Politicians Taking Stand On Freeze

The nuclear arms freeze debate between two U.S. Senators at the Kennedy School this week demonstrates that the movement has risen from the grass roots level into the highest circles of American government.

The movement debated by Sens Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass) and Gordon Humphrey (R.N.H.) began a few years ago with activists like Dr Helen Caldicott speaking at rallies and enlisting people in the cause of disarmament.

Last night, Caldicott, in a speech at the Kennedy School repeated her call for people to "use their democracy" and turn the tall elections into a referendum on nuclear arms policy.

"For the first time, nuclear arms will be a major issue," she said.

"The politicians are saying, gosh if I don't get moving on this, "I won't be re-elected," she added.

Examination Discussed

Caldicott started off her presentation with a 30-minute film dealing with her crusade's recurrent theme--the inability of the population to medically survive a nuclear attack. Then in her standard emotion filled speech. She alternately lectured the audience on the effects of nuclear war and chastized it for not showing more concern for "the biggest problem the world will ever face."

The two senators reached little common ground during their hour long televised debate Wednesday night.

Humphrey, a leading opponent of the freeze, said he agrees with President Reagan that the U.S. currently trails the Soviet Union in overall defense strength and that significant reductions should not occur unless the U.S. negotiates from a position of party.

The freeze Humphrey said, would put the United States into a straight packet just at the very time that we are beginning a long delayed long overdue badly needed modernization of our defense system.

Kennedy has cosponsored a Senate bill that calls for a bilateral freeze on production, testing, and deployment of nuclear weapons.

We have essential equivalence with the Soviet Union. Kennedy said adding, We can destroy them they can destroy us, so what difference does it make how many times you can be killed.

Kennedy and Humphrey represent the division which has surfaced surrounding the nuclear freeze issue both among politicians and

the general public. But they are also part of a growing number of government officials, including the President, who have stated their position on the issue, something that the grass roots workers have pushed for in the past year.

A number of anti-nuclear organization, including the national Ground Zero group are targeting their efforts on this fall's congressional elections in an attempt to pressure candidates to speak for the record on the freeze question.

Dr Howard Hiatt, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health and a leading anti-nuclear speaker, said in an interview last month. "One congressman told me that no one will be able to run for office this fall without taking a stand on the nuclear issue."

With public opinion polls showing as many as 70 percent of the American people supporting the freeze, some political experts believe the proposal could become a major issue not only for this year's faces but for the 1984 presidential campaign.

If so, Sen. Kennedy would be in a position to capitalize on his early support for the issue President Reagan and has acknowledged publicly that the issue could become a difficult one for him.

Kennedy wasted little time in drawing the Administration into Wednesday night's debate. Criticizing the President's call for increased arms spending along with give negotiations as inconsistent. Kennedy said, "The Administration wants to build more arms today to we can reduce tomorrow to later we can freeze."

Student Hecklers

The issue of nuclear arms control and the Soviet Union is an emotional one for many. Both senators were heckled by the crowd of more than 700, the majority of which supported Kennedy's pro-freeze stance.

Before the debate, a number of speakers, including Caldicott, addressed the crowd. During her brief remarks on the medical effects of nuclear war, another speaker, Soviet dissident Un Tuvim, rushed onto the stage and tried to shout down Caldicott. The action sparked an angry reaction from the crowd and a television producer led Tuvim off the podium. Caldicott finished her speech.

Contracting the gravity of much of the evening's discussions, one humorous exchange left both participants and audience laughing Kennedy illustrating his point that a freeze is verifiable, said, "If our satellites can read the license plates on Soviet automobiles traveling at high speeds they can surely detect Soviet nuclear weapons."

Humphrey responded, "They can't read the license plates when the cars are parked in garages. Kennedy interjected "I didn't know they fired missiles from garages.