Polities In the Lobby

"I JUST saw my Congressman. What a jerk!" The college kid for whose benefit the remark was made laughed. It was 85 degrees. The armpit of his three-piece suit was completely sweated through, and he sympathized equally with the girl and his suit.

They were on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., doing something they'd never done before. A huge group of Harvard students. faculty members, and several employees were in the city to lobby Senators and Congressmen in hopes that they'd support the McGovern-Hatfield Amendment to halt appropriations for the war in Southeast Asia.

I came down by car a few hours later than most with no real idea what I was supposed to do or how I was supposed to do it. After walking around lost, Marty and I found our way to Rayburn-one of three buildings where Congressmen work. We went in, and in the cafeteria, a Harvard person told us to go talk to our Congressmen and tell them how unhappy we are with the Asian policy the country is following.

The immediate problem was that my representatives. both in the House and the Senate. know how improper our policies are Congressman Ogden Reid is the sponsor of anti-war legislation in the House, and almost everyone knows that Senators Goodell and Javits are far from hawks. Even the Congressman in the district bordering mine-Richard Ottinger-is a dove. It was hard for me to believe that I could come from such a heavily-Republican area and still be this happy about my representatives. So the extent of my lobbying efforts with these men was a pep-talk note which I left in Reid's office while he was out.

But I had to talk to someone, or my trip would have been a waste. Marty was from Chicago. and his representatives are as despicable as New York's are good. Marty and I could lobby together. First. we went to see John Kluczynski. His office was completely shut down.

We went next to the office of Phil Crane, and we were greeted by his legislative assistant. That seemed to be the arrangement. Few Congressmen were around, so you had to relay your feelings through assistants.

This particular man was the model "I hate this war as much as anyone. but we have to complete it as well as we can" type. He outlined the Communist plot to take over the world, the inherent superiority of democracy to communism, and said that since this was a military activity, we had to take the word of military personnel because they know more about it than we do. There were five of us there trying to persuade him that he was wrong. It was rather sad.

Then there was Representative Edward Derwinski, whose office was decorated with a picture of Derwinski and Barry Goldwater smiling side by side. It didn't look good. The Representative was in a meeting. but his assistant would be glad to speak to you. the secretary told us. "Bring her on."

She seemed perfectly nice. Marty tried to explain our position on the war, butchered it, then finished. "Well, I'll tell him you stopped by." she said. But we thought it'd be a good idea to hear Derwinski's position on Asia.

"Are you old enough to vote." she inquired. We would be soon. so she didn't use that excuse to put us off. She pointed out that neither of us was actually from Derwinski's district. At that point, we started an argument emphasizing the desirability of free exchange of ideas. A moment later, the woman turned her back and walked off mad. Derwinski has good taste.

We saw two other assistants for Illinois Congressmen. One of them encouraged us, but the other, though helpful, indicated that John Anderson, an influential Congressman, was not nearly in agreement with our position. There were 11 people in the office, and I occasionally fell asleep.

I DIDN'T leave that building with a great sense of power. I hadn't seen a single Congressman; only legislative assistants. And how many new arguments can I present? The hawks there have heard the anti-war lines before, and none of us came to Washington with new information. It's unfortunate that many of us haven't read as much as we should on Southeast Asia: I walked around wishing I'd gone right through Viet Nam Reader which has been kicking around at home. While talking to Crane's mouthpiece, for instance. I knew I could put him down if I could hit him with a few more facts. And all during the afternoon, you could almost imagine the guys laughing silently at us-"They're just students, a loud minority, much of which can't vote."

But for all the frustration, there was some reason for optimism. The fact that so many of us are coming all the way down to talk about it should impress them, for what that's worth. And it could scare them. After all, we have great canvassing power if we get involved in it. It might not pay to keep us unhappy. In most cases, however, it'll probably be a question of canvassing diligently enough to defeat these hopelessly stubborn representatives. Sen. Ralph Yarborough told the Harvard group that organized canvassing could have won a primary for him in Texas. Instead, he had lost.

It's too bad that it took the movement so long to learn how it could be most effective. Saturday's rally near the White House made it painfully obvious that such activities just won't accomplish anything. Each rally attracts less attention than the one before. And people are tired of hearing the same old speeches. The only things that now hold their attention are good music and derisions of Nixon ("Fuck Richard Nixon" was the day's most popular chant). It's nice to get people together, and I think November's protest in Washington was of some tactical value, but there's no way they'll end the war. At the other extreme, trashing and similar strategies seem to hurt the cause more than help it. Bland old liberal practicality seems the only way to proceed.

We'll have to be patient; we'll have to be dedicated. A lot of us will give up, and all the while that we canvass or whatever, the killing in Asia is going to continue. As unappealing as the idea is, we'll have to go through the system. We've tried everything else. and maybe now we've found the answer.