Indiana University - Arbutus Yearbook (Bloomington, IN)

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. and other issues from August September i Nixon Resigns Richard Nixon, in his 37th television appear- ance as President, said in minutes what the world had expected for days. He resigned. Twenty-one months earlier, he and Spiro Agnew had been elected to ofifice. During that time, things just didn ' t go well, or maybe they went too well and that is why they both had to give up. It was historical. It was hysterical. It was also horrible. As more evidence mounted against the President an acidic frustration penetrated the country. For the first time in the history of Time magazine, an editorial appeared asking for his resignation. The conservative Chicago Tribune, among other newspapers, carried editorials asking for a new start. Those who were laughing, did so because they could not cry anymore. When the taped conversation between Nixon and Hunt about hush money revealed the now famous ' For Christ ' s sake, get it, the evidence became too much for Nixon to con- tinue his term. The entire Watergate syndrome had taken on farcial qualities. Thus, on August 9th, at noon, Nixon was out and Gerry Ford was in. Ford Pardons Nixon Most Americans liked Gerald Ford. He had that simple I played football in college charisma. After the events of the previous months, this nice guy from Michigan was a wel- come change in the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue clientele. On a Sunday in early September, as people centered their interests upon football games, whether or not Evel was going to kill himself and the various other activities that Americans partake in during weekends, Gerald Ford granted a full pardon to Richard Nixon. I cannot prolong the bad dreams that continue to reopen a chapter that is closed, he said in a statement to the American public. Bang. Overnight, Ford ' s popularity went down to comparable levels of his predecessor you-know- who. The White House began to receive the first of 30,000 letters and telegrams in opposi- tion to the action. The Watergate defendants demanded a mistrial and a dismissal of their in- dividual cases. A month later. President Ford went before a House sub-committee to emphasize that there had been no deal between he and Richard Nixon. Somebody got their signals crossed on that last play, Gerry. Uncle Sam Wants You Back In a speech given to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Ford issued a proclamation of amnesty to Vietnam war deserters and resisters. Ford offered the theoretical 28,000 men a chance of earned re-entry back into the United States. The plan called for a board of four colo- nels to review each case individually and decide upon a time span (not exceeding two years) in which they would perform alternate service. The conditional amnesty was met with ela- tion as well as damnation. People who fought in the war felt they had been used, people who didn ' t fight in the war and resisted induction for moral reasons felt they had been used, and peo- ple who were concerned about future draft situa- tions were concerned about its effectiveness. 24

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Flea (?) Market Ever wonder how the word, flea got into the term flea market ! ' ' It ' s just one of those things a person can ' t help wondering about. Well, how about a hypothesis? Years ago when people gathered in the streets of town to get rid of various unneeded items, they might have given them away, thus the word free. So tar so good. As the practice caught on in different countries, the accents were changed as a result of the dif- ferent languages. Eventually the word free changed to the word flea when it came over on the boat. Voila, a flea market. Before you react with guffaws, remember that Aristole said that anything is possible. There- fore, the emphasis must be placed upon the probable. Aristode can do anything. At People ' s Park (a grassy field across from Dunnkirk Square) the shoppers, sightseers and the bargain hunters were treated to a variety of items, some used, some new, all inexpensive. The People had their choice of blankets, jew- elry, belts, jeans, albums and just about anything else a person might need ... no fleas by the way. RiiharJ Hickma)! ihelou i giies advice to hh parents. Leo atiJ Dehbie. in the selection of the best bargain. Les Hershelman left ) gives change to a customer under the watchful eye ofVicki Bartholomy - Photographs David lay

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Evel Knievel If the hero business isn ' t what it used to be — and it isn ' t — there has never been a better met- aphorical statement on its dedine than the loss of innoncence of Evel Knievel. Not only did Knievel fail to jump the Snake River Canyon as promised, he didn ' t even have the decency to die on cue. It was to have been The Event of the Centu- ry, man ' s first attempt to jump a canyon by the so-called last of the gladiators. An estimated 39,000 persons streamed into farmer Tim Quails ' pasture to witness the event, and more than a million more watched worldwide on closed circuit TV. But Knievel ' s Sky Cycle spat out is drogue parachute on takeoff, and the canyon-shot ended not with a bang but with a whimper. The machine, which whooshed off the launching ramp with all the authority of a mooncraft, barely reached an altitude of 1,000 feet before Knievel ' s main chute deployed. As the chute blossomed, the Sky Cycle twisted slowly, slowly in the wind. Then it began its rapid descent, as Knievel struggled frantically with his shoulder harness to bail out. He didn ' t free the harness until the cycle landed on the launch side of the canyon only feet from the Snake River. The crowd at the site, which at first thought the rocket had landed in the river and Knievel had drowned, charged the retaining fences to await the recovery of his body. The closed-cir- cuit replay showed however, that the nose of the rocket ricocheted off a stone ledge and lodged in the mud at the foot of the canyon wall. Knievel never got wet, though he did sustain cuts and scrapes to his face and possible internal injuries. Mr. (Bob) Truax and the other engineers told me that if I saw the canyon wall and not the sky to get out, for chrissakes, grumbled Knievel later. I sat in that thing and gave it my best. I don ' t know what I ' m going to do now. After the immediate outpouring of concern tor his safety, the crowd began to get ugly. Many of the predominately young, predominantly stoned crowd booed Knievel for failing, and only a thousand or so remained at the site after his recovery by a pleasure-boatmg doctor. ' When Knievel threw his walking cane into the crowd of stragglers around the launching ramp, a dozen ot them grappled like savages for the stick. Two people were trampled — though not seriously — in the melee. Las Vegas oddsmaker Jimmy the Greek Snyder was one of the light-weight celebrities that showed up for the jump, and he was one of the few whose skepticism was mitigated by the aborted jump. I thought the whole thing was a joke, said Snyder, but after listening to ABC news com- mentator Jules Bergman and those guys I thought he was nuts. Now I just think he ' s the luckiest guy in the world. If that buggy had drifted just a couple of feet more in either direc- tion he would have either drowned or been splattered all over the canyon wall. Snyder, who refused to give odds on a possible second try because it ain ' t nice to make odds on somebody ' s life, waxed philosophical about the outcome. It was the best thing that could have happened, he said. It showed that the thing was capable of malfunctioning, and that he could have been killed. I imagine he ' ll chuckle all the way to the bank. Knievel stands to gross — an appropriate verb in this case — about $6 million from the live and television gates and assorted souvenir enterprises surrounding the event. That figures out to roughly SI million for every five seconds he was in the air. Knievel refused to speculate on whether he will try the jump again, but the prevailing karma seemed against it. There was too much talk of a rip-off, and not much interest in a Son of Snake River Canyon. Search and Seizure Ah, the evils of vices ... - Is the ' W.T.C.U. influencing Safety? Or is it the Indiana thou shalt not drink on Sunday law being taken to extremes? ' Whatever the reason, it there is a reason, many student voiced disapproval at their being searched for alcohol and drugs outside lU facilities. After purses and personal possessions were searched at the Beach Boys concert, the question on the limits of personal rights was brought up. An IDS cover story went into detail describing how students could go about suing the university for violation of rights. Safety ' Ofticials expressed regret for the searches and Thomas Schreck, Dean of Students, stated the searches wouldn ' t happen again. But the searches took place elsewhere besides Assembly Hall. Outside the gates to football games, students and alumni were checked for team spirit. Parking lot parties were tolerable, but not inside the stadium. Somebody ought to design a Winnebago with closed-circuit television. CHECK fOINTl f r:i;iT ' 3 -r- tiT rl, Dan L nch 25