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University Daily Kansan
Monday, Oct. 14, 1963
Pick Up Diamonds
"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth."
— President John F. Kennedy
May 25,1961
With these words, the President launched the nation on its last remaining frontier. America found another goal; somewhere else to explore; an unknown region to be mapped and tamed. In short, America found another dream.
This nation has decided to spend about $40 billion to see what's out there and it's a good investment. America and Americans have found somewhere to go, and that place is space.
America is a strange nation on this planet. It seems to have a constant, driving need for some sort of material goal. There just has to be a place where an American can go and do what no other human has ever done before. Then the whole nation can feel enormously proud and then set out to do something even better.
AMERICA THRIVES on competition. Without it, we just aren't interested. Everything we do must have the thrill of the chase. If one takes X number of Americans and says, "Okay, guys, let's go to the moon!" reactions will vary from minor enthusiasm to absolute apathy. But take the same group of Americans and say, "Okay, guys, let's beat the Russians to the moon!" and then you have something. You have an entire nation ready to do a job and do it now.
America has several other little quirks, too, about her new frontiers. She won't settle for sending a machine out to do a man's job. Most authorities agree it would cost us considerably less to put a machine on the moon and settle for that. However, we won't settle for that. We have to send a man just so a man will be there, and then come back and tell us what it was like.
Finally, America likes to do it herself. Somehow, the edge is taken off if we have help from anyone else. Somehow, the pride is mostly gone.
Two years ago, America embarked upon her last frontier and she loved it. It was her hardest frontier and she could not know what lay ahead. These two years have brought us our money's worth in all of our fabulous successes and heartbreaking defeats. They have brought us our money's worth in the knowledge that we started
out behind and have since steadily gained on and even surpassed the competition. Add to that, the fact that we did it ourselves. Here you have no small source of pride to the American people. It's a badly needed source of pride, too.
LAST WEEK, ALL the pride, thrill, fun, and excitement came crumbling down when Kennedy decided it might be nice to take the Russians along.
I would be the last to deny that a program of this sort would not be beneficial to the world at large. There might be a thaw in the cold war and it would open a new era in world cooperation, perhaps. But, somehow, the whole thing seems to be a little less fun. There isn't quite as much in what we have accomplished in the past two years. Personally, I'm disappointed.
Kennedy succeeded in reversing himself last week. In the process, he may have brought a dream down around our ears. Already, the process has set in.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee already has pared the proposed budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the aftermath of the speech. And further slashes may be in prospect. (Since this was written, the House forbade a joint moon-shot.-Ed.)
ONE FRANK SPACE scientist sums up the current state of mind of many Americans since that speech. Time magazine quotes him as saying, "This winning stuff, this getting there first, has lost its edge. The grandstands are emptying. Now the time has come to ask who did the most sophisticated thing. Not who went to Africa first, but who picked up the diamonds."
In that speech last week, Mr. Kennedy asked, "Why should man's first flight to the moon be a matter of national competition?"
Why, Mr. Kennedy? Because the American people would like to get there first. We have a long history of getting there first, and now, for the first time in years, we have someplace to go. We think we've done rather well in only two short years, but we've been second. Second to orbit a satellite. Second to orbit a man. The second longest flights. It gets a little tiring, but it makes us work harder.
Let's get there first,Mr. Kennedy. Just for the fun of it, let's go AND pick up the diamonds.
The People Say...
Enlightened Criticism
Editor:
It was my pleasure (at long last) to read the review of "Emperor Jones" in Thursday's Oct. 10, Kansan. I have been waiting on what would seem to have been "bated breath" for three and a half years to read, just once, your "reviews" and find something other than a list of credits and a slightly altered version of the original plot line in them.
The young lady who wrote the review of "Emperor Jones" is to be most highly commended for an honest and forthright comment. Whether or not her remarks are valid is neither here nor there, although it seems that her insight into and acquaintance with O'Neill's works certainly increased her ability to write an intelligent critique of the show. That someone on the Kansan staff actually stuck their neck out is the one thing that defends all the shortcomings of inexperienced reviewers.
Heretofore, a Kansan review was one of two things. It was, on the one hand, completely negative and dogmatic (and it seems that it is so much easier for the Kansan to be completely something), in which case our roving reviewer could feel free to lash out at anything up to and including the length of intermissions.
Or, on the other hand, our ace reviewer "liked" the show he had seen, and because he had liked it so much, he thought it might be fun to share the story with us, his devoted readers, and so he would retell the story to us—the whole story from the beginning to the end of the 14th act, and then would add, discerningly, that the music
was sure "good," and the costumes were sure "nice," and how in the world all those people got on one stage, he didn't know, but just so we would know how many there were, why, heck, he'd list all the people in the show and all their home towns and ages and classifications at KU and their alpha numbers, ad infinitum, until shucks, there wasn't any more room to write his own views about the show.
Three long cheers for the Kansas's first attempt at enlightened criticism.
Sylvia Anderson
Chicago, Ill., junior
* * *
Information or Headlines?
Editor:
After hearing Prof. Pringsheim's courageous and humane talk on the conditions in South Viet Nam on Wednesday of this week, at the Current Events Discussion meeting, I was more than amazed to note today that a large number of the people who attended this meeting, and who seemed moved by the dilemma in that particular area, were utterly enthusiastic about the invitation extended to Madame Nhu by this University.
As is generally known, the Diem regime is oppressive and corrupt and upholds all those ideals which are in direct contrast to the American creed. Furthermore, the position of the U.S. government has become extremely difficult. Because of the lack of other South Vietnamese leaders, the U.S. is forced to continue supporting the Diem regime, which is so hated by the population that about 300,000 South Vietnamese secretly cooperate with the Communists.
"But we do not sympatize with her." may be the argument. "We want to question her fiercely which is our right." This is true, we have the right to do so, but will the advantage, the personal satisfaction we derive from seeing her, outweigh the disadvantage which will be the result of this invitation?
What is our real motivation? This I think we should ask ourselves more often, not only in connection with this particular invitation, but more frequently when loyal citizens are forced (hopefully by their conscience) to make an evaluation on matters which are vital to the national interest as well as to humanity at large.
Furthermore, is Madame Nu really wanted for interrogation? Are we so anxious to see her take a stand or are we so excited because she makes the headlines now as frequently as did Christine Keeler?
How can the U.S.A. win the support of the population? This is the main problem concerning the intended defeat of the Communists. Surely this effort on the part of the American government, on the part of American soldiers and special missions will not prosper by letting the South Vietnamese know that American universities invite Madame Nhu.
The South Vietnamese are Buddhist; the Diems are Catholic. The South Vietnamese are poor; the Diems made them so and are rich.
If this brief personal opinion should result in just a few fruitful arguments wherever students meet, I will have achieved my purpose: to call attention to the necessity of responsible living.
Annemarie Hoffman Germany junior
©1963 HERBLOCK
THE WASHINGTON POST
Carrying Goldwater On Both Shoulders
BOOK REVIEWS
NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, by Charles Dickens (Everyman's Library); BARNABY RUDGE, by Charles Dickens (Everyman's); MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT, by Charles Dickens (Everyman's).
Three lesser-known novels by Dickens still have not achieved that fame known as "being in paperback." But in the excellent Everyman's format they are available in inexpensive hardback.
There is no reason why these should be classed as lesser-known, actually. Each has its special merit. "Nicholas Nickleby" is a long, somewhat involved tale in the picaresque tradition, with enough episodes that one critic suggests it could have appeared as another set of "sketches." (Bear in mind, of course, that Dickens' novels originally appeared serially.)
Nicholas is the son of a poor but respectable country gentleman, and his adventures, in Copperfieldian tradition, take him to boy's school, to a theatrical troupe, to life as a clerk and merchant and to a successful marriage. The book was early Dickens, and it is good Dickens.
"Barnaby Rudge" is one of two historical novels by Dickens, and, like the other, "A Tale of Two Cities," it deals with the 18th century revolution, specifically the Gordon Riots. Its hero is scarcely in the proper tradition, for he is a halfwit youth of 23 or so who has a pet raven. It also is an early novel, and it reflects the author's youthful zest (as "Our Mutual Friend" reflects old age and disillusionment).
For Americans, perhaps "Martin Chuzzlewit" is of greatest interest, and perhaps it should be. Martin is an emitre to America, and his America is almost as weird as the lands to which Gulliver traveled. The book reflects Dickens' own disgust and annoyance with that new thing called America, and one should note that part of the story takes place in a swamp called Eden.
This book is more savage, more satirical, more gloomy, perhaps, than most other books by this frequently savage, satirical, and gloomy man. It is a document that belongs in the tradition of works by European travelers to the rough land across the seas.
Dailij 11ahsan
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