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Nixon Wins Poll On Incompetence

By Leonard S. Edgerly

According to Coop customers, Richard M. Nixon best exemplifies the principle that members of any heirarchy inevitably rise to their level of incompetence.

Nixon was the highest vote-getter in an incompetence poll conducted by the Coop during the introduction of a new book, The Peter Principle: Why things Always go Wrong, by Dr. Laurence J. Peter. In his book, Peter discovers that "in time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties."

Thirty-three per cent of the Coop customers answering the poll chose Nixon as the employee best exemplifying the Peter Principle. Spiro T. Agnew was second with 24 per cent of the vote.

Other top finishers included LyndonJohnson, Lawrence J. Peter himself, Pope Paul, Julius T. Hoffman, and Nathan M. Pusey.

The results of a national Peter Principle poll conducted at 15 college stores across the country gave top incompetence honors to Agnew, with Nixon a close second.

The national results also included several names left out of the Harvard totals. Hubert Humphrey, Lester Maddox, John Mitchell, and J. Edgar Hoover all made the national top ten.

The national poll uncovered fierce competition for the tenth spot on the incompetence list. Final tabulation awarded a tie to George Wallace and Edward M. Kennedy '54.

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