A Letter from Europe

...7935, was sustained by a more convincing vote, 259-164 (a margin of 23...

...The following week the President's veto of the Fair Labor Standards Act Amendment (the minimum wage bill), H.R...

...A major factor in the scarcity ol agricultural products, of course, had been the U.S...

...And, looking in from the outside, I too believe it would be wise to allow our judicial process to take over Watergate so that the country's leadership can direct its attention to issues which may well determine the course of future history...

...House of Representatives it is very easy for a congressman to have his personal card placed in the computer terminal to register a vote in his absence...

...navy has now been relegated to second position (to the Soviets) among the globe's naval powers--no slight task for what has been historically a landlocked bear...

...Nonetheless, European attitudes and interpretations of this event are still very important because of the far-reaching implications which could develop in Euro-American relations...

...Western European governments would be so weak as a result that they...

...One irate congressman, commenting on the widespread voting irregularities, said: "It only goes to show you that there's a double standard of morality in the U.S...

...Nixon's moves toward d6tente with the Soviets...

...The impact of recent events has, then, not been lost on those who fear the possible "Fin]andizing" of Western Europe...

...But when GOP candidate Bob Bauman won the election in Maryland's First District, the press was noticeably quiet about the outcome...

...In Cannon's Precedents Of The House Of Representatives Of The United States (p...

...Only 37 of 255 Administration-related bills have become law...

...In his first syndicated column, John Lofton, former editor of the Republican National Committee's publication, Monday, and editorial advisor to the New Guard, captured this sentiment well in discussing Nixon's visit to 14 The Alternative November 1973...

...But then the Watergate affair broke...

...Now an attorney and a senator, Bauman was once a page in the U.S...

...The Administration charges that Congress acts as though the President's popular election mandate has been voided by Watergate...

...The theme is that the President will not allow Watergate to stalemate his authority...

...During the recess the President held what most political commentators considered to be two successful press conferences...

...when it was still financially feasible (and socially chic) to blitz Europe on $5 a day, or in assembly-line tours for quick lunch-counter intellectualizing...

...Thus the transatlantic alliance and the very nature of the international system is in question and, for the western alliance at least, there is need for serious misgivings...

...Arguing that the United States is sick of foreign wars and responsibilities, the Daily Mail commented: "More and more Americans are saying: What does it matter to us if the whole of Southeast Asia goes Communist...

...Further, the United States' willingness to give the Soviets whatever help they need to stabilize their economy (which in turn permits the Soviets to channel their resources into the military realm), has also raised doubts in European minds about American reliability...

...658 Jefferson Manual And Rules Of The House Of Representatives...

...disregard for its allies, and the pace of Mr...

...Europeans reacted particularly sensitively to the agricultural embargo of soybeans and one French newspaper asserted that the embargo was deliberately aimed at Europe's Achilles' tendon (its lack of resources), to demonstrate U.S...

...decision to sell grain and corn to the communist giants, irrespective of European needs and the traditional transatlantic ties...

...Under the new electronic voting system in the U.S...

...my recent return to Europe, as a college student, has brought me to a rude awakening...

...Members of Congress, however, may not vote by proxy (cf...

...Although the President's calendar of events has not been firmly established yet, it is already quite clear that the President will be cautiously received in Europe...

...1973 was designated the "Year of Europe" by the Nixon Administration...

...proposal to legalize the ownership of gold--were all defeated by just one vote...

...One of Europe's most conservative newspapers, Rome's II Tempo, argued more provocatively and lashed out at Senator Ervin's committee, charging that the hearings seemed to be a colossal machination aimed at undermining both Nixon and Nixon policy...

...This is not a very promising prospect...

...House Voting Violations It is also ironic, at a time when Watergate is supposed to have ushered in a new sense of morality into American politics, that House voting violations have reached a new height...

...As a founding member of Young Americans for Freedom and the American Conservative Union, Bauman won the reputation of being an eloquent and outstanding spokesman for conservative issues...

...Now that the Watergate comedy show is switched off for a moment, you can just hear the Kremlin purring as it prepares to lap up the cream...

...Congress, but all the public hears about is Watergate...

...Thus, there is unrest among the European nations...

...The time will come when the versatile American democracy will be grateful to him for this...

...Congress, and later a staff counsel on the House Judiciary Committee...

...Thus it concluded, ~particularly for Europeans, the NixonKissinger team is an optimum and is absolutely irreplaceable...

...One of the most revealing observations on this issue, however, came from the German political weekly Die Zeit...

...These doubts have been further compounded by the recent report in Jane's Fighting Ships, the world's most authoritative annual study on the world's military navies...

...Although neither vote is indicative of overwhelming strength, the Administrations's message is clear--the Democrat-controlled Congress cannot afford to ignore the Executive...

...Unfortunately, not even these many The Alternative November 1973 13 events seem to startle the Europeans out of their atavistic resentment and mutual suspicions of each other...

...He is expected to be both an aggressive and gutsy legislator and he looks as if he will fit in well with the new breed of congressman that is reflected in the ninety-third freshman class...

...England's liberal newspaper, The Guardian, expressed a fairly common European reaction to the Watergate hearings when it charged that the Watergate committee was somewhat reminiscent of the McCarthy hearings of the fifties...

...The 1972-73 edition of Jane's reported that the Soviet navy has made (and is continuing to make) "staggering advances," and that the U.S...

...The memo asserted that Maryland Democrats had used anonymous smear sheets, solicited openly absentee ballots with a massive mailing that violated federal law, and gave erroneous information on qualifications for absentee voting...

...Although reaction elsewhere in Europe has not always been that abiding, Europeans are most concerned about what they feel has been a decline of confidence on the part of the American public in its leadership...

...I left the United States for Europe in January of this year, after having worked in the national election for the Republican ticket...

...In Paris, where I had been attending the Sorbonne University, one of France's most highly respected and widely read newspapers, Le Figaro, argued that the Watergate hearings have been turned into a Disneyland for lawyers and that those (Senators and committee staffers) who have allowed the hearings to flounder into ridiculousness are forgetting that not only is the President himself a lawyer, but that he is, in fact, one of the country's best...

...Though public opinion polls have yet to confirm this impression, it is apparent that Watergate is not going to take the toll on the Republican Party that many Democrats had hoped it would...

...But although some low-keyed transatlantic talks are underway between the United States and its European allies to establish a common front for the fall conference, the common political purpose of the West, as well as the social and economic compatibility of the United States and Europe, has been severely strained in recent months...

...The President has once again taken the initiative away from Congress by presenting a new State of the Union to the legislative branch covering a broad spectrum of legislative proposals...

...Of particular concern for the Europeans is whether a "Watergate-weakened" White House can resist congressional pressures to unilaterally reduce U.S...

...I have had to rely on European press coverage of the Watergate for most of my information, coverage which has not always illustrated a terribly astute awareness and understanding of our political process...

...A debate which is gaining increasing popularity, but which really begs the issue, is whether Congress has been dragging its feet in the wake of Watergate...

...dollar, U.S...

...Le Figaro also defended the President's refusal to release the White House tapes carte blanche, and argued that without such privilege no government is possible...

...If nothing else, the embargo did force the Europeans to realize that the Americans were not only willing to close down their market to them without warning, but that the Europeans themselves were to become the first victims of the newly established d6tente...

...To the contrary, our international credibility has now been seriously eroded, and our international stature and prestige have declined accordingly...

...WASHINGTON) Well, the August recess is over and the United States Congress is back in session...

...As one commentator in Europe observed:" ~Finlaudization'of Europe would (perhaps) mean no basic changes in the social order, but there would be no American troops in Europe and NATO would be dissolved...

...The Administration has come out fighting and the Republican Senate and House members have come back from their states and districts with the message that the American public is tired of the media extravaganza on Watergate...

...Recent reports that the United States is about to announce formal diplomatic recognition of East Germany may not be surprising to the governments of Western Europe, but it has surprised many private citizens...

...One young Republican congressman left the meeting disgruntled, saying he had never liked pep rallies and this one was no exception...

...They are concerned about the weakness.of the U.S...

...Discussing what it called the decline in presidential power and a catharsis for the United States, Die Zeit also pointed out that probably no American administration will be interested in foreign policy to the extent of the Nixon Administration...

...I'd like to know where all those investigative journalists we hear about are at...

...A recent meeting at the White House between the President and a congressional delegation was designed to show growing congressional support for the Nixon Administration...

...Is it worth risking a single GI for Cambodia...

...Creeping Creepism" Meanwhile, many Republicans continue to feel dismay towards the Administration...

...The veto was overridden 77 to 16...

...For the Europeans, therefore, Nixon's attempt to put Watergate behind him is being applauded so that he can direct his attention to these many problems...

...A GOP communications memo for the Republican congressional membership charged that the Maryland election would make an excellent case study for election reformers in Congress...

...Watergate Impact Tested A congressional by-election, to fill the vacant seat of Maryland Congressman William Mills (who committed suicide because of apparent financial irregularities in his 1972 campaign), was billed by the local press, including the Washington Post, as a case to test the impact of Watergate...

...Europe, in short, is concerned with the international implications emanating from Watergate...

...House Democrats argue that more legislation has been passed in these first few months of the Ninetythird Congress than in any other similar period, but needless to say, there is no correlation between quantity and quality...

...Vetoes Sustained With Congress back in session House and Senate Democrats had hoped to gain the strength necessary to override the President's veto of S. 504, the Emergency Medical Services Act of 1973...

...In the Senate, as usual, there was no contest...

...Inactive Congress...

...These violations are of no small importance...

...Unless very intensive preliminary work is done before Nixon's visit, the Administration's attempt to revitalize Euro-American relations and to produce some very tangible political returns, as well as trade and monetary reforms, could fall far short of its goal...

...But on the House side, the Administration was able to hold enough troops in line to sustain the veto by a roll call of 273 to 144 a bare margin of five votes...

...Will we live to hear Americans ask whether it is worth risking a single American life for Britain...

...Bauman won an extremely close race (27,248 to 26,001) against Maryland's senior Democratic state senator, Fred Malkus...

...129) it is also explicitly stated that: "No man can transfer his vote or permit another Member to vote for him . . . A Member must vote in person...

...troop strength in Europe...

...The newspaper further stated that "in standing fast he [Nixon] is defending the integrity of the Presidency itself...

...The European concern over present and future U.S...

...Nixon's overwhelming victory, I believed, apparently like many others, was a popular mandate to reverse the trend of the New Deal-Great Society philosophy which for so long had prevailed in Washington, D.C...

...power over Europe...

...House Republicans are particularly pleased with Bauman's election and expect that his legislative knowledge will make a major contribution to the legislative process...

...would be forced to coordinate their foreign policies with the Kremlin...

...America is no longer regarded as the towering paragon of uncontested strength...

...Three recent bills--the Erlenborn (R-Ill...

...These events have produced an assessment which is gaining increasing acceptance in Europe and which was recently expressed by the London Daily Mail...

...amendment to hold down the minimum wage increase, Congressman Steve Symms' (R-Idaho) attempt to reduce the federal debt ceiling, and Phil Crane's (R-Ill...

...It would appear that when it comes to winning, Watergate has yet to make its mark on the American political process...

...economic and defense policies has arisen because of two dollar devaluations in short succession, the continuing erratic behavior of the dollar on the international money exchanges (which is beth a symptom and a cause of the uncertainty in Euro-American relations), as well as the imposition of agricultural export restrictions...

...The United States and its European allies were expected to rejuvenate Europe's postwar Atlantic alliance system as a solid basis for the upcoming fall negotiations, on mutual and balanced force reductions in Europe (MBFR), between the NATO countries, the Soviet Union, and its Warsaw Pact allies...

...The theme of these conferences was that Watergate is behind us and let's get on with the more pressing questions facing the country, including inflation, the energy shortage, and trade reform...