Kennedy Warns Against "Tweedledee" Attitude

Senator Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass) was introduced to the Harvard Law School Forum Monday night as "one of the few senators not candidate for higher political office."

Despite this very pointed opening remark, Kennedy chose to focus his speech not on his role in the 1972 presidential elections, but rather on the importance of the student vote in bringing about "drastic, if not revolutionary" change in the present system.

"Let me put it bluntly," Kennedy said. "Richard Nixon was elected in 1968 because people like you sat on your hands. They did not work in the campaign because their own candidates had been lost in Los Angelos or Chicago. They did not vote because they thought they had a Tweedledum-Tweedledee choice."

Kennedy strongly asserted that the only viable means for change lay in the system: registering votes, lobbying on issues and supporting candidates.

"These are not very glamorous suggestions," Kennedy added.

"They are so straight and dependent on confidence in the system that they may seem alien to some of you."

This overwhelming confidence in the system did, in fact, alienate the audience which had previously been responding well to Kennedy's colorful criticisms of the Nixon Administration with terms like "Richard Nixon lives in a Skinner box" and "the honkings of the Administration's Clarabelle."

One bearded member of the audience requested during the question and answer period that Kennedy "not smile and give pat answers" about the ability to work within the system for change. "Why don't you just admit that you don't know the answer?" he asked.

But even more alienating than his confidence in the system was the failure of Kennedy to commit himself to any definite political action in the elections.

He quite clearly stated he would not support any political candidate for the presidency but would instead "identify himself to the issues in domestic and foreign policy."

By refusing to commit himself politically, Kennedy was obviously leaving the options open for his own candidacy in 1972.

Kennedy demanded personal commitment from the student audience but refused to give a personal commitment himself.

Kennedy failed to convince the audience that his support of the system was completely sincere rather than politically expedient.

In a private interview Monday night, Kennedy espoused many of the views that would be predicted of a liberal Democrat--views that make him an especially attractive candidate in the 1972 Democratic National convention.

He supported Massachusetts Attorney General Robert Quinn's decision to allow students to register in their college town.

"I support it as a legal concept," he said. "Students should have the choice to register wherever they want."

Massachusetts, however, will be aligned with more progressive legislation anyway in the general elections. "I would hope that students from other states in the South, Mid-west and West would vote in their home towns where only a handful of votes can make the difference," he added.

Expressing his opposition to abortion on demand, Kennedy said. "I still have my reservations about abortion; and although I am sympathetic with unwanted pregnancy I am very concerned with the sanctity of life and existence."

Kennedy did say he favored "making available all information and assistance to all women seeking help in birth control" whether or not they are married.

When asked about his recent trip to study the health care plan in England, Kennedy responded that he believed this program could be successful in the United States.

He also criticized the American Medical Association for its resistance to change in contrast to the "willingness of the British Medical Society to accept reform."

"Although there are problems with the British system, they are dealing with the right model car and we are dealing with a horse and buggy," he said.

Kennedy said President Nixon has the "obligation to reflect the mood of the country" by appointing two liberal supreme court justices--men of the same "vision" as Justices Black and Harlan--and added he would be pleased to see a "qualified" woman justice on the bench.

Senator Kennedy's well-written and powerful speech and manner made him an attractive liberal candidate in comparison with the much more subdued and wishywashy manner of a Muskie or a Humphrey.

But the Kennedy name evokes too many unpleasant memories to make him a very powerful presidential candidate. And Kennedy himself seems politically tired and uncertain, preferring to take the safer stands on legislative issues rather than to undertake the personal political commitment which he demands of students.

And despite his insistence that the student vote can produce drastic changes in the system, Kennedy failed to convince the students at Rindge Technical Auditorium that the 1972 election would be anything but another "Tweedledee-Tweedledum" race between a Nixon and a Muskie.