University of Delaware - Blue Hen Yearbook (Newark, DE)

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GABRIEL KOLKO Secrecy Is used to preserve the facade of decency, especially when foul deeds are being committed. REFLECTIONS ON THE 'CRISIS' by Eileen Dutka reprinted from The Review Ms. Dutka is a sophomore psychology major who is the Assistant Features Editor for The Review, the campus newspaper. In September the list looked almost unbelievable. Senator Sam. The man who leaked the Pentagon Pap- ers. The man who uncovered Watergate. A White House enemy from CBS News. A former U.S. Attorney General. In all, there were seven U.S. senators, eight journalists, four U.S. representatives and seven other public figures. The Crisis in Confidence is over and those of us who were a part of the series walked out of the 24th lecture with a new sense of how this thing called Watergate got started and why it got as far as it did. Ferhaps for the first time in the sordid conglomeration of lies, counter-lies, inoperative statements and plumber operations, the whole picture began to develop . . CARL ROWAN The crisis in confidence found its well spring within you and will be there as long as you really don't give a damn. We don't nead a Watergate to know we face a crisis. 18

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RAMSEY CLARK never bugged anyone To many, the Watergate script characterizes what they always suspected was political reality. Now it is perceptible. The adage that all politicians are crooks is difficult to discredit. Still, a majority of the public is out of touch with Watergate. The focal point seems to depend on what the symbols of probity and morality dictate. Right now these symbols are the antitheses of the Republican party, how- ever unfair and unjust that may be. But they must not be allowed to become an indictment of our system of government. Watergate, per se, will be very therapeutic and beneficial in the long run. If nothing else, it has emphasized and even dramatized the fact that all is not well in Washington and in this country. An abiding interest must be maintained now, because public apathy is one of the sources of Watergate in the first place. At this juncture in our relatively short history, we proudly lay claim to the longest surviving democracy the world has ever seen and we characterize ourselves as the stalwarts of a free society, emphasiz- ing the advantages of human dignity, justice for all and man's ina- lienable right to govern himself. Let us live up to these tenets by being rational and cool and not vindictive, vicious and even destruc- tive with regard to Watergate and its ramifications.

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EDMUND MUSKIE The greatest strength of American democracy has always been the engagement of con- cerned citizens in the periodic renewal and reform of the basic contract that holds us together as a nation. Exploiting those individual energies for the common good, we build a uniquely successful experiment in popular rule. Now to restore confidence, we have to seek active consent again, to concentrate for a time less on grandeur and more on decency. From dirty tricks played on Ed Muskie to obscenities leveled by John Mitchell at a Washington Post reporter, to Ramsey Clark's pained question, What about the law?,' the Crisis in Confidence series took a year's sup- ply of complicated data and fit it all together. Even if we grew tired of going to the Field House or Clayton Hall several times a week, it seemed worth the effort. Listening to Dan Ellsberg explain the Pentagon Papers was more interesting than reading them in the New York Times. Hearing Dan Schorr explain the FBI's investigation of his life made the enemies' list look much more dangerous. Of course, trying to take in so much of a good thing in one big bite made some things hard to swallow. We had to listen to Fourth of July oratory on the need for renewed political participation and patriotism. We heard a fresh supply of Watergate jokes every 20 week, with few repeaters late in the semester. We strained our ears because of the acoustics in the Field House and some overheard the frustrated mumbl- ings of one of Dr. Harward's assistants: They ought to burn this place down and start over again. We came to recognize the ''regulars, those who asked a gquestion of each speaker. And, maybe, some of us wearied of hearing the words Crisis in Confidence. Yet, there was great value in the series; value em- phasized by the attitudes of usually more than 600 who attended every lecture. Value in that polite applause was not necessary, most speakers received, and de- served, generous audience response. There was value in the amount of information and volume of opinion circu- lated in one semester. We heard Richard Nixon described in arrogant,