2 October 26, I972

HockesConsiders Politics,Press

by Terry Well
and Brent Schondelmever

Grinnell alumnus Peter Hackes,
newswriter anti reporter ior NBC,
told a group of about 200 people
in the South Lounge Tuesday night
that, “the press has a responsi-
billty to the American people to
report fully Everything it knows
and can find out,” The remarks
were part of an address which is
the first in a series On “The Press
dz Politics” sponsored by the Pror
grztni in Practical Political Educa—
tion

Hackes said that the press had ful-
filled its responsibility in the Eagr
letion affair and was not to be blamed
for any damage done to the Demo-
cratic ticket. V“The selection ofEag-
leton." he said. “was an unfor-
tunate choice in the first place
One at the rules (olAmerican pole
itics) is that you don't run some-
body for a maior elective office
unless, to the ltest of everybody's
knowledge, he's clean as a houndse
tooth, Senator Eagleton was Just a
Sitting duck, and it was certainly not,
the press that did it The reports
that came out were publicized by
the press, but they had been known
many years before ”

Hackes spoke of previous knowledge
he had on another issue: U72 flights
over the Soviet Union. The news-

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man noted that he had found out
about the flights in a confidential
interview about three years before
the Gary Powers incident in 1950.
Hackes said that two or three other
reporters also know about the flights
and one of them had burned his
notes. “I wish I had burned mine
too,” Hackes remarked. The incir
dent aptly illustrated what Hackes
saw as the reporter’s dilemma,
In the case of President Kennedy’s
“stomach ache”, the cover story
given in 1862 when the President
returned to Washington from Chis
cago to deliberate with his advi -
ors on the Cuban missile crisis,
Hackes told the group that it was
legitimate for reporters who knew
the truth to go along with the cover
story, “That particular lie," Hackes
ielt, “was perfectly legal."
The Grinnell alumnus cited another
example which illustrated the need
to qualify the absolute responsibils
ity of the press to report every-
thing, While covering the Pentagon,
Hackes said he had confidences of
everyone right up to McNamarawho
he had over to his house for dinner
three or four times. Wen the Penta-
gon Papers came out, Hackes said
he "felt like he had been had.”
Hackes told one questioner that he
thought most newsmen personally
favored McGovern. Still, Hackes

Railsback: Penal Reform

by John Wylie

Representative Thomas Railsback
(Reillinois), ii l954grdduateofGrine
nell, spoke informally with a small
group oi students iuthe southLounge
last Monday afternoon in n PPPE-
sponsored program. Railsback, who
is without Opposition in his own
Twentieth District, wasinlowa catn-
paigning for the reelection of Con-
gressman Fred Schwengel

Despite the political nature of his
trip, Rallshack spoke primarily oi
his work ivitha HouseludiciarySube
committee studying prison reiori'r‘i.
He stressed the need for riddingthe
nation oi prisons like San Quentin
and insteadhuilding modernrehnbil-
itation institutions.Railsbackpraiss
ed a new minimum security iacility
at Vienna, Illinois. whicntreatsprir
soners as “names instead ofnumr
bers” and conducts a worthwhile
rehabilitation program

“We have to do something to get
rid oi the big, outdated, archaic
prisons like Jollet and San Quentin,
What I thiilk is happening is that
they're taking young people who are
one time offenders and they're puts
ting them into an environment that
instead oi helping them is making
them worse. it l were to pinpoint
the major failure of our system, I
would say the iailure to separate
the young train the hardened crimi-
nals, I would say prison industries
that are irrelevant, and...we have
no good iobplacement, eveninstates
where theyhavedecentprisoninduse
tries."

Railshack went on to describe a
parole reform bill authored by the
Committee which would guarantee
prisoner’s rights to representation
at parole board hearings, the right
of access to certain files and dOCr
umehts, the right to appeal (a lim
ited form of iudicial review), and
an entirely new parole board struc
ture with one central board and five
regional units.

Railsback has favored the abolish-
ment of capital punishment because
he feels it has shown no deter-
rcnt value and has been inequite
ably applied. The only exception he
advocated was in casesilivolvlngthe
killing of a correctional officer. He
also blasted what he called the
“very uneven sentencing throughout
the Criminal Justice System. Our
system, instead oihelpingthecrime
problem, is adding to it.”

The Conglessmansilsotoltlthe audr
ience that he favorsdecl‘ilninalizing
suscalled moral offenses, such as
certain Sexual activities, and that

pin i, «i inn 7 often
Thomas F. Railsback

he ieeis mariguana penalties should
be reduced from felony to misde-
meanor status, with a provision for
eventually expunging the oiiense
from the official records, He tlid
not advocate the completedecrim»
inalization of the drug because of
the “woeful lack of research into
its possiblephysiologicaland mental-
effects.”

He credited New York'sCongresss
woman Shirley Chisholm with den
iusing a recent Washington, DC.
prison uprising “Shirley Chisholm
had the guts. to go in there after
they had taken Hardy (the prison’s
director) as a hostage, and that
helped They arranged for an im
mediate hearing before a Judge and
they (the rebellious prisoners) were
willing to buy that.”

In an interview with the StitBim-
medlately following the public dis-
cussion, Rnilsback turned to poll-
tical matters. He predicted a Nix—
on landslide iIi November almost
as big as that of Lyndon Johnson
over Barry Goldwater in 1964. He
praised Nixon’s record in ioreign
affairs, Citing only the continuation
of the war and the handling oiBengs
ladesh as Nixon liabilities in the
field of foreign affairs.

He was ashamed, and astounded,
he said, by the Watergate incidents
and other alleged corrupt actions
within the Administration, and (:31,
led tor a bipartisan investigation,
before the election, of the entire
Situation. He noted that the grant-
ing oi immunity irom prosecution
would be both necessary and desii»
able in trying to get all the facts
out in the open, but he did not ieel
that the President Nixon had any
part in the alleged corruption,

"The President is busy running
the entire country," he concluded,
“I certainly don't think he would be
involved in anything as Mickey
Mouse and just plain stupid as the
Watergate thing is,”

EIIRDII-FIIEE TVPIIIﬁ

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CORRECHON IIBEON

ERRORITE'"

AT YOUR
BOOKSTORE

was pessimistic about McGovern's
chances litaPDR dilinerwitli twenty
students and faculty, he said that
“George McGovern has lost this
election. Notice I didn't say Richard
Nixon beat him....Tho American
public votes right down the mid-
dle,” and McGovern has “just been
unable to sell himself to the Ameri-
can public,"

Hackes stressed the need for
reporters to keep their personal
views out of their reporting as much
as pOSSible, but he also noted the
difficulty that ilivolves ”To take a
particular person who has had iii—
teen, twenty or twentyrlive years oi
influence and declare that he is
henceforward an impartial reporter
is next to an impossibility,” he
said.

by Don Dagenais

Two agents trom the Omaha heade
quarters of the Federal Bureau oi
investigation visited Grinnell last
Thursday and spoke with two stu»
dents on unrelated matters.

Agents contacted Conoco Hause
coordinator Laurie Schwartz in the
early afternoon MS. Schwartz was
told that an unidentified caller had
identified her as resembling Sue
Saxe, on of the FBI'S ten most want-
ed iugitives, Ms. Saxe is accused
of murder, bank robbery, theft of
government property, andiuterstate
ilight to avoid prosecution. After a
period of questioning, the agents
determined that she \vasnottlleperr
son they were seeking.

At approximately 4:00 pm. the
agents Visited senior Meg Jess, who
spent a semester in Russia last
year on a grant from a program
of the Ford inundation. Their quese

L

i,
f

Peter Hackes

FBI Agents Question Students

tions, Ms Jess told the 5&8, were
directed toward finding oiit if she
had been approached by any Russian
agents while here or in the Soviet
Union concerning “military or de-
iense matters." The query was said
to be a routine investigation, cone
ducted of all Americans who visit
the Soviet Union, The agents didnot,
however, questionjunior Althea Kal-
las who also spent a portion oi last
year in the Soviet Union,

The agents insisted on talking to
her alone, Ms, Jess commented.
and she was “angry at the intrur
siou into my privacy.” She did,
however, eventually talk with them
and alter a short discussion they
left.

The history oi FBI investigations
into the activities of Grinnell Stu-
dents began several years ago, ac»
cording to President Glenn Leg-
gett, when several agents called on
Leggett during an investigation of

local Candidates Appear

by Michelle Casey
Candidates for political office in
Poweshiek County were introduced
to interested citizens at a meeting
held at 8:00 PM on Thursday, Oct
ober 19, in Davis school The meet—
ing was nonepartisan, was sponsored
by the League of Women Voters, and
was chaired by one of its members.
of the eight candidates running
tor the positions oi county sheriii,
county supervisor, and clerk ofdiss
trict court, four were present at
the meeting. These included:
Republican Max Allen and Demo-
cratic Mayo Staniord, who are op-
posing each otherfor sheriii, DemOA
crat Evelyn Ketels, who is running
for clerk of district court, and Re—
publican Raymond Harris, who is
running for county supervisor Gare
lan Welsh, Republican candidate for
clerk of district court, and thethree
other Competitors for the position
of county supervisor Republican
Melvin Elliot, Democrat Farrell
Johnson, and Democrat Harry Kil-

mer did not attend the meeting.
Approximately seventy people at

tended the gathering, including
a hundiul of Grinnell College stu-
dents‘. Papers containing short bier

w\TCH WAY ARE

graphical sketches of the candidates
and answers to some key questions
asked oi the county supervisor canv
didates were distributed to the
group, along with a pamphlet entit-
led Pick A President, an election
guide prepared by the League at
Women Voters.

The assemblage was givenlobdes-
criptions of the various offices,
which included information on sal-
aries, terms of oiiice and duties;
this information was drawn from a
handbook on county governmentpre-
pared by the League of Women Vote
ei‘s. Each candidate was Ilien asked
to give a brief speech about lilm or
herself.

An open question and answer ses
sion followed the speeches, during
which the audience was invited to
ask tliE.I Candidates about issues that
were of concern to them. The ques—
tions covered a wide variety of top-
ics including zoning, conservation,
the County Home, and crime As the
only county supervisor candidate
present, Mr. Harris received the
malorlty of questions.

After the meeting was adjourned,
the audience was invited to talk
informally with the candidates.

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poem by John unneeti

students who had participated in a
conirontation in Chicago soon alter
the 1968 Democratic convention. At
that time, said Leggett, “we were
still in the in loco parentis mood"
and Leggett told the agents that he
planned to contact the students in
question and inform them of the in-
vestigation and of their rights tD
remain silent and to have a counr
sel present.

“Somehow," he said, “it got all
garbled up” and some students were
under the impression that “we had
put the iinger on them." Although
the matter was clarified several
days later, ‘for two or three days
there were hard feelings every which
way,"

since that time Leggett has re-
quested that the FBI Contact him
before investigating students “just
as a matter of courtesy.” The two
agents on campus this time, how-
ever, did not contact him before
questioning the two students.

The administration has made a
point, however, oi not getting in-
volved in such matters since the 1968
incident. This is, to Leggett’s know-
ledge, the first time that FBI agents
have questioned students on campus
since that time.

(ﬂ

The McGovern organization is
seeking students remaining in
Grinnell over MidrSem break
ior canvassing and other pro-
jects, students are needed for
canvassing in many towns
throughout lowa which have not
yet been canvassed by the
Democrats Ayone interested
in these activites should contact
Democratic Headquarters
do 'itown or Jerry Miranowski

‘_’
Candidates To Meet

A public meeting oi candidates ior
Federal and State offices will be
held Sunday night at 8:00 pain,
in the Veterans' Memorial Centerat
834 Broad Street, The meeting was
announced by the Grinnell League
of Women Voters following the suc-
cessful County candidates meeting
held last week.

All Candidates [or state and local
offices have been invited to the
meeting Arthur Neu (ii-candidate
for Lieutenant Governor), Ed Mle
vinsky (D-candidate ior First Dis-
trict Congress), Charles Ballouh
(Restate Senator), Joaiioi~r(D»State
Senator), Elnil Husak (Destate
House) and William Vanderpool (Re
State House) have already announced
their intention to be present, Fred
Schuengel (RsFirst District Cone
gi-ess) will sendarepresentalive.
The speaking program by the candi—
dates will be followed by a ques—
tioli-unueanswcr period.

“m- we. END oi the Second World
War, the typical American uni-
versity and college began to shill
lrom intellectual activity to pay/7
chiain‘c acliyily. Behemoth Slate
Umversily inyiled all comers —
llie velerans, llie contused chil-
dren ol a/Iluence, presently the
'cnliornlly disadvantaged' minore
ily. instead ol disciplining their
minds, which they dlsl inctly didn't
desire, the one
verslfy began (a
minister lo their
[eelfngs "

Fol a tree copy at
NA‘IIONAI. use
VIEW, write: Dept.
t, tso z. :5 sweet,
NY IWIo.

 

