MORAL CROSSROADS: TAKE THE RIGHT HIGHWAY

Fifty years ago this month, President Truman took offense at something Drew Pearson, a well-known syndicated columnist, wrote. The president was so irate he called Pearson an "S.O.B" in public. The national outcry at the president's use of what was widely considered to be inappropriate language was swift. Newspapers across the nation editorialized about this act of indecency from the White House. Ministers railed against the president in sermons. An apology was demanded, but it was never given by the feisty Truman. Pearson's column, "Washington Merry-Go-Round," gained new notoriety for being on the receiving end of the presidential attack. The column was later taken over by Jack Anderson, who continued to be a muckraker of the first order in Washington, D.C.

Half a century later, we are numbed by the events spawned by a president who had an admittedly "inappropriate relationship" with a young woman serving as an intern. But President Clinton's moral judgment has been questioned far beyond the regrettable sexual encounters. Indeed, the clamor from Americans in recent years has been over the decay of national morality and values that have been a backbone of our society since the days of the Puritans, even though many an American, not just the president, has chosen to ignore those standards whenever it was convenient.

Out of the public outcry over the actions of a president whose own moral base appears to be deeply eroded comes a conclusion that is, in a way, gratifying: The United States of America is still a nation of moral citizens whose value systems have been jangled and scarred by recent events. But the values are still there. If they weren't, who would be left to criticize William Jefferson Clinton and his shameless and myopic view of right and wrong?

Yes, values and personal views about morality have shifted in the last 50 years, just as they have always wiggled and turned as mere mortals have coped with life and its inevitable tests. Most Americans today would be overjoyed if the worst President Clinton had ever done was call some columnist an S.O.B. But in spite of the shifts, there remains a bedrock of morality and values that causes television viewers and movie goers to be irate when plot lines, dialogue and visual content go too far. Such stretches of the moral limits are framed by those occasions when both TV and cinema soar to new heights of excellence through compelling stories, panoramic intensity and uplifting themes that make the human heart glad.

Readers of Speak Out are all too familiar with the themes of disgust and anger over the example set by the man who holds the highest office in the land. Many callers have stated flatly that America has lost its values -- those same values which were protected by our sons, fathers and brothers on the battlefields of the world.

But that just isn't so. In decrying the current state of affairs, those Speak Out callers are affirming decency, honesty, fidelity, trustworthiness and loyalty. Mothers still want their children to know the difference between right and wrong. There are more pews being added and more churches being built than ever before. Sportsmanship is still a virtue. Honesty is still the best policy. Handshake deals are still being made. Doing what is right whenever what is wrong seems easier is still honorable.

Americans will never allow the few among us who are misguided in their morality to corrupt the values we share -- not as long as we, the nation, hold on to those precious and fundamental standards.

Indeed, we will continue to applaud when young men like Daniel Dirnberger of Oran write compelling essays on our duty to democracy. May it ever be so.