The Week

■ Mr. Chet Huntley reveals in the current Life his secret thoughts. About Nixon: 1) “The shallowness of the man overwhelms me; the fact that he is President frightens me.” On Spiro Agnew: 2) “. . . Agnew is appealing to the most base of elements. The networks almost created him, for God’s sake.” And on the network news programs: 3) “It deeply concerns me that 55 per cent of the American people are getting most of their news from TV. These are people who, for the most part, are being confronted with news for the first time. And these are the people who form the Agnew claque.” And it occurs to us that all that gallimaufry adds up to is that 1) the people who like Agnew do so because 2) they get their news from the television networks and know that Agnew’s criticism are just, and 3) were always able to see through the shallow impartiality of such as Chet Huntley.

■ The bargaining between the United Automobile Workers and the auto companies has begun, but a strike is likely before a contract is signed. Only a punishing showdown would seem able to resolve three critical factors: 1) Leonard Woodcock, the new UAW President, will have to confirm his legitimacy by drawing enemy blood; 2) the auto workers will feel cheated if they don’t get at least as much as the huge raises in the big settlements already signed this year; 3) the companies are in a cost squeeze that has already driven Chrysler and American Motors close to bankruptcy, and in the prevailing economic climate there is a limit to the price increases they can pass on to their consumers. Ergo: Strike.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

National Review

■ Mr. Chet Huntley reveals in the current Life his secret thoughts. About Nixon: 1) “The shallowness of the man overwhelms me; the fact that he is President frightens me.” On Spiro Agnew: 2) “. . . Agnew is appealing to the most base of elements. The networks almost created him, for God’s sake.” And on the network news programs: 3) “It deeply concerns me that 55 per cent of the American people are getting most of their news from TV. These are people who, for the most part, are being confronted with news for the first time. And these are the people who form the Agnew claque.” And it occurs to us that all that gallimaufry adds up to is that 1) the people who like Agnew do so because 2) they get their news from the television networks and know that Agnew’s criticism are just, and 3) were always able to see through the shallow impartiality of such as Chet Huntley.

■ The bargaining between the United Automobile Workers and the auto companies has begun, but a strike is likely before a contract is signed. Only a punishing showdown would seem able to resolve three critical factors: 1) Leonard Woodcock, the new UAW President, will have to confirm his legitimacy by drawing enemy blood; 2) the auto workers will feel cheated if they don’t get at least as much as the huge raises in the big settlements already signed this year; 3) the companies are in a cost squeeze that has already driven Chrysler and American Motors close to bankruptcy, and in the prevailing economic climate there is a limit to the price increases they can pass on to their consumers. Ergo: Strike.