University of Virginia Library

Agnew Again

In light of Mr. Agnew's comments
Tuesday evening to the University
community, it is apparent (as if it hadn't been
before) that if the Nixon administration had,
its own way, the only news that would ever
reach the public about anything would be
only that which the Administration cared to
release. In such a case, the front pages of the
newspapers in this country would be filled
with weather forecasts and batting averages
rather than news and the editorial columns
with "Winnie Winkle" comic strips and
crossword puzzles. At least in their views
about the press, Mssrs. Nixon and Agnew are
the closest things to a couple of despots this
nation has ever seen.

In his observations to the University Hall
crowd, Mr. Agnew remarked that much of the
investigative reporting done on the Watergate
has primarily involved "double hearsay" and
"character assassination" bordering on tactics
used in the McCarthy hearings of the early
50's. He added that there was indeed a
contribution made by the press, but that most
of it was "self-adulating." Furthermore, Mr.
Agnew indicated that all sources of divulged
information should be made public.

"Why, Mr. Agnew?" we ask. So they can
be lined up and shot afterwards, or rather
cashiered like draft-dodgers or similar
subversives? Or maybe these "leakers" ought
to be shipped off to mental hospitals for
having, perplexingly enough, had the courage
to tell the truth...for a change.

It is difficult to say whether Mr. Agnew is
so thoroughly opposed to the All-American
maxim of "telling the truth," or whether it is
the challenge of having to find a more
appropriate scapegoat that obsesses him. In
either case, it is the demagoguery of the
Nixon administration which has maliciously
deceived and misled the public, not the
nation's press corps. For Mr. Agnew, the
press, whom he has castigated as habitually
and inherently distasteful, subjective and
unfair, is hence the most natural outlet for his
coolly concealed anxieties over high-level
deception, particularly in the Watergate affair.

The Nixon administration, and Mr. Agnew
in particular, through their homswoggling
harangue, have been in the past and continue
to be strong adherents, it seems, of
suppressing one's critics. The question,
though is, why. Is it the truth of which they
are so fearful, or is it possibly their
well-disguised conviction in a political process
(despotism) of which the public is unaware,
that perpetuates their distaste for a free and
critical press?

Those of us here who supported Mr.
Nixon and Mr. Agnew in the last election are
more than disappointed and disillusioned by
the Administration's chicanery. At times we
are downright fearful.