by MARK BROWNING
Anecdotes about famous people and serious political comment were blended together in the Monday morning speech of columnist Jack Anderson in the TC auditorium.
Speaking to an audience comprised to a large extent of local high school students, Anderson began his presentation with a series of jokes about recent events.
Upon stepping to the podium, Anderson touched the microphone and said, “It’s nice to be speaking into a microphone you can see for a change.”
“Oops, I forgot to wear my WIN button,” he continued, pulling one of the red and white buttons out of his pocket and fastening it on his lapel. “That stands for Wilbur Is Naughty.”
Freedom of press was the first topic discussed by Anderson, and he warned the audience that “on the day the government can control the press, you will have lost your freedom.”
Anderson used Thomas Jefferson as a source for ideas on press freedom, and told of an occasion when President Kennedy invited a group of Nobel Prize winners to the White House. Kennedy told the group so many great minds had never before been assembled together in the executive mansion except on one occasion — when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.
Jefferson was quoted by Anderson as saying, “If I had to choose between government without newspapers or newspaper without government, I would not hesitate to choose the latter.”
The Ford administration’s approach to the economy drew criticism from Anderson, and he warned that “the recession is going to touch each and every one of you.” The columnist told stories of old persons being forced to shoplift to pay for food and said dog food sales had tripled in some ghetto areas. People were eating the pet food because they could no longer afford hamburger, he said.
Economic Policies Attacked
Anderson said his Mormon upbringing had taught him to believe in hard work and oppose welfare. Accordingly, he struck out at what he termed the welfare of the Ford administration.
“The government gives to the rich and the poor, but only the poor get welfare,” Anderson said. “The rich get tax incentives or depletion allowances. There is no difference in a dollar given to the poor and a dollar the rich don’t have to pay. We should call it what it is.”
Anderson criticized proposals for tax increases on the middle class and detailed the high salaries collected by oil company executives in addition to steadily increasing corporation profits.
If the oil companies need money for exploration purposes, “make them come in and beg for it like the poor people,” Anderson proposed. In this way, he said, Congress could determine how subsidies were being used and where they were needed.
In cutting back welfare for the rich, the government could begin with Nelson Rockefeller, Anderson said.
Nixon, on the other hand, was characterized as being different from other presidents in the past 25 years.
“Most presidents have understood that they are the servants and not the masters of the people,” said Anderson.
The columnist used a long series of anecdotes to illustrate his opinion of Nixon and contrasted him with other Presidents, particularly Harry Truman.
For instance, he said, when Truman left office he drove his own car and carried his own luggage. The Trumans moved back into their old home in Missouri, instead of a “kingly estate.”
“And it didn’t cost us $850,000 to move Truman out of office,” said Anderson.
Kennedy’s Leadership Cited
Anderson also spoke of his personal friend John Kennedy, emphasizing that he thought the nation needed leadership like Kennedy’s today.
As an example of the Kennedy influence on people, Anderson told of a trip to Brazil on which a friend offered to take the columnist to any of the small villages in the Brazilian countryside and select a typical home.
On the hearth of that home, the friend said, two things were likely to be found — a picture of Jesus Christ and a picture of John F. Kennedy.
“Could you imagine a picture of Richard Nixon on a Brazilian hearth?” asked Anderson.
Following his speech, Anderson spent almost another hour answering questions on a wide range of topics from members of the audience.