The Bootblack Stand
Plunkitt, George Washington
polemics of the attack on Rickover and further supported by the author's failure to explain the political pressures which subtend and advance each position. Thus comes the unappealing idea...
...Thus comes the unappealing idea that the utmost questions of American military strategy are inordinately governed by the narrowest issues--those least attentive to the necessity for naval excellence...
...Urgently, Dan Berrigan, S.J...
...He can charm...
...Garry Wills' syndicated columns must continue to convey the sense of moral urgency that is essential to sustain the feeling of contained neurosis so necessary for a properly humane critique of our ghastly system of macho-capitalisto-militarism...
...Last is a description of the already famous palace intrigues which heralded the twilight of the Nixon administration and coincided with the end of Zumwalt's term as CNO...
...If so, I would appreciate specifics...
...The government of course claims that the war has been over since the spring of 1973, but official Washington is of course not to be trusted and my contacts with Hanoi are not as good as they once were...
...As to your recourse, I suggest you all hand The Nation over to its creditors and become a band of urban guerrillas...
...Berrigan: If the war has ended it is news to me...
...GWP 32 The Alternative: An American Spectator December 1976...
...Address all correspondence to The Bootblack Stand, c/o The Alternative...
...Unwilling to discuss the intricacies of SALT in detail, Zumwalt settles for an outline of the accusation that Kissinger exchanged strategic superiority for the political capital of an agreement...
...Hijack a subway and order it to Cuba...
...Think of it, the Nobel Prize awarded to a man who publicly consorts with the vilest totalitarian threat of this century, the Chilean iunta...
...Remember Sacco and Vanzetti, Blair Clark Editor, The Nation Dear Mr...
...La lotta continua, t Sic semper tyrannus...
...Plunkitt: Last week Garry Wills and I went to what was supposed to be the largest anti-war rally to be held on the East Coast this year, and we heard some surprising news...
...It has controlled Capitol Hill for months...
...Kissinger, increases the anticipation with which we regard the publication of his memoirs...
...The only explanation for the Nobel Prize Committee's abominable choice is that it has finally capitulated to the United States Chamber of Commerce, or is it possible that Chile's CIA (the nefarious DINA) has reached even into Stockholm...
...Dear Fr...
...Dear Dr...
...At any rate this news explains why the turnout at our Christian peace rallies has been so low, and why my letters have not been published in the New York Times...
...Moreover, Zumwalt is inconsistent with his previous attention to the larger questions of foreign policy by ignoring the injustice of treating a close ally so badly...
...The government is always sending out phony leaks like this...
...Rickover, the Secretary of State is highly successful at bureaucratic infighting...
...GWP Dear Dr...
...Zumwalt sniffs at this maneuver for its "laughably academic" approach to a military situation...
...How long it has been over is unclear...
...In issue after issue The Nation has attempted to warn our government of Friedman's "advisory" trips to Chile...
...According to an unusually reliable anti-war activist the Vietnam war is over...
...Plunkitt: The report that Milton Friedman has been awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize for economics is the worst news since the death of Joseph Stalin--a death that has always struck me as curious, coming as it did during the height of the McCarthyite horror...
...He throws darting glances, verbal abuse, and physical objects at inept or disagreeing underlings...
...He overlooks the question of its palpable success...
...It is a grim little reminder of the dull, sedulous, and stultifying grip of bureaucracy...
...He also charges Kissinger with having delayed the vital airlift of weapons to Israel in 1973 in order to "create a new reality...
...THE BOOTBLACK STAND Dr...
...What he finds will not surprise...
...Like Adm...
...What can The Nation do now...
...I am heartsick and can no longer hold down my sunflower seeds...
...The hour grows near...
...Those who have no familiarity with the military will find this book helpful...
...Why the State Department and the CIA have yet to step in defies decency...
...Do not flag or fail...
...Frankly I think it is best you continue your demonstrations at least for a year or so just to be sure...
...Clark: Oh woe, the DREADFUL FIFTIES are with us again (these things are cyclical...
...George Washington Plunk#t, our prize-winning political analyst, has accepted a staff position with the House Ethics committee, but he has graciously consented to continue advising American statesmen in these times of troubles...
...Following a long recollection of his "Z-grams' '--his celebrated memos aimed at changing what he called the Navy's "Miekey Mouse" regulations as well as its discrimination against Negroes--Zumwalt examines Secretary of State Kissinger, the wounds of the failing Nixon administration, and the military actions which the Navy took part in from 1970 to 1974...
...To me the most nettling matter in the Nobel Prize committee's award is the obvious fact that the prize has become political...
...On Watch also manages to place Zumwalt at a fitting remove from the Nixon administration-something well advised for an aspiring Democrat who once served it-and by its preoccupation with Mr...
...I read Garry Wills faithfully and he has given no indication the emergency is over...
...Tell me, do you think there is any possibility that we may get into another war again soon...
Vol. 10 • December 1976 • No. 3
