(Agnew, Spiro). Sohmer, Art; Heard, Alexander; Bickhard, Mark H. - Fascinating Documents Related to the Student Protests During the Nixon Administration.

Washington, DC: The White House, 1970. 1970. Washington, DC: The White House, 1970. 1970. Very good. - Among the documents are six pages, each 8-1/2 inches high by 5-1/2 inches wide removed from a personalized notepad belonging to Art Sohmer, Chief-of-Staff to Vice-President Spiro Agnew. The notes penned by Sohmer, marked "Personal", were taken during a meeting with Dr. Alexander Heard, Special Advisor to the White House on Campus Affairs. The notes are dated 6/10/70. There is a paper clip stain to the top of the first page of Sohmer's notes. A note on White House letterhead from Dr. Heard, 5-1/4 inches high by 4 inches wide, is addressed to Sohmer transmitting "the memo I mentioned". It is signed "Alex. Heard" with the same date as the meeting, 6-10-70. The top edge of Heard's note is creased with an indentation from a paper clip. A photocopy of a 5-page memorandum, 10-1/2 inches high by 8 inches wide, from Mark H. Bickhard, Committee on Human Development, University of Chicago, addressed to Dr. Alexander Heard at the White House. He introduces it to Heard with the statement: "Enclosed is the memorandum that you requested. I'm sorry it's so late and I'm sorry it's so sketchy and incomplete: I haven't had time to do much about either. I hope you can make use of it and would appreciate your reactions to the ideas in it." Art Sohmer has penned "File AJS personal" on the first page of Bickhard's memorandum. As Vice President to Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew gained notoriety for speaking out against demonstrators protesting against American intervention in the Vietnam War. He often condemned protesters as violent and confrontational. In a speech on April 27, 1970 he called on universities to adopt a "nine point get tough policy..an end to appeasement" of students and "a clear and concise set of rules for campus conduct". Some of Art Sohmer's Notes during June 10, 1970 meeting "re Dissent" with Alexander Heard: "1) Incomplete reflections of STAs thoughts and Moods has generated some of the reaction 2) Climate is volatile"; "4) Dissent is inherent - the function of a University - Society looks to U-for impartial & diverse views - in a critical role of society (constructive)"; "6) VP can demonstrate his understanding of the important role of dissent.."; "7) What are limits to dissent.."; "10) The human qualities of the VP should be shown"; "14) Some people would say I feel the highest expression of patriotism is to work for and urge withdrawal of forces from VN. Young people w/ideas should not be minimized. Youth thinks of themselves as a 'class' - new concept in US." "17) VP must see beyond the 'immediate tumult' - to implement the 'Bringing Together' of the Country"; "18) Difference between dissent over policy (e.g. Civil Rights / Political attack) and dissent over the way of government (any system of govt that can have VN over 3 administartions there must be something wrong - they say". Excerpts from the memorandum from Mark Bickhard: "In the great social instability and insecurity of the Depression, an individual's position was precarious and subject to destruction with little warning. For people growing up at this time, the issues of security and stability were immediate and paramount, and they correspondingly learned to be concerned with them first and above all others..The tenuousness of personal security and the threat of catastrophy that it implied were not so great for people growing up in the fifties..They turned more toward an internal locus of value and power and began to respond negatively to the ennui and absurdity of devoting one's life to a given narrow 'secure' slot in society. The resulting search for internally founded philosophies is seen in its most visible form as the hippies, drug cultures, communes, etc. - the deliberate experimentation with new life styles..here we have younger people thinking in a way almost exactly opposed to that of the Depression generation - in ways considered both dangerous and immoral by that generation..Current trends within student culture appear to be in the direction of the development of a new ideology of power. The turn to individual action as a basis for power in civil rights was pragmatic, not intellectual, and, as a matter of fact, was in my opinion contrary to the prevailing social welfare ideology of the left at that time..It is often said that young people have more power than they realize, but the relevant point is precisely that it is not in a personally realizable form. They appear to have effect only when they make of themselves social problems, not when they attempt to be social citizens..This country may yet be a ways from revolution, but the fact of so much frustration and anger among so many people as we see today is itself proof that 'standard channels' are inadequate, that this society is insufficiently adaptive and flexible to the needs and wants of its own citizens, and that the resistances and repressions that people encounter has exceeded a socially viable level. At this point the Nixon-Agnew-Mitchell campaign against students becomes relevant. Aside from the blatant insults and attacks, there is a pervasive bias in their rendition of events.. The Nixon-Agnew-Mitchell contribution to this atmosphere of fear and frustration is either deliberate and part of a chosen strategy, as they make ir appear to be, or not and resuts from their own basic fears and rigidities..In this context, Mr. Nixon's claims that he wants the same things that the students want are laughable indeed." For 18 years, Mark H. Bickhard was a member of the faculty of the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas, Austin. From 1990 he became the Henry R. Luce Professor of Cognitive Robotics and the Philosophy of Knowledge at Lehigh University. Alexander Heard (1917-2009) was a political scientist who served as chancellor of Vanderbilt University from 1963 to 1982. He also served as an advisor to presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. Very good .

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