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Show Page HERALD, Provo, Utah 58-- THE Sunday, May 21, 1972 Just A Big Sham? Are Political Campaigns What They Appear To Be Editor's Note: For almost 30 years, from 1941 until his death on April 13, 1970, Merriman Smith covered the White House for United Press and United Press International. In that period he also covered seven presidential campaigns. This article tells something of what Smith, as a close-u- p observer, thought about presidential campaigning. It is digested from the book, "A White House of a collection Memoir, Smith's writings edited by his son, Timothy, and published This is a bit of traditional showmanship which bears little relation to fact Once a contender admits his candidacy, he then usually feigns ignorance of anyone else in the race. President Johnson, for instance, said in 1964 that he had no opinion as to who might win the Republican nomination, (inis wa3 at a time wh.fl Sen. Barry Goldwater was r the acknowledged among the Republicans). front-runne- When the campaign actually Norton & starts, subtle changes seem to April Company, Inc., of New York. occur in the political dialogue. Some material in "A White Politicians start calling other House Memoir" has been politicians "politicians" again, published before but much of it for example. Candidates start is based on new material found accusing opponents of making a after Smith's death. political issue out of questions of public policy on which Presidential Campaigns opinion is divided and which, in short, are political issues. By KEIUtlMAN SMITH Consider the number of times Distributed By in 1968 that one candidate or United Press International another was heard to say that The first principle of watchdid not intend to trifle with he and ing political campaigns 24 by W.W. particulaily presidential races is that most of what appears to be happening and most of what seems to be said is a sham. And campaigns magnify this natural tendency. national interests by making the war in Vietnam a political issue. Then, for the next 15 minutes he usually talked about Vietnam. 'Flexible Sin' Doctrine The presidential sweepstakes, for example, uniformly begin with the major contenders their candidacy. disavowing A curious doctrine of "flexi- ble sin" emerges in campaigns. In one election year, we hear, Does Women's Lib Foster More Crime Among Gals? pointed observations that if the would president Republican only stay in Washington instead of traipsing off to Gettysburg, we might not be in such a mess with Castro. The Republicans dutifully scream "dirty poli- tics." Two years later, Republicans imply that if the Democratic president would only stay in Washington instead of frittering away time on Cape Cod, we would not be in sucn a fix in Cuba. Demr .rats know the proper response, too, and cry higher Journalistic custom, however, to quote an authority for a political crowd estimate. Thus, the public is treated to some rather interesting figures. When Sen. John F. Kennedy spoke in Detroit on Labor Day, 1960, the police estimated his crowd in Cadillac Square at about 50,000 to 55,000 persons. The Detroit News then did a Rhetoric in political cam- rather unfair thing: unfair to paigns is usually so consistently the campaign year estimator. and disingenuous The paper took a large that when candor makes a rare photographic blowup of the appearance the effect can be crowd, marked it off into equal shocking. Rose Kennedy made sections and counted every a brief statement in 1968 that single person who was visible. was really just a series of The total, police count notwith "dirty politics." truisms, hut her mere state ment of the obvious was big news in the campaip season because she had been frank enough to make it. Asked about the family's financial backing of Sen. Robert ' Kennedy in 1968, his mother said: "It is our money and we are free to spend it any way we please. It's part of this campaign business if you have money, you spena it to win. And the more you can afford; the mors you'll spend. The Rockefellers are like us we both have lots of money to spend on our campaigns." High Gear Conventions At the national conventions, shifts campaign pettifoggery into high gear. For instance, regardless of the predetermined outcome of any convention, there must be demonstrations. For the most part, these convention demonstrations are bought and paid for by state delegations to herald the sterling qualities of a native son who in truth doesmot have a chance of being nominated for anything outside his home precincts. When a nominee u picked and the campaign goes on the road, the pattern of little white-lyin- g shifts, but continues. One of its first symptoms is the inflated crowd that chivalry is dead." Court Treatment Equal the "chivalry She labels factor" the tendency in the past for the criminal justice system to let women criminals off easy just because they were women. "Women no longer get this kind of differential treatment, and I see this is a positive step in emancipation. Women must take the consequences of their actions, and not be let c'f just because of their sex," Miss Gates said. "This is part of liberation." "The chivalry factor is really dead for girls under 18," Miss figure. Gates noted. Invariably, By RUTH YOUNGBLOOD HONLULU (UPI)- -A criminologist has found there not only behind are more women executive doors in these days of women's lib in the United States, but behind jail bars as well. Dorothy L. Gates, a former who is officer probabation of the Women's president Equity League in Hawaii, is conducting what she says is the first study to determine whether women are becoming more criminally inclined as they become more emancipated. Miss Gates has focused on embezzlement, "women's first status entry into crimes," and found "the more women have equal opportunities with men the more their crime rate becomes like that of men." Her findings show that during the 19601970 decade, there was an increase of 11 per cent in the women's work force nationally with a 15 per cent increase in managerial positions or positions of trust. Embezzlement Soars Through statistics obtained from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and police departments, Miss Gates found that during this period, total arrests of women increased by 74.4 per cent wile arrests of women for embezzlement jumped by 203.5 per cent. "Embezzlement, the misappropriation of funds while in a position of trust, is a crime that women previously had little opportunity to carry out," she with a reporters traveling presidential candidate estimate the crowd at a political rally on their own and find that it is far under that of the ranking police official present It is an old most of night before Mr. Nixon noticed standing, was under 27,000. Celebrities are solicited, it in a Deshler, Ohio, gymnasometimes hired, to add glitter sium under the guidance of a to campaip platforms. Candi- Republican advance team. dates start claiming that they The Voters At Fault At some point in a presidenhave discovered some Irish, Jewish, cr Italian ancestry in tial campaign, every reporter their family trees, depending on asks himself the obvious the audience. (When FDR told question what does all the an Al Smith dinner audience in carnival, show business atmosNew York that he thought he phere have to do with the was part Irish, Fiorefio H. presidency, particularly i n LaGuardia was said to have times of nearly perpetual crisis. remarked, "If Frank Roosevelt The answer has to do with the is Irish, I'm a Chinaman with a old whipping boy, the American electorate. The sad trwi is that haircut.") demonstrations millions of Americans still do Spontaneous begin tc be labot'ously orga- not care tremendously about nized. The famous "Bring Us looking over the men for whom Together" sign that President they vote and it takes a little Nixon spotted in a crowd and shoTOianship to get the public made the subject of his post- away from other forms of election victory speech was not entertainment and to come to a ' just a little girl's homemade rally to see what the candidate d like in the is person. plea. -- It-w- spray-painte- wiimhents also like to strike IHVM'" various presidential poses to stress their statesmanlike qualiat the ties and experience helm A classic example was President Johnson's posture in the 1964 campaign against Campaigns Informative Anyone who actively partici- (in presidential thinks of them first of all as ordeals. But they can be valuable for the people and as a means of reporters learning about potential leadGoldwater. LBJ would dramatirecreate the Cuban ers. cally The skillful obfuscation and. missile crisis for his audiences when "Khrushchev and John campaign trickery are always to there, but there are just too stood eyeball Kennedy knives their with pokin many opportunities for revealeyeball each other in the ribs ... until ing moments in a presidential race for a simply plastic or Khrushchev sent those missiles insincere candidate to remain back to Russia." undiscovered. line another had he great And As Theodore H. White, author to sum up the peace issue: of c: the "The Making when this you remember "Just President" books once noted: go to the ballot box on Tuesday who do you want to be sittin' "The best time to listen to a beside that hot line when the' politician is when he's on a and stump on a street corner in the g telephone goes the voice on the other end says,. rain late at night when he's exhausted. Then he doesn't lie."' 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"My research does not substantiate the notion that women are by nature different from men in criminalistic tendencies," Miss Gates added. "Notions that females are docile do not reflect in the statistics. They are aggressive." Miss Gates said the results of her study not only help dispel long-hel- d myths about female temperament but hopefully will law enforcement by help examining an area which has practically been ignored. Men Still In Majority She said statistics about female embezzlement should no more discourage an employer from hiring women than figures about male crime rates do, and emphasized that although the number of female embezzlers has increased, women constituted only 27 per cent of the total number of embezzlers in 1970, indicating it's still a masculine HOUSE V r ' Regular $9.11 Gal.. SALE Fully jjJ SUPR 1 K0TE Enamelized, alkyd. good hiding, White and colors. Super gloss, hard wearing. One coat Easy-brushin- g g, long-lastin- Regular s9n Gal. 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