University Daily Kansan Tuesday. Feb. 17, 1957
Dictator's Tactics Wins New Nation
Venezuela is a scene of political chaos.
The people of this country, the northernmost in South America, voted overwhelmingly against the pro-government Independent Electoral Front (FEI) party during the recent national elections, but the power group succeeded in staying in control of the National Assembly.
The popular vote was 938,696 to 788,031 against the intrenched FEI group, but the winning opposition party, the Democratic Republican Party, (URD) which had polled the most votes, succeeded in getting only 29 of the assembly's 104 seats. The FEI got 61, and the COPEI party, another opposition group, got only 14.
This would seem suspicious, but it is only part of the farce. The election was held on Nov. 30, but the results were not known until Dec. 15 because the FEI had slapped a strict censorship on the news of the election as soon as it was seen that the opposition was leading in the preliminary count by more than two to one. The next news to be released officially was that the power group had, somehow, managed to retain control of the government's assembly.
Venezuela has been controlled by a military group which seized control in 1948. The leader, or dictator, of the party is Colonel Marco Perez Jiminez. He has promised that the people would have a free and secret election. Actually the voting was quiet and orderly—but not the campaigning.
The party which had been overthrown by Colonel Jiminez' coup d'etat, the Liberal Accion Democratica, had been outlawed along with the Communist party. The leaders of these parties and also of the URD and COPEI parties had been thrown in the nation's many jails and concentration camps, and the opposition press was censored if not suppressed.
By the time of the election the opposition parties had just about given up hope, and they prepared for the election with the lack-adasical attitude that they might be able to secure a few of the seats in the assembly. Sudden hope that the election might be a secret one inspired them to stage a last-minute rally.
The URD and COPEI parties got a tremendous amount of popular support at the last desperate attempt to get votes, and they entered the day of the election with something a little akin to confidence. They won the election, but Colonel Jiminez and his friends succeeded in keeping the assembly under the control of the military.
Why do the people of Venezuela allow themselves to be brow-beaten? It's simple. The jails and concentration camps of Venezuela are filled to overflowing with students, newspapermen, doctors, lawyers, and businessmen who tried to rebel against the military government.
Venezuela has, in general, had a fairly peaceful history. The Republic became independent of the Colombian federation in 1830 by means of a peaceful and friendly secession. Its first constitution was formed in 1819, and remained in force until 1936. The present constitution, although pretty much ignored, superseded the 1936 version in 1947. The day of its adoption became the Venezuelan Independence day.
It is only recently that Venezuela has become the scene of organized racism. Perhaps we should be thankful, however, that the Communist party is outlawed. —Don Nielsen
The TWT (Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday) club for congressmen who take prolonged weekends at home will be discontinued. Joe Martin plans to run the House on a five day week.
A lot has been said about the appointment of Clare Boothe Luce as ambassador to Rome. Both preceding and following the announcement by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on Sunday, Feb. 8, that he would nominate a woman radio commentators have informed and questioned the public on the advisability of a woman ambassador for the United States.
The appointment of Mrs. Luce as ambassador to Rome is the top diplomatic post ever given to a woman, and it signifies, in part, that President Eisenhower is fulfilling his promise to give women, who played an impressive part in his election, a fairer governing representation.
Women served in the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. Mrs. J. Borden Harriman was minister to Norway, Ruth Bryan Rhode was minister to Denmark, Percle Mesta was minister to Germany, Anderson was ambassador to Denmark. None of these women, however, occupied as important a post as Rome, a major European capital.
One Man's Opinion
By SHIRLEY PIATT
Italy, a crucial spot in the cold war, has world importance today. It is a testing place of American policy, a center of Mediterranean defense, and, as in the example of Trieste, is involved in major Mediterranean problems.
A former Connecticut congresswoman, Mrs. Luce has had experience in American politics and is the possessor of an unusual knowledge of Italy. She is the wife of Henry R. Luce, editor-in-chief of Time, Life, and Fortune magazines.
With Italian elections coming up this spring, the present ambassador, Ellsworth Bunker, will remain at the post in Rome until their completion, thus relieving Mrs. Luce from entering midway into a major political event.
The new ambassador to Rome will have little trouble winning the friendship of the Italian people. Two weeks before the appointment, the Italian government agreed that Mrs. Luce was fully acceptable and would be welcome if the United States government approved her appointment. Favorable public opinion also was expressed in Italian newspapers.
Various news media have reported that Italian women were in favor of Mrs. Luce's appointment because they have not been allowed, so far, to participate in the government of their country. A woman's appointment to this diplomatic position, they said, probably will help Italian women to gain greater governmental rights.
Mrs. Luce's appointment in her own country received prompt and bipartisan support of American senators. Both Sen. Homer Ferguson (R.-Mich.) and Sen. John J. Sparkman (D.-Ala.) spoke highly of her. The two senators are members of the Senate Foreign Relations committee and are expected to give their support to her.
However, women in Italy are voters and can be elected under the same legal conditions as men. In the present cabinet the under secretary of the ministry of industry and commerce is a woman. There are a woman senator, 23 people deputy senators in the Italian Parliament, which is greater than the female representation in the United States Congress.
With the support of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, a probable close association with the Vatican because of her Roman Catholic faith, and a knowledge of politics and of Italy, Mrs. Luce's ambassadorship should be a political victory for American women and a success for the United States government.
Daily Hansan
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by Dick Bibler
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Little Man on Campus
Don Moser Random Thoughts
On all newspapers there is an infallible soul called the copy-reader. Most of the time this supreme being is the lifesaver for all reporters. He is the last one to see the copy before it goes to the back shop to be set up in type, and it is his all-seeing eye that picks out all existing errors.
Now this machine-like man is a handy thing to have around the office, but there are times when he is the exaspiration of all writers. On straight news copy he is a demon, but let a little humor seep into the story and he falls flat on his face.
In this column last week we had a pretty good pun. (We thought it was good). Obviously, to be a pun, the paragraph had to contain a play on words. This heresy would not go by our sharp-eyed friend. Undoubtedly, if it had gone by, he would have lost sleep for many a night.
With the fear of giving the copy reader nightmares, we are going to try to explain that little story about the rabbit.
Anyone who was bored stiff during a lecture and happened to glance at this page as a form of relief probably decided what he had thought for years was true, editorial writers are all crazy.
Briefly the story should have gone like this: Once there was a little rabbit who wished and wished that he could be a human being. Finally one day he wished so hard he turned into a two-foot dwarf. MORAL: If you wish too hard for something, it will be hare today and gnome tomorrow.
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Copy readers please note, this is intended to be a pun!
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This Wes Roberts business sounds familiar. It's getting so you can't tell when one administration ends and another begins.
Wes Roberts is just a small time operator, of course. He'll have to do better than just selling a state-owned hospital building if he wants to be vice president some day.
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Moscow officials are complaining that reactionaries are stealing fire engines in their fair city. We can picture some one stealing the engines, but how does one go about hiding them?
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The Kid Gavilan-Chuck Davey fight proved that a person needs more than a liberal education to understand the Cuban style.
One cynic at the fight comments, with the beating Davey's head got, he should go far in the education field. A few more brain-scramblings like that and he will be a professor any day.
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One major worry is off our minds, the Fort Knox gold count has tallied out. Now if we knew just what were in all those papers Harry Truman brought back to Missouri, we could probably sleep nights.
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We see Christine and/or George is home again. It will be embarrassing when she/he meets the fellows at the poolroom and they remember the stories she/he used to tell them.
The vice president of the anti-profanity league must have his hands full.
"Merry Widow" audiences thought the Frenchy chorus girls projected more than lines across the footlights—figuratively speaking, that is.
It may be assumed that since Rita Hayworth obtained her divorce Aly Khan't, but Rita Khan.