Universal Hisses

In the U.S. today many public men must sympathize with Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost, who hears "On all sides, from innumerable tongues/ A dismal universal hiss, the sound/ Of public scorn." It is a period in which reputations seem extraordinarily vulnerable, in which everyone's bank of prestige faces a run.

Cases vary widely. State and local officials are being investigated and indicted in unprecedented numbers. The record of a durable doer like New York's Robert Moses is debunked. The awesome images of Nelson Rockefeller and Henry Kissinger have been leaked on with acid. The public's approval of Presidents, at least as measured by opinion polls, fluctuates wildly.

Part of the trend stems from wide spread disillusionment over Viet Nam, part from the multifarious crimes of Watergate that ruined so many reputations and deepened public distrust. Now there is a new and spreading skepticism about the pronouncements of the mighty, a new impatience with politics as usual, a new eagerness to challenge practices that were once bunked at. This demand for higher standards can have practical benefits. Last week, for instance, President Ford signed a long overdue campaign-financing reform bill. The voters of California have approved a stringent anticorruption measure. But there is also a tendency to condemn prematurely and to burn today's leaders with the laser of hindsight. It is a particularly painful period both for public leaders and for a people in need of leaders who merit confidence.

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