ustxtxb_obs_1973_12_14_50_00014-00000_000.pdf

A Public Service Message from the American Income Life Insurance CompanyExecutive offices, Waco, TexasBernard Rapoport, Pres. The following proposal by Frank K. Kelly, Vice-President of The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, strikes me as an idea that should be carried forward as rapidly as possible. Mr. Kelly has asked me to serve as chairperson of the proposed Council of Citizens, with co-chairpersons from various regions of the United States. I am considering the idea as an urgent project, and I invite you to join in developing a nation-wide search for the right kind of President. Bernard.Rapoport cdectisty the ‘text PPeAfidott Dear Texas Observer Readers: Whatever the outcome of the controversy in which the incumbent President is now engulfed, the people of America recognize that new leadership for the United States is urgently needed. We cannot leave the selection of the next President to the process which led. to the crisis that now threatens our institutions and our future as a nation. We must begin at once to search for men and women of high ability and unimpeachable integrity who should be considered as possible Presidents. The present system forces candidates to spend two to three years in exhaustive tours of the country, appealing to special interests, making deals, devising television “spot messages” with distorted appeals, and engaging in frenzied maneuvers to pacify pressure groups. Presidential primaries in the various states are popularity contests, generally won by candidates who spend lavishly on television advertisements and have active organizations to “get out the vote on the primary day.” Delegates at national conventions meet in an atmosphere which almost eliminates any possibility for calm discussion of the candidates. Should the next election be necessarily a choice between Ronald Reagan and Edward Kennedy, or Howard Baker vs. Hubert Humphrey, or Charles Percy confronting Walter Mondale, or other persons now prominent in political life? Without downgrading any of these men, might we not find other persons who could also be considered? Could we not encourage a series of dialogues on the presidency, in which the merits of all the potential candidates might be thoughtfully examined? There must be many talented men and women who could be brought before the nation. With television exposure, relatively unknown leaders could become well known in a short time. I suggest the formation of a nonpartisan Council of Citizens to find persons whose lives and achievements could be presented in newspaper articles, paperback books and television programs. These potential candidates \(as well as the ones now prominently Then a national referendum could be conducted by the Council on television, or perhaps through the pollsters and the television stations with the results compared and analyzed. Then the top six candidates perhaps two Republicans, two Democrats, and two independents could be presented to a