Thursday. Dec. 13. 1962 University Daily Kansan
Forecast for 1963:
Page 5
JFK to Exploit New Prestige
By Jim Alsbrook
As the year 1962 comes to a close, the trends and events reveal a pattern of behavior through which it is possible to project with reasonable accuracy the probable events of 1933.
It is obvious that in 1833 President Kennedy will be a "strong" President, becoming more bold and more independent in thought and deed. His successful gamble in the Cuba situation has caused him to trust and depend more confidently upon his own judgment, and the prestige he gained from his brush with Khrushchev has begun to show itself in his behavior.
THIS ASSESSMENT is made all the more valid by the outcome of the November elections, which must be considered another victory for Kennedy; and the result will be a more vigorous effort on the President's part to put into law some of the more controversial issues in the Democratic platform of 1960—those issues which would "promote the general welfare" of the people.
Kennedy's most bitter fights will be in behalf of medicare and civil rights. Kennedy's new strength and
prestige will assert themselves in behalf of these measures which, it appears, the President believes to be basic. Kennedy shows evidences of wanting to "go down in history" as a strong and outstanding President, and to do this he must provide outstanding advances like Social Security and the Wagner labor legislation. He will get this legislation despite much wrangling and opposition.
This will result in a greater trend toward Republicanism in the South. There will be a more natural alignment of political forces insofar as liberals and conservatives are concerned, the liberals sending to be Democratic and the conservatives Republican. The South, already attracting come businesses because of its lower wages and conservative political complexion, will become more and more industrialized as civil rights problems are solved, and there will be a greater distribution of industrial activity throughout the nation.
THE INCREASED participation of Negroes in voting in the South will result in startling developments and will presage in 1834 the probable election of one or two Negro congressmen from the
South. They will be Democrats, and the resulting disturbances of traditional political alignments will be so severe that the South will become more nearly a two-party area. In certain areas — several years from now — it will probably become more liberal than many areas of Kansas.
The recovery of the stock market in late 1962 and the proposed aax cuts — together with the Kennedy concern about the public welfare — will result in a better business year.
Federal spending and the manipulation of the powerful financial resources of the government will tend to control to a greater degree the economic vicissitudes of the nation.
Communist China will be more and more unpopular with other nations of the world if it pursues its policy of aggression. Its prestige will decline because of its economic conditions and hostility to its neighbors, and the fact that Russia is not as closely allied with Communist China as it had been will cause the Chinese to lose prestige.
BOOK REVIEWS
LE MORTE D'ARTHUR, by Sir Thomas Malory (Signet Classics, 95 cents)—a new retelling of the famous legend, in contemporary language, by Keith Baines, English poet. Robert Graves has written an introduction. This is one of the most famous of all stories, and the basis for most of the Arthurian legends. "It remains a vivid, medieval tapestry woven about a central figure who symbolizes the birth of the age of chivalry."
RETURN TO OTHERNESS, by Henry Kuttner (Ballantine original, 50 cents)—stories which have appeared in no other collection, all of them broadly based on the theme of robotics, man-made creations which duplicate the activities of man.
ONE THING WHICH could disrupt present trends is the possible development of nuclear weapons by the Chinese. Then, for the first time in its history, the United States would seriously consider fighting a preventive war — taking the first aggressive steps against a potential aggressor.
Gen. Charles de Gaulle will be the big name in Europe, and he can be expected to attempt to extend his influence from merely that of ruler of France to that of older statesman of Western Europe. De Gaulle has vivid personal concepts of France's image and destiny, and he would consider it proper to restore France to as high a position in international affairs as possible.
If France gets oil from the Sahara Desert in economically advantageous quantities and makes her hoped-for strides in developing atomic energy for industrial uses, De Gaulle will have excellent weapons with which to wield influence over Europe from Poland west to the Atlantic Ocean, including Great Britain.
FAST FINISHED
If the United States does not provoke the Cuban people but uses economic power against Castro, it is probable that the Cuban dictator will be removed.
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