Wednesday. April 6.1960 University Daily Kansan
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Civil Rights Battle Facing Johnson
By Elva Lundry
(This is the second in a series of articles on the presidential candidates.)
When Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Tex) invaded New York City the last of January and renewed his promise that a "good" civil rights bill would be passed this session, he put mixed feelings into the South's hope of his being the first southern president since before the Civil War.
House Speaker Sam Rayburn had called a Dallas press conference to launch a full-scale Johnson-for-President campaign through the South. Former President Harry Truman volunteered his support of Sen. Johnson if Sen. Symington (D-Mo) should falter.
Johnson started his campaign last fall saying that he wanted only to ensure his re-election to the Senate. He won the Senate seat by 80 percent of the primary vote last time, and Sen. Johnson found himself a possible presidential candidate.
BUT ON FEBRUARY 14 Sen. Johnson threw the spiraling ball into his own lap when he carried out his promise of introducing the civil rights issue. His problem was now much more complicated than just holding the Texas votes. He had to attract northern liberals without alienating his southern backers. Possibly this was to be the real test of Johnson's reputation as a maker of compromises. His skill in compromising with the Eisenhower administration had brought him under criticism from his fellow Democrats. But the challenge of this issue lay in the nature of its stakes, and he couldn't afford to lose.
With this as the nucleus the ball got rolling. The object of Sen. Johnson's affections became the county organizations that will control the 61 Texas votes at the convention, the votes which possibly could sway the other 695 needed for the nomination.
Lyndon Baines Johnson was born into his interest in politics. His grandfather and father both served in the Texas legislature, his father with Speaker Sam Rayburn. After graduating from Texas State Teachers College he taught for a few years before becoming secretary to the Texas Congress. In 1937 he won a special House election with 8,280 votes out of 29,947. He was re-elected five times, usually without opposition.
ate in 1948 he won, taking the nomination from former Gov. Coke Stevenson. While still in his first term he was elected party floor leader. At 44 he was the youngest man ever to fill that post. This was in 1953, at the start of the Eisenhower administration.
With his second try for the Sen-
Lady Bird (Claudia) Taylor, whom Johnson married in 1934, will do much to make the road to Washington easier for her husband. Although Sen. Johnson suffered a serious heart attack in 1955, in six months he was back at his job as Senate majority leader. The doctors said his recovery was excellent. It is already evident that the 6-foot, 3-inch Senator is not avoiding those issues which might cause him to put forth considerable energy.
NOW AT 51 SEN. JOHNSON is pushing out from his LBJ Ranch near Stonewall, Tex., not knowing whether he is claimed by the South or the West, but realizing how long the road is from the old Johnson-family home to the White House.
The political record of Sen. Johnson is well worth considering. He is an advocate of moderation in Democratic opposition to the administration's programs, and works out legislative tactics in close cooperation with Speaker Rayburn. He went to Washington as a personal friend of Franklin D. Roosevelt and voted for most of the New Deal ideas, and for the Fair Deal proposals of Truman. This often irritated his conservative Texas colleagues. Johnson supported the transfer of tidal oil lands to the states. He was a stout defender of the depletion allowance granted oil producers in tax bills.
SEN. JOHNSON now advocates increased military power and appropriations. He opposes the farm program which has been proposed, but votes for high rigid price supports as compared with low flexible supports urged by Secretary of Agriculture Benson. He supported expansion of welfare programs, public housing, and foreign aid.
In addition to the senator's stand on civil rights, his record on labor issues also may cause him some moments of uneasiness. His support of strong labor-regulatory legislation does not suit the unions. The labor forces and the northern liberals are always potent forces in the Democratic convention where this year the senator from Texas is bound to be recognized as a "Serious Presidential Candidate."
By W. D. Paden Professor of English
By this brief and compelling novel Herr Duerrenmatt will please many readers and — in his usual fashion — perplex a number of them. A whodunnit written by a student of theology may be expected to develop in an unusual way, and this one does.
THE PLEDGE, FRIEDRICH DUERRENMATT (translated from the German by Richard and Clara Winston). A Signet Book: 35 cents.
A little girl has been murdered in broad daylight on a path near Mägendorf, a suburb of Zürich. A peddler reports the crime to the city police — a very Swiss organization, staffed with solid, well-trained, and effective men. The police suspect the peddler himself, and interrogate him until he confesses; he manages to hang himself in his cell. One of the officials, a man named Matthäi, feels certain that the peddler's confession was false, that it was forced from him by psychological dures. Matthäi resigns his position in order to take on an important foreign assignment; but at the last moment he decides that he must stay in Zürich and discover the true murderer, to protect the children. He dedicates his life to the task. That is all — or almost all — of the plot. Matthäi does not succeed; but then, Captain Ahab did not kill the white whale.
Matthai's motives are excellent; yet he is destroyed. Would he have done better to disregard the moral imperatives that, perhaps as a result of an over-sensitive conscience, he believed to dictate his actions? Is his determination itself a sign of moral weakness? How can man compromise between the imperfection of his knowledge and his necessity to act? Is reason a pitiful flare in the darkness of an essentially unintelligible universe?
The questions are politely offered to the reader, in quiet, spare prose, as if over a dinner at the Kronenhalle, the best restaurant in Zürich — beginning with a plate of liver-dumpling soup — for Switzerland is prosperous, and at ease in Zion. Or perhaps, not quite.
NROTC Adopts Korean War Victim
Two compassionate naval officers have found more than 200 foster parents for a lone 10-year-old victim of the Korean War.
Lt. J. E., Wise, assistant professor of naval science, said KU's Naval ROTC unit has decided to adopt Lee Hak 'Kon under the Foster Parents' Plan.
Lee Hak Kon's story follows the pattern of many children who lived in South Korea during and after the war. His father died when he was four and since then his mother has been attempting to support three children on $3 a month.
"We plan to pass the hat in the naval science courses a couple of times a semester." Mr. Wise said. "The students and members of the staff are all behind the idea whole-heartedly."
Mr. Wise said that Lt. Com. William O'Connell, graduate student, originated the idea after reading of the plan in a magazine.
Foster parents contribute $15 a month. The money cares for education, maintenance, care, training and well-being of the child.
The international organization has rehabilitated 76,000 children of 27 different nationalities. These children now are self-supporting citizens in their own communities, a letter from the organization said. The letter the Navy unit received
The letter the Navy unit received
Englishman to Speak At Lecture Tonight
Stevenson Buchan, an English specialist on water and ground resources, will give a public lecture at 7:30 tonight in 426 Lindley Hall.
Prof. Buchan is a participant of the visiting international scientists program and is on a three month tour of American colleges that offer graduate degrees in geology. He is sponsored by the American Geological Institute.
car institute.
Prof. Buchan is now chief of the water resources division of the British Geological Survey.
from the organization's headquaters in New York said that "Hak Kon is a lively child and very strong minded.
"He is in the second grade of primary school and is an excellent student. He would like to be a teacher some day."
The letter described the conditions in which the boy lives. It said that he lives in a small, dimly lit one-room house. An older brother has been forced to quit school and work in a factory for $7 a month to keep the family together.
Mr. Wise said that several members of the unit are planning to write to the boy. He said that communication is the difficult part of
the plan as all letters must be translated in New York.
"It is pretty common for Navy units to do such a thing as this. We feel that all of the children picked for the program are appreciative and intelligent — so we're helping a good cause." he said.
Brew Bursts in Cop's Pocket
Mr. Wise said that children could also be adopted and brought to the United States under the Foster Parents' Plan. ___.
A monshiner in Detroit was convicted in spite of the fact that a bottle of his home-made brew exploded in a policeman's pocket shortly before it was to be used as evidence against him.
Spring and Music
Two words that go together — spring and music. Springtime is musictime and musictime means party time. So plan your next party to include music provided by the AUDIO HOUSE.
Phone VI 3-4916 for the best recorded dance music in the midwest.
Our 103rd Year of Service
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