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University Daily Kansan Thursday, Dec. 14, 1961
A Turbulent Year
The past year was one of great and often confusing change. The map of the world changed as colonies gained their independence. The cold war continued intense and unrelenting. Political ferment increased in many parts of the world, especially in the underdeveloped areas of the world. Man-in-space became a fact, as Russia's Yuri Gagarin and then America's Alan Shepard made space flights.
In the United States, political change took place as an old President left the White House and a new one entered. The freshly inaugurated President Kennedy launched his domestic and foreign programs under the title of "The New Frontier." The faculty at Harvard was tapped to provide personnel for the new administration, and political scientists, historians and economists began to run the government.
THE CONSERVATIVE movement gained strength as Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona continued to strengthen his position. The rightist John Birch Society was subjected to severe criticism but its existence appeared to be secure. On college campuses, the conservative movement developed in the form of Young Republican endorsements of Goldwater and the formation of chapters of the Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative youth group supporting the Goldwater philosophy.
The fight against discrimination captured headlines by the score as freedom riders, sit-in demonstrators and school integration were used to break discriminatory practices. At KU, the activities of the Civil Rights Council as it conducted a campaign of sit-ins, persuasion and protests carried forward the anti-discrimination battle here.
The Negro students themselves staged a protest march against the listing of discriminatory renters and because of this and the activities of other groups, the University reconsidered its existing policy and declared a policy of refusing to list renters shown to be discriminatory.
ON THE INTERNATIONAL scene, the pattern was basically one of Communist action and Western reaction.
The big crisis of the year was and still is the Berlin crisis. Soviet pressure on this city has forced the NATO allies to build up their military strength and give demonstrations of support to the tense city. The Communists achieved their basic goal, however. The flow of population from East to West Germany was stopped. It has been causing serious shortages of manpower and skilled professional people.
A hot war between Communist-trained
guerillas and government forces trained by the United States is raging in South Viet Nam. The outcome remains uncertain.
The Kremlin decided on and led an attack by the Communist bloc on the Secretary General's office in the United Nations and demanded it be replaced with a three-man troika. This attempt failed.
The Soviet Union resumed nuclear testing after a long period of planning and preparation and thereby deliberately broke the test moratorium it had supported so vehemently previously. The United States announced it would have to resume nuclear testing also. These actions aroused the fears of radioactive fallout and its dangers to human health that had lain dormant during the moratorium and these fears broke out in violent protest, especially in regard to the testing of a monster 50-megaton bomb by the Soviet Union.
IN THE WESTERN hemisphere, Cuba was the main headache of the United States. Castro declared that he was a Communist and Cuba moved into the Red camp. He faces continued and determined opposition from the United States, however, and his regime is not yet firmly in power.
Algeria continued as the No. I hotspot in the Arab world and the shooting war there continued, with daily victims. All efforts at negotiation by President de Gaulle have failed to solve the war. He continues to seek a solution, however.
The Congo crisis grew worse with sporadic fighting breaking out periodically between Katangan and U.N. forces. Katanga remains determined to maintain its independence from the rest of the Congo, and the United Nations is engaged in an effort to return it to the Congo.
One of the most significant events of the year took place quietly. England decided to join the booming Common Market and moved Western Europe closer to a unity that could be the decisive factor in the cold war.
THE KU CAMPUS had a few changes itself. A hotly contested battle to disaffiliate with the National Student Association took KU out of the group. A new class schedule was announced that will have classes starting at 7:30 a.m. and meeting on the half hour throughout the day. A controversial student seating plan was passed by the All Student Council and KU students began paying for their seats at sports events.
The year was one of change. It was turbulent and often confusing. The coming year promises to be even more so.
William H. Mullin
Gagarin Is Man of the Year
The choice for Man of the Year in 1961 could go to only one man —Yuri Gagarin.
The young Russian proved what had long been believed—that man is not destined to remain on one small planet. His pioneer trip into outer space caught the attention and imagination of the entire world.
Ranking close behind Gagarin is Dag Hammarskjold. The Swedish statesman defended the United Nations against Khrushchev's crippling "troika" plan and in so doing received a storm of abuse. His death, while on a peace mission to Africa, plunged the U.N. into the worst crisis in its short history.
EHEINH HAMMARSKJOLD is John F. Kennedy, President of the United States and leader of the free world. Despite the blunder of the Cuban invasion, Kennedy led his administration to a successful start through his dramatic speech regarding Berlin and his subsequent actions in standing up for Western rights in Berlin while not plunging the world into war.
Ranking next is Nikita Khrushchev, premier of the Soviet Union. His attack on the United Nations, his pulling on the strings in Berlin, his de-Stalinization program and his leadership in the 22nd Communist Party Congress made Khrushchev a leading figure.
Ranking behind the big four is Barry Goldwater. The Arizona
TIED FOR SIXTH PLACE are Fidel Castro and U Thant. Castro, Cuba's leader, successfully defended his regime against invasion, and shocked the world by his candid admission that he is a Communist and Cuba is a Communist nation.
U Thant, new United Nations secretary-general, gained the support of both East and West to keep the international organization functioning. The first citizen of an "emerging" nation to hold a top U.N. post, the Burmese statesman demonstrated to the world that the nations of Africa and Asia definitely have thrown off their colonial status.
Sam Rayburn is ranked eighth. The long-time speaker of the House pushed the new administration's program through the House by his fight against enlarging the rules committee. His illness and death were in the news for weeks.
Senator was leader of the growing and vocal conservative movement in America, and made headlines with his entrance into the Newburg, N.Y., welfare controversy.
NINTH-RANKED is Meike Tshombe, leader of the secessionist Katanga forces in the Congo. He opposed United Nations efforts to return Katanga to the Congo throughout the year and in so doing kept the Congo one of the world's crisis spots in 1961.
Ranked tenth is Konrad Adenauer, perennial Chancellor of West Germany. He won a fourth term in the office, and he continued to press the West not to back down on their efforts to eventually reunify his country.
Also commanding the world's attention during 1961 were Charles de Gaulle, France's president; Alan Shepard, U.S. space pioneer; Robert Kennedy, U.S. attorney-general; Jawaharlal Nehru, India's premier; Willy Brandt, West Berlin's mayor; Adolph Eichmann, Nazi scapegoat; Walter Ulbricht, East German leader; Lyndon B. Johnson, U.S. vice president and good - will ambassador; Nelson Rockefeller, New York's governor and Chou En-lai, Red Chinese leader.
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ANOTHER TEST—A space research man is shown entering a testing apparatus to check out equipment.
U.S.-Soviet Space Race Top'61 Story
Bv Ervin Schmidt
Holding traditional end-of-year journalistic reminiscences and evaluations, students chose and ranked what they considered the first 20 news stories of the year. The significance of each story in these times, the amount of newspaper coverage given to the story and other guides to news value such as prominence, proximity, consequence, timeliness and human interest of the story were considered as criteria.
For the benefit of future historians, the anniversary files of the UDK, and for the orientation of students relative to the significant news events of 1661, the list in order of rank was as follows:
1. THE SPACE RACE between Russia and the United States. Included were the stories of Gagarin's once and Titov's 17 times around the earth, the missile flights of Ham, the chimpanzee, and astronauts Shepard and Grissom from Cape Canaveral, also the twice-around-the-earth flight of Enos, another chimpanzee. Spy in the sky, weather cameras and the cloud of needles failure and controversy added interest and coverage.
2. The Berlin crisis stories resulting from Russian insistence on a peace treaty on Communistic terms, the construction of the walls around West Berlin, the army tanks standoffs and refugee incidents.
4. The Cuban fiasco which began with a carnival air and ended in disillusionment. Castro offered a tractors-for-freedom proposition which could not be stabilized. Airliners were hijacked coming and going.
3. President Kennedy's leadership, his personnel appointments, events of the inaugural and the beginning of "New Frontier" policies and practices.
5. RUSSIAN RESUMPTION of nuclear tests which became a daily October incident climaxed by explosion of the ultra super bomb. Closely related to the tests was the rising interest in bomb and fallout shelters and the discussions relating to the hypothetical question of what to do with the improvident or luckless neighbor.
6. The Congo problem included the entry of U.N. troops, the Lumumba story and the numerous incidents, massacres and rapings.
7. The U.N. struggle to elect a new Secretary General made difficult by the troika proposal.
8. The 22nd Communist Party Congress in Moscow resulting in Stalin's posthumous demotion, the airing of internal problems and evidence of difficulty with Red China and Albania.
9. Dag Hammarskjold's ill-fated flight over the Congo.
10. The Communist drive in Southeast Asia which indicated conditions in Laos and South Viet Nam.
12. The Eichmann trial with its elaborate preparation, TV coverage and editorial discussions of points of law.
13. The Peace Corps program, from the appointment of director Shriver, through congressional approval, boot camp stories and the Nigerian postcard incident.
11. The rightist revolt in the United States, Sen. Goldwater's conservatism and the reflection of this emphasis on college campuses. This category included the John Birch Society and Minutemen activities on the far right.
14. THE ALGERIAN PROBLEM, De Gaulle's position and the revolt of the French generals.
15. The Freedom Riders incidents which confounded the Deep South.
16. The Kennedy visit to the European capitals of Paris, London and Vienna, the apparent impasse with Premier Khrushchev, and Mrs. Kennedy's social activities abroad.
17. The assassination of Trujillo, Dominican Republic unrest, and activities of other Trujillo family members.
18. The Syrian break with Egypt and end of the United Arab Republic.
19. THE PRICE-FIXING SCANDAL which sent high GE and Westinghouse officials to prison.
20. The U.S. monetary problem which required congressional and executive action and a Swiss loan to shore up the American dollar.