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University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, Jan. 14, 1964
A Way to Judge
In November we will go again to the polls, there to determine who will lead our nation and what policies we, the led, endorse most heartily.
Considering the press of national problems and international troubles, we must choose wisely. We have not done so in the past, and the power of this country deteriorated; we have chosen wisely and this nation has prospered.
THE WORLD SITUATION is in constant flux, of course, and it may be that to judge present contenders for the presidency is unfair. But it is far more probable that an understanding of the past might enable us to choose more wisely in the future.
Who, then, are the great presidents? Who the bad? And, more important, why are they great or less than great?
A partial answer may be found in an article published a little more than a year ago in the New York Times Magazine. Seventy-five historians, including two in English universities, were asked to rank America's presidents, and explain why particular presidents ranked where they did.
Here, in descending order, are the presidents, according to those historians;
Great—Abraham Lincoln, George Washington,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and
Thomas Jefferson.
- Near Great—Andrew Jackson, theodore Roosevelt, James K. Polk, Harry Truman, John Adams, and Grover Cleveland.
- $\textcircled{8}$ Average—James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Rutherford Hayes, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, Martin Van Buren, James Monroe, Herbert Hoover, Benjamin Harrison, Chester Arthur, Dwight Eisenhower and Andrew Johnson.
- Below Average—Zachary Taylor, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan.
- Failures—Ulysses Grant and Warren Harding.
The list is, of course, the opinion of men, but it is the opinion of men learned in history, and does provide an insight into the presidency.
What did these historians use as their yardstick in measuring the men who have filled the presidency?
QUOTING EACH from the New York Times: "Did the president head the nation in sunny or stormy time? Did he exhibit a creative approach to the problems of statecraft? Was he the master or servant of events? Did he use the prestige and potentialities of the position to advance the public welfare? Did he effectively staff his key government posts? Did he properly safeguard the country's interest in relation to the rest of the
world? How significantly did he affect the future destinies of the nation?"
Against those questions we should judge the men between whom we will choose.
AND BY THE same token, we should judge contemporary candidates against these elements which each of the greats held in common. What were those elements?
Arthur M. Schlesinger, a professor at Harvard and the author of the Times' article as well as one of the voting historians, comments:
"Each held the stage at a critical moment in American history and by timely action attained timeless results. Washington converted the paper Constitution into a practical and enduring instrument of government. Jefferson expanded the original area of the United States to include the huge region stretching westward from the Mississippi to the Rockies. Lincoln saved the Union from internal destruction. Wilson tightened the restraints on big business and finance and carried the nation successfully through World War I. Franklin Roosevelt preserved the country in the face of its worst depression and marshalled its forces for victory in World War II. Lincoln excepted, all effected profound domestic changes peaceably within the democratic framework—revolutions by popular consent.
"BY THE SAME TOKEN, each took the side of liberalism and the general welfare against the status quo.
"These towering figures, moreover, acted masterfully and farsightedly in foreign affairs. All cared profoundly about keeping the country out of war, though over the years circumstances beyond American control necessitated differences as to the means."
And what marked the administration of those labeled average, or mediocre?
"By and large these 12 believed in negative government, in self-subordination to the legislative power. They were content to let well enough alone or, when not, were unwilling to fight for their programs or inpt at doing so."
INTO THE BODY of men who have held the world's highest office we will, in November either elevate another or retain the man now in office.
A good way to test the candidates for the presidency would be to view each one in the perspective of the past presidents. How do Goldwater and his policies compare with Lincoln or Wilson and their policies? Where would Johnson rank? Or Rockefeller?
We cannot afford another Harding, another Buchanan, even another Taft or Eisenhower.
- Blaine King
Western Civ
Editor:
Undoubtedly there has been much criticism of the Western Civilization notes, but they will continue to be published until the Western Civilization Department wakes up and disposes of the four hour comprehensive examination. It is easy enough to read a book or so a week and to participate in the discussions without the aid of any "intellectual plum" — but it is impossible for a student to re-read his twenty-dollar steak of paper-backs while at the same time he has to concern himself with final examinations and other course work. For example, this Saturday, the comprehensive is competing with the language proficiency and the physics examinations.
The outline helps the student to recall the specific concepts of the authors he has read so that he is able to answer the specific questions on the comprehensive examination. There are some who are able to remember in May what they read in September, but few could prepare to answer detailed "compare and contrast" questions that appear on the comprehensive without some sort of refresher material.
The People Say...
Western Civilization is a very valuable course and an enjoyable one. But when the "almighty grade" rests on one four hour examination, any student is likely to shell out the $4.25 for the notes. The Western Civilization Department
is cheating itself and the students by its unrealistic approach. The
readings are excellent and the idea of Western Civilization as a self-study course also has merit. But too few students can be walking encyclopedias of historical and philosophical facts.
Carolyn Kunz
Greenville, S. C., junior
Goodbye Politics
I think that "Huck" Boyd, advising the KU Young Republicans to "get into politics," must have found it strange not to find in attendance a particular young friend with whom he worked in the '62 campaign and whom he knew planned a political career. Surely he was perplexed not to see this student whom he thought dedicated to "serving her country." And, indeed, a year ago she would have been there, enthusiastically applauding.
Editor:
But, it has been a busy year for her, Mr. Boyd, a year of thought and soul-searching . . . and change. She came to agree too much with your observations on the business of government and to disagree too fully with your values.
Your friend realized that she did not wish to decide other people's futures or to spend their money. She is a gentle and poetic person, and such do not have it within them to govern others for they feel the value of the individual human life too highly.
She is also a proud and independent spirit; one who does not wish to merely "help" in spending the produce of her labor.
She realized that freedom is not to be bartered for, but comes immediately with the realization that one is a unique entity, an end unto one's self.
No. "Huck," you find her no more among your "good citizens." She has chosen to walk the path of Emerson and Thoreau, of Spencer and Herbert. If, in our day it be necessary, she will walk it alone.
Thus, Mr. Boyd, did our friend bid you and politics goodbye: "For all the earth is mine, To build with and over it."
The land attends my coming with a song.
To build with and to set athwart the years;
I am no more bound by the four walls of a ballot box;
walls or a patrol book:
Now all the earth lies fallow to my
the Only the Free can hold the keys *to 'ifo'*
Marick Payton Lawrence
Daily Transan
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1924 HERBLOCK
THE WASHINGTON POST
"I Hear She Wants A Divorce"
Snow Snarls Campus In Time for Finals
By Larry Knupp
Well, believe it or not, winter has arrived again. Just in time to freeze everyone while they are getting ready for finals. I didn't really believe it when they forecast snow the other day. I looked at my wife and said, "This couldn't be another 'War of the Worlds' scare, could it?" She didn't think it was since, "it felt like snow." Since she is almost mediumistic about such things, I tend to believe her.
SHE WAS right, of course. It has finally snowed and a pretty good one at that. The wind that brought it was a dilly, though. It succeeded in blowing off half the shingles in Lawrence. It then topped itself off by coming forth with snow on all the bare roofs before the roofing contractors could even pick up a hammer. This snow will now lie in wait for the first good thaw when it will proceed to melt and drip down into houses.
ceed to meet and drop down into the water. Seriously, though, snow is great. The air is fresh and clean and nippy, everything is a beautiful white, and everybody goes outside and builds snowmen, throws snowballs, and has accidents.
THIS ACCIDENT problem is a sticky one, especially on campus. Mount Oread is a natural bump-a-car park in the winter. All that ice congregates on those steep hills and presto, instant wreck. There have been various solutions suggested for our winter playground. Buildings and Grounds like to put sand on the hills. This isn't a bad idea since it does give everybody some amount of traction. The only thing that bothers me about this is what happens to all that sand when the snow melts. We get sandy streets, that's what.
Some people like to salt the streets, but take it from me, the streets don't taste a bit better with salt on them.
For some mystic reason, salt seems to melt the ice off of streets pretty well. It also melts the underbodies of cars pretty well. Personally, I always put salt in a home ice cream freezer with the ice to make the water COLDER. Most people will probably think that this is a piece of information gained with the first word, but I have never been let in on this particular item of Arcana.
ANOTHER IDEA might be to use weedburners to melt off the snow. This would be all right as long as some car didn't follow the flamethrowers too close. Besides, once that snow melts, it makes water. This I know for certain. And when that water freezes, it makes ice, which is worse. Perhaps we'd best give up this line of reasoning entirely.
Personally, my favorite solution to the accidents on campus in the winter is to eliminate the hills. This could be done in one of two ways. We could level off Mount Oread or else we could fill in the rest of the Wakarusa valley to bring them up to our level. Personally, I prefer the latter since it certainly would be the most spectacular. I realize that this would be a rather large undertaking but I imagine we could get a grant from the government for such a worthy undertaking. Perhaps we could get it under Foreign Aid. The idea is certainly good enough to qualify considering some of the things that have already been done.
Certainly, filling in the whole Wakarusa Valley would solve most of the accident problem. I am, however, forced to admit that it would take much of the adventure out of living here in the winter. There is something magnificent about a large truck sliding slowly sidewise down Fourteenth Street. You just can't put it into words.