Word: argumentative
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Dates: during 1970-1970
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More serious is the argument that discipline and rigor are essential to the primary business of the military: preparing men to kill and to endure the personal danger of death. Nearly all the legendary armies of history have been harshly trained and regimented. The model is ancient Sparta, whose youths spent 23 years, including their wedding nights, in soldiers' barracks and could be fined merely for showing...
...increase troop levels to two million American soldiers in Vietnam and thereby "pacify" the countryside. The only officer Flood meets who advocates American withdrawal is a Harvard graduate, as is Flood, so Flood takes a fraternal interest in showing the officer the flaws in his argument. Flood gets along better, however, with yet another Harvard officer, who explains that "the survival of our civilization is ultimately a function of the military power of the United States." Flood confesses...
There is nothing now that can stop America from undertaking nuclear war in Southeast Asia, not even a tactical argument; even if the weapons should fail or backfire, they are all in the nature of the "experiment...
...Unproven Argument. However, nothing worked last week for proponents of the SST. Their losing fight for the SST was based on economics and industrial patriotism, and it was waged by appropriate leaders: Democratic Senators Warren Magnuson and Henry Jackson of Washington. The SST prototype is being built at the Boeing Co. in Seattle. Drastic layoffs at the firm have already produced an unemployment rate of 12.5% in the city, and an end to the SST project will inevitably mean an end of employment for some of the 4,800 now working on it. Aside from that localized effect, proponents have...
Finally, implicit in the debate was the painful proposition that of the $1.3 billion originally planned for the prototype, $800 million has already been spent. Was it reasonable to stop now? The environmental argument won; even though the environmental fears are largely unproven, and much of the outcry may be unduly alarmist, the counterarguments were not strong enough to overcome the doubts. Only the ground-noise problem is generally conceded. Both the White House and Transportation Secretary John Volpe stressed continued support for the SST and its importance to the economy. Nixon called the Senate vote a "devastating mistake...