Daily Hansan
59th Year, No. 27
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
Monday, October 23, 1961
Promised Bomb Possibly Exploded by Russians
By United Press International
Russia today detonated a giant nuclear device in the Arctic which European detection stations said may have been Nikita Khrushchev's promised 50-megaton bomb.
But the White House was described as "highly skeptical" that the explosion involved the big bomb, labelled by this country as a terror weapon.
A SPOKESMAN for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission said indications were that the Soviet test was not in the 50-megalon range. But he ruled out any official statement pending a study.
European detection networks agreed that if it wasn't the 50-megaton weapon, it was the biggest detonated by the Russians so far in this series.
The commission's world-wide detection stations have recorded all of the explosions in the current Soviet series.
Both the French Atomic Energy Commission and Sweden's Uppsala University Seismological Institution said the new Soviet explosion probably was in the 50 megaton range.
PRESIDENT KENNEDY received intelligence reports on the explosion as he prepared to return to Washington from his weekend retreat at Newport, R. I.
Twice during the morning White House sources said that on the basis of information available, American experts were "highly skeptical" that this was the 50-megaton weapon.
The Uppsala institution recorded the explosion at 2:35 a.m. CST. It was set off in the Russian's Arctic testing Zone at Novava Zemlya.
Markus Booth, a spokesman for the institution, said "it seems probable that this explosion was caused by the 50 megaton bomb which Khrushchev reported would be detonated toward the end of this month."
SEVERAL HOURS LATER the French Atomic Energy Commission said it had detected a "very powerful" explosion which was "probably of the 50-megaton size."
30 or 31, after which the Soviet Union would conclude its current series of nuclear tests.
widespread protests, including a U.N. resolution presented last Friday by five nations in the path of Soviet fallout appealing to Russia not to set off the big bomb
The explosion reported today was the 22nd in the current nuclear series which began Sept. 1. The 21st test was held last Friday.
Khrushchev's announcement drew
Debate on the resolution was to have continued in the U.N.'s main political committee this afternoon. The special political committee voted 75 to 0 Friday to express "deep concern" over fallout caused by the Soviet tests.
After Khrushchev announced his plan to set off the 50-megaton blast it was noted in Washington that the largest nuclear weapon that had been exploded so far was an H-bomb in the 15-megaton range. It was set off by the United States on March 1, 1954.
A 50-megaton bomb would have 2,500 times the power of the blast that leveled Hiroshima.
IF TODAY'S EXPLOSION was the big blast announced by Khrushchev before the Soviet Communist Party Congress, it came earlier than expected. Khrushchev had indicated the test would be held Oct.
Soviets Have Missile Killer
MOSCOW — (UPI) — Defense Minster Rodion Malinovsky suggested today the Soviet Union has developed a successful anti-missile missile and said that "imperialist" powers are preparing to launch a surprise attack on Russia.
Malinovsky made what was believed to be the first Soviet claim to having conquered the danger of a rocket attack.
DURING A SPEECH to the 22nd Soviet Communist Party Congress, he boasted that his armed forces have "successfully coped with the task of destroying missiles in flight," "a statement interpreted as indication of a major military breakthrough.
Malinovsky said a war inevitably would mean the use of rockets and nuclear weapons and would turn whole nations into deserts.
Malinovsky said the danger of surprise attack compels the Soviet Union to remain in a state of constant readiness.
THE SOVIET UNION is less vulnerable to nuclear attack than other countries but its wartime losses would be exceptionally heavy, he said. But a new war would spell doom for capitalism, he added.
(Observers noted that this was the lame line that Premier Nikita
Khrushchev had used in
Khrushchev had used in the past) Malinovsky cited figures from what he said was a U.S. Congressional report saying that West Germany, for example, could be devastated by eight hydrogen bombs. He said that densely-populated countries should especially remember the nuclear facts of life.
NSA Issues Discussed On Editorial Page
Is the University of Kausa going to disaffiliate from the National Student Association? This is the fourth time in the last two years the issue has come before the All Student Council.
The issues involved are:
- NSA is not beneficial to the KU campus.
- NSA is too liberal in its policies
- NSA is not representative of American student opinion.
The controversy will reach its climax tomorrow night when the ASC votes on KU's membership in NSA.
On pages two and three there are personality interviews, pictures, editorsials, and special articles dealing with the issue.
- News Briefs -
By United Press International
DALLAS—Doctors said House Speaker Sam Rayburn appeared "weaker and less alert" yesterday but it was not a major or critical change in his battle with cancer.
It was the first setback for the 79-year-old speaker since he had a siege of pneumonia more than a week ago and then made what doctors said was a "remarkable" recovery.
The staff at Baylor University Medical Center has been trying to build up Rayburn's strength so treatments can be resumed to slow the progress of his cancer and prolong his life.
CIUDAD TRUJILLO—President Joaquin Balaguer announced today in a nation-wide radio and television speech that "several members" of the Trujillo family have decided to leave the country.
Balaguer did not name the Trujillos who will leave but he said they were among several of the 12 military men who opposition leaders have demanded leave the country as a preliminary to political peace talks.
However, Balaguer emphasized that army chief Gen. Rafael L. Trujillo, Jr., son of the late dictator, will not leave the country. Young Trujillo was one of those on the opposition list.
The president's announcement coincided with a report in the official newspaper El Caribe that Lt. Gen. Jose Arismendi Trujillo, brother of the late dictator, left the country "for health reasons" during the week-end.
CAPE CANAVERAL—The Federal Space Agency today once again delayed plans to launch a Ranger II satellite, forerunner of U.S. moon probes, on a tricky, 685,000-mile flight into space.
The shot is running out of time because it must be fired during an eight-day period when the sun, moon and earth are in the right positions.
Four days of the eight-day "window" have expired. If it is not fired within the next few days, the shot will have to be put off for at least seven weeks.
CAIRO—The government jailed 3 Egyptian aristocrats over the weekend to "safeguard the gains made by the revolution," and confiscated the property of 167 "reactionary capitalists," including a number of Syrians.
Vice President Zakaria Mohieddin said the arrests were intended to prevent a coup d'etat like the one which recently pulled Syria out of its United Arab Republic alignment with Egypt.
KIEL, GERMANY—The U1, first submarine built in West Germany since World War II, will be launched today by an undersea warfare expert who sank 42 allied ships during the war.
Naval experts say the 350-ton submarine is a "technical sensation" because of its high speed and its heavy armament.
The submarine, first of 12 of its type ordered by the West German navy, mounts eight torpedo tubes and an imposing array of electronic detection equipment.
Although it is powered by conventional rather than nuclear engines, it is said to be capable of remaining underwater for weeks presumably by using some variation of the schnorkel breathing apparatus.
NEW YORK—About 150 Hungarian refugees demonstrated outside the Soviet U.N. delegation headquarters on Park Avenue last night to protest Soviet nuclear testing and to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Hungarian revolt.
P-T-P; Campus Apathy to National Concern
By Arthur Miller
(Editor's note: This is the first of a three part series on the People-to-People program at KU.)
The apathy on the KU campus was unbelievable in the eaves of a California student.
As he looked around he saw students seemingly unconcerned with fellow students from other lands. He saw foreign students gathering in small groups with other foreign students. Most of them lacked American student friendship.
He attended several International Club meetings, once again finding foreign students generally without American counterparts.
The student from California saw this situation as a challenge and he responded to it. He and other interested students investigated the foreign student problem, seeking advice from university and civic leaders who had worked with foreign students in the past.
He talked with such men as Joyce C. Hall, president of the Hallmark Foundation which has been active in promoting better understanding among students, and he received Mr. Hall's warm endorsement for an idea.
A plan was formulated and approved with the support of the student body president and university officials.
A program called People-to-People was to be initiated.
This was the beginning eight months ago. And now one can ask, has the situation changed?
According to Shafik H. Hashmi, Hyderabad, India, graduate and International Club president: "People-to-people has truly created a new spirit and new atmosphere as far as the relations between the American and international students are concerned. I would even say that the formation of this organization will be a landmark in the annals of American-foreign student relations on campus."
Hashmi added, "Last year, when I first came to the University, there were very few American students in the International Club. Now we have many more American members actively participating in the club's activities."
Apparently there has been a great change in the attitude of KU students, for there are approximately 500 students in the People-to-People program.
But what is the nature of this program that has won the approval of so many American and foreign students?
It is a plan which creates a closer relation between students of all nations. It is a plan that has taken the shape of hospitality committees, industrial tours, farm tours, and student housing location.
The program also includes forums featuring speakers on topics common to all student's interests, a brother-sister organization to plan group activities, and job placement for students.
By the end of August this year, a great amount of work had been done, but with the first international students due to arrive in three weeks, there was still a great shortage of housing for them.
A crash program went into effect. A meeting of civic, business and university leaders was called. From the meeting emerged the community organization known as LIFE—Lawrence International Fellowship Enterprise.
The immediate problem was to find housing for the new students. Lawrence residents, through coupons in the local newspaper, were asked if they would be interested in participating in the plan by providing rooms for the foreign students.
Everyone helped. Most of the Lawrence churches sent information about the plan through church mailings. Maupintour Travel Agency of Lawrence prepared posters and literature for the program called LIFE.
The response was overwhelming. Residents from all walks of life said they wanted to take part. From farmhouse to fraternity house, requests came for foreign students to live as part of the family.
Although the California student organized the KU program, the job was too much for the one person to handle alone. It took the combined efforts of several hundred students to make the program a success.
William Dawson, now a Kansas City senior, is the student from California. But his idea could not have become reality without the work of Richart Barnes, Lawrence first year law student, who coordinated People-to-People and LIFE activities.
Without the enthusiastic support of men like Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe, Joyce Hall of Hallmark, and Hashmi of the International Club, the program could not have reached the scope it has. And not to be forgotten are the hundreds of KU students who have dedicated themselves to better relations with students of other nations.
(Wednesday's article will cover specific People-toPeople activities and a visit to the home of a Lawrence family shared by foreign students.)