Letter from Washington

Vice President Spiro Agnew is not only a master of rhetoric. He is also an accurate reporter. Attacks on the Vice President have usually taken the form of loud assaults on his tone, but in one recent incident the press and the academic community descended on Agnew with particular glee, accusing him of distorting facts. Agnew had cited the example of a professor at Cornell who was physically assaulted during the course of campus turmoil. Cornell promptly denied that any such incident had ever taken place, and the news media just as promptly descended on the Vice President, abusing him for spreading misinformation and widely reporting the Cornell disclaimer.

But as it turns out Agnew was right. Harold Feldman, Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Cornell, was beaten by a 38-year-old graduate student and hospitalized for several days. Those who followed the Vice President closely were not surprised, since one of his strengths is his thorough documentation.

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Vice President Spiro Agnew is not only a master of rhetoric. He is also an accurate reporter. Attacks on the Vice President have usually taken the form of loud assaults on his tone, but in one recent incident the press and the academic community descended on Agnew with particular glee, accusing him of distorting facts. Agnew had cited the example of a professor at Cornell who was physically assaulted during the course of campus turmoil. Cornell promptly denied that any such incident had ever taken place, and the news media just as promptly descended on the Vice President, abusing him for spreading misinformation and widely reporting the Cornell disclaimer.

But as it turns out Agnew was right. Harold Feldman, Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Cornell, was beaten by a 38-year-old graduate student and hospitalized for several days. Those who followed the Vice President closely were not surprised, since one of his strengths is his thorough documentation.