Statehouse, and George Wallace and Lester
Maddox found that fulminations against "those bu-
reaucrats" was a sure path to popularity both in the
South and, to some extent, in the rest of the nation.
But this was the year that the phenomenon finally
broke the surface with a series of municipal victories
impossible to dismiss as regional aberrations. And this
was the year that the New Populism began to be
seen more clearly for what it really is.
It is not, most politicians now agree, simply a
burst of racist backlash. Though sheer bigotry has
certainly played a part in fueling the little man's re-
volt, part of his resentment of the black man is trace-
able to his sense of desertion by a government that
Newsweek-Robert R. McElroy
appears preoccupied with Negroes' needs and inat-
Newark's Imperiale: 40 guns and a bowie knife
tentive to his own. Liberals who have shouted "rac-
ism!" at white response to the black revolution are
now beginning to realize that this oversimplifies the
impulses involved and bolsters Middle America's
In Politics,
mounting impression that liberals neither understand
nor sympathize with lower-middle-class whites.
And it is not simply a swing to the political right.
It's the New
Though the New Populists have unquestionably
turned conservative on law enforcement, they show
few signs of wanting to scrap the social reforms-
Populism
medicare, aid to education, and social security im-
provements-wrought by the liberal left. "It's a swing
against anarchy," says liberal Congressman Allard
Lowenstein, and indeed the disgruntlement with the
progressives seems to stem far more from their per-
In Minneapolis, a policeman named Charles Sten-
missiveness than from-their programs.
vig becomes mayor by rolling up an astounding 62
per cent of the vote against the experienced presi-
dent of the City Council. In New York, Mayor John
Lindsay and former Mayor Robert Wagner, both lib-
P
erhaps, most of all, the New Populism is a quest
for recognition. "People felt that nobody was
erals of national stature, bow to obscure interlopers
representing them and nobody was listening,' says
in their parties' mayoral primaries. In Boston, grand-
Minneapolis's Charlie Stenvig. "They felt alienated
motherly Louise Day Hicks, whose crusade for the
from the political system, and they'd had it up to
"forgotten man" and against school busing carried
their Adam's apples on just about everything. So
her within an inch of City Hall two years ago, leads a
they took a guy like me-four kids, an average home,
big field in the upcoming City Council elections. And
a working man they could associate themselves with.
in Newark, a onetime construction worker named
They just said, 'Lookit, we're sick of you politicians'."
Anthony Imperiale, master of karate, the bowie knife
Stenvig was, indeed, a paragon of Middle Ameri-
and a fleet of 72 radio cars that regularly patrol the
ca: the son of a telephone company employee, a
city's white neighborhoods, confidently maps his
Methodist of Norwegian stock, a graduate of a local
campaign to win next year's race for mayor and "get
high school and a local college (Augsburg), and an
rid of every quisling" in sight.
up-through-the-ranks detective on the police force.
This is the year of the New Populism, a far-rang-
His opponent, by contrast, was almost pure Estab-
ing, fast-spreading revolt of the little man against
lishment: the son of an investment banker, a gradu-
the Establishment at the nation's polls. Middle Amer-
ate of Stanford and Harvard Law, and a resident of
ica, long counted upon to supply the pluralities on
the fashionable Kenwood suburb.
Election Day, is beginning to supply eye-opening
In his campaign, Stenvig pounded away at the
victories from coast to coast. The over-all political
privileged bastions of suburbia-he pledged to "bring
cast of the country remains mixed, to be sure. The
government back to the citizens of Minneapolis and
freshman crop of U.S. senators elected just last year,
away from the influence of the golden West out
60
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
PRESERVATION COPY
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Peter Marcus
Associated Press
Charles Frattini-New York Daily News
Stenvig of Minneapolis
Yorty of Los Angeles
Procaccino of New York
there in Wayzata"- privileged enclave on the city's
ble of doing just that. As he drove his volunteer
fringes. To low-income whites, the suburbs are
ambulance-part of his vigilante patrol-past the cor-
where the liberals live. "The liberal preaches from
ner of Mt. Prospect Street and Bloomfield Avenue in
his lily-white suburb," explains United Auto Workers
Newark's rugged North Ward one evening recently,
official Paul Schrade, "while the worker usually
he recalled an example of the sort of direct action
lives on the borderline of the ghetto. The workers
he favors: "We came down here one night with
'Alabama
are on the front lines of the black-white conflict and
eight guys and kicked the crap outa 22 junkies. Each
resent the advice of rear-echelon generals."
time we came back to slap them around they less-
speeches with
ened in ranks and finally took the hint." Imperiale
a Minneapolis,
keeps an arsenal of about 40 serviceable guns in his
Los Angeles
M
inneapolis's workers relished Stenvig's assault on
house, including a 14-inch-barrel scatter-gun stowed
and New
the suburbs-"He told those rich guys to go suck
behind the couch (there have already been two at-
a lemon," chortles one local auto mechanic-and as
York accent'
tempts on his life).
mayor he has kept up the attack. He has protested
Imperiale is a bit too rough-and-ready for the
the financing plan for a new hospital on the ground
taste of most other politicians of the New Populism.
that the suburbs would not pay enough of the tab,
And outside the South, most of them would disclaim
and he has staffed city jobs with what he calls "just
any ideological kinship with Dixie's two most promi-
average working people."
nent contributions to the movement, former Alabama
A few of these appointments have aroused the
Gov. George Wallace and incumbent Georgia Gov.
only controversy in what most people in Minneapolis
Lester Maddox. But Wallace, whose Presidential
agree has been an extremely hard-working, well-in-
campaigns of 1964 and 1968 featured attacks on
tentioned municipal administration. Antonio G. Feli-
"pointy-headed intellectuals" and "briefcase-toting
cetta, vice president of the regional joint council of
bureaucrats" that gave his appeal a dimension be-
the Teamsters union, created a citywide sensation
yond sheer racism, claims paternity for much of the
recently when he delivered some pungent remarks
movement. "My vote was only the tip of the ice-
in his new role as a member of the city Commission
berg," he says. "There's others I'm responsible for:
on Human Relations. "I'm not going to take any bull-
Stenvig, Mayor Yorty of Los Angeles, two mayoral
s---," he announced to a local journalist. "If there are
candidates in New York. They were making Ala-
any grievances, I sure as hell would want to see
bama speeches with a Minneapolis, Los Angeles and
them taken care of. But I sure as hell wouldn't want
New York accent. The only thing they omitted was
to give 'em [welfare recipients] half my goddam pay-
the drawl."
check when I'm working and they're sitting on their
asses." Felicetta was promptly denounced as a "card-
carrying bigot" by a group of Minneapolis blacks, but
he also received a torrent of phone calls saying
O
ne of the things that draws the Populists together
is their common wistfulness for the "old values,"
"That's the way, Tony, sock it to 'em."
for traditional verities and styles of life that somehow
Middle America's radical right has always de-
seem to have gone awry. Lester Maddox, for exam-
lighted in such tough words-and deeds. Newark's
ple, likes to think of himself as part of "the main-
Tony Imperiale became an instant folk hero in these
stream of the thinking of the American people: the
circles when he organized a band of white vigilantes
achievers, the success-makers, the builders, the in-
in the wake of the disastrous summer riots in 1967.
dividuals who like to set their own goals and accept
And last week, as he looked ahead to the day when
the challenges." A number of Middle America's poli-
he becomes mayor, he made plain that official in-
ticians also like to brandish the crusader's cross. "God
vestiture will not change his tune. "If any militant
is going to be my principal adviser," declares Charlie
comes into my office, puts his ass on my desk and
Stenvig, and Mary Beck, a 61-year-old Detroit
tells me what I have to do," he vowed, "I'll throw
councilwoman who placed a strong third in last
his ass off the wall and throw him out the door."
month's mayoral primary, dedicated her campaign
There is little question that Tony-38 years old,
newspaper "to the laws of God and man."
5 feet 6% inches high and 260 pounds thick-is capa-
When Populists brood on the agonies of contem-
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
PRESERVATION COPY
65
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
porary society, a certain nostalgia for a simpler life
running for office ever since 1936-but today's dis-
is never far from the surface. "I was born in a little
gruntled voters seem willing to reward the old pros
town of 6,000 people," recalls Democrat Mario Proc-
provided they step to the new beat.
accino, who appears to be leading Lindsay and a
More often, however, Middle America is turning
conservative Republican in the New York mayor's
to new political faces, even when they don't look
race. "We respected our parents, our teachers, and
exactly like the one in the mirror. Its latest cham-
our priest or man of the cloth. We had respect for
pion, S.I. Hayakawa, the feisty little professor of
men in public office. We looked up to them
English who is now president of San Francisco State
Procaccino frequently exhibits another character-
College, is not by nature a man of the people. "I've
istic of this new political breed: emotionalism. He
been, all my life, the kind of intellectual highbrow
wept when he announced his candidacy. Occasion-
I disapprove of," he admits. But his uncompromising
ally he takes his wife, Marie, and his daughter,
suppression of radical disruption at San Francisco
On a campus,
Marierose, for an evening visit to the top of the Em-
State last fall suddenly vaulted him into political
of all places,
pire State Building. "I look out over the city and
prominence: he began being mentioned as a pos-
a folk hero
say to myself, 'What's the matter with these people?
sible opponent next year of Republican Sen. George
is born
Why can't they get together?' Many middle-class
Murphy, he started a statewide round of speech-
voters seem to warm to these displays of feeling,
making, and a recent Field Poll gave him a higher
perhaps because they themselves are so upset, per-
popularity rating than either San Francisco Mayor
haps because they sense that their government has
Joseph Alioto or California's former Democratic As-
been run recently by soulless technocrats spouting
sembly Speaker Jesse Unruh.
bureaucratic jargon or political cant. "I like him be-
cause he's so emotional," beamed one housewife to
her neighbor as Procaccino campaigned through
T
he yawning gap between the intellectual and
Queens last week. "Any tears he sheds, you know
the common man, between the governors and
he has heart. He doesn't fear to shed them and they
the governed, lies at the heart of the New Popu-
bring the people closer to him."
lism, and one of the first to discern it was Louise
Day Hicks of Boston. A 50-year-old attorney from
the predominantly Irish wards of South Boston,
M
ayor Sam Yorty of Los Angeles is another ex-
she pitched her 1967 mayoral campaign toward
tremely warm-blooded politician, endowed
"the forgotten man," stressed the school-busing is-
with a coloratura stumping style that ranges between
sue-and very nearly won. "I represented the alien-
acid vituperation and passionate enthusiasm. Ever
ated voter," she said last week in the midst of her
since the Watts riots of 1965, he has concentrated
new City Council campaign, "and that's who I'm rep-
the former on militants and the latter on guardians
resenting now, except that the number has grown."
of law and order. This approach proved immensely
Busing is no longer her main issue-some of her lib-
popular in last spring's mayoral election, when he
eral opponents, in fact, now agree with her that the
won an upset victory over Negro challenger Thomas
state busing law is unworkable. Now she concen-
Bradley. "Personally, I like the way Yorty shoots off
trates her fire on higher taxes, declining municipal
his mouth too much," said one white-haired old man
services and a government that, she contends, "is
at Los Angeles's recent 188th birthday party at the
only concerned about the rich and the poor" and
Hollywood Bowl. "He'll do a better job for me than
not about the man in the middle who pays the bills.
the other guy keeping down crime and taxes."
"The only thing saving this country," Mrs. Hicks
Yorty is an interesting case history in the shifting
says, "is the affluence that the middle class is feeling.
course of Middle America's mainstream. During the
But they don't realize the purchasing power is gone.
1930s, he was a New Deal liberal, espousing such
When they do realize that, we're in for real trouble.
progressive programs as a 30-hour workweek. In the
There'll be a revolt-not violence, because the Amer-
40s, he took up the cause of zealous anti-Commu-
ican people won't resort to violence, but they are
nism, and now he is sounding the alarms of law and
going to speak up in a way to be heard."
order. He is no political newcomer-he has been
In fact, they are already speaking up, and there
Treadgill-Montgomery Advertiser-Journal
UPI
Associated Press
Associated Press
Wallace, Mrs. Hicks, Reagan and Hayakawa: Outspoken champions of the forgotten man
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
PRESERVATION COPY
67
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
is no reason to believe that November's elections
will show a muting of their voices. "These people
Into the '70s
today are in revolt," warns Chicago Congressman
Roman Pucinski. What's more, the middle class has
become keenly aware of its political muscle and how
-a GOP
to apply it. "The public is so much smarter than
when I first started in politics," marvels Ken O'Don-
nell, JFK's special assistant who is running for the
Decade?
1970 Democratic nomination for governor of Massa-
chusetts. "Then it was no issues: just vote Demo-
cratic, vote Republican, and how to help your
friends. What Gene McCarthy did was open the
BY RICHARD M. SCAMMON
eyes of the people that they, are the country. Be-
Newsweek Consultant on Elec-
fore, it had been assumed that you couldn't bring a
tions and Public Opinion
President down, that you couldn't fight the system.
The McCarthy movement showed that you could
M
iddle America decides who sits in the White
do it after all."
House and it is in the dreams-and nightmares
The New Populism, as a matter of fact, seems to
-of the middle class that the Republicans and
some analysts part of the same phenomenon as the
Democrats will seek the victory formula for 1972
A fresh cast
New Politics. Eugene McCarthy and Robert Ken-
and 1976. Right now neither party is sure just what
of spokesmen
nedy were trying to achieve on a national scale es-
that formula may be.
for causes
sentially the same goal that Charlie Stenvig and
The problem for the Republicans is simple enough,
Louise Day Hicks have set on the municipal level:
even if the answers aren't. For 1972 their hopes rest
long ignored
to bring new faces and new forces into play in the
on the ability of the Nixon Administration to form a
political arena, to mobilize the amateurs against the
new coalition of the center-detaching at least some
political pros, to return power to people whose inter-
of those voters who would have been oriented to
ests and whose voices, they believed, had been too
Roosevelt a generation ago and who supported
long ignored. Of course, the McCarthy-Kennedy
Humphrey last year. Such a GOP coalition would
movement was headed in a liberal direction, while
have its own right wing (mostly in the South) and
the New Populism is exhibiting a rightward bent.
its own left (the Eastern Seaboard). It would not be
And the fact is that several of its new champions
a sharp move to the right. A militantly conservative
seem to be helping to foment, not just reflect, the
line might attract some of George Wallace's 9.9 mil-
public's bitterness. Still, the two movements share
lion supporters from the last election. But it would
some common impulses, which may explain the
alienate other voters-and ignore the many populist
startling number of voters who felt a kinship with
characteristics of the Wallace vote. Mr. Nixon is
both Bobby Kennedy and George Wallace during
much more likely to seek a new center coalition,
last year's campaign.
and if he can forge such a consensus he will win.
It is still much too soon to say how long the New
The Nixon people know American political his-
Populism may last or what direction it may take. It
tory. They know that outside the old Confederacy
has cast itself loose from the traditional political
their party held general political sway for a long
parties, neither one of which seems to hold its favor,
generation before the Great Depression and the
and it has lost faith in the programs and pieties of
success of Roosevelt in 1932. From the vote in 1896,
traditional liberalism. As George Wallace puts it,
when an earlier Middle America swung away from
"The great pointy heads who knew best how to
free silver and Bryan to the hoped-for stability of
run everybody's life have had their day." Frus-
McKinley, right up to Roosevelt there was a long
trated, fearful and confused, Middle America is
pattern of Republican rule.
stirring itself to seek out new pathways, and the na-
tion has already begun to reverberate with the com-
motion of its search.
B
ut under Roosevelt a new coalition came to pow-
er in America. Save for the personalist Eisen-
hower years, that coalition kept power until a year
ago. Even the voting in 1968 was in many ways a re-
affirmation of the old Roosevelt coalition minus the
South. Well-to-do and well-educated voters went
Republican, despite rumbles of discontent among
their young, while the poor went Democratic. Mid-
dle America split. Catholic and Jewish voters re-
mained in the FDR pattern, voting more heavily
Democratic than Protestants, while the Northern
small towns and the countryside voted Republican,
again in the pattern of the later years of the Roose-
velt coalition. With the Negro vote going over-
whelmingly to Humphrey, white Middle America
edged to Mr. Nixon, but not overwhelmingly.
If the GOP is to succeed in making 1972 a tri-
umph of the New Republicanism, it will have to
NiXON
break out of the tight political alignment of postwar
AGNEW
America. The Republicans will have to make 1972
Lester Sloan
Associated Press
another 1896, with Middle America shifting as de-
Mrs. Beck and Maddox: Wistful for old verities
cisively to the GOP column three years hence as it
68
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
PRESERVATION COPY
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
did when challenged by Bryan nearly 75 years ago.
jority wants to better its situation, not overturn it.
The attitudes within Middle America are a key to
In forming political opinion in these terms the Re-
the probable planning of the Republicans in the '70s.
publicans may be the beneficiaries of Democratic
These attitudes are not especially "liberal," as that
mistakes. If the Democratic image in the 1970s is
word is used today. Indeed, a recent sounding of
basically one of a party oriented away from the
opinion in the bellwether state of California indi-
center, toward beard and sandal rather than toward
cates that only 24 per cent of its citizens now label
crew cut and bowling shoe, then it seems very likely
themselves "liberal" as against "middle-of-the-road"
that President Nixon and the Republicans will estab-
(27 per cent) or "conservative" (42 per cent). But
lish a dominant position in American politics-per-
neither are Middle America's attitudes hidebound,
haps not for a generation, as the party did after Mc-
far right or reactionary.
Kinley, but at least for a decade.
The perils
Specifically, then, where might Republicans look
I doubt that the Democrats will make that mis-
of beard
to widen their slim half-million plurality of 1968 to
take. Middle America controls our politics-and
5 million or 8 million or 10 million in 1972? One of
Middle America basically inclines neither left nor
and sandal
the most immediate tests, even with the 1972 voting
right. A swerve by the Democrats to the far left in
more than three years away, is how people react to
the 1970s would end as disastrously as did 1964's
President Nixon. The NEWSWEEK Poll found the
right-wing adventure for the Republicans. And the
great majority positive: 79 per cent of the national
Democrats have one great advantage-they remem-
total is favorably or moderately disposed to the
ber the Goldwater experience.
President, only 16 per cent negative.
Politicians are not only articulate, they are liter-
Statistically, Mr. Nixon registers a "highly favor-
ate. They can read, and they read election statistics
able" rating among about one-third of the people of
very clearly. While the Nixon Republicans are mak-
Middle America. Men rate the President a bit higher
ing every effort to win more of Middle America
than women, older people somewhat higher than
and to build a long-term base for their party, the
the young, Southerners higher than the rest of the
Democrats will be trying just as hard to pull together
country. Nowhere does the "highly favorable" rating
the components of success as they knew them from
fall below 30 per cent or rise above 37 per cent.
1932 through Lyndon Johnson-and, it might be
Mr. Nixon's "unfavorable" ratings range from 5 per
added, almost through Hubert Humphrey's race as
cent in the South to just over 18 per cent in the big
well. It seems likely that the real test of the Repub-
cities. In every category the top of the Nixon scale
licans' effort to move a bit more of Middle America
considerably outweighs the bottom, with the mass
their way will lie as much with the Democrats as
remaining in the middle.
with the Republicans themselves. If the Democrats
can bridge their internal problems, they may well
keep their share of Middle America, perhaps even
T
he potential political implications of these ratings
move on a bit and win in 1972. But if they can't-
are clear to me. All these groups did not vote
and especially if they move away from the center-
Republican in the same proportions in November
the '70s seem destined to be a Republican decade.
1968. If blue-collar workers are not reacting in a
markedly different way to President Nixon than are
traditionally Republican upper-middle-income busi-
ness and professional people, then the new GOP
target is very obviously the manual worker.
Of course, Presidential ratings three years before
the event may not have much to do with voter opin-
ions on Election Day in 1972. Still, the groups who
now approve of Mr. Nixon, but who did not support
him last November, seem logical recruits for Repub-
licans seeking to win in 1972-and beyond. In the
larger sense, though, almost all of Middle America
remains a Republican target. Many in Middle Amer-
ica are workers who have "exploded" into the mid-
dle class in the economic "great leap forward" since
1945, and many of these are trade-union members.
Others are small-business men and salaried people.
But, they all share in today's widened concept of
the middle class. If the Nixon party can develop
meaningful lines of communication to these "forgot-
ten Americans," it may well be able to enlarge its
share of Middle American strength to build itself
into a virtually unassailable position in the 1970s.
Such lines of communication are not just questions
of specific policies such as welfare reform, social-
security increases, housing and education. Many of
these are areas in which Democrats can be just as
convincing as Republicans, perhaps more so. There
SNO,
are also important questions of style, for most of
Middle America is not only middle class, it is strong-
ly pro-middle class. Unlike upper-middle-class stu-
dent rebels, the great majority does not reject mid-
dle-class values; it defends those values. The ma-
Burt Glinn-Magnum
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
PRESERVATION COPY
73
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Newsweek-Wally McNamee
Mr. Nixon meets the press: To a barrage of questions, some tough answers and shades of LBJ
VIETNAM: THE MORATORIUM ENDS
t was more than three months since
as this kind of activity is concerned," he
this, Republican Sen. Charles E. Goodell
Richard M. Nixon had faced the press
said, "we expect it. However, under no
of New York introduced a bill to bring all
and the nation in a full-dress, nationally
circumstances will I be affected what-
American troops home from Vietnam by
televised news conference, and during
ever by it." Toward the end of the con-
December 1970. Though the Goodell bill
that time the problems he confronts had
ference, the President apparently sought
stands little chance of gaining Senate ap-
grown steadily more complex and his
again to place the onus of the continued
proval, it will get a thorough airing in the
critics ever more vociferous. Accordingly,
Vietnamese war on his critics. He did
decidedly dovish Senate Foreign Rela-
his questioners were poised and waiting
this in a plea for public unity-the kind of
tions Committee-whose chairman, Sen.
when the President entered the East
unity that, as he sees it, will convince
William Fulbright, last week signaled an
Room of the White House, and though
Hanoi that it cannot simply wait out the
end to the moratorium on criticism of
Mr. Nixon clung resolutely to the mid-
U.S. and win victory by default. "We're
Mr. Nixon's handling of the Vietnam war
dle ground he likes best on such issues as
on a course that's going to end this war,"
by announcing: "I am ready to speak out."
inflation and civil rights, his responses to
the President said. "It will end much
On Capitol Hill, meantime, still more
a barrage of questions on Vietnam were
sooner if we can have to an extent-
dramatic elements of the Vietnam con-
uncommonly harsh. The upshot was that
the extent possible in this free country-
frontation were in the making. There a
the President further alienated his grow-
a united front behind very reasonable
secret Democratic caucus called by
ing body of critics on Vietnam. By the
proposals."
Democratic National Chairman Sen. Fred
end of the week the unofficial Congres-
Challenge: But by this time it was too
Harris of Oklahoma debated Harris's
sional moratorium on criticism of his con-
late-if such had not been the case from
proposal that the Democrats formally join
duct of the war had clearly run out, and
the outset. For in the days preceding his
cause with the nationwide student anti-
the stage was set for the major confron-
news conference, enormous pressure had
war protest on Oct. 15. Though Harris
tation that both the White House and
been building up as the President's hith-
kept the full list of those in attendance
its critics have long known was coming.
erto deliberately patient critics emerged
secret, among them were Senators Ed-
First off, Mr. Nixon was asked what
to challenge him on his conduct of the
mund Muskie of Maine, George McGov-
he thought about a burgeoning spate of
war. Allard Lowenstein, the Democratic
ern of South Dakota, Birch Bayh of Indi-
proposals that would have the U.S. im-
congressman from New York who
ana, Walter Mondale of Minnesota, Ed-
pose an arbitrary cutoff point on its mili-
sparked the 1968 "dump Johnson" move-
ward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and
tary presence in Vietnam. This brought
ment, announced that he was organizing
half a dozen or more members of the
a sharp response from the Chief Execu-
a new nationwide drive-this one de-
House of Representatives, including Low-
tive, one strongly reminiscent of Lyndon
signed to force President Nixon to pull
enstein, Brock Adams of Washington and
B. Johnson's tactic of imputing disloyalty
all American troops out of Vietnam be-
Robert W. Kastenmeier of Wisconsin. At
to his critics. Such a move, he said,
fore the end of the year.
the weekend, the gathering Vietnam crit-
would "inevitably [lead] to perpetuating
Two young Republican moderates.
ics were handed a fresh. supply of am-
and continuing the war
I
think
this
is
Representatives Donald W. Riegle Jr. of
munition by none other than South Viet-
a defeatist attitude-defeatist in terms
Michigan and Paul N. McCloskey Jr. of
namese President Nguyen Van Thieu. In
of what it would accomplish. I do not
California, added to the pressure, though
an interview on ABC-TV, Thieu blandly
think it's in the interest of the United
with a later deadline. They let it be
suggested that the U.S. should supply his
States."
known they would offer a resolution re-
country with atomic weapons.
Later, asked about his views on nation-
pealing the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin resolu-
The implications were clear enough.
wide student demonstrations against the
tion (which, in effect, gave Lyndon
President Nixon, unlike Lyndon Johnson
war, planned for Oct. 15, Mr. Nixon re-
Johnson carte blanche to wage the war),
in his time, was now faced with the pros-
sponded with unusual sternness. "As far
effective in December 1970. On top of all
pect that the approaching confrontation
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
75
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential
PRESERVATION COPY
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
on Vietnam could become a bitterly par-
National Committee Chairman during
tisan issue. Fred Harris summed up his
THE SUPREME COURT:
Thomas E. Dewey's 1948 Presidential
view of the matter after the secret cau-
campaign, he was later among the origi-
cus when he announced: "I think it's
nal Eisenhower-for-President boosters,
Haynsworth Under Fire
time to take the gloves off on Vietnam.
served as general counsel for the Repub-
If it were not for the case of resigned
The President has been in office for nine
lican National Committee from 1955 to
Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas, Pres-
months. It's time to escalate the pressure
1960, and was floor manager for William
ident Nixon's decision to nominate
to end this war."
Scranton's attempt to wrest the Presiden-
Clement F. Haynsworth to succeed For-
tial nomination away from Barry Gold-
tas might have run into only perfunctory
THE SENATE:
water in-1964.
opposition before the Senate Judiciary
It was this campaign that proved Scott's
Committee. But the shadow cast by the
The New GOP Leader
deftness. Up for re-election himself that
Fortas case is a long one, and it was be-
year, Scott fence-walked artfully be-
neath it that Haynsworth last week made
For all the not-so-subtle intrigue and
tween repeated declarations of support
an unusual second appearance before
threats of sharp ideological schism that
for the entire GOP ticket and steadfast
the committee to explain further the
preceded it, the vote to pick a successor
refusal to mention Goldwater by name-
question of conflict of interest that had
to Senate Minority Leader Everett M.
thereby becoming one of the very few
arisen from some of the stock transactions
Dirksen came off in gentlemanly enough
Pennsylvania Republicans to survive the
he made while serving on the Fourth
fashion, after all. When it was
U.S. Circuit Court. In the meantime,
over, Pennsylvania's moderate-
labor and civil-rights leaders had mus-
liberal Hugh Scott, 68, had de-
tered their forces, and the result was that
feated Dirksen's son-in-law, con-
Haynsworth found himself under the
servative-backed Howard Baker
heaviest fire he has encountered yet.
of Tennessee, by 24 to 19. Three
When he resumed the witness chair,
ballots later the GOP senators
Haynsworth dealt first with the question
chose another moderate, Rob-
of his purchase of 1,000 shares of Bruns-
ert P. Griffin, 45, of Michigan, to
wick Corp. stock after a case involving
succeed Scott as minority whip,
the firm had come before him. Hayns-
and the combined effect of these
worth explained that at the time he
choices suggested strongly that
authorized his broker to make the pur-
the heyday of the GOP con-
chase, the decision in the case (which
servatives in the Senate might
favored the Brunswick Corp.) had in fact
be at an end.
already been made, but had not yet been
This, in any event, was the
announced. "I didn't check the cases
immediate reaction of enthusi-
that had been heard in court and were
astic GOP liberals, particularly
not disposed of," the judge declared. "I
those freshman senators who
think I should have
and
of
course
I'm
had long been chafing under
very sorry I didn't."
Dirksen's essentially conserva-
'Jazz': But there were broader ques-
tive leadership and who were
tions than those of ethics. "Conflict of in-
seriously concerned that the Ad-
terest is so much jazz," one Republican
ministration's emerging "South-
agreed privately. "We are against him for
ern strategy" could mean defeat
what he believes. He thinks like a medi-
first in 1970 and then in 1972.
eval prince." And, indeed, it was on phil-
"Hugh Scott," said one after the
osophical grounds that Haynsworth was
vote, "is going to give us a good,
next attacked before the committee by a
solid progressive image to take
succession of civil-rights leaders. Joseph
to our people in the mid-term
L. Rauh Jr., counsel to the Leadership
elections. Now nobody is going
Conference on Civil Rights, went over
to be impressed by tales of how
McNamee
Haynsworth's record and concluded he
much influence Strom Thur-
Winners Scott, Griffin: A heyday past
was "a laundered segregationist." A state-
mond has at the White House."
ment from civil-rights leader Roy Wilkins
Time would tell. But in the meantime,
Goldwater debacle. Last January, Scott
said that Haynsworth's "much-heralded
it seemed likely that the victory of Scott
parlayed Mr. Nixon's tacit support with
'strict construction' approach is not new
and Griffin would at least blunt the in-
Massachusetts Sen. Edward Brooke's
to the Negroes of the United States. [It]
fluence of Southern strategy advocates
hard sell of the party's need for new geo-
means granting their constitutional rights
Attorney General John Mitchell and
graphical and ideological balance. Scott
with an eye dropper at a time when they
Strom Thurmond's man in the White
beat out conservative Nebraskan Roman
should be flowing like a river in a thirsty
House, deputy counsel Harry S. Dent.
Hruska for party whip-despite the op-
land." Then came a petition from eight of
This point is reinforced by the facts that
position of Minority Leader Ev Dirksen.
the nine Negro members of the House of
both Scott and Griffin are from highly
Pragmatist that he is, Scott has not
Representatives. To appoint Haynsworth,
industrialized states that Mr. Nixon lost
hesitated to place principle above poli-
they said, would "serve notice that our
in 1968, and that Scott himself must seek
tics when he felt the issues demanded it.
government intends to block off the few
re-election next year.
A staunch advocate of a strong national
avenues that are now available for legal
Deny: For his part, old pro Scott stu-
defense, Scott earlier this year voted in
attack on the bastions of racism in our
diously avoided any partisan crowing at
favor of President Nixon's Safeguard
country."
all. "I seek this position not as spokesman
ABM system-in spite of a storm of anti-
There was a distinct possibility that
for any particular group or ideology," he
ABM mail from Pennsylvania constituents.
Haynsworth would face even stiffer op-
had said before the vote. Afterward, de-
But he also voted for two decidedly
position on the Senate floor than in com-
scribing himself as a "moderate," he
anti-Administration amendments to the
mittee. As a result of the Fortas case,
added: "I will continue to deny that I
military-procurement authorization bill.
some Republicans, such as new minority
am a liberal."
"Scott has no intention of spilling blood
whip Robert Griffin, are SO strongly on
The fact is that affable Hugh Scott has
or making any abrupt turns," said one
record against. even the appearance of
ridden the ups and downs of his party
close colleague. "He will try delicately to
conflict of interest that they just may
through almost its entire modern history.
guide the party down the middle."
feel themselves prisoners of precedent
76
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
Reproduced at the Richard PRESERVATION Nixon ibrary and Museum
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
when the vote on Haynsworth comes up.
ty" will also come in for review.) The
port the war in Vietnam? Do you know
But in the end there seems little doubt
defendants saw the whole thing as a test
who the Jefferson Airplane are?" Hoff-
that Haynsworth's appointment will be
of the limits on dissent in the U.S., and
man refused to pass these questions on.
approved. This was apparent after last
Jay A. Miller, executive director of the
On the second day a middle-age Middle
week's news conference, when President
Illinois branch of the American Civil Lib-
America jury of two men and ten women
Nixon, discomfited under heavy question-
erties Union, called it "probably the most
(two of them Negroes) was empaneled.
ing, nonetheless spoke out in favor of
important political trial in U.S. history."
When the presentation of arguments
Haynsworth's integrity and qualifications,
Whether history accedes to that judg-
and said he had no intention of with-
began next day, there was some cutting
ment remains to be seen, but certainly
up by the defendants and putting down
drawing the nomination.
the trial brought before the bench a
by the tart-tongued judge as Hayden
virtual Who's Who of leaders among
clenched his fist at the jury (a standard
THE NEW LEFT:
radicals and dissidents who have become
greeting, he said) and Abbie Hoffman
such a burr to the Establishment in re-
blew kisses. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rich-
Back to Chicago
cent years. Besides Abbie Hoffman, 31,
ard Schultz promised to prove that the
the wild-haired ideological stunt man for
eight were in contact with one another
They came promising the biggest,
the hippie movement, and his yippie
(though not all eight with each other)
baddest three-ring circus the New Left
sidekick Jerry Rubin, 31, formerly long-
and had conspired to "use the unpopu-
had ever staged. It would be "a combi-
haired but recently shorn in a California
larity of the war in Vietnam and the peo-
nation of the Scopes trial, revolution
jail, the defendants included:
ple who came to Chicago to protest
in the streets, Woodstock Festival and
Longtime pacifist David Dellinger, 53,
to create a situation that would bring a
People's Park all rolled into one," said a
the only one to wear a suit and tie into
physical confrontation between protesters
spokesman for the eight assorted radical
court.
and police." He named Dellinger as
leaders who returned to Chicago last
Two 29-year-old co-founders of Stu-
"principal architect" of the riots.
week to be tried on conspiracy charges
dents for a Democratic Society, Tom
Defense counsel William Kunstler, in
Associated Press
Scuffles and flourishes: The Scopes trial plus Woodstock
UPI
for their parts in the protests that erupt-
Hayden and Rennie Davis (who recent-
his opening, declared that his clients
ed into bloodshed and brutality during
ly helped arrange the release of U.S.
went to the convention for purposes of
the 1968 Democratic convention.
prisoners by Hanoi).
lawful protest, "that police embarked on
And, indeed, there was some scuffling
Black Panther chairman Bobby Seale,
a conspiracy of berserk, brutal action
next day, despite careful kid-glove treat-
32, who is being held in tight custody
that the real conspiracy in this case
ment by Chicago's cops-nineteen youths
during the trial because he is also under
was a conspiracy to curtail and prevent
were arrested and nine police officers,
indictment for murder in an alleged
the protest against the war in Vietnam."
plus two city prosecutors, were injured.
Panther killing in Connecticut.
Even as he began what promises to be
But the crowds never approached the
Assistant professor of chemistry John R.
a grueling months-long trial, however,
promised 5,000 to 10,000, and it soon be-
Froines, 30, and social-work student
Kunstler seemed to anticipate a guilty
came clear that the drama would be
Lee Weiner, 30. Froines headed Stu-
verdict. "We're already drafting an ap-
largely confined to the somber, oak-pan-
dents for Johnson at Yale in 1964, Wei-
peal," said one of Kunstler's aides.
eled courtroom of crusty, no-nonsense
ner worked for Chicago Mayor Richard
Federal Judge Julius Hoffman (no rela-
Daley's Commission on Youth Welfare.
tion to Abbie), 74. For openers, Judge
FOREIGN RELATIONS:
From the first, the defense maintained
Hoffman ordered the arrest of four at-
that the radical defendants-who have
torneys who had attempted to withdraw
sarcastically dubbed themselves The
The Pot Spotters
from the case and he actually had two of
Conspiracy-could not receive a fair trial
Tijuana's colossal Avenida Presidente
the lawyers jailed briefly.
because the 250 prospective jurors were
Lopez Mateos spreads out to a width
The trial is destined to test for the first
drawn from lists of registered voters.
of sixteen lanes as it approaches the
time the controversial provision of the
Overruled on that, as on a score of oth-
U.S.-Mexican border, but last week it
1968 Civil Rights Act that makes "intent"
er defense motions, the defense tried
looked like the largest parking lot in the
to incite to riot a criminal offense. (The
to get Judge Hoffman to probe the extent
world. Thousands of vehicles crammed
Administration's new policy on domestic
of each venireman's private generation
every lane, creeping forward a few feet
wiretapping in cases of "national securi-
gap with such questions as: "Do you sup-
at a time. Some drivers ran out of gas
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
81
PRESERVATION COPY
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
BY STEWART ALSOP
A LESSON OF THE '60s
WASHINGTON-The faces change, but
finger, a gesture recognized by those
or if the Cuban missiles should be elimi-
the scene is familiar. There is the long
close to him as a danger signal of bore-
nated by a "surgical" air strike, or if the
table in the White House Cabinet
dom and displeasure. It was true also of
commitment of American combat power
Room, strewn with ashtrays, coffee cups
Lyndon Johnson, who had less subtle
to Vietnam will end the war there, is
and documents presumably stamped
ways of expressing his boredom and
likely to answer confidently and posi-
Top Secret. And around the table are
displeasure.
tively. "Can do, sir," is a favorite mili-
the solemn, often-photographed faces
It is now also true, apparently, of
tary phrase, often accompanied by a
of the President and his chief policy-
Richard Nixon. Nixon was irritated by
snappy salute.
makers and crisis-managers.
the lack of enthusiasm in the profession-
A favorite phrase in the Foreign
In the most recent photograph of this
al Foreign Service for his expedition
Service is: "Have you considered all the
familiar scene-the meeting of the Nix-
to Rumania, and like his predecessors
possible consequences, sir?" That is the
on high command on Vietnam policy-
he is given to complaining to White
sort of question that irritates Presidents,
there are twelve men around the table,
House aides about the "overcaution"
but the evidence suggests that it is not
including two generals and an admiral.
and "lack of imagination" of the FSO's.
a bad question to ask.
But the photograph is almost unique in
This Presidential allergy to the For-
QUESTION
one way, for it includes the unfamiliar
eign Service is understandable. Most
face of a Foreign Service officer. The
FSO's are intelligent-they have to be,
The question was not seriously asked
face is that of Philip Habib, who was re-
to get into the Foreign Service. But a
about the Bay of Pigs adventure, and
called from the U.S. delegation in Par-
good many are pretty stodgy. Moreover,
no FSO was seriously consulted before
is to report on the nonprogress of the
many middle-aged FSO's who ought
that disaster, which the military fa-
talks there.
now to be playing decisive roles in the
vored. The question was asked, seri-
Among dozens of similar photographs
making of foreign policy have been ren-
ously and insistently, at the time of the
from the Kennedy and Johnson eras,
dered as cautious as singed cats by the
Cuban missile crisis, and partly as a re-
you will find plenty of generals and an
traumatic experiences through which
sult, President Kennedy vetoed the
occasional admiral, but hardly any For-
they have passed.
military proposal for a "surgical" air
eign Service officers at all. This small
strike. The chief asker of the question
CAUTION
fact is worth noting, for it symbolizes a
was Llewellyn Thompson, the only FSO
larger fact-that, in the decade now
First there was the McCarthy period,
to play a major role in the Cuban crisis.
ending, the military professionals have
when able FSO's like John Paton Davies
Robert Kennedy, asked later whose ad-
largely usurped the role of the for-
were offered up as ritual sacrifices to
vice was most valuable to the President,
eign-policy professionals.
Joe McCarthy. Then there was the pe-
named "Tommy"Thompson.
The Foreign Service officers-FSO's,
riod of "Wristonization," when in the
As for Vietnam, President Johnson,
for short-are in theory professionals in
name of "democratic reform" the size
like-President Kennedy at the time of
the conduct of America's foreign policy
of the service was tripled overnight,
the Bay of Pigs, hardly bothered to con-
in the same way that the generals and
thus destroying esprit de corps and sad-
sult the Foreign Service at all when he
admirals are professionals in the con-
dling the service with an insoluble
made his crucial decisions. There was
duct of America's wars. Yet in most of
problem of overstaffing.
one rather minor exception. Just before
the great crisis decisions of the 1960s,
Overstaffing has helped to create
he made his fateful decision to bomb
like the two Cuban crises in the Kenne-
what is dismally known in the State De-
North Vietnam, the President asked for
dy regime, or the Vietnam crises in the
partment as "the system." The system
Thompson's opinion. Thompson, who
Johnson regime, the FSO's have played
encourages the cancerous proliferation
had returned from his first tour as am-
a limited role, or no role at all.
of make-work committees, which pro-
bassador to Russia, noted that Soviet
duce mountains of "waffle papers, to
Premier Kosygin was in Hanoi at the
DISTRUST
borrow a phrase from that peerless
time, and he urgently advised the Pres-
This shoving aside of the foreign-pol-
phrasemaker, Dean Acheson.
ident at least to delay the bombing.
icy professionals in an era when foreign
Finally, there is the nature of the job.
President Johnson brushed aside this
policy has dominated and obsessed the
A career of dealing with the dangerous
advice, and began the process of the
whole business of government is a phe-
and unpredictable business of foreign
commitment of American combat power
nomenon that needs explaining. One
policy, in which nothing is easier than
to Vietnam. His successor and the rest
obvious explanation is that in this un-
to be wrong, induces a certain caution,
of us are still living with the conse-
happy era, most really grave foreign-
a disinclination to take chances. So does
quences of that decision.
policy decisions involve vital military
the slow, slippery climb up the bureau-
One lesson of the '60s seems to be
considerations. But another less obvious
cratic ladder of the service.
that an occasional dose of "overcau-
explanation is that most Presidents, for
It is no wonder that Presidents,
tion" and "lack of imagination" may not
a variety of reasons, dislike and distrust
trapped by circumstances, faced with
always be a bad thing; that sometimes
the Foreign Service professionals.
loud demands for a solution of the in-
the best thing to do is nothing. In the
That was true of Franklin Roosevelt,
soluble, tend to turn to the military. A
'70s, President Nixon and his successors
who liked to deride the FSO's as
man who much disliked taking chances
might do well to pay as much attention
"cooky-pushers." It was true of John F.
would be unlikely to become a profes-
to that favorite question of the Foreign
Kennedy, who tended, in the presence
sional soldier in the first place, or a
Service-"Have you considered all the
of certain long-winded FSO's, to tap his
general in any case. Thus a military
consequences, sir?"-as to the confident
prominent teeth with his right index
man, asked if Castro can be overthrown,
"can do" of the military.
134
Newsweek, October 6, 1969
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
mid Am
REVIEW OF PHILLIPS' BOOK
This summarizes the attached review of Kevin Phillips'
book, "The Emerging Republican Majority," written by
Alan Otten for the Wall Street Journal (10/8/69).
Overall Conclusion
Otten concludes that Phillips offers a reasonable and
coherent plan for Republican dominance of national
government. Basically, this plan calls for the Party
to follow a policy conservative enough to entice the
South from George Wallace but liberal enough to
attract the nominally Democrat white middle class vote
in the swing states of California, Ohio, Illinois,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Otten points out that the policy Phillips is advocating
is certainly not racist and definitely not ultra-
conservative but warns that the Democrat leadership
will claim it is in the hope of pinning an ultra-
conservative label on the Nixon Administration.
Key Elements in the Phillips' Analysis
1. A solid Republican heartland comprising 180 electoral
votes is emerging in the mid-west and old South. The
only fly in the ointment is George Wallace.
2. To dispose of Wallace and clinch all 180 votes, the
Party need pursue only moderately conservative policies.
According to Phillips, the South will realize Wallace
is not a viable alternative and turn to Republicanism in
droves.
3. These 180 votes are not enough to win the Presidency.
To accomplish this, the Party must win in the "swing"
industrial states of California, Ohio, Illinois,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
4. To win the swing states, the Party must attract the
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
- 2 -
nominally Democrat white middle class vote. According
to Phillips, this key group especially the Catholic
element is becoming increasingly conservative and can
be brought into the Republican camp by a moderately
conservative policy.
Democrat Reaction
According to Otten, the Democrats will use the Phillips'
book to pin an ultra-conservative racist label on the
Party.
Republican Reaction
Otten urges the Republican party to follow Phillips'
plan but to disavow it publicly because (1) no good
can come from publicly embracing it and (2) some evil
could come from doing so (i.e., we would embarrass our
liberal wing, demoralize our Northern party workers,
and discourage our liberal contributors).
Next Steps
We must develop a response to this book if for no other
reason than to boost the morale of our own party workers
in the large industrial states.
We should disavow Phillips' book as party policy and
assert we are growing in strength nationally because
the public is increasingly conscious of the soundness
of our philosophy the sanctity of individual freedom,
the evils of centralism, the importance of efficient
fiscally sound government
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
"The White Reaction"
This summarizes the attached Washington Star five-
article series entitled "The White Reaction." The
series was written by five white reporters based on
interviews conducted in five cities: Washington,
Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Wichita, and Los Angeles.
Overall Conclusion
In response to a decade of extremely rapid social and
economic progress by American Negroes, a clearly
discernible white reaction has begun to take shape.
This white reaction combines fear of the Negroes'
progress with disillusionment in the goal of inte-
gration. Racial conflict will continue in the
foreseeable future especially over those
issues where the races are in intimate competition
(e.g., housing, schools, blue-collar jobs).
Principal Findings
1. By every statistical standard, the Negro has
made incredibly rapid progress in housing, income,
education and job opportunity. Despite this progress,
the Negro trails his white fellow-American in each of
these areas and is painfully aware of the distance he
must travel to obtain "equality."
2. The rapid improvement in the status of Negroes
coupled with frequently televised militant violence
has caused whites to fear Negroes. This feeling is
especially intense among blue-collar workers and lower
middle class home owners who see the Negro as an
immediate tangible adversary made even more formidible
by lenient courts, militant white churchmen and self-
seeking politicians.
3. The fears and frustrations of both races seem to
be causing a polarization of attitudes that is
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
- 2 -
undermining amicable race relations. Both races are
disillusioned over the attainability and even the
desirability of the old goal of racial integration.
Bi-racial civic groups are dissolving into acrimony
and distrust.
4. Looking to the future, both races see a prolonged
period of racial polarization punctuated by conflicts
over housing, education, and job discrimination. Both
races foresee increased Negro political power especially
in urban government where Negroes see their superior
numbers a moral justification for a policy of "self-
determination."
Political Implications
The Administration must proceed carefully through the
mine field of contemporary race relations. The slightest
misstep can cause an explosion both socially and
politically devastating.
On the other hand, we must realize that old political
loyalties have been dissolved by the racial situation
and that we have an unprecedented opportunity to garner
votes in large blocks. To capitalize on this
opportunity we need a carefully conceived "master
plan" for the Administration to implement.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
UNION ACTIVITY 1970 RACES
This summarizes the attached Wall Street Journal article
concerning organized labor's extensive plans for the 1970
Congressional elections.
Overall Conclusion
Organized labor is gearing up for a massive effort in
the 1970 elections to perpetuate the Democrat hold on Congress.
This effort which is already underway reflects labor leadership's
fear that the Republican party has a real opportunity to control
both houses. To counteract Labor's early and aggressive efforts,
the Party must develop and implement an effective, well-
coordinated plan in the marginal House and Senate races.
Principal Findings
1. Organized labor has decided to stand and fight in
1970 rather than wait for 1972. Labor believes that the Party
can win in 1970 and that, if it does, their interests would be
seriously threatened.
2. Labor has already set in motion an aggressive plan
concentrating men and money in 78 marginal House Districts and
approximately 9 marginal Democrat Senate seats. COPE expects to
spend $500,000 for registration activity, $250,000 of which
has already been apportioned to 17 states. Texas and Ralph
Yarborough will definitely be the recepient of substantial help.
3. At this writing, labor believes the big issues in 1970
will be tax reform ("Nixon favors the corporation interests.
and possibly unemployment.
4. Organized labor is experimenting with a number of ways
to increase its political impact including assigning full-time
co-ordinators to Congressional Districts and assigning specific
unions the responsibility for an individual race.
Recommended Republican Action
The Party must develop a coherent plan for 1970 or face up
to 2 more years of Congressional opposition to administration
programs. The Party's plan must have a co-ordinated effort by
the White House, the Hill Committees and the RNC especially in
the critical areas of candidate recruitment, financing and
campaign management.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
REVIEW OF PHILLIPS' BOOK
This summarizes the attached review of Kevin Phillips'
book, "The Emerging Republican Majority," written by
Alan Otten for the Wall Street Journal (10/8/69).
Overall Conclusion
Otten concludes that Phillips offers a reasonable and
coherent plan for Republican dominance of national
government. Basically, this plan calls for the Party
to follow a policy conservative enough to entice the
South from George Wallace but liberal enough to
attract the nominally Democrat white middle class vote
in the swing states of California, Ohio, Illinois,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Otten points out that the policy Phillips is advocating
is certainly not racist and definitely not ultra-
conservative but warns that the Democrat leadership
will claim it is in the hope of pinning an ultra-
conservative label on the Nixon Administration.
Key Elements in the Phillips' Analysis
1. A solid Republican heartland comprising 180 electoral
votes is emerging in the mid-west and old South. The
only fly in the ointment is George Wallace.
2. To dispose of Wallace and clinch all 180 votes, the
Party need pursue only moderately conservative policies.
According to Phillips, the South will realize Wallace
is not a viable alternative and turn to Republicanism in
droves.
3. These 180 votes are not enough to win the Presidency.
To accomplish this, the Party must win in the "swing"
industrial states of California, Ohio, Illinois,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
4. To win the swing states, the Party must attract the
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
- 2 -
nominally Democrat white middle class vote. According
to Phillips, this key group especially the Catholic
element is becoming increasingly conservative and can
be brought into the Republican camp by a moderately
conservative policy.
Democrat Reaction
According to Otten, the Democrats will use the Phillips'
book to pin an ultra-conservative racist label on the
Party.
Republican Reaction
Otten urges the Republican party to follow Phillips'
plan but to disavow it publicly because (1) no good
can come from publicly embracing it and (2) some evil
could come from doing so (i.e., we would embarrass our
liberal wing, demoralize our Northern party workers,
and discourage our liberal contributors).
Next Steps
We must develop a response to this book if for no other
reason than to boost the morale of our own party workers
in the large industrial states.
We should disavow Phillips' book as party policy and
assert we are growing in strength nationally because
the public is increasingly conscious of the soundness
of our philosophy the sanctity of individual freedom,
the evils of centralism, the importance of efficient
fiscally sound government.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
"The White Reaction"
This summarizes the attached Washington Star five-
article series entitled "The White Reaction.' The
series was written by five white reporters based on
interviews conducted in five cities: Washington,
Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Wichita, and Los Angeles.
Overall Conclusion
In response to a decade of extremely rapid social and
economic progress by American Negroes, a clearly
discernible white reaction has begun to take shape.
This white reaction combines fear of the Negroes'
progress with disillusionment in the goal of inte-
gration. Racial conflict will continue in the
foreseeable future especially over those
issues where the races are in intimate competition
(e.g., housing, schools, blue-collar jobs).
Principal Findings
1. By every statistical standard, the Negro has
made incredibly rapid progress in housing, income,
education and job opportunity. Despite this progress,
the Negro trails his white fellow-American in each of
these areas and is painfully aware of the distance he
must travel to obtain "equality."
2. The rapid improvement in the status of Negroes
coupled with frequently televised militant violence
has caused whites to fear Negroes. This feeling is
especially intense among blue-collar workers and lower
middle class home owners who see the Negro as an
immediate tangible adversary made even more formidible
by lenient courts, militant white churchmen and self-
seeking politicians.
3. The fears and frustrations of both races seem to
be causing a polarization of attitudes that is
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
- 2 -
undermining amicable race relations. Both races are
disillusioned over the attainability and even the
desirability of the old goal of racial integration.
Bi-racial civic groups are dissolving into acrimony
and distrust.
4. Looking to the future, both races see a prolonged
period of racial polarization punctuated by conflicts
over housing, education, and job discrimination. Both
races foresee increased Negro political power especially
in urban government where Negroes see their superior
numbers a moral justification for a policy of "self-
determination. =
Political Implications
The Administration must proceed carefully through the
mine field of contemporary race relations. The slightest
misstep can cause an explosion both socially and
politically devastating.
On the other hand, we must realize that old political
loyalties have been dissolved by the racial situation
and that we have an unprecedented opportunity to garner
votes in large blocks. To capitalize on this
opportunity we need a carefully conceived "master
plan" for the Administration to implement.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
UNION ACTIVITY 1970 RACES
This summarizes the attached Wall Street Journal article
concerning organized labor's extensive plans for the 1970
Congressional elections.
Overall Conclusion
Organized labor is gearing up for a massive effort in
the 1970 elections to perpetuate the Democrat hold on Congress.
This effort which is already underway reflects labor leadership's
fear that the Republican party has a real opportunity to control
both houses. To counteract Labor's early and aggressive efforts,
the Party must develop and implement an effective, well-
coordinated plan in the marginal House and Senate races.
Principal Findings
1. Organized labor has decided to stand and fight in
1970 rather than wait for 1972. Labor believes that the Party
can win in 1970 and that, if it does, their interests would be
seriously threatened.
2. Labor has already set in motion an aggressive plan
concentrating men and money in 78 marginal House Districts and
approximately 9 marginal Democrat Senate seats. COPE expects to
spend $500,000 for registration activity, $250,000 of which
has already been apportioned to 17 states. Texas and Ralph
Yarborough will definitely be the recepient of substantial help.
3. At this writing, labor believes the big issues in 1970
will be tax reform ("Nixon favors the corporation interests.
and possibly unemployment.
4. Organized labor is experimenting with a number of ways
to increase its political impact including assigning full-time
co-ordinators to Congressional Districts and assigning specific
unions the responsibility for an individual race.
Recommended Republican Action
The Party must develop a coherent plan for 1970 or face up
to 2 more years of Congressional opposition to administration
programs. The Party's plan must have a co-ordinated effort by
the White House, the Hill Committees and the RNC especially in
the critical areas of candidate recruitment, financing and
campaign management.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
middle am
October 5, 1970
Dear Mr. Megown:
Your note of October 2 with enclosures
has been received while Mr. Dent is out
of the office.
I am taking the liberty of thanking you
for this material which will be on Mr.
Dent's desk when he returns tomorrow.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
LaRose Smith
Personal Secretary
to Harry S. Dent
Mr. John W. Megown
2190 Northview Drive
Marion, Iowa 52302
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
of rom the desk of
October 2, 1970
JOHN W. MEGOWN
Dear Mr. Dent:
I was glad to hear from my good
friend, Bob Spitzer, that The White
House recognizes the importance of
agriculture and rural and small-town
America in the 1970 elections.
In Iowa, we plan to re-elect
Robert Ray as Governor and have been
working hard to accomplish this.
Having worked in the 1968 Pres-
idential campaign we are glad to again
be active in this way.
Sincerely,
John Megarm
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
The Cedar Rapids
Agricultural Executives' Forum
bimonthly agriculture issues discussion group
For further information, contact:
J. Alan Swegle
December 31, 1969
500 Third Ave. SE
Cedar Rapids, la.
52406
1-319-369-1263
The Honorable Richard M. Nixon
President of the United States
The Western White House
San Clemente, California 92670
Dear President Nixon:
We read and hear a great deal about a "Southern Strategy." Whether, or not,
there actually exists such a complex plan is probably somewhat immaterial at this
time. Too many factors can alter any precise arrangements relating to the conversion
of great numbers of Southern Democrats and independents to march under your banner
in 1972.
The answer probably lies in developing a broader plan, a less precise one,
but involving a larger segment of our national population - - that part of the
population that most closely identifies with you and your goals of keeping America
great - - the people of rural and small-town America.
Executive Order 11493 has been studied very carefully. Also, some of Secretary
Hardin's statements have been noted with considerable interest. The idea of build-
ing up rural America to help relieve pressures on urban areas, while not totally
a new concept, seems now to have a good chance of succeeding. The time is right
to proceed and the new Rural Affairs Council can be the guiding instrument to
launch the multitude of necessary projects.
In Executive Order 11493, you state that the Rural Affairs Council will en-
courage the most effective role possible for voluntary organizations in dealing
with rural problems and their solutions. This is excellent and could provide the
basis for what might be called a "Rural Strategy."
By now enlisting volunteers from rural and small-town America to help solve
existing problems, a nucleus for a rural campaign group for 1972 could be developed.
At the same time, many of the existing rural problems could be solved, which might
in turn start to allieviate some urban crises.
One of the key factors in enlisting rural volunteers, will be how the story
is told to them. Farmers and small-town people are not readily receptive to any-
thing that seems to be phony - - like mass-produced publicity. The answer is to
begin to utilize more effectively talents of key agri-business public relations
and advertising executives who are familiar with what best motivates farmers and
rural businessmen, to tell the story.
Respectfully yours,
2190 Northview Drive
Julio John W. Megown
Marion, Iowa 52302
John W. Megown
Larry L. Statler
J. Alan Swegle
Chairman
Vice Chairman
Secretary
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
WILLIAM J. SCHERLE
COMMITTEES:
7TH DISTRICT. IOWA
EDUCATION AND LABOR
INTERNAL SECURITY
Congress of the United States
OFFICE ADDRESS:
DISTRICT OFFICE:
512 CANNON BLDG.
house of Representatives
257 FEDERAL BUILDING
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20515
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA 51501
AC 202, 225-3806
Washington, D.C. 20515
AC 712, 328-1543, Ext. 65
September 28, 1970
Mr. John W. Megown
2190 Northview Drive
Marion
Iowa 52302
Dear Mr. Megown:
Thank you for forwarding the copy of your
December 31, 1969, letter to President Nixon.
Your suggestions and recommendations are very
timely and appropriate.
Like you, I appreciate the attention which
the President is giving to rural Iowa. It is
my sincere hope that some real solid plan or
program will be instituted to help our people
before they are all forced to move to the
city.
With kind regards,
Sincerely yours,
Biulchere
William J. Scherle
Member of Congress
7th Iowa District
WJS:ses
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
-FEEDSTUFFS, Sept. 26,1970
John Megown
H.C. Eaton
NFIA Elects
Megown, Eaton
DES MOINES, IOWA-John Me-
gown, Vigortone Products Co., Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, has been elected presi-
dent of the National Feed Ingredients
Assn. He succeeds Al Zupek, Bonewitz
Laboratories, Burlington, Iowa.
Other new officers of NFIA
include:
H. C. (Bo) Eaton, Moorman Mfg.
Co., first vice president; M. Saul Hoff-
man, Basic Chemicals-Division of Ba-
sic, Inc., second vice president, and
Charles A. Swisher, Walnut Grove
Products Co., 2nd vice president.
The election was conducted by a
mail ballot. The new officers will as-
sume their new duties at the annual
convention to be held in Louisville,
Ky., Oct. 25-28.
The president-elect, John Megown,
was first elected a director in 1966, af-
ter being active in NFIA since 1957. He
served twice as chairman of the public
relations committee and once as vice
president of public affairs. During the
1969-70 business year, Megown served
as first vice president and general
chairman of the public affairs council.
Zupek began his term last Sept.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
September 10, 1970
It is a special pleasure to extend greetings and
congratulations to the National Feed Ingredients
Association on your Golden Anniversary.
Your Association, through its support of live-
stock nutrition research and related activities,
has helped make possible the great agricultural
advance that now assures our nation the finest,
most abundant food supply in the world. Beyond
this, you have committed your efforts to the de-
velopment of our total rural resourcęs to provide
a better life for rural residents and to build the
economic basis for a more rational distribution
of our growing population.
Achievement of this goal will require persever-
ance, imagination and cooperative effort by gov-
ernment at all levels working with organizations
such as yours. Your fiftieth anniversary is as
significant for what it promises for the future as
for its commemoration of past accomplishments
in the interest of the American farmer and the
nation.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
NFIA Marks 50th Year, Cites Progress
1954-55-George F. Morse, E. M.
Peet Mfg. Co., Council Bluffs, Iowa.
DES MOINES, IOWA-The Nation-
total involvement and benefits for all
1955-56-Russ Bagnall, Arbie Min-
al Feed Ingredients Assn., which this
member firms.
eral Feed Co., Marshalltown, Iowa.
year observes its golden anniversary,
Isadore Levin, former Iowa State
1956-57-Arthur Swarzentruber,
had its origin as the American Stock-
chemist in charge of feed control, be-
Vigortone Products Co., Cedar Rapids,
men's Supplies Assn. in 1920. Serving
Iowa.
came executive secretary of the asso-
as first executive secretary was
ciation in 1959. In 1965, he was named
1957-58-J. J. O'Connor, Walnut
George Wrightman, an activist who
executive vice president. He contribut-
Grove Products Co., Atlantic, Iowa.
sought to insure fair laws in regard to
ed much to the development of the as-
1958-59-John K. Westberg, Inter-
animal feeding and livestock produc-
sociation.
national Minerals & Chemical Co.,
tion. Wrightman served the association
Skokie, Ill.
In 1967, the trea-
for 25 years.
surer of NFIA was
1959-60-Wm. E. Noble, Oelwein
The primary reason for the asso-
Chemical Co., Oelwein, Iowa.
named to succeed
ciation's formation in 1920 was that
Isadore Levin as
1960-61-Dean W. Stauffacher,
several leading manufacturers of med-
executive vice presi-
Diamond V Mills Inc., Cedar Rapids,
icated mineral and protein feed con-
Iowa.
dent. Marvin Vin-
centrates found it necessary to join
1961-62-Paul W. Bonewitz, Bone-
sand, who also car-
together to evaluate regulatory legisla-
ries the title of chief
witz Laboratories, Inc., Burlington,
tion being introduced at that time.
Iowa.
operations officer,
Thirteen years after the formation
has applied many
1962-63-W. P. Mann, W. P. Mann
of the association, several mineral
Sales Co., Omaha, Neb.
association manage-
feed manufacturers separated from it
Marvin Vinsand
ment innovations to
1963-64-Maurice E. Baringer,
to form the Mineral Feed Manufactur-
the operation of NFIA.
Oelwein Chemical Co., Oelwein, Iowa.
ers Assn. L. F. (Lou) Brown, long-time
In 1968, the Scientific Advisory
1964-65-T. Walter Hardy, Jr.,
executive secretary of the American
Committee (SAC) was given "Coun-
Hardy Salt St. Louis.
Feed Manufacturers Assn. was named
cil" status and the "Public Affairs
1965-66-Floyd Huling, Dr. Mac-
to be executive secretary of the new
Council" (PAC) was created to tie to-
Donald's Vitamized Feed, Ft. Dodge,
trade group.
Iowa.
gether all public affairs activities for
maximum total effectiveness and ben-
1966-67-Burt Onweller, Peet's
Activities Expanded
efit to the feed industry.
Feeds, Inc., Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Then in 1939, the directors of the
During the last years of the 1960s,
1967-68-Harold Steinman, Interna-
American Stockmen's Supplies Assn.
the scientific activities of NFIA were
tional Mineral & Chemical Co., Skokie,
III.
voted to expand the purposes and activ-
constantly expanded and another step
ities of the trade association and it was
forward was made in organizing the
incorporated as the Animal and Poul-
public affairs projects and programs
try Foundation of America, Inc.
into a well-coordinated effort involving
(APFA).
NFIA's relations with governmental
In 1944, the APFA became the Na-
officials, agricultural colleges, live-
tional Mineral Feeds Assn., Inc., and in
stock producers and consumers, as
1945 the members of the Mineral Feed
well as agri-industry communicators.
Manufacturers Assn. rejoined the asso-
ciation. That same year, Peter W.
Officers
Janss, a lawyer from Des Moines, took
Presidents of NFIA and their dates
over the reins from George Wrightman
of service include:
when he retired. Janss led the associa-
1938-39-Dr. S. D. LeGear, Dr.
Wayne Fox
Al Zupek
tion through 14 years of progress and
LeGear Inc., St. Louis.
during his tenure many of the major
1939-40-Prof. W. J. Kennedy, The
1968-69-Wayne Fox, Triple "F"
developments aimed at making the
Gland-O-Lac Co., Omaha, Neb.
Feeds, Des Moines, Iowa.
association an effective modern feed
1940-41-J. M. Rice, The Gland-O-
1969-70-A1 Zupek, Bonewitz Labo-
industry trade association came into
Lac Co., Omaha, Neb.
ratories, Burlington, Iowa.
being.
1941-42-Dr. R. V. Christian, 0 M.
1970-71-John Megown, Vigortone
In line with a growing interest in
Franklin Serum Co., Wichita, Kan.
Products Co., Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
the area of scientific and nutritional
1942-43-George F. Morse, E. M.
developments, the Scientific Advisory
Peet Mfg. Co., Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Committee (SAC) was formed in 1949.
1943-45-C. C. Kenworthy, Econo-
SAC was, and is, composed of nutri-
my Products Co., Shenandoah, Iowa.
tionists and scientists from member
1945-46-Lyle B. Palmer, Oelwein
Chemical Co., Oelwein, Iowa.
companies. Through SAC many re-
search programs have been sponsored,
1946-47-Arthur D. Swarzentruber,
or encouraged, in state experiment
Vigortone Products Co., Cedar Rapids,
Iowa.
stations and in the research laborato-
ries of member companies. Through
1947-48-C. S. (Dutch) Langen,
Moorman Mfg. Co., Quincy, III.
SAC travel awards program, a number
of leading American animal scientists
1948-49-Edwin L. Fox, Foxbilt
from universities have made tours of
Feeds, Des Moines, Iowa.
research installations and met with
1949-50-Claude G. Butcher, Mid-
west Mineral, Greenwood, Ind.
scientists in foreign countries, report-
ing to the association members and the
1950-51-C. D. Bevis, Seaboard
feed industry their findings.
Supply Co., Philadelphia, Pa.
1951-52-E. A. Kelloway, Walnut
In 1957, during his second term as
Grove Products Co., Atlantic, Iowa.
president, Art Swarzentruber proposed
1952-53-James L. Elliott, Oelwein
that the name be changed to National
Chemcal Co., Oelwein, Iowa.
Feed Ingredients Assn. (NFIA). The
1953-54-Horace S. Hedges, Colum-
members voted to make the change
bian Hog & Cattle Powder Co., Kansas
and to amend and substitute new arti-
City.
cles of incorporation. Prior to this
time, the membership had been com-
posed largely of manufacturers of
mineral feeds. It was predicted at that
time that the re-organization would
bring about a better understanding
between manufacturers and suppliers
as well as an advantage from a more
correlated research effort.
Sections Created
In July, 1958, the board of directors
voted to create sections. This allowed
member companies to join together
with others having the same type of
business activity and similar interests.
For example, the feed manufacturers
formed the "feed manufacturers sec-
Two of NFIA's past presidents are
tion." Today there are six sections,
Harold Steinman (left) and Burt On-
whose
activity
allows
for
Reproduced the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
THE CHANGING FACE OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE
by
John W. Megown
Marion, Iowa
THE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES IS NOW OVER 205 MILLION.
AT THE END OF 1960 IT WAS ONLY 179 MILLION. BY 1980 THE ESTIMATED
FIGURE IS 242 MILLION: WHEN THE YEAR 2000 ROLLS AROUND, THERE WILL
BE OVER 300 MILLION PEOPLE LIVING IN THIS COUNTRY. THESE WILL BE
A LOT OF EXTRA MOUTHS TO FEED. THIS IS. THE IMPORTANT JOB OF THE
AMERICAN FARMER AND OF THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY. IT HAS BEEN
ESTIMATED THAT BY 1980 AGRICULTURE MUST SUPPLY ANNUALLY ABOUT 4.4
BILLION MORE POUNDS OF BEEF; 400 MILLION MORE POUNDS OF PORK; AND 2.4
BILLION MORE POUNDS OF POULTRY MEAT. SOME AGRICULTURAL ECONOMISTS
PROJECT EVEN HIGHER FIGURES THAN THESE.
AMERICA IS CONSTANTLY BECOMING MORE URBANIZED AND CITY-ORIENTED.
ON JULY 1, 1968, 95.4 PERCENT OF OUR TOTAL POPULATION LIVED IN TOWNS
AND CITIES AND ONLY 4.6 PERCENT LIVED ON, AND WORKED THE LAND AS
FARMERS. TODAY ONLY 31 OF THE 435 CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS HAVE 25
PERCENT, OR MORE, OF THEIR POPULATION MADE UP OF FARMERS.
THERE WILL STILL BE 3.62 MILLION SQUARE MILES OF AMERICA IN THE
YEAR 2000, BUT WE MUST KEEP IN MIND THAT WE WILL HAVE AT LEAST 100
MILLION MORE AMERICANS TO OCCUPY THIS LAND AND TO BE FED. THE BIG
PROBLEM IS THAT THE AMOUNT OF LAND IN FARMS SHRINKS BY 4 TO 5 MILLION
ACRES EACH YEAR AS CITIES GROW, HIGHWAYS ARE BUILT, INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
ARE LOCATED IN THE COUNTRY, AND AREAS ARE SET ASIDE FOR RECREATIONAL
PURPOSES.
FAMILY-OPERATED FARMS ARE DISAPPEARING AT THE RATE OF ALMOST
100,000 A YEAR. THE TOTAL NUMBER OF FARMS IS DOWN TO ABOUT 3 MILLION -
LOWEST SINCE THE 1870'S. THIS IS MORE THAN 20 PERCENT FEWER THAN IN
(Presented at the Cedar Rapids Kiwanis Club Meeting on July 8, 1970.)
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
PAGE TWO
1960, AND 56 PERCENT FEWER THAN THE PEAK FARM NUMBER OF 1935.
so IT BOILS DOWN TO OUR HAVING LESS LAND AVAILABLE FOR FARMING
AND FEWER FARMS TO PRODUCE MORE AND MORE FOOD IN THE YEARS AHEAD.
AS THE POPULATION INCREASES AND THE MOVEMENT CONTINUES TO URBAN
AREAS, FARMS WILL CONTINUE TO GROW LARGER, FEWER IN NUMBER AND MORE
SPECIALIZED. IN 1967, THE AVERAGE FARM SIZE WAS 25 PERCENT LARGER
THAN IN 1959, UP TO 359 ACRES FROM 288 ACRES. FARM SIZE WILL INCREASE
ABOUT 75 PERCENT BETWEEN 1960 and 1980. FARMS MUST CONTINUE TO OPERATE
MORE AND MORE EFFICIENTLY.
THE AMERICAN FAMILY FARM IS THE FOUNDATION OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL
FOOD PRODUCING SYSTEM THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN. YET, AS WE HAVE
POINTED OUT, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF FARMS HAVE DISAPPEARED. ALSO,
MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, PARTICULARLY THE YOUNGER ONES, HAVE LEFT THE LAND.
SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE 1960'S, FARM POPULATION HAS DECLINED BY
OVER 5 MILLION PERSONS; DOWN TO 10,370,000 PERSONS IN 1969.
ALL OF US THAT HAVE BEEN INVOLVED WITH AGRICULTURE FOR MANY YEARS
DO NOT PARTICULARLY RELISH THE IDEA THAT THE NUMBER OF INDEPENDENT
FAMILY FARMS IS DECLINING AND THAT MANY OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE FROM
RURAL AMERICA ARE MOVING TO URBAN AREAS. FARM PEOPLE ARE ONE OF THE
LAST STRONGHOLDS OF TRUE AMERICAN PATRIOTISM AND PRIDE. ALSO, WE FIND
THAT YOUNG FARM FOLKS ARE WILLING TO WORK HARD FOR WHAT THEY GET.
A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THIS TYPE OF YOUNG PERSON FROM RURAL AMERICA
IS STEVE ZUMBACH FROM MANCHESTER, IOWA. STEVE IS NATIONAL VICE-
PRESIDENT FOR THE FUTURE FARMERS OF AMERICA. THIS OUTSTANDING YOUNG
MAN IS CERTAINLY A FUTURE LEADER. HE GAVE A TALK AT THE 1970 ANNUAL
FFA LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE FOR IOWA HELD IN CEDAR RAPIDS, ENTITLED,
"YOUTH FOR A POSITIVE ROLE.' SOME OF HIS FINAL WORDS TO THE 2,500
CLEAN-CUT, YOUNG MEN PRESENT WERE, "MY FINAL PLEA MIGHT BE THAT, LET
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
PAGE THREE
THE QUALITY OF OUR LIVES BE YOUTH IN A POSITIVE ROLE. " POSITIVE-
THINKING, ACTION-ORIENTED YOUNG PEOPLE FROM RURAL AMERICA, LIKE STEVE,
ARE ONE OF OUR NATION'S GREATEST ASSETS.
DURING THE HEIGHT OF THE CAMPUS DISTRUBANCES LAST YEAR, I VISITED
WISCONSIN STATE UNIVERSITY AND ONE OF THE PROFESSORS MADE A STATEMENT
THAT WAS INTERESTING. HERE IT IS, "THE YOUNG FARM BOYS COME TO US
WITH ENTHUSIASM AND WITH OPEN MINDS AND READY TO LEARN. THIS IS NOT
THE CASE WITH MANY OF OUR STUDENTS FROM THE CITIES.' THIS CAMPUS HAS
HAD NO MAJOR PROBLEMS OR DISTURBANCES AND IT IS IN A FARMING AREA,
WHILE MADISON HAD BEEN HIT BY RIOTS - ENOUGH SAID!
MANY OF THE PEOPLE IN THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES ARE QUITE
CONCERNED BECAUSE OF AN APPARENT LACK OF INTEREST ON THE PART OF YOUNG
PEOPLE IN CAREERS IN AGRICULTURE. STEPS ARE NOW BEING TAKEN TO HELP
CORRECT THIS. THERE ARE MANY MORE POSITIONS AVAILABLE THAN PEOPLE TO
FILL THEM. THE AGRIBUSINESS CAREERS COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL FEED
INGREDIENTS ASSOCIATION IS WORKING TO DO THIS WITH COORDINATED COMMUN-
ICATIONS PROGRAM. OTHER GROUPS, LIKE THE AGRICULTURAL RELATIONS COUNCIL
AND THE NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL ADVERTISING AND MARKETING ASSOCIATION ARE
IN THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPING AGRICULTURAL CAREER INFORMATION PROGRAMS.
CAREERS IN AGRICULTURE ARE TRULY "CAREERS WITH A MISSION" - A
MISSION OF HELPING TO SUPPLY NOURISHING FOOD TO OUR WORLD'S GROWING
POPULATION. THIS IS THE STORY THAT SHOULD BE TOLD TO THE URBAN, SUB-
URBAN AND RURAL YOUNG PEOPLE.
WHAT HAS AGRICULTURE DONE?
WE HAVE ONLY TO LOOK AROUND TO SEE IT AND TO SEE THE MARVELS
WROUGHT BY AGRICULTURE. AMERICAN AGRICULTURE IS LITERALLY ONE OF THE
GREAT MIRACLES OF OUR TIME. JUST STOP AND THINK ABOUT IT! NEVER
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PAGE FOUR
BEFORE IN THE RECORDED HISTORY OF MANKIND, HAS MAN HAD SO MUCH FOR so
LITTLE! AMERICAN AGRICULTURE IS THE ENVY OF THE WORLD. THE RUSSIANS
WOULD GIVE THEIR EYE TEETH TO BE ABLE TO PRODUCE FOOD AS EFFICIENTLY
AND AS ECONOMICALLY AS WE DO. LET'S REVIEW WHAT AMERICAN AGRICULTURE
HAS DONE:
(1) WHEN WE TAKE A CLOSE LOOK AT THE FACTS AND FIGURES, WE SEE
THAT NO INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES HAS DONE THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY
JOB OF STREAMLINING ITSELF AND SERVING THE PUBLIC AS HAS AGRICULTURE.
WAGES HAVE RISEN OVER 100 PERCENT IN 20 YEARS; MEDICAL COSTS HAVE
GONE UP 109 PERCENT AND RENT COSTS HAVE RISEN 58 PERCENT. DURING
THIS SAME PERIOD FOOD COSTS HAVE RISEN ONLY 41 PERCENT. THE HOUSEWIFE
OF TODAY SPENDS ONLY 16.2 PERCENT OF HER HUSBAND'S PAYCHECK FOR FOOD
COMPARED TO 26 PERCENT IN 1950 AND 20.3 PERCENT IN 1959. IN ENGLAND
TODAY, 26 PERCENT OF THE AVERAGE PERSON'S DISPOSABLE INCOME GOES FOR
FOOD. IN RUSSIA, THE FIGURE IS 50 PERCENT. IN FRANCE IT IS 31 PERCENT
AND IN ASIA, IT IS ABOUT 75 TO 80 PERCENT (BASED ON DISPOSABLE INCOME).
(2) ON THE AVERAGE, ONE PERSON IN UNITED STATES AGRICULTURE TODAY
SUPPLIES ABUNDANTLY THE FOOD AND FIBER NEEDS FOR HIMSELF AND 42 OTHER
PERSONS, COMPARED WITH 26 IN 1960, AND ONLY 10 PERSONS 30 YEARS AGO.
BETWEEN 1950 AND 1965, OUTPUT PER MAN HOUR ROSE NEARLY THREE TIMES AS
FAST AS IN NON-FARMING OCCUPATIONS.
(3) TODAY FIVE PERCENT OF THE PEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES PRODUCE
ENOUGH FOOD AND FIBER FOR THE OTHER 95 PERCENT.
(4) AMERICAN AGRICULTURE HAS PRODUCED AND IS PRODUCING FOOD
CHEAPER -- IN TERMS OF AN HOURS'S LABOR -- THAN HAS EVER BEEN DONE BY
MAN.
HERE'S WHAT WE MEAN: BACK IN 1920, WHEN A PERSON WENT TO THE
GROCERY STORE AND BOUGHT A POUND OF STEAK, A POUND OF PORK, A QUART
OF MILK, A DOZEN ORANGES AND A 10-POUND SACK OF POTATOES, IT TOOK THE
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PAGE FIVE
PAY FROM FOUR HOURS AND TWENTY-NINE MINUTES OF WORK TO PAY FOR IT.
TODAY, TO PURCHASE THE SAME ITEMS IT TAKES ONLY ONE HOUR AND THIRTY
MINUTES OF WORK BY THE AVERAGE AMERICAN CONSUMER.
(5) AN HOUR'S WORK TODAY BUYS 25 PERCENT MORE PORK, 20 PERCENT
MORE BEEF, 13 PERCENT MORE POTATOES, 20 PERCENT MORE MILK AND 40 PERCENT
MORE EGGS THAN IT DID IN THE LATE 1950'S ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL
LIVE STOCK AND MEAT. BOARD. COMPARED TO INCOME, FOOD IS STILL AMERICA'S
BEST VALUE.
(6) AGRICULTURE HAS FURNISHED THE GREAT NUMBERS OF MEN AND WOMEN
THAT HAVE SUPPLIED OUR GROWING CITIES, BUILT THE HOMES, FACTORIES AND
STORES, FILLED THE NEW HOUSES WITH FAMILIES, MANNED AND DIRECTED THE
FACTORIES OF INDUSTRY. IT'S THE SURPLUS OF YOUNG PEOPLE THAT ARE
CLOTHED, FED, TRAINED AND EDUCATED BY THE FAMILIES OF RURAL AND SMALL
TOWN AMERICA THAT HAS PROVIDED THE NEW SOURCE OF PLENTY FOR OUR CITIES.
IT'S BEEN ESTIMATED BY ONE UNIVERSITY THAT IT TAKES A MINIMUM OF $25,000
TO $30,000 TO EDUCATE, CLOTHE AND CARE FOR A CHILD UNTIL THE AGE OF 18
YEARS. YOU CAN SEE THAT TO A LARGE MEASURE, IT'S THE RURAL AND SMALL
TOWN AREAS THAT HAVE BEEN SUBSIDIZING THE CITIES.
THE BIG PROBLEM IS THAT WE HAVE NOT YET ACTUALLY HIT THE CONSUMERS'
"HOT BUTTON, AS RED MOTLEY WOULD SAY, IN TELLING THE TRUE STORY ABOUT
AMERICA'S FARMERS AND FOOD PRODUCTION. THE AVERAGE CITY HOUSEWIFE
APPARENTLY COULD NOT CARE LESS THAT INFLATION IS HITTING FARMERS HARDER
THAN ALMOST ANY OTHER GROUP, EXCEPT THOSE WITH FIXED INCOMES. SHE JUST
DOES NOT RESPOND TO OUR CITING FIGURES THAT SHOW IN 20 YEARS PRICES TO
FARMERS ACTUALLY HAVE DECLINED WHILE WAGES AND FRINGE BENEFITS IN THE
TRADES HAVE RISEN TREMENDOUSLY.
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PAGE SIX
WE COULD ASK THE URBANITE HOUSEWIFE WHY IT IS THAT A FARMER
WITH A $200,000 INVESTMENT IS LUCKY TO NET $8,000, WHILE A TRADESMAN
WITH NO INVESTMENT USUALLY DOES BETTER. WE COULD EXPLAIN THE FARMERS'
LOW RETURN ON INVESTMENT IN DETAIL, BUT VERY LIKELY SHE WOULD NOT BE
PARTICULARLY INTERESTED, OR WOULD NOT EVEN LISTEN. WE COULD TELL
HER THAT THE LOW PRICES RECEIVED BY FARMERS, PLUS THE EVER HIGHER
PRICES THEY PAY, ARE DRIVING MANY OF THEM OFF OF THE FARMS AND INTO
THE CITIES TO FIND WORK. THESE THINGS ARE NOT OF GREAT INTEREST TO
HER BECAUSE SHE, TOO, IS HIT BY THE INFLATION SPIRAL AND HAS HER
PROBLEMS. YET, FOR THE SAKE OF THE FARMERS, FARM-RELATED BUSINESSES
AND IN THE END, THE CONSUMERS THEMSELVES, WE MUST FIND A WAY TO TELL
THIS STORY.
DID YOU KNOW THAT TODAY WE ARE EATING NEARLY TWICE AS MUCH BEEF
AND POULTRY AS TWENTY YEARS AGO? WE ARE CONSUMING MORE FRUITS,
VEGETABLES, FISH AND CHEESE, PLUS A SMORGASBORD OF INSTANT FOODS, HEAT-
AND-SERVE MEALS AND OTHER WORK-SAVING "CONVENIENCE" FOODS. THE PLAIN
AND SIMPLE TRUTH IS THAT AMERICANS NOW ENJOY A BIGGER PORTION OF
BETTER FOODS FOR A SMALLER PORTION OF THE PAYCHECK THAN EVER BEFORE IN
HISTORY. NOWHERE ELSE IS FOOD so GOOD, SO EASY-TO-PREPARE, SO PLENTIFUL ---
AT SO LITTLE COST. OKAY, NOW YOU ALL GO HOME AND TRY TO TELL YOUR WIVES
THIS STORY AND THEY'LL PROBABLY SAY "HOGWASH" TO YOU.
BY NOW YOU CAN SEE THE DILEMMA THAT WE IN AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-
BUSINESS ARE FACED WITH. WE HAVE AN IMPORTANT STORY THAT SHOULD BE TOLD.
WE HAVE INDISPUTABLE FACTS TO PROVE OUR. CASE. WE HAVE TALENTED AGRI-
CULTURALLY-ORIENTED PEOPLE TO HELP TELL THE STORY. WE HAVE PEOPLE AND
COMPANIES TELLING THE STORY NOW. BUT, WE HAVE AN AUDIENCE THAT HAS
ITS OWN DESIRES, INTERESTS, MOTIVATIONS AND PROBLEMS THAT SEEM TO
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PAGE SEVEN
ALWAYS COME FIRST.
THE CONSUMERS OF AMERICA HAVE TAKEN SPECTACULAR RISES IN COSTS
OF ALL OTHER FACTORS IN THE COST OF LIVING INDEX WITH VERY LITTLE
NOTICE, IF ANY -- BUT A MODEST RISE IN THE COST OF FOOD MAKES BIG
HEADLINES. WE HAVE HAD BEEF BOYCOTTS, EGG BOYCOTTS AND ALL SORTS OF
MIS-DIRECTED CONSUMER ACTIONS TAKING PLACE DURING THE LAST COUPLE
OF YEARS.
CONSUMERS ARE VITALLY AWARE OF FOOD. IT IS A PRIME NECESSITY.
IT IS CONSUMED EVERY DAY. IN ONE SENSE IT IS A NUISANCE THAT GETS IN
THE WAY OF PLANS TO PURCHASE A NEW COLOR TELEVISION SET, A CAR, OR A
VACATION. WHAT THE CONSUMER SEEMS TO OVERLOOK IS THAT HIS PERSONAL
INCOME IS RISING FASTER THAN THE COST OF FOOD. ACCORDING TO THE FEDERAL
RESERVE BANK IN CHICAGO, THE PERSONAL INCOME AFTER TAXES FROM ALL SOURCES
ROSE ALMOST 8 PERCENT IN 1968. THIS IS WELL ABOVE THE AVERAGE GAIN
FOR THE PAST 20 YEARS. AVERAGE PRICES PAID BY CONSUMERS ROSE 4 PERCENT.
FARMERS ARE DEEPLY TROUBLED AND SOMEWHAT FRUSTRATED OVER THE
CURRENT NEGATIVE ATTITUDE TOWARD AGRICULTURE IN THE U. S. AND THE PUBLIC'S
FAILURE TO RECOGNIZE THEIR CONTRIBUTION. ALL OF US INVOLVED WITH
FARMING AND FARM-RELATED BUSINESSES ARE GOING TO HAVE TO GIVE SOME
DEEP THOUGHT AND SOME TIME TO TRYING TO OVERCOME THIS COMMUNICATIONS
PROBLEM.
EDWIN M. WHEELER, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL PLANT FOOD INSTITUTE,
TOLD A GROUP OF FARM EDITORS THE FOLLOWING FACTS, "TWENTY YEARS IS TOO
LONG FOR AGRIBUSINESS TO SIT ASIDE AND CLUCK ITS TONGUE AT THE FARMERS
COST-PRICE STRUGGLE, IN WHICH ITS OWN EXISTENCE IS AT STAKE, WITHOUT
WHOLEHEARTEDLY JOINING THE FIGHT." HE WENT ON TO SAY, "MANY BUSINESSES
DEPEND ON FARMERS COMPLETELY FOR THEIR PRODUCT SALES, AND YET THE WORKING
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PAGE EIGHT
FORCE OF THAT BUSINESS AND THEIR FAMILIES RARELY REALIZE HOW CLOSELY
THEIR LIVELIHOOD IS TIED TO THE FORTUNES OF AGRICULTURE."
IT HAS BEEN ESTIMATED THAT THREE OUT OF EVERY TEN JOBS IN PRIVATE
EMPLOYMENT IN THE U.S. ARE RELATED TO AGRICULTURE. EIGHT OUT OF TEN
WORKING PEOPLE IN IOWA ARE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY INVOLVED WITH
AGRICULTURE ACCORDING TO GOVERNOR RAY. EIGHT MILLION PEOPLE HAVE JOBS
STORING, PROCESSING AND MERCHANDISING THE PRODUCTS OF AGRICULTURE.
OVER SIX MILLION PEOPLE HAVE JOBS PROVIDING GOODS, EQUIPMENT AND
SERVICES FARMERS USE. FARMING ITSELF EMPLOYS SLIGHTLY OVER FIVE MILLION
WORKERS, MORE THAN THE COMBINED EMPLOYMENT IN TRANSPORTATION, PUBLIC
UTILITIES, THE STEEL INDUSTRY AND THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY.
THESE NINETEEN MILLION-PLUS WORKING PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILIES,
WHOSE LIVELIHOODS ARE DIRECTLY AND INDIRECTLY. TIED TO THE FINANCIAL
SUCCESS OF AGRICULTURE, CAN FORM A NUCLEUS TO BEGIN TO HELP IMPROVE
COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL PEOPLE. IN THE MONTHS AND YEARS
AHEAD WE HOPE TO BE ABLE TO BETTER MOTIVATE THESE PEOPLE TO START TELL-
ING THE TRUE STORY OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. ALL OF THESE PEOPLE ARE
CONSUMERS, LIKE EACH OF YOU ARE AND LIKE I AM. SO EACH OF US CAN UNDER-
STAND THE CONSUMERS' SITUATION AND THUS SHOULD BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE
WITH THEM ABOUT WHAT AGRICULTURE IS DOING FOR AMERICA AND FOR THEM.
THANK YOU.
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Speech Introduction Material
John W. Megown
2190 Northview Drive
Marion, Iowa
1. Formerly a professional animal nutritionist, he now is Vice President
and Director of Communications with Vigortone Products Company, Cedar
Rapids. He is a 15-year veteran in the agricultural industries.
2. Holds three degrees:
a. A.S., Zoology - Hannibal-LaGrange College.
b. A.B., Zoology - University of Missouri.
C. M.S., Animal Nutrition - University of Missouri.
3. Other training:
a. Studied Marketing at Chicago Grain Exchange Institute.
b. Studied Advertising at Northwestern University.
4. Special activities:
a.
First Vice-President (President-elect) of the National Feed
Ingredients Association. Formerly N.F.I.A.'s Vice-President
for Public Affairs (also a Director).
b. Agri-Business Coordinating Group - U. S. Department of Agriculture.
C. National Coordinator - Public Affairs Council for American
Agriculture.
d. Agriculture Advisory Committee - Iowa Development Commission.
e. Iowa Chairman - National FFA Foundation, Inc. Sponsoring Committee.
f. Cedar Rapids Agricultural Executives Forum - Served as first
Chairman.
g. Agricultural Relations Council.
h. Agricultural Careers Committee - National Agricultural Advertising
and Marketing Association.
i. National Association of Farm Broadcasters.
j. Executive Committee of Agricultural Bureau - Cedar Rapids Chamber
of Commerce.
k. Member-at-Large of Hawkeye Area Council - Boy Scouts of America
(an Eagle Scout).
1. Charter Member of Marion-East Cedar Rapids Rotary Club.
5. Awards:
a. Dictionary of International Biography's "Certificate of Merit" -
"For Distinguished Service to Animal Science" - 1967.
b. N.A.A.M.A. "First Award" - as producer of best agricultural
product film strip - 1968.
C. "Two Thousand Men of Achievement Award" - 1969.
d. "Community Leader of America Award" - 1969.
e. "Member of Eminent Distinction" - National Register of Prominent
Americans - 1969.
6. Biographical entries:
a. WHO'S WHO in the Midwest (1966, 1968).
b. American Men of Science (1968).
C. Dictionary of International Biography (1967).
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
PUBLIC AFFAIRS COUNCIL FOR AMERICAN AGRICULTURE
2190 Northview Drive
Marion, Iowa 52302
PURPOSES:
(1) To obtain better publicity for agriculture generally.
(2) To help restore pride of farmers and ranchers in their
Agricultural Heritage.
PROJECTS (Current and Future) :
(1) Develop effective service club speeches - PAC leaders
initially give these talks and then copies are circulated
to key individuals.
(2) Develop effective pride-building speeches for farmer
groups - PAC leaders give these talks and then copies are
circulated to key individuals.
(3) Communications to legislators - PAC leaders write to
thank Federal and State officials and legislators for speak-
ing out on behalf of agriculture and urge them to continue
to do so.
(4) Help to generate more interest in publicity activities
with key agri-industry trade associations and general business
associations - examples are National Feed Ingredient Associa-
tion's "Truth About Agriculture" Campaign and National Federa-
tion of Independent Business' talks by their Public Relations
Director, Ed Wimmer.
(5) Try to generate more interest on the part of individual
farm-related businesses in helping to tell the farmers' story -
an example is Vigortone Products Company's broad-scope "FARM
PRODUCTS NATIONAL PROMOTION.' "
(6) Work closely with several key individual newspaper farm
editors and farm broadcasters - the Farm Editor of the Cedar
Rapids GAZETTE and the Farm Services Director of WMT Stations
test new ideas and publicity material.
(7) Supply agri-industry trade publication editors with in-
formation about farm publicity activities.
(8) Help to develop activities with key agricultural comunica-
tions organizations - recently the National Association of
Farm Broadcasters endorsed the purposes of PAC.
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PAGE TWO
(9) Attempt to generate interest with prominent local-level
agri-businessmen in forming "Agricultural Executives Forums"
in major agri-industry cities across the United States - the
Cedar Rapids Agricultural Executives Forum was formed on
December 15, 1969. This discussion group is the first of its
kind.
(10) Correspondence with general business publication editors
and city newspaper editors urging more stories about rural
development, agriculture and agri-business. It has been
estimated that 40 percent of the population of the United
States now are engaged in producing, packaging and distributing
and selling food and fiber. Agri-business is certainly no
minority group.
(11) Other projects in the developmental stages include:
(a) Working with key agricultural college professors.
(b) Developing a liaison with National Future Farmers
of America Organization.
(c) Working with rural ministers.
John W. Megown
National Coordinator
Reproduced at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum