South Bend, October 8, 1972
The Land of Unlimited Opportunities
The general idea of America as the land of unlimited opportunities has moved millions of people to try their good luck here. Opportunities in America are certainly not unlimited. Many have failed for whom the American Dream has not been fulfilled. But millions of people, who had come to America with only their clothes on their backs, were able to start a business and by being active achieve affluence and esteem. Although rising from rags to fabulous riches has become rarer, America has still remained a land of many opportunities, where by with enterprise and hard work, success can be achieved as nowhere else in the world.
South Bend, [Beginning of October], 1972
The Nobel Prize for Literature
The Nobel Prize for Literature 1972 has been awarded to Heinrich Böll. It thereby goes for the first time to a representative of German post-war literature. Through Böll’s writings, the present-day city of Cologne and its environs have, as literary landscape, gained worldwide significance.
South Bend, [Middle of October], 1972
Grass-roots Politics
It is surprising to see how casual and without pretentiousness a well-known Congressman talks to a small election meeting in a public library, shaking hands with everybody and inquiring about the problems someone may have. This is real grass-roots politics, when the candidate of a Party goes directly to the basis of the democratic election process. Congressman John Brademas, a Democrat, who had been reelected several times here in the 3rd District of Indiana, made no fuss about the fact that as “Mr. Education” in the House he controls the allocation of billions of dollars in the area of public education. Brademas mingled with ease among the people at the meeting, sipped his cup of coffee, and, of course, campaigned for his Party. He did not surround himself with an entourage, nor did he use any titles or symbols of political power. As a newcomer to this country, one has first to get used to this original feeling of democracy.
South Bend, October 26, 1972
The End of the Vietnam War
Today for the first time, Dr. Henry Kissinger confirmed on national television that the Vietnam peace negotiations in Paris have led to a positive result. The end of the War in Vietnam, the longest and bloodiest conflict since 1945, is thereby coming within reach.
[In the Chapter “From Stalemate to Breakthrough” (White House Years, pp. 1301-59), Henry Kissinger clearly explains how a breakthrough in the stalled negotiations in Paris was achieved. In the round of negotiations of October 8, 1972, the representative of North Vietnam, Le Duc Tho, accepted, after years of delays, the American proposals, which centered on the following three subjects: (1) Cease-fire; (2) release of prisoners of war; and (3) the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. The political problem of South Vietnam remained unresolved, which later turned out to be fatal for Saigon.]
October 29, 1972
Peace is Treading Softly
Peace in Vietnam is treading softly. The war has been going on for ten years. It escalated into endless jungle warfare, and finally ended in a military stalemate. There are no victors or vanquished, no triumph or capitulation. The end of the war is a compromise, in which both sides have given up some of their previous demands.
What are the results of this horrible war?
In this civil war, South and North Vietnam took a heavy toll of lives and suffered enormous damage. Approximately a million and a half lives were lost, and entire regions have been destroyed. Even worse is the barbaric brutalization which this war has produced. Also the United States has suffered heavy casualties. Nearly 45,000 American soldiers died, and in addition there are hundreds of thousands wounded or left behind as disabled veterans. The American public was divided by this war as seldom before in American history. The wounds of this war burden an entire generation.