Notes From The Crimson Civics Primer

JC

Although the "new casualness" evinced by the President's Levi's-and-sweater wardrobe may convince some that Carter is a man of little pretention, others are equally certain that the peanut farmer's meteoric rise from obscurity to prominence has resulted in a "Messiah complex" of apocalyptic proportions. However, whether or not Carter's hotline really connects to some higher world than Moscow is still an open question.

The Yellow Brock Road

Most Secretaries of Transportation hail from states with urban rapid transit systems. Not Brock Adams, whose state of Washington has no doubt seen more people rolling logs down the Spokane River than cramming into a rush-hour subway. Nevertheless, Adams is reputed to know his stuff when it comes to transportation. Maybe that's why Carter chose him.

On the other hand, the Transportation Secretary will have to make decisions about future Supersonic transport landings at American airports and Boeing, a major aircraft manufacturer is located in Adams' home state...Well, draw your own conclusions.

'Bomber' Brown

It's easy to understand why Carter would pick such a masterful tacticain to head the Pentagon. After all, when Brown worked for LBJ he was one of the "whiz kids" with a sure answer to the nation's "problem" in Vietnam. Bomb 'em, he said, and bomb 'em some more. Such a history must have impressed Carter, who hopes we all will sleep easier with Harold Brown in the war room.

The Bell Bov

He won't be working in any hotel, but if the new Attorney General were, it seems woefully clear that it would be the type of establishment that only let rooms to people with the right grandparents. When Griffin Bell was sworn in last month, he made a symbolic gesture by reopening the front doors to the Justice Building, doors that had been sealed shut since the Vietnam War protests during the Nixon administration. Unlike the doors to Bell's private all-white and all-made Atlanta clubs, those portals will be open to all Americans.

The Bendix Kid

They say that the new Treasury boss arrived in the U.S. a penniless immigrant and worked his way up to the chairmanship of a major corporation. Why such a successful capitalist would walk away from a $500,000 a year job simply to work as a poorly-paid government official is difficult to understand, unless, perhaps, he has special plans for all those printing presses in the Treasury building.

The Shadow Boxer

The United States doesn't have a "shadow cabinet", but in the months ahead Cy Vance may be looking over his shoulder for evidence of one in the State Department. Lest Vance get hung up on the silly notion that he's the head honcho for foreign policy in the Carter camp, Zbigniew Brzezinski will be lurking in the dark corners of Foggy Bottom, trying to imitate the back-door strategy of another diplomat from the halls of academe.