October 22, 1969

Moratorium A Flop; Exposes ‘New Left’

The recent "moratorium" finally made clear to me the motivation for continuing protest against the Vietnam War.  Politics.

A new and vicious form of annihilistic politics for America - but the age-old drive for special power and privilege that has torn Europe apart for centuries.

It is called the New Left and parades under a smoke screen of concern for the underprivileged and exploited.  But this is a sham that has been exposed by the moratorium.

Thank God - and I use the expletive carefully - you can't fool all the people all the time.

Despite the frenzied efforts of the daily press and television commentators to pump excitement into the moratorium, the event was a flop.

"Millions Protest War," said the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  "A great outpouring," said a Channel 5 newscaster.  "A day of national mourning," sobbed the Akron Beacon Journal.  Clever propagandists they may be, but they are a long way from journalists.

The facts are - when the breathless rhetoric has cooled - is that AT MOST a million persons took part in varying degrees in the moratorium.  This, out of a population of 200 million.

Biggest crowd was in Boston where 90,000 people jammed the Common to demonstrate.  A crowd of 30,000 led by Coretta King, widow of Rev. Martin Luther King, lit candles in front of the White House.

In Cleveland, New York and Detroit several thousand tireless protestors marched from one contrived event to another.  By day's end enthusiastic organizers had added up the multiple appearances, doubled them for good measure, and proclaimed 75,000 people had taken part.

It became amusing to read in the press that "more than" such-and-such a number had taken part in this or that event.  Always "more than."  Never "approximately" or "estimated" or "about."  An interesting, Freudian slip of the typewriter.

Taking the inflated figures of the moratorium officials at face value, it still is difficult to come up to a million participants.  The event was ignored throughout the south and most, of the midwest.  Only a few colleges got a little carried away, but not nearly as much as expected.

The news photos and television pictures, divorced from their slanted editorial content, gave us a true picture.  Hippies, raggly misfits, kids not yet dry behind the ears.

Oh, to be sure, there were a few self-styled intellectuals and diviners circulating on the fringes.  For the most part, however, we saw the same motley crew we have learned to discount.

The cast of characters is becoming familiar:

SUBVERSIVES - This a nasty, but apparently small, group in direct contact with Russia and Hanoi.  Published correspondence indicate these hard-core radicals peddle treason in order to speed a U.S. defeat.  These are the ones who pass out, Viet Cong flags and guns to the dupes but never carry them themselves.

NEUROTICS - These protest for the sake of being against something.  If it wasn't the Vietnam war it would be any disciplinary action of authority.  These are the hippies, militants, and racists.

CHICKEN DRAFTEES - No one likes to go to war, but those who trust their elected leaders do  their duty to fight if it becomes necessary.  By making a case that the war is frivolous, and even immoral, the coward disguises his white streak with a mantle of righteousness.  These are the draft card burners and recruiting office window breakers.

BLEEDING HEARTS - In this category we find the churchmen and the sincere folks who are appalled at the killing.  These deserve our sympathy because all of us likewise feel their frustration.  They read long lists of war dead in public places, carry candles, and ring bells.  They wear their hearts on their sleeve and condemn those of us who carry our burdens quietly.

MISLED - These are well meaning people who believe that if you wish for something hard enough it will be so.  These are the appeasers, the fawners, the foolish.  In every society, these have been the harbingers of decay.  They have forgotten the past and ignore the future.

SEARCHERS - Another small group honestly trying to find a way out of what appears to be a hopeless situation.  Intervention and escalation were mistakes, but the solution to peace is unknown.  These people soon move on, generally back to the ballot box and new, national leaders.

CURIOUS - A very large group of young people.  They are testing their intellect or just want to be close to the action.  Normal and patriotic but a bit of a nuisance.

DEMAGOGUES - Here we find the political opportunist trying desperately to feather his own nest.  Some, like New York Mayor John Lindsay and New York Senator Charles Goodell are on the skids and hope to salvage their careers by what they believe to be popular appeal.  Their mistake is that war protestors are a minority whose noise makes them appear numerous.

A new breed of politicians are attempting to weld the unlikely cast of characters into a political force - a true third party that will in time supplant either or both the Republicans and Democrats.

In this category are moratorium leaders Sam Brown, David Hawk and David Mixner - all prominent campaigners for Senator Eugene McCarthy.  They coordinated the efforts of a group described by themselves as "McCarthy - Kennedy liberals."

It is ironic that they castigate President Nixon for a Vietnam policy they vainly tried to sell to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago hardly more than a year ago.  They helped drive President Johnson out of office because of his war stance.  Nixon bought the dove program - bombing halt, unilateral withdrawal and coalition government - only to find this made him a "fascist."

The New Left does not want achievement on the part of the establishment.  It wants nothing less than removal of the establishment.  And it isn't squeamish about how it goes about this odious task.

Sleep with subversives and neurotics?  A detail.

Pull down the law and society?  Good.

Revolution?  So be it.

This is the strategy of the National Mobilization Committee, the Students for Democratic Society, Political Action for Peace Committee ad naseum.

However, the moratorium was too much too soon.  Being negative in approach it helped America not at all - and probably has tripped up the overeager New Left.

Author: Lindsey Williams