The End is Still in the Balance

Disillusionment here after Kent State was an accepted given. Nobody seriously discussed taking on Reagan in his second term after re-election in Nov. l970 .. hot on the heels of Kent State Protest. and it was vehement.

Yes we all reached our own threshold of 'burn out or bummed out' Lack o money, as Ben Franklin once said puts an end to many a good intention. I was sitting on the student body bank account, so I knew Edwards would not run out of money. Whether I could 'stay the course' myself became problamatic.

Anti war was just that, against the establishment, and they had lots of allies so long as they could stay organized and non-violent. My own intentional attitude of keeping S.D.S. and the fringe at arms distance was based on just that, they had no program FOR anything, and beyond my own personal efforts on campus there was no reform movement at State.

Last of all, Tim, I wonder if you have any advice from your experiences in the tumultuous sixties. How can we avoid "going through all these things twice," (as Bod Dylan said)?

Breaking away from our format, and speaking tothe present, I am 'about forming a different civilization altogether' (as Krishnamurti said). My father was a racist - I was not a 'red dyeper baby-. I choose to elevate Edwards (the younger) out of faith in mankind and my believe in God as I understood him.

My father, in the thrities in this quiet little town that lynched two men for kidnapping in l934 and were toasted by then Governor Sunny Jim Rolfe, dated the sister of the Chief of Detectives in San Jose in the sixties 30 years later. My mother went to school with the Chief of Police in the sixties. I went to school with the Chief of Detectives daughter. My fatherŐs personal lawyer was former Mayor of San Jose Al Ruffo, who served on the Chancellors Review Committwee (afforementioned) as a representative of the State Board of Trustees This was a very close family feud. The Chief of Detectives lead the Police TAC squads at the Dow Demonstration. My father and I _never_ agreed on Viet Nam and I always thought he thought I owed it to him to die for my county. _Not_ mind you fight for my country but DIE for it. His pound of flesh as it were. We are to this day bitter rivals and the internecine warfare over control of the City whether by Ruffo and my fathers people or by my Generation from State is still in progress as I write you. The end is still in balance.

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