Ike Stand Necessary On Army vs. McCarthy
Unfortunately the Army-McCarthy hearings are still with us, but at least the lines of battle are becoming clearer.
The Administration is madder than ever at the junior senator from Wisconsin. Sen. McCarthy has defied the President before, but now that it is apparent that someone violated a presidential directive forbidding any classified security information to be passed on to unauthorized persons, Mr. Eisenhower is madder at McCarthy than he ever has been before.
This fact that Sen. McCarthy gained access to information he wasn't supposed to have has brought up for discussion our entire system of checks and balances in government. It appears to many that Sen. McCarthy has overstepped the privileges and duties of a member of the legislative branch, and has encroached upon the powers of the Administration.
Many people express the opinion that President Eisenhower should publicly rebuke the senator and break with him. The President's advisers have continually warned against this action, however, realizing the danger of a public fight within the Republican party in an election year.
One of the most important things to consider in our attitude toward the Wisconsin senator is the reactions abroad among our allies. Articles in the Kansan recently have pointed out that Sen. McCarthy is doing much to destroy the impression of true democracy in America in foreign nations. What would you think if such two opposing forces greeted you constantly in the news from a foreign country? You would at least stop and wonder, and it's quite logical you would come to the conclusion that America really isn't at all what it says it is.
Republican national chairman Leonard Hall has said that Sen. McCarthy will play no official part in the Republican campaign from now until election time in November. This was done on Mr. Hall's own hook, and the President has remained aloof from commenting on this decision.
President Eisenhower still has strong support from the American people, but such support can only wane if he continues to duck an important issue like this which inevitably he must face head-on. Millions of Americans are waiting for the final answer from their president, and even at the risk of losing some support, the situation demands the President's answer.
Sen. McCarthy has outlived his political usefulness to the Republican party. Let's not worry too much about how to stifle him graciously, Mr. President, but rather make the break, make it clean, and make it now so we'll all know just where we stand.
—Court Ernst
Things'n Stuff
By Don Tice
There seems to be an interesting comparison between two kinds of students in this University that becomes apparent about this time of year.
The one kind is now running around with blood-shot eyes and a determined look, inhabiting such places as the library and any other place that is conducive to study. This person seems bound determined to successfully finish the semester if it kills him, or her, whichever it may be).
The other kind of person you will see lying on the grass on the campus, drinking cokes in the Hawk's Nest, and spending his evenings at the local "joints" or out under the stars studying something not very scholastic.
But the interesting thing is that these people don't conform to the type they have exhibited through out the rest of the year.
The first group is made up in part, of course, of the serious scholars. However, also included in this group are many individuals who, having had a great time all semester, suddenly realize that it is about over and they don't have all of their term papers, projects, etc., done, and had better be getting in the proverbial stick.
And the second group is made up in part, of course, of the usual non-studious individuals who wouldn't study anyway or just don't give a hooot. But also in the "relaxers" you will find many normally studious people who, having worked hard all semester, are just waiting for finals to come so they can knock out their "A."
We won't venture to say which is best, except to guess that the ones that are knocking themselves out now probably had a longer period of fun during the rest of the semester.
'I Believe' - One Man's Philosophy
The statement below of one person's philosophy of government and the individual, is humbly submitted as having the same vital bearing today on our nation's crucial attempt to make a living force as it had in 1947 when spoken before the Senate Atomic Energy Committee.
The quotations are taken from a book by Willson Whitman, "David Lilienthal, Public Servant in a Power Age." (This statement by David Lilienthal was submitted to us by Arthur Alan Shaw, graduate student, for use by the Daily Kansan, Ed.)
Traditionally, democracy has been an affirmative doctrine rather than merely a negative one.
I believe—and I so conceive the Constitution of the U.S. to rest, as does religion upon—the fundamental proposition of the integrity of the individual; and that all government and all private institutions must be designed to promote and protect and defend the integrity and the dignity of the individual; that that is the essential meaning of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as it is essentially the meaning of religion.
Any form of government, therefore, and any other institutions which make men means rather than ends in themselves, which exalt the state or any other institution above the importance of men, which place arbitrary power over men as a fundamental tenet of government, are contrary to this conception; and therefore I am deeply opposed to them.
The Communist philosophy as well as the Communistic form of government fall within this category, for their fundamental tenet is quite to the contrary. The fundamental tenet of Communism is that the state is an end in itself, and that therefore the powers which the state exercises over the individual are without any ethical standards to limit them.
It is very easy simply to say one is not a Communist . . . It is very easy to talk about being against communism. It is equally important to believe those things which provide a satisfactory and effective alternative.
One of the tenets of democracy that grow out of this central core of a belief that the individual comes first, that all men are the children of God and their personalities are therefore sacred, is a great belief in civil liberties and their protection, and a repugnance to anyone
Its hope in the world is that it is an affirmative belief, rather than being simply a belief against something else and nothing more.
Democracy is that satisfying affirmative alternative.
who would steal from a human being that which is most precious to him, his good name; by impugming things to him, by inuendo or by insinuations. And it is especially an unhappy circumstance that this occasionally is done in the name of democracy. This I think is something that can tear our country apart and destroy it—if we carry it further.
I deeply believe in the capacity of democracy to surmount any trials that lie ahead, provided only we practice it in our daily lives. And among the things we must practice is this: that while we seek fervently to ferret out the subversive and anti-democratic forces in the country, we do not at the same time, by hysteria, by resort to inuendo, and sneers, and by other unfortunate tactics, besmirch the very cause that we believe in, and cause a separation among our people, cause one group and one individual to hate another, based on mere attacks, mere unsubstantiated attacks upon their loyalty.
It is the very basis and the great heritage of the English people to this country which we have maintained that the strictest rules of credibility of witnesses be maintained, and hearsay and the gossip shall be excluded in courts of justice. And that, too, is an essential of our democracy.
Page 2 University Daily Kansan
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
Publick Occurrences BOTH FORREIGN AND DOMESTICK
Friday, May 14, 1954
CAMPUS
Don't be surprised if the 30,000-acre tract between Lawrence and Tonganoxie is chosen to be the site of the new Air Force academy. Air Force officials think highly of the area, partly because it is level and not too close to many high obstructions and partly because it near Kansas City and KU.
Although the Party of Greek Organizations apparently "is out of it" as far as controlling the All Student Council is concerned, don't think POGO has folded. The party will continue to be a strong force in campus politics.
NATIONAL
Business is due for an upswing, the Economic Unit of U.S. News and World Report predicts. And it probably will, as long as everyone expects it. Public confidence is a big factor in keeping business at high levels.
If Sen. Estes Kefauver (D.-Tenn.) could do it, so might Ray H. Jenkins, the Tennessee lawyer handling the McCarthy-Army hearing. Don't act surprised if Mr. Jenkins decides to take a fling at politics after his newly gained fame from the probe in Washington.
President Eisenhower may be forced in the near future to publicly rebuke Sen. McCarthy. The Wisconsin Republican has been the cause of a lot of "lost face" by America abroad, especially since the Army-McCarthy hearings are continuing indefinitely.
Look for Adlai Stevenson to help Sen. Paul H. Douglas (D-III.) in his campaign for reelection this fall. If Sen. Joseph McCarter (R.-Wis.) assists Joseph Meek, the Republican candidate for the post, the campaign should provide some interesting fireworks.
INTERNATIONAL
Look for Ceylon, reported to have received an offer of economic assistance from the United States, to end rubber-for-ricie trade with Red China.
A stalemate is in prospect for the Indochinese war. The fall of Dien Bien Phu will prove unimportant militarily, and heavy rains will restrict fighting to small, local operations.