Nation: THE OVERSHADOWING ISSUE

Detroit's Twelfth Street was tranquil. Newark's Springfield Avenue was nearly deserted. While a ghetto battle raged in Cleveland (see following story), the anniversary of two of the worst riots in American history went virtually unnoticed. But if the ashes of Detroit and Newark have grown cold, the emotions they raised clearly have not. Law and order now looms as the No. 1 issue of 1968, even overshadowing a war that keeps more than 500,000 American servicemen in combat in Southeast Asia.

George Wallace has clambered up the public opinion polls by fulminating against "revolutionaries" and rioters. "We're not talking about race," he...