Spies Beside the Red Cedar

<< LOSE BESIDE the winding Cedar’s sloping banks of green, John A. Hannah, president of Michigan State University, displays a face redder than the stream which flows through his East Lansing campus. For, several years ago, he sent spies to Saigon; and they were caught—not, indeed, by the Vietcong (which apparently con- sidered the professors from MSU un- worthy of their bombs), but by Ramparts Magazine and other jour- nals of the Left. _ A leading light of sociology (dis- _tinctly not a member of the faculty _ of MSU) tells me that when the Fed- eral Government determines to em- bark upon some grandiose cational” design _ abroad, it con- tracts with either – Harvard or Mich- -igan State, usual- ly. If the big men in Washington mean their scheme to succeed, they choose Harvard; but if they are substantially in- different to the undertaking, or if in their inmost hearts they hope that the project will fail, then they turn to Hannah and the dons of MSU. Upon the educationist empire of Dr. [honoris causa] John A. Hannah, the sun never sets, for it extends from – Okinawa through East Lansing to Nigeria. His main campus has some 38,000 students now—more under- _ graduates than at any other campus _ in the world. But if one desires qual- ity, or even success, rather than ~ numbers—why, it may turn out that even the secret agents of MSU are dull dogs. – Under pretense of establishing an efficient police force in South Viet- mam, some years ago, President Hannah dispatched to his new satrapy of Saigon a colony of Ph.Ds. From the beginning, this “educational” mission was, in large part, a mask for the CIA allegedly by previous arrangement with Hannah. True, it was a mask nearly transparent, this curious con- geries of police-administration teach- ers and political science professors and sociologists and English literature __ people. Few of these men possessed any real acquaintance with the his- tory, cultures, languages or geography “edu-

FROM THE RUSSELL KIRK of southeastern Asia. Riven inter- nally by faction, first beaming upon President Diem and then working to undermine him, spending enormous- ly, causing much scandal, this pro- fessorial intrigue-apparatus demon- strated that in diplomacy and espion- age, the professor plays the buffoon’s role. The MSU expedition to Saigon soon split into two factions, Liberal and Radical; drifting home, the dissi- _ dent Radicals tattled; and in the full- ness of time, long after the under- taking had been terminated and everybody knew nearly everything about this silly—if incidentally bane- ful—little episode, even Ramparts, shallowest and least “aware” of monthlies, got wind of the scandal. Whether Somebody Up There in Washington always expected this Saigon mission to fail, or actually intended its collapse, and so con- tracted with John A. Hannah, rather than with Dr. Pusey or MIT or a specialized institute of Asiatic affairs; whether Hannah had the faintest notion of how matters were drifting in Saigon; whether there was aught wicked in trying to assist the CIA— these questions I set aside for the present, being concerned at this mo- ment with the remarkable inanity of Mr. Hannah’s apologists.

RK

About the Author

Russell Kirk

<< LOSE BESIDE the winding Cedar’s sloping banks of green, John A. Hannah, president of Michigan State University, displays a face redder than the stream which flows through his East Lansing campus. For, several years ago, he sent spies to Saigon; and they were caught—not, indeed, by the Vietcong (which apparently con- sidered the professors from MSU un- worthy of their bombs), but by Ramparts Magazine and other jour- nals of the Left. _ A leading light of sociology (dis- _tinctly not a member of the faculty _ of MSU) tells me that when the Fed- eral Government determines to em- bark upon some grandiose cational” design _ abroad, it con- tracts with either – Harvard or Mich- -igan State, usual- ly. If the big men in Washington mean their scheme to succeed, they choose Harvard; but if they are substantially in- different to the undertaking, or if in their inmost hearts they hope that the project will fail, then they turn to Hannah and the dons of MSU. Upon the educationist empire of Dr. [honoris causa] John A. Hannah, the sun never sets, for it extends from – Okinawa through East Lansing to Nigeria. His main campus has some 38,000 students now—more under- _ graduates than at any other campus _ in the world. But if one desires qual- ity, or even success, rather than ~ numbers—why, it may turn out that even the secret agents of MSU are dull dogs. – Under pretense of establishing an efficient police force in South Viet- mam, some years ago, President Hannah dispatched to his new satrapy of Saigon a colony of Ph.Ds. From the beginning, this “educational” mission was, in large part, a mask for the CIA allegedly by previous arrangement with Hannah. True, it was a mask nearly transparent, this curious con- geries of police-administration teach- ers and political science professors and sociologists and English literature __ people. Few of these men possessed any real acquaintance with the his- tory, cultures, languages or geography “edu-

FROM THE RUSSELL KIRK of southeastern Asia. Riven inter- nally by faction, first beaming upon President Diem and then working to undermine him, spending enormous- ly, causing much scandal, this pro- fessorial intrigue-apparatus demon- strated that in diplomacy and espion- age, the professor plays the buffoon’s role. The MSU expedition to Saigon soon split into two factions, Liberal and Radical; drifting home, the dissi- _ dent Radicals tattled; and in the full- ness of time, long after the under- taking had been terminated and everybody knew nearly everything about this silly—if incidentally bane- ful—little episode, even Ramparts, shallowest and least “aware” of monthlies, got wind of the scandal. Whether Somebody Up There in Washington always expected this Saigon mission to fail, or actually intended its collapse, and so con- tracted with John A. Hannah, rather than with Dr. Pusey or MIT or a specialized institute of Asiatic affairs; whether Hannah had the faintest notion of how matters were drifting in Saigon; whether there was aught wicked in trying to assist the CIA— these questions I set aside for the present, being concerned at this mo- ment with the remarkable inanity of Mr. Hannah’s apologists.