University of Virginia Library

Lack Of Understanding

A large part of our difficulty with China
comes from our lack of understanding the
Chinese sense of history, he said. The Chinese
see history as a continuous inevitable flow.
They believe that man should try to aid the
flow of history rather than try to control his
own fate. They believe that any victory or
defeat is only transitory and will eventually be
reversed.

Another factor Mr. Mancall pointed out is
that although American statements about China
do not sound aggressive, American military
presence in Asia appears to them a very real
threat.

After the lecture the group watched
President Nixon's speech on television and
discussed it with William arbaugh and John
Israel, both of the Department of History, Mr.
Mancall, and Lane High School student Kenny
Coghlin, editor of the underground newspaper
"Blast."

In the discussion of Mr. Nixon's speech, Mr.
Mancall said that it appeared that the emphasis
was on the fact that the North Vietnamese
position is inflexible.

Mr. Harbaugh asked Mr. Mancall if he
thought the United States would ever pull out
of South Vietnam entirely. Mr. Mancall
answered that that would depend on Mr.
Nixon's timetable for withdrawal.

Mr. Israel said that the speech would
probably have little effect on dissenters, but
that it would likely be followed by an
announcement or address later this month.

Mr. Harbaugh commented that Mr. Nixon
has a genius for playing people's emotions and
that the speech contains thrusts at different
groups which leads to its apparent inconsistency.

The audience voiced many various opinions
on the speech ranging from completely
supporting the President to one statement that
the whole thing was a lie.