Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-11-13

WIldb IDS 1OT 81 1OIlS Il6eOCu
to be said. The front page Of
the November 8 Star de-
livered to my home would
have convinced me of this
need had I not already rec
ognized it. There in the CEN
ter of the front page was
Miss Mary McGrory's TYPICAL
ly venomous story, headed
Exit Snarling-Nixon Turns
on Friends and Foe Alike"
The Stars reputation for
consistently striving to re-
port the news accurately and
without bias is, as I feel sure
you are aware, well known to
me. In recent years, how
ever, there have been occa-
sions when I have had an
uneasy feeling that those
who supposedly set policy
for The Star are almost fear
full of any effort to demand
high standards of those
whom they employ to report,
and not to interpret, the
news. Jane C. Miller.
4 y
I saw former Vice Presi-
dent Nixon's final press con-
ference on television, and I
discerned in it none of the
"snarling wrath" depicted by
Mary McGrory. I saw a tired
and beaten man delivering
a pitiful valedictory, and
taking the last opportunity
he will ever have to respond
to the vicious personal at
tackS which he has borne in
silence from the American
press for the last Is years.
Nor do I agree with the i'm
plicit conclusion in your edi-
torial that these attacks were
of no force and effect. If
indeed Mr.. Nixon's defeats in
1860 and 1862 are ultimately
attributable, as you suggest,
to those voters whose assess
ment of the candidate was Il
can't bring myself to vote
for him there's some
thing about the man
the press must assume a large
share of the responsibility for
this result. For that critical
something" was not, as you
assert, a personality trait;
it was the image which news
papermen like the writer OF
the story already referred to
whether out of personal
vindictiveness or q simple
failure to understand the OBJ
legations of their Calling
strove so hard to create.
Barbara A. Lee.
&% "
The Stars editorial on the
political demise of Richard
M. Nixon was even a level
above your usual high stand
ard. OF the many press COM
mentS I have seen about his
denunciation Of political re-
porters, yours is the only one
which admitted that there
might be justification for
bitterness.
Justification there was in
deed. The reporters who
trailed Mr.. Nixon around the
country during the 1860
campaign could not forgive
the fact that the candidate
and his staff were not SC
fawning to them as was the
Kennedy encourage. They OBJ
jected, in their pseudo-so-
phistication, to the fact that
Mr.. Nixon campaigned fol
the old American virtues Of
close family relationship, alb
stinence from profanity, self
reliance and dignity Of the
individual. The dispatches
they filed gave the impress
sion that Nixon was lacking
in sincerity and was simply
building an image that
would hide 1.-The real Nixon
until the election was over
Some Of them privately re.
ferred to his campaign a,
"mawkish."
AS your editorial stated, ne
one has ever successfully
challenged Richard Nixon,
integHty. but certainly there
. have been continuous effort.
to do so. In every case the
challengers were known tt
be petty men whose sense Of
honor and responsibility II
no way approached that o.
the man they sought tc
damage.
In the light Of these facts
Mr.. Nixon can be forgiven 9
last bitter blast at his enem-
les. The great pity Is that
the showdown he lost was tt
so shallow an opponent as
the incumbent Governor Of
California. J. G. Davis.
"a
I don't know with certainty
whether Richard Nixon's re.
marks regarding his unfair
treatment from the pres.
were based on fact or not
u