KENNAN CALLS UNITED STATES-SOVIET DETENTE PURE MADNESS

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September 30, 1968
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Approved For Release 2005/08/03 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300190032-0 September 30, 1968 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE applies to all non-network business, both programs and announcements, both "plans" and frequency discount structures, both radio and television. Additionally, it was an- nounced that all Storer stations have been instructed to intensify their efforts in ar- ranging interview panels and other. mean- ingful appearances of candidates for major offices within the permissible limits of Sec- tion 315 restrictions and - sound program- ming. (The law currently provides that polit- ical rates can be no higher than comparable commercial rates. The thrust of this policy would make them 25% less than commercial rates.) The decision and announcement are in direct response to the recent recommenda- tion of Chairman Rosel Hyde of the Federal Communications Commission and other sim- ilar comments from government officials com- menting on the high cost of campaigning and the need of the,campaigners to reach more people. "In all honesty we do not know what the results of this discount will be as far as the candidates themselves are concerned," stated Michaels, "but under the circum- stances we felt that it was in order to make a simple, concise and meaningful con- cession in the direction requested. We do know that it will reflect direct out-of-pocket loss of revenue to the stations, for during the closing weeks of the campaign the television stations in particular, operate on virtually a complete sold-out basis, with or without the discount, and this will simply mean less revenue per spot or program used. "We feel that in many respects television is being incorrectly blamed for creating high costs of campaigning, whereas the truth of the matter is that the increased amounts spent are the result of the known efficiency of radio and television in reaching the pub- lic. These expenditures are larger because the candidates are using the medium in larger quantities than ever before by choice. The candidates with the most serious problem, of course, are those for the local or regional offices, and we hope that this move will in some degree facilitate their use of local radio and television, even though it is at a net financial cost to the station. "We are not looking for old medals or halos. Business is good, and our stations as a whole are doing well. Our move is made as a gesture of cooperation, not of charity or rate-cutting. We hope that it will be pro- ductive for the candidates alid the public, and if the results so indicate, we will give serious consideration to the application of the principle on a permanent basis." The Storer Broadcasting Company sta- tions are: WJBK and WJBK-TV, Detroit; WJW, WCJW and WJW-TV, Cleveland; WSPD and WSPD-TV, Toledo; WAGA-TV, Atlanta; WITI-TV, Milwaukee; WSBK-TV, Boston; WHN, New York; WIBG, Philadel- phia; WGBS, Miami; and KGBS, Los Angeles. WILL HUBERT HUMPHREY REPUDIATE L. B. J.? Mr. MUNDT. Mr. President, many of Vice President HUMPHREY'S "fair weather friends" are proposing that he turn his back on his great benefactor, L. B. J., and repudiate both him and his conduct of the war. I ask unanimous consent to have printed at this point in the RECORD a news release on this subject issued by me yesterday. There being no objection, the news re- lease was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows: NEWS RELEASE BY SENATOR MUNDT WASHINGTON, D.C.-In a statement issued from his office here Sunday afternoon, Sena- tor Karl Mundt (R. S.D.), a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, ex- pressed disappointment over the fact that UN Ambassador George Ball "resigned from hi; urgent responsibilities at the United Na- tions almost on the very day of his confirma- tion by the Senate and thus placed his inter- est in partisan politics above his sense of service to the high office to which he was so recently appointed." Mundt said, "In Seeking- a valid reason for this quick switch from diplomacy to partisan politics, I presume it must be that President Johnson has been viewing with steadily in- creasing dismay the series of vacillating and contradictory Statements of his auditors along the campaign trail. Consequently it appears the President has arranged for a switch of American Ambassadors to the UN so that Mr. Ball can travel with Mr. Hum- phrey in an effort to hold the Vice President to the Administration's position on Vietnam and to eliminate the sly criticisms which have been creeping into Mr. Humphrey's statements. Both in the State Department and more especially at the United Nations, Mr. Ball has been an ardent advocate and a vigorous spokesman in defense of the John- son-Humphrey Administration of our Viet- nam policies and the conduct of the war in Vietnam. So it Seems his assignment as ad- visor to Hubert Humphrey is designed to make sure the Vice President does not waver from the war policies he has helped to evolve and which both he and Mr. Ball have so vigorously supported." "As a long time associate and friend of Mr. Humphrey," however, Mundt added, "I be- lieve the President and our Secretary of State are unduly alarmed over the possibility that Mr. Humphrey will yield to the siren call of the peace-nicks, the doves, the hippies, .the appeasers in Americans for Democratic Ac- tion and others urging him to "come home, Hubert, come home to your former lovers". Hubert is a native son of South Dakota and a man who has spent his life in the Great Middle West and our people have certain characteristics which I feel confident Vice President Humphrey shares. "For example, from my knowledge of Hu- bert, I do not believe that he is a hypocrite. He speaks fast and often but I do not be- lieve he speaks for the purpose of being deceitful. For four years he has been per- haps an even more ardent, devoted, deter- mined and frequent advocate of this Admin- istration's position and policies on Vietnam than has the President himself. I just can not believe he would now repudiate his past speeches, admit he was guilty of hyprocisy, and indict himself as having repeatedly sup- ported a point of view to which he was indi- vidually opposed. "And I have never known Hubert Hum- phrey to manifest cowardice. Having so often and for so long given complete and courage- ous support to the foreign policies and the war time decisions of this Administration and having participated in their formulation, I can not believe he would now run out on his own convictions because of some political fear that to remain consistent might jeopar- dize his personal political fortunes. "Finally, Hubert Humphrey in my opinion is no ingrate. He knows better than anyone -else the tremendous help the devoted friend- ship of Johnson has meant to the success of Humphrey. It was LBJ who selected Hubert as his assistant leader in the Senate and it was LBJ who personally chose Hubert as his running mate at the Atlantic City Demo- cratic Convention. Without these great en- couragements and boosts by LBJ, HHH knows he would today not even be running for the Presidency and I for one just do not believe that in the closing weeks of the political campaign Hubert would drive the dagger of ingratitude into the back of his illustrious and faithful benefactor. "I speak as a Republican and as a long time friend of Dick Nixon's, and as one who is actively supporting Nixon in his great S 11663 campaign for the Presidency. But I do feel that those who do not know Hubert Hum- phrey well or who do not realize the qual- ities of citizenship and the personal char- acteristics which mark the vast majority of people in the Middle West do our Vice Presi- dent a gross injustice in continuing to sug- gest that he now divorce himself from John- son and turn his back on everything for which he has consistently stood for so long. I feel they under estimate Hubert Humphrey when they expect him to do a gross disservice both to his faithful friend, in the White House, his political party, and the power and prestige of the United States in these dan- gerous times by repudiating the Administra- tion of which he is a part and the policies which he helped President Johnson, formu- late and implement. Thus, I doubt the need for George Ball to suddenly quit his post at the United Nations where experienced lead- ership is now so necessary in order to make certain that Hubert Humphrey `stay hitched' as a member of the Johnson-Hum- phrey Administrative team." KENNAN CALLS UNITED STATES- SOVIET DETENTE PURE MADNESS Mr. HRUSKA. Mr. President, since Au- gust 20, 1068, the policymakers in the White House have seen their hopes for a detente between the United States and the Soviet Union dim in the continuing dusk of detention in Central Europe. The small ray of light of emerging free- dom in Czechoslovakia was absorbed in the omnivorous twilight of fear as Soviet- bloc troops occupied that land. Twice before during this term of Con- gress I have argued in this Chamber that the Communist threat to the free world had become greater and not less; that the increased threat was not just mili- tary, or political, or economic, but all of these-a strategic threat. The deliberate subjugation of Czecho- slovakia points up this strategic threat. On September 5 of this year, I reviewed the six major, assumptions underlying the recent attempts of the United States at detente with the Soviet Union. In the sobering aftermath of Czechoslovakia we can see how illusory these tenets of detente are. It was under the delusion of detente that the United States allowed NATO to deteriorate, that we redeployed military forces in Europe, and that we considered substantial troop reductions in Europe. We ignored the precepts for a sound NATO strategy. I urged in my statement on September 5 a thoughtful and serious review of U.S. policy in two critical areas: First, a full-scale conference of North Atlantic Treaty Organization foreign ministers and defense ministers should be convened to review mutual defense arrangements in Europe. Second, concurrently, the United States must review, in depth, its current policy of "bridge building" to the So- viets. I take heart that Secretary of State Dean Rusk has recently proposed to hold a group meeting with the foreign min- isters of the U.S. NATO allies sometime soon in New York, This is a first step. The administration has taken no such preliminary moves, however, to begin a review of the policy of "bridge building" to the Soviets. in fact, President Johnson Approved For Release 2005/08/03 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300190032-0 Approved For Release 2005/08/03 : CIA-RDP70B00338R00030 90 32=0 S 11664 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE ept0ember 30, 1988 still seems to be pursuing the contrary intent of seeking a summit conference with the Soviet leaders. An Associated Press story, printed in many leading newspapers on September 22, 1968, reported on an extensive inter- view with George F. Kennan in which he discussed our strategic needs in Eu- rope today. This story points up the folly of the detente mentality. Mr. Kennan is an eminent authority on U.S. foreign policy and on the Soviet Union. He is generally considered the chief architect of foreign policy during the Truman ad- ministration, and served the United States for more than a quarter of a cen- tury at various top-level posts in the U.S. Foreign Service. Mr. President, I ask unanimous con- sent that this excellent article as pub- lished in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch be printed in the RECORD. There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows: IDEA OF JOHNSON-KREMLIN TALKS DESCRIBED BY AMDASSADOR KENNAN AS MADNESS (By Endre Marton) PRINCETON, N.J., September 21.-The United States should dispatch 100,000 troops to West Germany and then tell the Soviet Union: "We will not take them out until you leave Czechoslovakia," scholar-diplomat George F. Kennan suggests. He describes as "pure madness" any idea of President Lyndon B. Johnson meeting with Russian leaders under present circumstances. "What respect would the Russians pay to the word of a lame duck president? What has Mr. Johnson to offer them? It is a bad policy to go and plead with people when you have no cards in your hands, no carrot and no stick," Kennan said in an interview. Kennan, regarded by many as the top American authority on Communism, strong- ly questtoied that there would be a detente or relaxation of tensions between East and West. "I have never understood this talk about detente," Kennan said. "I have not seen any evidence of detente and I wouldn't trust any so-called detente if it is not supported by free contacts between governments and peoples." An atmosphere of co-operation with the Soviet Union, he explained, "simply doesn't exist. Their conspiratorial method of diplo- matic action cannot create such an atmos- phere." NUCLEAR WEAPONRY There has been some progress in the field of nuclear weaponry and the nonprolifera- tion issue, Kennan said. But he went on: "This is not detente. This is simply the dic- tate of obvious and bitter situation, present- ing danger for both. An agreement on non- proliferation can be concluded without af- fecting our general political relations. The real test of relations would be if the Soviets permitted normal contacts between peoples. "Any real detente," he said, "would have to begin with agreement on the future of Eastern and Central Europe. But I don't see that anything has changed in this respect, or that we would be any closer to the solu- tion of the German problem." Kerman said, in reference to published reports that Mr. Johnson still wanted to meet with Russian leaders: "The suggestion of such a meeting at this time smacks of one of the .worst phenomena of American diplomacy in earlier years, namely: the abuse of external relations of our people as a Whole for the domestic- political advantage of a single faction or party. The idea of the President's going to Russia at this time strikes me as pure mad- ness." WHAT TOPIC? What would Mr. Johnson discuss with the Russians? Kennan asked. "Germany? There has been no preparation with our allies. The President has nothing new to offer and nothing to suggest. Viet- nam? The Russians have warned us a hun- dred times that Vietnam is a burden on our relations. Is Mr. Johnson in a position to fold up the Vietnam war? I do not think so. And the Russians really cannot undertake to speak for Ho Chi Minh. Perhaps they could use their influence with him but not when they are put on the spot by all the publicity of a summit meeting." Although talking in scholarly terms, Ken- nan did not conceal his emotions when he discussed the Czech invasion. In 1938, after the Munich conference where Britain and France sacrificed Czechoslovakia to appease Hitler, Kennan was assigned to the Prague legation and six months later he witnessed the Nazi occupation of that country. "The Russians did not intervene in Czech- oslovakia to re-establish a military balance. They intervened because of their internal weakness," he said. NO CHALLENGE TO PACT "It is againsj the rules of the game for them to intervene when a Communist regime evolves as the Czech Communist regime was evolved. There was no challenge to the War- saw pact. There was no attempt to over- throw the Communist regime in Czechoslo- vakia. There was no Western interference. Just because another Communist regime evolves slightly, under the pressure of its own public opinion, in the direction of greater freedom, that is no reason for upset- ting the military balance of Europe." "What should we do now?" Kennan asked. "Perhaps move 100,000 men into Germany and tell the Russians: 'We will not take them out until you leave Czechoslovakia.' "The trouble is," he continued, "that we don't put any cards in the hands of those elements in the Soviet Union who never liked the idea of sending 300,000 or 400,000 men into Czechoslovakia in the first place and who might like to reverse this policy now." The United States, Kennan said, was para- lyzed during the 1956 Hungarian uprising and is paralyzed now in the Czech crisis be- cause "unfortunately our attention was and is diverted by crises In other parts of the world." "What could we have done in these situ- ations, if we had not been tied up with these other situations?" he asked, and re- plied: "We might, it seems to me, have at least proposed some modification of our military position in Germany as quid pro quo for Soviet forebearance in Hungary or in Czech- oslovakia, as the case might be. U.S. WITHDRAWAL "We could have proposed, for example, a withdrawal of American forces Bavaria or some other area in return for Russian with- drawal from Czechoslovakia. This might not have been accepted, but it would have given the Czechs a talking point in their dealings with the Russians and exposed the hollow- ness of the Russian claim that they need for though there are now about half a million more Russians in the area. Moreover, had this thing not come along, we were well on the way to withdrawing our troops unilater- ally and the Russians knew it. "Our forces in Germany were apparently regarded' as an expendable asset since we were gradually withdrawing them, yet we were unwilling to use this withdrawal as a pawn in 1956 and again now." WORLD CHANGE Neither the United States nor the Soviet Union has recognized that the world has changed since the end of World War II "when the Russian empire was established as a re- sult of our deplorable weakness in 1939," Kennan said. The Russians, he said, "do not recognize that they cannot get away from such aggres- sion any more before world opinion, and our government does not recognize that, whereas it was obliged to tolerate such aggression in 1956, it cannot and should not pass it over in the same way in 1968." Kennan was asked whether there was a danger that the Russians, encouraged by a passive attitude, might threaten Western Europe. He replied. "A year ago I would have said: definitely not. Now I don't know. Recent Russian be- havior has not been rational. What happened in Czechoslovakia must be the reflection of some curious internal struggle within Russia. After all the Soviets gained nothing. Surely no one who had primarily Russia's external relations at heart could have made such a decision. "I cannot believe it was a properly pre- pared decision of the Soviet hierarchy. It must have been the work of some faction which happened momentarily to be in a po- sition to enforce its will on the others. There is evidence of rivalry between factions in Russia. I strongly suspect the influence of the secret police, supported by a portion of the officer corps and a portion of the party." NO RUSSIAN GAIN The Russians did not gain, he continued, because all four areas of Soviet foreign rela- tions suffered. "In the capitalist world their interest suf- fered great damage," Kennan said. "The same is true in the nonaligned world, includ- ing Tito's Yugoslavia. For Russian relations with Communist parties in the non-Com- munist world, the Czech invasion was dis- astrous-in the long run, probably irrepa- rable-the greatest blow since the Hitler- Stalin pact. In the Communist bloc, they secured one satellite precariously and for the moment, but at the cost of largely losing another, namely Romania. In addition to that, the invasion ruined the mild elements of reapprochement with Yugoslavia." Stalin, Kennan said, was "more prudent in 1948 and wise enough to recognize that force was not enough. He knew that there was no alternative Communist leadership in Yugo- slavia to replace Tito and he was too wise to try to overthrow a regime when he had no alternative, just as the Russians have no alternative in Czechoslovakia." The new Soviet leaders, he said, "did not study their Stalin." There has been a military reasons to station troops along thel~ "strange streak of adventurism" in Moscow western border of Czechoslovakia. And there since Stalin's death which led to the 1962 might have been people in the Soviet high command to whom such an offer would have had a serious appeal." But, Kennan continued, "for this we would have had to have prepared the ground long since in discussions, with our European al- lies-we would have had to clarify Western thinking generally on the question of the function of our forces in Europe and the con- ditions for their eventual withdrawal. But this-preoccupied with Vietnam and, in gen- eral, uninterested in Europe-our govern- ment has never done." And now; he continued, "we are appar- ently not even reinforcing our troops there, Cuban missile crisis and, since then, to Soviet penetration in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, he added. It is regrettable, he said, that the West Germans were late in abandoning the rigid doctrine which barred diplomatic contacts with Communist countries recognizing East Germany. BRANDT'S POLICY "Things might have been different if we had more flexibility in past years and if the West Germans had adopted earlier Willy Brandt's policy of let (East German Com- munist chief Walter) Ulbricht hang himself," Kennan said. Approved For Release 2005/08/03 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300190032-0 ------------ September 30, 1 8 CONGRESSIONAL- RECORD - - - SE-NATE S 11665 "The mere fact that Ulbricht got so many, Great Britain, and the Nether- to "twilight's last gleaming." "----ming" is frightened when one began to talk seriously lands are outstanding in the deep feel- down on another low B-flat, kind of a grunt. of East-West contacts, shows that Brandt's ings of patriotism which the are able to Between this and "whose bright stars" there policy was correct." they , _ _ __ _,, __,,....w,., -.1- a Y-6 - ---- _- .,a...,.,,-.., one is out of rhythm. The same occurs after Foreign Service officer, wrote in an analysis Of those nations. about the "jealous uncertainty which seemed On the other hang the unofficial ??- the low B-flat of "streaming." Then, with no a e .,m k ., aspic us, so bureaucratic, so Oriental." Those views did not change, he said, and he added: "I cannot trust any government which controls closely and jealously the contacts of its own officials and citizens with for- eigners and permits them no leeway. Such, relationship is precarious: it rests on no cushion of mutual confidence, it can be up- set any moment and should not be trusted." Noting the "almost psychotic fear in the Soviet Union of contacts with foreigners," Kennan spoke about U.S. relations with Britain: "Take our relations with them. There are a thousand ways we can satisfy ourselves that nothing seriously adverse to our inter- ests is going on there that we wouldn't know about. If we are in doubt, there is always someone to whom we can say: `Come over, have a drink and let's talk about It.' 11 Matilda" is an example of a 'song which rockets' red glare." The baritones and the is popular in its own right as a musical basses have by now capitulated and are sing- composition. ' ing an octave lower. The sound of the. con- I would be interested in hearing from gregation has become hesitant and thin, and Senators who hear or read my words so it remains through the high F of "land of today about their views on our national the free," normally attempted only by the sopranos and the tenors. Finally, all the anthem. Perhaps the time has come to voices join in confidently on "and the home consider some alternative. of the brave!" which only partially dissipates The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there the general malaise. Everybody sits down objection to the request of the Senator with a thud. from New Hampshire? Over the years a number of songs have been There being no objection, the article proposed-.as replacement for the nationalan- was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, them. Least controversial is America the as ordeS: Beautiful; it has dignity but is not exciting. America ("My Country 'tis of Thee") has the "OH SAY, CAN YOU-ULP"-OUR same melody as God Save the Queen. There is WORRISOME NATIONAL ANTHEM occasional activit on beh lf P I y a o rving Berlin's God Bless America. It's a catchy tune, (NOTE.-Mr. London; a leading bass-bari- but it lacks nobility. Then there's Dixie, It's tone of the Metropolitan Opera Company one hell of a song, but it Is the property of OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM: "OH SAY, was recently appointed musical administra- the South. CAN YOU-ULP" tor of Washington's John F. Kennedy Center The finest of all, in my opinion, is the well- for the Performing Arts.) loved song, The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Mr. McINTYRE. Mr. President, Mem- One hundred and fifty-four years ago Sept. It was Winston Churchill's favorite hymn, bars of the U.S, Senate are blessed with 13, Francis Scott Key wrote a poem titled and he asked that it be sung at his funeral. many more opportunities than most citi- The Star-Spangled Banner. He set his words Originally John Brown's Body, it was reset, zens to attend public .gatherings at to the tune of a popular English drinking during the Civil War, to a poem by Julia which our national anthem is sung. For song, To Anacreon in Heaven. It is likely Ward Howe ("Mine eyes have seen the glory that the lads who sang the original version, of the coming of the Lord"). This version those of us who have any sort of ear for In a state of bacchic bliss, were unaware of made people aware of its inspiring force. It music, the experience can, at times, be- the song's vocal difficulties. Unfortunately, has, moreover, a range of only one octave, so come quite unnerving. most of us today who sing The Star-Spangled practically everybody can sing it. A distinguished American musician, Banner are cold sober. Congress, in 1931, de- I propose that Congress commission one Mr. George London, formerly with the creed that this song was to be our national of our leading poets to write a new set of Metropolitan Opera Company and now anthem; we've been struggling with it ever words to this great hymn, contemporary and musical administrator of the John F. since. divorced from any reference to the Civil War. musical dmini for the frfarmin Arts F. difficulties of our national anthem awe In this time of stress and division a great g me. I prepare for it as I would for a major new, and singable, national anthem would has recently written a music review of operatic role. When required to sing it in give all Americans a spiritual rallying point the "Star Spangled Banner." Mr. Lon- public I warm up long in advance and do a independent of party, policy or region. don and the publishers of Life magazine lot of worrying and pacing back and forth. deserve the thanks of the American peo- And yet I am rarely satisfied with my per- pie for so clearly presenting the basic formance. If you want to know the truth, WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE ELEC- musical difficulties which our national most singers try to avoid singing it in pub- TORAL COLLEGE? anthem poses to singers. - lic. It's just too hard. I believe that Mr. London's review will at The national anthem is sung at ball games, Mr. MUNDT. As the election of 1968 prizefights, political rallies and the like. draws near, more and more citizens are come as welcome expert confirmation of As often as not, the soloist is somebody's understandably expressing concern the feelings which many Senators, I am friend or relative who has recently started to about the antiquated procedures by certain, share with me in regarding the study voice. With the announcement, "La- which our electoral college. operates. In- difficulty of adequately singing our na- dies and gentlemen, our national anthem," creasingly serious-minded citizens are tional anthem. I uat unanimous consent any other singers in the audience start to sweat for the poor devil. His electronically asking. what is the best and most effec- that it be printed in the RECORD following projected nervousness becomes palpable. It tive type of reform which should be my remarks. obliterates the music, the words and the considered for removing the uncertain- There is another reason, Mr. Presi- patriotic fervor. The performance is greeted ties and the inequities of our present pro- - dent, why I bring this matter to the at- with perfunctory applause by perhaps 30 cedures. tention of the Senate. Our national an- pairs of hands. For man them, it is true, does have a strong his- What is wrong with The Star-Spangled Government Y YeSoci are, the American Good toxic place in American history, although Banner? First of all, it covers a range of an and headquartered in It has been our official anthem only since octave and five tones, far too great for the Washington and directed by Mr. J. 1931 It does have a certain nobility, and average untrained voice. In terms of phras- Harvie Williams,. has been. conducting it will always 931.. It does remain close to the hearts ing-where one breathes-it is awkwardly careful studies about the electoral college 1 constructed. The words do not automatically procedures and the optimum methods of our citizens. Nevertheless, it lacks a (a test in good lyric writing) communicate for improving them. After long years of - certain emotional feeling which the an- their message. Many Americans, hazy about analysis and examination, the American thems of other nations seem to have: the meaning, merely parrot the lyrics and Good Government Society has decided For example, those of us who have seen often sing them wrong. There is a popular that among all the suggestions before the moving picture "Casablanca" an ay tlesof the Revolutionary sWar rather than the Congress dealing with the electoral col- remember the stirring scene which takes attack by the British on Baltimore's Fort lege, Senate Joint Resolution 12 presents place in Rick's American Cafe when Vic- McHenry during the War of 1812. the most effective remedy with the least tor Laslow, as a leader of the French Consider a hypothetical performance of disruption of our established constitu- resistance, stood up before German mili- The Star-Spangled Banner on, let us say, tional concepts. tary officers to lead his companions in Columbus Day. The festivities begin with the Mr. J. Harvie Williams testified before the singing of the -"Marseilleise." The national anthem. Our troubles start almost the platform committees of both the Re- Republic of France has truly been blessed Immediately. The first two tones are fine: with an anthem which, when sung at "Oh-oh" emerges with confidence. But the Publican and the Democratic National times of great national stress, can bring word "say," down on a low 13-flat, is, for the Conventions. Both conventions ap- sopranos and tenors, just hot air. (All are - proved platform language which in gen- tears to the eyes and hope to the heart. singing in unison, of course, not in four- eral encompasses the suggestions made So too, the national anthems of Ger- part harmony.) Things improve until we get by Mr. Williams in his testimony, Approved For Release 2005/08/03 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300190032-0 S11666 Approved For Release 2005/08/03 : CIA-RDP70B00338R0003001 00 2- CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE ep ern er 30, 1968 Mr. William has also been active in the recent legal effort before a district Federal court in Virginia to have .the existing methods by which the electoral college votes are evaluated and counted declared unconstitutional. The platforms of both of our major parties contain planks favoring "reform" of the electoral college. Neither party wishes to abolish this institution, which many of us believe to be of supreme im- portance in our constitutional structure, and essential to effect the separation of executive and legislative powers and to place them on the same foundation in the electorate-the States as such and the people of the United States. Only one witness, so far as I have been able to learn, urged "reform" of the elec- toral college before the platform commit- tees of the Republican and Democrat Na- ttional Conventions. At least two witnesses urged both par- ties to abolish the electoral college. Nei- ther platform committee accepted this truly radical proposal, destructive of our constutitional system. The Republican plank reads: We propose to reform the Electoral College system . . . The Democratic plank reads : We urge reform of the Electoral College .. . The one witness favoring reform of the electoral college before both platform Committees was J. Harvie Williams, ex- ecutive secretary of the American Good Government Society of Washington, D.C. Mr. Williams made the same statement to both platform committees with slight- ly different introductory paragraphs. He called the statewide election of all presi- dential electors "gerrymandering pure and simple, gerrymandering without a taint, gerrymandering perfected and glorified." Mr. Williams added that- On its face, then, the upcoming Presiden- tial election will be as gerrymandered as the wit of man has thought to be possible; and this condition is the clear cause of the per- plexities that seem to be overwhelming some politicians and many pundits. Mr. Williams' statement on the sources of power of the Houses of Congress and the sources of power of the Executive, paraphrased from the Federalist No. 39 by James Madison, bring these funda- mental ideas into sharp focus. He says: Representatives in Congress and represen- tative Electors are apportioned together by the Constitution to the People of America who are the source of power of the House of Representatives and of four-fifths of the Ex- ecutive Power. The Presidential Electors of each State allocated by the Constitution with its two United States Senators represent the States as coequal political societies, and these States are the source of the Senate's power and one- fifth of the Executive Power. These two paragraphs, it seems to me, make the case against "abolishing" the electoral college from our Constitutional structure. Mr. President, in order that Mr. Wil- liams' statement may be more widely read, I ask unanimous consent that his statement, entitled "Electoral College Reform, a Proposal in Keeping With the Structure of the Constitution," made to the. Republican Platform Committee, and the separate introduction used be- . fore the Democratic Platform Committee be printed in the RECORD. There being no objection, the items were ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows: ELECTORAL COLLEGE REFORM 'A PROPOSAL IN KEEPING WITH THE STRUCTURE OF THE CON- STITUTION (Statement of J. Harvie Williams, before the Republican Platform Committee) The Republican Platform of 1960 included this plank: "We favor a change in electoral Co`l- lege System to give ev voter a fair voice in presidential elect That plank w rought forward into the 1964 Platform. (what I say has some weight in your delib9tations, the result might in- clude the added thought in this statement. "We favo/ a change in tlje Electoral Col- lege to givp every voter a fair voice in Presi- dential elections, both as a citizen of the United Sates and of his own state." What we are talking about here is the Con- stitutionstructure of our political society. That limited Constitution of Govern- ment, the {~gIal sovereignty of a Federal Union of States, aiYc~ the separated Legislative and Executive Pov~'e with both derived partly from the States aoequal political societies and mostly from the,. People of America in their respective States. This subject is at par wi'h-..the Formation of the Union because we seek to reconcile the source and constituency of the 'E iecutive Power with the source and constitue'nc,,y of the Legislature power, as the C'onstitutign establishes them. The Constitution itself reconciles these separated powers by placing them on the same foundation i$ very nearly the same shapes. But that reconciliation has been dis- torted by directives of the State legislatures. That distortion of representation lies solely in the statewide election of the representa- tive members of the Electoral College. An evil distortion, it is the proper target of all valid charges leveled against the Electoral College as an institution. Other charges, by socialists and propagandists, come to nothing under close examination. The Constitution provides in Article II, Section 1: " He (the President) shall ... together with the Vice President ... be elected, as follows: "Each State shall appoint, in such Man- ner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: . The whole number of Senators of a State is fixed at two by Article I, and the whole number of Representatives apportioned thereunder varies from one to forty-one among the States according to their propor- tions of the population of all the States. Exactly like the at-large election of Re sentatives in Congress, the election of" pre- sentative" members of the Elec College by general.ticket, under t -di ective of State Legislatures,--is ge mandering pure and simple, gerrymandering without a taint, ger- rymandering perfected and glorified. Neither the at-large election of Representa- tives nor the election by general ticket of all Presidential Electors is representative of peo- ple in proportion to their numbers in the whole population. Both are a representation of States as ungqual bodies politic. On its face, then, the upcoming Presidential elec- tion will be as gerrymandered as the wit of man has thought to be possible; and this condition is the clear cause of the perplexi- ties that seem to be overwhelming some poli- ticians and many pundits. Representatives in Congress and repre- sentatives Electors are apportioned together by, the Constitution to the People of America who are the source of power of the House of Representatives and of four-fifths of the Executive Power.. The two Presidential Electors of each State allocated by the Constitution with its two United States Senators represent the States as coequal political societies, and these States are the source of the senate's power and one- fifth of the Executive Power. They are and should be elected by citizens of the respective States in that Federal capacity. One measure of the tremendous distortion in voting power between citizens of the United States is the contrast between those living in New York who vote for 41 repre- sentative members of the Electoral College and their fellow citizens in Delaware who vote for only one. The time has come to apply the rule of equal representation to the national repre- sentative element in Presidential elections, by litigation and by a proper amendment of the Constitution. Such an Amendment would require the election of representative Electors in single-member districts, composed of com- pact and continuous territory and contain as nearly as practicable the number of peo- ple which entitled the State to one Repre- sentative in Congress. Unquestionably, single-member districts is the only way for people to be represented in proportion to their numbers in the popula- tion, whether in the Electoral College or in the House of Representatives. One result from this fair representation plan would be the elimination from our political vocabulary the term "large pivotal State," because United States Citizens in each State will be equally represented and '4nother result would be the elimination of the-balance-of-power leverage on large blocks of electoral votes, and thus take the Execu- tive Branch out from under the domination of voti blocs. Members of these voting blocs will, of course, continue to have their rightful political influence in proper propor- tion to their numbers in the electorate. The contingent election of a President- when no pe'son has a majority of the Elec- tors-appoint d-now devolves on the House of Represent(tives voting by States with one vote each, aid. a majority of the States re- quired to el ct. That provision of the Con- stitution, wch follows the voting plan of the Contine tal Congress and of the Con- stitutional nvention itself, is very much in the news t a ay. It shoul be superseded by putting the contingen election into a joint session of Congress oting by the head. This would ex- tend th principles of representation of States In People to the contingent choice of a resident when the Electoral College fails 6 elect. F ally, with the President and Congress r onsive to the same constituency of States them will tend to diminish; and the center of political gravity in Presidential elections will move from Now York City to about southern Illinois. Hopefully, public quiet as a normal condition will be restored to our people. ELECTORAL COLLEGE REFORM-A PLANK IN KEEPING WITH THE CONSTITUTION (Statement'of J. Harvie Williams before the Democratic Platform Committee) The 1968 Republican Platform includes this brief plank: "We propose to reform the Electoral Col- lege system." It is good as far as it goes, but it doesn't, go far enough. When it says "reform" it is good; and it is good when it doesn't say "abolish." All the rest is left up in the air. May I offer for consideration language that Approved For Release 2005/08/03 CIA-RDP70B00338R000300190012-0