The Cavalier daily :: Tuesday, December 16, 1969 :: University of Virginia Library

While the speech of Richard
Kleindienst last Thursday night did
little to assuage the suspicions of
an audience acutely aware of the
falsity of political rhetoric and
intolerant of the apparent abandon
with which emmisaries of the Nixon
Administration neglect the pertinent
issues of the day, it did afford
at least one moment of truthful
analysis.

It became embarrassingly evident
early in the speech of the
Deputy Attorney General that he
considered his p to Charlottesville
a political mission rather than
an opportunity for him, as the
second most powerful figure in the
Justice Department, to discuss with
students the questions, suspicions,
and fears which arise in their minds
over the power and practices of Mr.
Kleindienst's organization.

The majority of the audience, it
seems, came with the hope of
hearing discussed the Department's
ambiguous on Black Panthers, student
dissent, violent riots, desegregation
guidelines, and drug legislation.
Instead it was subjected to a
speech-writer's text which merely
outlined the causes of crime, the
programs the Administration hoped
to pass through Congress which Mr.
Kleindienst felt would help cure
social iniquity, and the accomplishments
of the Administration after a
year, which amount to, according
to Mr. Kleindienst, restoring the
morale of the country's policemen.

Except for the one moment of
truth offered by fourth-year student
Richard Tuggle, the evening
might have ended as nothing more
than a study of frustrated communication
between an imaginatively-impotent
speaker and a vocally-invective
sector of the audience.

During the question and answer
period which followed the speech,
Mr. Tuggle stood and prefaced his
remarks by indicating he did not
have a question, but rather an
attitude he wished to convey. "I
respect you for facing an audience
such as this which seems largely
hostile to your views," Mr. Tuggle
told the Deputy Attorney General,
"but I think I understand the
emotions which cause these people
to my left to interrupt you. You
have come here to read to us a
speech which sounds like it was
taken from a high-school textbook
instead of addressing yourself to
the questions and issues which are
really on the minds of the people of
this country."

Mr. Tuggle then echoed to some
degree the doubts and fears which
seem to have replaced a confidence
in government leadership in the
minds of the people of this nation.
"We're afraid of what is happening
in this country and we sincerely
believe that unless the Nixon
Administration begins to address
itself to the burning issues of the
day, this country is going to blow
up." Mr. Tuggle's remarks were
punctuated by a standing ovation,
evidence that he had indeed conveyed
the attitude of the audience,
and perhaps on a small scale, that
of the nation.

The lesson provided by Mr.
Tuggle seems simple enough. Students
are no longer willing to
accept the inept oratories of the
politically powerful when the
words they speak have little bearing
on the actions they perpetrate.
Hypocrisy has become the watchword
of youth, the most blatant
manifestation of the double standard
which today severs American
society. One's actions and one's
words must be judged consistent
before the questioning eyes of youth
as a prerequisite to the granting of
respect and the pledge of political
allegiance. Mr. Tuggle's remarks
and the enthusiastic response which
followed indicates a reluctance by
students to wholeheartedly endorse
an Administration which refuses to
discuss in public the more socially
significant and thereby politically
volatile issues of the day. In the
face of what is foreseen by many as
impending destruction, Mr. Kleindienst
offered excuses and promises,
not answers and reforms.

It is ironical that only two days
before Mr. Kleindienst's appearance
President Nixon stated at his press
conference that the most effective
way to deal with today's youth is
to treat them as adults. He then
said that this is what he intended to
do. Treating someone as an adult
implies speaking the truth to him.
It warrants the answers to questions.
It necessitates a willingness to
enter into discussion. If Mr. Kleindienst's
speech before the University
is indicative of the Nixon
approach to adults, one wonders
about the President's assessment of
the American people's maturity.