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University Daily Kansan Tuesday, Sept. 26, 1961
Kennedy at the UN
President Kennedy's speech yesterday before the United Nations General Assembly was a firm and reasonable statement of U.S. policy containing some logical and much needed proposals. The statement of U.S. policy on a number of the issues the President discussed may do much to clarify the American position in many observers' minds. Unfortunately few of the proposals are likely to be implemented.
THE PRESIDENT'S FIRM STATEMENT that the "Western Powers have calmly resolved to defend, by whatever means are forced upon them, their obligations and their access to the free citizens of West Berlin" should leave no doubt in the minds of Soviet leaders (if indeed they still had any doubts) that the West will fight for West Berlin, with nuclear weapons if necessary. His opposition to the Soviet proposal for a three man directorate to replace the Secretary General's office was well timed in view of Dag Hammarskjold's recent death and will probably receive the support of many small nations who share the President's opinion that a three man directorate would destroy the effectiveness of the Secretary General's office and thereby weaken the United Nations.
But President Kennedy's various proposals will meet with difficulty in all cases and prove impossible to realize in many. The disarmament proposal advanced in his speech will not be agreed to by the Soviet Union. It is not likely that the Soviet Union intends to launch any military adventures with its armed forces, given the present Western forces arrayed against them. However, it should be remembered that regardless of the military stalemate between the communist bloc and the West, the Soviet Union cannot agree to the President's program of disarmament simply because it needs military forces to maintain its control over its satellite system. The 1953 German uprising and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution are clear evidence of this.
THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSAL for a U.N. peace force is an excellent one, but it is doubtful if such a plan can be effectively implemented. Such a plan requires the commitment of one of the great powers to be effective. This was clearly shown in Korea, where for all practical purposes the United States, South Korea and a few other nations fought the police action undertaken by the United Nations against the communist invaders. The ineffectiveness of the U.N. forces in the Congo is due largely to the fact that it is not a powerful and coordinated force. Such a force is very difficult, and perhaps impossible, to create out of the many small units contributed by various members of the United Nations. As the Congo demonstrated, a nation might summarilv
withdraw its forces because it did not agree entirely with the actions of the U.N. command and thereby complicate the situation and perhaps cause bloodshed before reinforcements could be brought in. We might also note that the United States provided much of the transport and relief supplies that were used in the Congo operation. And what is even more important, most of the crises the United Nations has dealt with involved a major power that could offer serious and perhaps fatal resistance to a U.N. force from small nations if it chose to do so. The Soviet Union, for example, refused to permit even a U.N. committee to enter Hungary during the 1956 revolution there. Yet the forces of either great power are unacceptable because of the obvious reaction of the other great power. And a combination of the two would only create a dangerous conflict.
THE PROPOSAL FOR THE EXTENSION of the U.N. charter to cover outer space was also an excellent point. However, since only the Soviet Union and the United States can hope to develop significant space programs in the relatively near future, the proposal will be extremely difficult to implement. This is especially true when we remember that either nation could ignore the United Nations on this problem with impunity whenever it chose to.
The President's proposal for channeling funds and technical skills for the improvement of underdeveloped areas through the United Nations is the proposal that has the best chance of success. Most members of the United Nations will support such a program for the simple reason that most of the members need such aid. President Kennedy's proposal offers a way of getting it without the political character aid from the various industrial powers often carries. But whether or not sufficient support (financial or otherwise) can be mustered to make such a program significant remains to be seen. Many nations would not be able to contribute to it and some would refuse to do so when it conflicted with their own vested interests. The Soviet Union and other countries have refused to give financial support to U.N. programs under such circumstances before.
BUT THE UNPLEASANT FACT that President Kennedy's proposals will be difficult and perhaps impossible to realize is not a reason for either ignoring or forgetting them. They are all sound and worth working for. The attempt to realize the goals the President set forth should be begun and continued. Despite the great difficulties some progress can undoubtedly be made. Nothing can be accomplished by apathy.
William H. Mullins
Books in Review
By Walter M. Hull
His most salient error, perhaps, is his assumption that the reader prefaces each of his remarks with "Edmund Wilson thinks," before passing judgment on it. I say perhaps. Perhaps he doesn't make this assumption. If not, there is no excuse for the dogmatic tone of much of his writing.
ALL THIS IS NOT TO SAY, however, that the book is without value historically. He has chronicled the writings of the twenties and thirties, and has also chronicled his own opinions of them, which we must realize are not only commentary on that period but a part of its literature.
Edmund Wilson is a rather good literary critic, and a rather effective expository writer. The real trouble is that he knows it too well. In attempting to give us a literary chronicle of the twenties and thirties he has succeeded in giving a literary chronicle of Edmund Wilson in the twenties and thirties. In this volume he has gathered together a great number of his reviews of such people as Hemmingway, Eliot, e. e. cummings, Anderson, Fitzgerald, et. al., in which he has said many penetrating and worthwhile things. He has also made some rather grave mistakes.
THE SHORES OF LIGHT, by Edmund Wilson. Vintage, $1.25.
The work is truly comprehensive, or as comprehensive as anyone could ask it to be. in that it deals with all of the writers of that period which are today considered truly important. It contains criticism of the literature of that time, of the times themselves, and of the critics of that time.
THIS SOMETIMES holds and sometimes does not. He has for instance rejected the unorthodox typographical techniques of e. e. cummings as a mere bid for attention. To some extent I believe that he is right, but I doubt seriously that at the time that particular article was written he had read any of cummings' poetry aloud.
Yet while it is comprehensive in the things with which it deals, it is sometimes surprisingly narrow in the way it handles them. Wilson knows a great deal about literature, and he reads with penetration, but occasionally he seems to let what he knows get between him and what he could learn; he seems to think that once he has established something about literature it is henceforth and forever true, about all literature.
aloud. There are many valuable things here, things which we might have to dig for otherwise, some things which we could get nowhere else. If this book is read with the thought that it is about Edmund Wilson himself as well as about the works he reviews, it is well worth the price.
Worth Repeating
Whenever an artist inspires such a retinue of panegrists as has Miss Sutherland, a reviewer ought to use great care in judging whether the popularity stems from a high degree of truthfulness and sensitivity to the medium in question or whether perhaps it emerges from veneration of various extra-artistic traits that might be currently fashionable.
LAST NIGHT'S CONCERT left some doubt in this reviewer's mind as to just where basis for some high praise could be found. There can be no denying of the richness and roundness of Miss Sutherland's vocal sound. However, it was greatly marred by unsuccessful attempts at tone coloring resulting in mushiness and a lack of communication.
Ike says the people of our nation are perplexed. He is correct in his statement. The obvious cause of the situation is that the nation has been without adequate leadership since Herbert Hoover left the Presidency.-Edwin F. Abels
Last night a large crowd gathered in the University Theatre to hear Joan Sutherland, a soprano of recent fame.
By Richard Byrum
Newspapers. We need them so we can know who reks and who drownds and who shoots somebody. And who wants a house or who dies or gets a baby. It tells if your dog is lost. They are good on shelves and to make bond fires. They also do good under a baby's plate and to keep the dogs offa things. You can wrap potato peelings in em. You can put one when you defrost. They tell about shows and how much things are.—Child's letter to the editor of a California newspaper.
The first two groups of arias that Miss Sutherland chose to perform would have contained an interesting historical contrast between the stately and aristocratic Handel arias and the comparatively vulgar arias from English "patchwork" operas popular in the same period. However, little differentiation was given to the manner of performance of the two styles and the contrast was laid waste.
Music Review
The two arias from Lucia were definitely the highest of the evening. The natural inference might be then that Miss Sutherland's place is on the stage and not in the concert hall. Yet the principles of a good technique are the same for concert work as on the stage. Communication is of the essence and indeed without it there is no basis for understanding. It is felt that Miss Sutherland relies too largely on glorious sound and throws good diction and sensitive expression to the wind.
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THE LOW POINT of the evening was reached in the third and fourth song groups which bordered upon complete dullness. Words were utterly lost and even the choice of songs was uninteresting. With the French group, however, things started picking up and the whole affair was finally brought to life with an excellent rendering of the mad scene from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. Miss Sutherland then enceded with another aria also from Lucia.
Miss Sutherland was accompanied at the piano by her husband, Richard Bonynge, who showed good taste and facility.
Dailu hansan
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LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
"NAW, I DIDN'T RENT IT — I'M JUST LUCKY TO HAVE A ROOMMATE WHO OWNS A TUX."