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

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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,

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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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JAMES MACGREGOR BURNS jocular and sneering phrases. David Schoenbrun cal- led him the most extensive liar of them all. Senator Frank Church reminded us, ''He is not above the law. Representative Philip Crane, a conservative, felt betrayed' by the President. Michael Harrington summed up his feelings with l don't think we can tolerate the man any longer. But those remarks, far from being purely emotional and irrational responses to administrative acts, were explained, clarified, and given meaning. Impeach- ment was regarded seriously by each speaker and was not just a word thrown in to add sensation. Even I.LF. Stone, perhaps the most anti-Nixon spokesman, cringed when the crowd applauded his call for im- peachment, adding in a sad, sober voice, it was an occasion for thought, not applause. With all the information, the opinion, the answers and the ideas dissolved into the minds of particip- ants, the Crisis in Confidence series may be remem- bered for something else. It gave the university something it didn't have last semester, or last year: a sense that the academic en- vironment does not remove a student, or a professor, from the real world and, sooner or later, ignorance of the actions of that world will prove fatal to liberty. FRANK CHURCH