calendars but to wind
down the whole trial system by Election Day 1972.
Now, winding down the trial system will of
course be a great boon to the dignity of our judges,
who will no longer be forced to demean themselves
by dealing with the most undesirable elements in the
population. Our judges, so terribly overworked as
they are today, hopefully will not have to deal with
any elements of the population once the trial system
is completely phased out. This will leave them free
for the reflection and reading that is so essential to
maintaining a high level of judicial wisdom.
The second benefit to be derived from replacing
the archaic and slow-moving trial system by more
modern judicial methods is this: the courtrooms of
this land will once again be a wonderfully inspiring
place for the schoolchildren of America to visit. I
see a day, in fact, when parents will be able to send
their children off to visit a courtroom without fear
that they will
have to witness anything inappropriate or unsettling
to the eyes or ears of a growing youngster. I
see a day in which not only schoolchildren, but
mothers holding their babies, will be able to walk
through the halls of justice to observe the judges
in their wonderful black robes, relieved of the
time-consuming burdens of the courtroom,
gathering the wisdom of the ages from their
thinking and their lawbooks. I see a day when
schoolchildren and mothers holding their babies
will be able to sit in the jury boxes, just as though
a real trial were underway, and in this way
experience at firsthand the age-old grandeur of a
legal tradition that has come down to us in all its
glory from Anglo-Saxon times.
But of course we cannot undo overnight the
judicial mess that we have inherited from the
previous administration, and the thirty-five administrations
before his. As a result, even as we
are winding down the trial system that has
caused this country so much expense and
confusion, we have still to deal in the
courtroom with the likes of Charles Curtis
Flood and his team of attorneys.
Now fortunately two different courts have already
found against Charles Curtis Flood in his
attempt to destroy the game of baseball. These
decisions made during the tenure in office of
this administration, have gone a long way, I am
sure, to restoring the confidence of a public
only recently so disappointed by the verdict
reached in Mayor John Lancelot's New York, to
free thirteen members of the Black Panther
Party.
Of course I have no more right to tell the
Mayor of New York how to run his city than he
has to tell me how- to run the country or the
world. But I must, in all honesty, say that I was
as startled as the great majority of Americans,
first by that verdict, and second, by Mayor
Lancelot's decision, following the verdict, to allow
these thirteen Black Panthers to resume their
political activities in his city. All I can say as
President is that I trust this will not become the
model for the treatment of the acquitted in other
cities around the country.
Now I have no doubt that if the Mayor of
New York were in my place he would not hesi-
tate to declare a hands-off policy where Charles
Curtis Flood is concerned. If self-confessed
Black Panthers are to be left free to stalk the
streets that are no longer safe for our wives and
daughters, why bother to bring to justice a man
who has not confessed to being a Black Panther?
So, I am afraid, the. logic would run, if another
man were in my shoes.
But so long as he is not, so long as I am the
duly elected President of the United States, I can
assure you that there will be no mollycoddling of
any fugitive who, after twice being prevented by
the courts from destroying baseball and un-
108 OUR GANG
dermining the youth of this country, decided that
he, Charles Curtis Flood, had had enough of law
and order and life within the system. There will be
no mollycoddling of a man who undertook
down the whole trial system by Election Day 1972.
Now, winding down the trial system will of
course be a great boon to the dignity of our judges,
who will no longer be forced to demean themselves
by dealing with the most undesirable elements in the
population. Our judges, so terribly overworked as
they are today, hopefully will not have to deal with
any elements of the population once the trial system
is completely phased out. This will leave them free
for the reflection and reading that is so essential to
maintaining a high level of judicial wisdom.
The second benefit to be derived from replacing
the archaic and slow-moving trial system by more
modern judicial methods is this: the courtrooms of
this land will once again be a wonderfully inspiring
place for the schoolchildren of America to visit. I
see a day, in fact, when parents will be able to send
their children off to visit a courtroom without fear
that they will
have to witness anything inappropriate or unsettling
to the eyes or ears of a growing youngster. I
see a day in which not only schoolchildren, but
mothers holding their babies, will be able to walk
through the halls of justice to observe the judges
in their wonderful black robes, relieved of the
time-consuming burdens of the courtroom,
gathering the wisdom of the ages from their
thinking and their lawbooks. I see a day when
schoolchildren and mothers holding their babies
will be able to sit in the jury boxes, just as though
a real trial were underway, and in this way
experience at firsthand the age-old grandeur of a
legal tradition that has come down to us in all its
glory from Anglo-Saxon times.
But of course we cannot undo overnight the
judicial mess that we have inherited from the
previous administration, and the thirty-five administrations
before his. As a result, even as we
are winding down the trial system that has
caused this country so much expense and
confusion, we have still to deal in the
courtroom with the likes of Charles Curtis
Flood and his team of attorneys.
Now fortunately two different courts have already
found against Charles Curtis Flood in his
attempt to destroy the game of baseball. These
decisions made during the tenure in office of
this administration, have gone a long way, I am
sure, to restoring the confidence of a public
only recently so disappointed by the verdict
reached in Mayor John Lancelot's New York, to
free thirteen members of the Black Panther
Party.
Of course I have no more right to tell the
Mayor of New York how to run his city than he
has to tell me how- to run the country or the
world. But I must, in all honesty, say that I was
as startled as the great majority of Americans,
first by that verdict, and second, by Mayor
Lancelot's decision, following the verdict, to allow
these thirteen Black Panthers to resume their
political activities in his city. All I can say as
President is that I trust this will not become the
model for the treatment of the acquitted in other
cities around the country.
Now I have no doubt that if the Mayor of
New York were in my place he would not hesi-
tate to declare a hands-off policy where Charles
Curtis Flood is concerned. If self-confessed
Black Panthers are to be left free to stalk the
streets that are no longer safe for our wives and
daughters, why bother to bring to justice a man
who has not confessed to being a Black Panther?
So, I am afraid, the. logic would run, if another
man were in my shoes.
But so long as he is not, so long as I am the
duly elected President of the United States, I can
assure you that there will be no mollycoddling of
any fugitive who, after twice being prevented by
the courts from destroying baseball and un-
108 OUR GANG
dermining the youth of this country, decided that
he, Charles Curtis Flood, had had enough of law
and order and life within the system. There will be
no mollycoddling of a man who undertook
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