Portraits of Power: Ohio and National Politics, 1964-2004

Part II. The Politics of Turmoil, 1970–1976

Part II The Politics of Turmoil, 1970–1976 The Politics of Turmoil, 1970–1976 Introduction The first years of the 1970s were characterized by political turmoil in Ohio, driven by tensions unleashed in the 1960s. Zaidan’s writings capture this unrest, sometimes up close and personal, and sometimes from a distance. The shootings of antiwar protestors at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, exemplifies this turmoil. The Kent State University campus is twelve miles east of the offices of the Akron Beacon Journal, and Zaidan was part of a team of seven journalists who covered the tragedy and its aftermath.The paper won a Pulitzer Prize for their work in 1971.Three of the articles reviewed by the Pulitzer committee are included here: the first shocking headlines, Zaidan’s own crisp analysis of Governor Rhodes’s controversial involvement , and the first detailed chronology of these terrible events. There is no substitute for reading these frank portraits of a national tragedy,even more than thirty years later.However,the letter nominating these pieces for the Pulitzer Prize by journalism professor Murray Powers comes close: At about 12:24 p.m. on May 4, 1970, a detachment of Ohio National Guardsmen fired a volley of shots that killed four students and wounded nine on the campus of Kent State University. It was the bloodiest incident growing out of the unrest on an American campus. It was also the bitterest. 65 Murray goes on to note: Media coverage of the incident was clouded from the start, beginning with an inaccurate report that two Guardsmen were among the fatalities. Controversy quickly developed over the question of whether a sniper had fired at the Guard.l.l.l.lWith the national mood quickly fragmenting, and a tendency to explain the shootings with slogans, accusations and epithets becoming dominant,the Beacon Journal staff responded to the mandate for thorough,accurate reporting that would reveal the truth about Kent State. What distinguishes the Beacon Journal’s work is that the nature of its disclosures , all under the pressure of a deadline, contributed to a common understanding of what happened on May 4. The Pulitzer Prize committee agreed with this assessment.The nation owes Zaidan and his colleagues a debt of thanks for their coverage. As if this turmoil were not enough, racial tensions continued in Cleveland.After two difficult terms as mayor, Carl Stokes decided not to seek reelection, but he made a strong effort to pick his successor in 1971.These efforts split the Democratic vote in Cleveland, allowing Republican Ralph Perk (who lost to Stokes in 1969) to win the general election for mayor.Perk briefly brought back a version of the old-style ethnic politics in Cleveland, which Zaidan describes in brilliant detail (“Ethnic Cleveland: Mayor Rebuilds Old Politics on Voices of Old World”). Perk served three terms as mayor in the 1970s, during which time the city rapidly deteriorated and became the laughingstock of the nation. (Not only did the Cuyahoga River catch fire, but so did Mayor Perk’s hair.) The politics of turmoil spilled over into the 1972 presidential campaign. Democratic Senator George McGovern used the fervor of the antiwar movement and the new primary rules created after the disastrous 1968 Democratic convention to secure the presidential nomination, giving the new liberals a victory over the old liberals , including the 1968 nominee, former Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and his allies in organized labor. By this time, Zaidan had begun to write regular columns for the Akron Beacon Journal. He incisively describes the change in the nomination process in “The‘Politics’Is Just Beginning”and“It’s Farewell to Kingmakers.” 66 Par t II In another column, he covers the less exciting Republican renomination of President Richard Nixon in “Any Glamor Left for the GOP?” Like Goldwater in 1964, McGovern was quickly tagged as outside of the political mainstream in 1972. Two humorous columns connect the dots in the desultory fall campaign that led to President Nixon’s landslide victory in 1972. Zaidan notes the failures of the McGovern campaign in “For Sale: 10,000 Peace Signs,”and in“Buggers Can’t Be Bunglers,”he satirizes the origins of theWatergate scandal,the break-in at the offices of the Democratic National Committee by operatives from CREEP (the Committee to Re-elect the President), Nixon’s campaign committee .Along with theVietnamWar protests,theWatergate burglary and...