APRIL 20, 1976
NO. 22
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
EDITOR Hoyt H. Purvis
PRESIDENCY
AND PRESS SYMPOSIUM HERE FRIDAY
A day-long symposium
on The Presidency and the Press, with former White House news secretaries and veteran Washington
correspondents taking part, will begin at 9:30 a.m. Friday April 23 in the LBJ
Auditorium.
The event is being
sponsored by the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and the School of Public Affairs
and is being held in conjunction with the regional convention of Sigma Delta
Chi, the society of professional journalists.
Panelists who will
participate in the symposium discussions include:
For the Presidency:
.
Pierre Salinger, press secretary to President Kennedy, 1961-63 and to President
Johnson, 1963.
. George
Christian, press secretary to President Johnson, 1966-69.
. Herb Klein,
Executive Branch director of communications, 1969-73.
. Ron Ziegler,
press secretary to President Nixon, 1969-74.
. Jerry terHorst,
press secretary to President Ford, 1974.
Two others, Bill
Moyers, press secretary to President Johnson in 1965-66, and Ron Nessen, the
current press secretary to President Ford have indicated they will take part if
possible.
For the press:
. Frank Cormier,
Associated Press.
. Marianne Means,
Hearst Newspapers.
. Dan Rather,
CBS.
. Hugh Sidney, Time.
. Helen Thomas,
United Press International.
. James Deakin, St.
Louis Post-Dispatch.
William S. White,
long-time Washington newsman, will keynote the morning session. White, now an
adjunct professor of journalism at the University, was for many years a
correspondent for the Associated Press and then the New York Times. Later he wrote a nationally syndicated column.
In 1955 he won a Pulitizer Prize in Letters for his biography, The Taft
Story. He is also the author
of The Professional: Lyndon
B. Johnson, published in 1965.
Opening speaker for
the afternoon session which begins at 2 p.m., will be Liz Carpenter, who served
as press secretary to Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson.
The panel discussions
are expected to focus on such subjects as governmental secrecy, the fairness of
the press, threats to the free press, news coverage of the Presidential
campaign, and the degree to which both government and the press fulfill their
respective responsibilities.
The complete
proceedings of the symposium will be carried on Austin Community Television
(ACTV) on Friday night beginning at 7 p.m.
WILLIAM
SPARKS TO SPEAK THURSDAY AT LUNCHEON
William R. Sparks will
speak at a brown-bag luncheon in the Student Lounge at noon on Thursday April
22.
Sparks currently
serves as assistant to the chairman of International Telephone and Telegraph.
He was a former assistant to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara from June,
1964, to August, 1965, serving as a speech writer. Beginning in August, 1965,
he was an assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson, mainly responsible for
speech writing.
Sparks has directed
numerous film documentaries on Asia and Latin America and has written for several
major magazines. He is the author of Who Talked to the President Last (New York: Norton, 1971) and creater of NBC's Wide
Wide World program.
[news item]
State Representative
Sarah Weddington of Austin will be the speaker at a brown-bag luncheon at noon
Tuesday April 20 in the Student Lounge.
"On
the Record"
. Professor Vic Bach
participated in a panel discussion on "The New Federalism" at the
recent Southwestern Political Science Association meeting in Dallas, and
presented a paper on "The New Federalism and Community Development: Early
Observations." Copies are available on request.
. Recent speakers at
LBJ School brown-bag luncheons have included Dr. Wier Brown, inspector general
for international finance of the U. S. Department of the Treasury, and Terrell
Blodget of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. Brown also spoke to the topical
seminar on Issues Between Developed and Less-Developed Countries, taught by Dr. Sidney Weintraub.
. Recent visitors to
the LBJ School at the invitation of the Dean Search Committee were Dr. Bertram
S. Brown and David L. Kirp. Brown, who spoke earlier in the year at the School,
is currently the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and
clinical professor of psychiatry at George Washington University School of
Medicine. He serves as special assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education,
and Welfare for drug abuse prevention. Kirp is an associate professor in the
Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley
where he is also a lecturer at the School of Law and senior research associate
for the Childhood and Government Project. He has served as a consultant on the
Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights under Law, the National Institute for
Education, and the Scientific Council for Government Policy in the Netherlands.
. Russell Kempner,
first-year student at the LBJ School, won the national championship in the
165-pound class at the National Collegiate Powerlifting Championships at Ohio
University April 3-4. Led by Kempner's first-place finish, the University of
Texas team managed to rank in the top ten nationally.
CITY
MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE PLANNED
The Third City
Management Institute, sponsored by the LBJ School of Public Affairs in
cooperation with the Texas City Management Association, will be held at the
Thompson Conference Center April 26-27.
A variety of topics
related to current issues in city government will be considered during the
two-day meeting.
Among these speakers
for the Institute will be:
Robert M. Tinstman,
assistant general manager of the Lower Colorado River Authority and former
Austin city manager, Council-Manager Governments and Public Managers: The
Meaning of Change.
David W. MacKenna,
senior research associate, Institute of Urban Studies, UT-Arlington, The Economic
Impact of Energy Costs on City Services and Cost-Reduction Efforts.
Robert B. Davis,
general counsel, First Southwest Company, Austin, Municipal Fiscal Integrity
in Texas Could We Follow New York?
Harman Lisnow,
director, Fiscal Relations section, Planning and Research Division, Office of
Comptroller of Public Accounts.
Three second-year
students at the School will serve as workshop leaders at the Institute.
Nan McRaven will
discuss Non-Tax Sources of Municipal Revenue in Texas and Joe Murphy will talk on Municipal
Expenditure Patterns in Texas.
Peter Lemonias will
lead the workshop on Practical and Inexpensive Goals and Priorities
Techniques along with James E.
Hartling, assistant professor of architecture.
Sharon Gillespie of
the Texas Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and an LBJ School
graduate will be a leader of the workshop on Federal Funding-Revenue
Sharing-City/COG Relationships.
COLLOQUIA
PLANNED
Dr. Richard Schott
reported on research he is doing on the Congressional Budget Office and the
Congressional Budget Committees at the LBJ School Colloquium on April 14.
Schott discussed the
impact of the new Congressional budgeting operations on relations between the
Legislative and Executive Branches.
On April 21, Colonel James
F. Record, Air Force research associate at the LBJ School, will speak on
"The Department of Defense Budget and Related National Defense
Issues," at 4 p.m. in Room 3.111.
Dr. Jared Hazleton
will speak on "The Economics of Gold Rush Economies: Some Cases from the
Middle East" on April 28. Hazleton returned to the School this year after
nearly two years of work in the Middle East.
SPURR
TO SPEAK ON RENEWABLE RESOURCES
Professor Stephen H.
Spurr will participate in a symposium on Materials and the Development of
Nations: The Role of Technology,
organized by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of
Sciences on April 28-29 in Washington.
Participants in the
symposium will be an interdisciplinary group composed of leading scientists and
engineers involved in the materials cycle, along with economists, political
scientists, and national planners and decision makers and those involved in
aiding international development.
Spurr will speak on The
Potential for the Development of Renewable Resources.
In his remarks Spurr
will note that only a small proportion of the net annual primary productivity
of the land surface is currently utilized in the form of agricultural products
for food and feed or in the form of wood for structural purposes, fiber, and
fuel.
Spurr points out that
the products of photosynthesis have many industrial uses. Wood products alone
account for five percent of the U.S. gross national product. A variety of
natural fibers, oils, and other substances, including cotton, natural rubber,
flax, wool, and palm oil, also have important industrial uses.
Spurr suggests that
substantial potential exists for exploiting existing stocks of timber; more
complete utilization of present production; extensive or silvicultural management
of existing commercial forests; intensive management of trees and other plants,
including algae, for the concentrated production of photosynthate for
industrial or energy use.
However, Spurr points
out that although the technology is generally for instituting such moves is
generally well advanced, social, political, and economic conditions are
currently more limiting.
Professor David Warner
has published two articles in recent months.
Warner wrote
"Fiscal Federalism in Health Care," in Publius, fall, 1975, and "Medical Case
Planning," in Law and Aging, a book edited by James Lewis at Duke Law School.
His review of Michael
Cooper's Rationing Medical Care appeared in the February, 1976, Medical Care.
Warner has also been
invited to attend the 1Oth annual National Forum on Health and Hospital Affairs
at Duke University on May 14 and 15.
[news item]
Recommendations for
the first annual Emmette S. Redford Award for Outstanding Research are due by
April 30. The awards Committee, composed of Professors Keith Arnold, Vic Bach,
Marlan Blissett, and Emmette Redford as chairman, has set forth this guideline
for making the award:
"For the purposes
of this award, outstanding research is original study by an individual that is
of practical significance to policy makers or develops insights, ideas, or
concepts of significance to the understanding of the public policy process or
the solution of a public problem, which manifests a high quality of research
execution and presentation."
The impact of new
public disclosure laws was the subject for the final session of the 22nd
Governmental Accounting and Finance Institute, which was held April 12-13 at
the Thompson Conference Center. The Institute was organized by the LBJ School's
Office of Conferences and Training in cooperation with the Texas Chapter,
Municipal Finance Officers Association and the Texas Municipal League.
David M. Kendall,
first assistant attorney general, spoke on Texas Public Disclosure Laws and
Their Impact on Public Financial Management. He reviewed opinions issued by the Attorney General's Office and other
legal decisions relating to access to public records and information.
A panel dsicussion on Effective
Public Relations in an Era of Open Records and Public Disclosure stressed the importance of openness in
government, of complying with requests for public information, and of keeping
the press informed about financial affairs of governmental bodies. The
panelists noted, however, that there are questions about how far the
responsibility of a public agency goes in responding to major requests for
information. Such requests can sometimes result in considerable costs and
utilization of time for agency personnel.
Panelists were Morris
C. Matson, director of finance, City of Fort Worth; Richard D. Brown, executive
director, Texas Municipal League; Bo Byers, chief of the Capitol Bureau, Houston
Chronicle; and Mayor Emmie
Craddock of San Marcos.
Hoyt Purvis, director
of publications at the LBJ School, was moderator for the discussion.
A Conference on
Citizens and Local Government is being planned for May 6-7 under sponsorship of
the LBJ School.
The conference, which
is being organized by the Office of Conferences and Training, will consider
issues of citizen participation in local policy process and in the electoral
process.
Included on the
tentative program are:
Peter Petkas,
director, Governmental Monitoring Project, Southern Regional Council, Atlanta.
Ernie Cortez,
executive director, Communities Organized for Public Service, (COPS), San
Antonio.
Mark White, Secretary
of State.
Emma Lou Linn, Austin
City Council.
Professors Vic Bach
and Beryl Radin, Acting Dean Kenneth Tolo, and Robert Macdonald, associate
director of the Office of Conferences and Training, are also on the program.
Acting Dean Kenneth W.
Tolo will be a panelist for a symposium on "The Impact of Enrollment and
Labor Market Decisions on Postsecondary Planning" on April 20 at the 1976
annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in San
Francisco.
Chairperson for the
symposium will be Dr. Kate A. Arbogast, Office of the Secretary, U. S.
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Other participants will be
Stephen P. Dresch of Yale, Daryl E. Carlson of the University of California at
Davis, and George J. Nolfi of University Consultants, Inc., Cambridge, Mass.
The symposium will
examine the relevant education and work alternatives faced by young people and
the consequences of their decisions regarding these alternatives on the
postsecondary education system, on policy alternatives within the system, and
on education and manpower planning from federal, state, and institutional
perspectives.
The LBJ School
barbecue will be held Saturday April 24 at the Hillingdon Ranch near
Fredericksburg, beginning at noon.
All students, faculty,
and staff are invited. Food and drink will be provided for $2.50 per person,
with a $1.50 charge for children.
Rain date will be May
8.
"Communications
is the most dynamic growth sector in our society today," Douglass Cater
said in a lecture at the LBJ School on April 7.
However, said Cater,
despite the rapid growth and the importance of communications "it's a no
man's land of public policy consideration."
He said, "It has
been largely neglected in our universities, research institutions, and
foundations. The Government has moved in uncertain ways on public
communications policy. We can no longer afford to ignore it."
He said some of the
developments in communications technology have "baffling implications for
public policy." For example, he noted that traditionally postal,
telegraph, telephone, broadcast, and cable communications have been viewed as
separate processes in this country. However, within a brief time, "we will
have the communications capability to unite all these services."
The question of how we
approach this is an important one, Cater said. "This is a major area of
public policy consideration and it is not receiving systematic government
study."
Cater, who is director
of the Aspen Institute Program on Communications and Society, discussed a
number of current areas of controversy in communications policy including
direct and indirect government subsidies; the "Newspaper Preservation
Act;" the struggle between the broadcast and cable television industries
over pay programming; non-commercial television; copyright questions; and
various economic pressures on the media.
Cater pointed out that
"TV encourages the illusion that we have become a Greek Forum of direct
democracy" but that "there is increasing evidence that television is
alienating poeple to the public-political process."
Cater also noted that
there is a "continual impulse in politics to corrupt language. We need
more precise expression, more precision of language."
He said that education
and news are blending together and that the functions of the newsroom and
classroom are being blurred.
Cater said the part of
the communications process which is most neglected is the receiving end. He
noted that man's visual system has more than a million channels, capable of
transmitting instantly 10 million bits of information to the brain, but the
brain has the capacity for assimilating only 27 bits of information per second.
Referring to the work
of Tony Schwartz and his book The Responsive Chord, Cater cited Schwartz's theory that we have
moved into the era of electronic man. This man is conditioned to a total
communication environment, to constant stimuli which he shares with everyone
else in society and to which he is conditioned to respond instantly.
Cater said, "We
need to try to conceive new approaches to the public policy process which
preserve our traditional values. We want to avoid Orwellian enslavement by
communications technology.
He said,
"Communications have to become the subject of greater concern for
institutions such as this one which are concerned with public policy."
Cater, who served as a
special assistant to President Johnson on health and education matters, was a
long-time correspondent for the Reporter Magazine and has written extensively, including two books on
Washington, The Fourth Branch of Government and Power in Washington.
While at the School he
also spoke to the topical seminar on Public Accountability: The Public's
Right to Know, taught by Professor Dagmar Hamilton.