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University Daily Kansan
Friday, Jan. 20, 1961
Goodbye Ike
Today, one of the most popular and most honored figures ever to ride across the American scene passes from the view of the public he has served so well for 50 years. Dwight David Eisenhower, the man from Abilene, soldier, statesman, author and patriot, left the house on Pennsylvania Avenue this morning to retire to his farm at Gettysburg.
When Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected the 34th president of the United States in 1952 he was a popular war hero. Now at the age of 70, the oldest man to serve as President, he has still retained the immense popularity that swept him through two presidential elections despite increasing criticism of his administration.
Eisenhower is one of the few presidents in American history who had the opportunity to choose between foreign and domestic policy. He has given more attention to foreign policy and let the domestic chips fall where they may.
Before the first six months of his second term were over, the President was asked in a press conference whether he regretted having made the decision to seek re-election. He answered that if one did one's duty then there was no room for regret. And the preoccupation with McCarthy, the heart attack and his recovery had meant that so much during the first term had been evaded and postponed.
THE ATTITUDE TOWARD THE PRESIDent was both more critical and more expectant. He had been given a great vote of confidence, and the feeling was growing that he should get on with trying to solve the problems facing the nation.
Foremost among these was the issue of integration in the schools and the related question of the serious deterioration of the American public-school system. It was here that one of the Eisenhower concepts of the presidency has become most evident.
The President had been urged repeatedly to take the lead in helping to ease the way toward a peaceful adjustment to the profound social change that had been decreed by the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren.
An example of the Eisenhower aloofness to the job as president can be demonstrated by a statement made in September of 1955.
He was asked whether he endorsed the ruling of the Supreme Court on the segregation question or whether he merely accepted it as the Republican platform did.
"I think it makes no difference whether or not I endorse it. What I say is the—Constitution is as the Supreme Court interprets it; and I must conform to that and do my very best to see that it is carried out in this country."
It had been a long, long time since a president of the U.S. had so narrowly interpreted his role. What was most revealing was the suggestion that his own personal opinion did not matter. It was as though the President were a distinguished spectator who would do his duty when called upon but only then.
President Eisenhower has been a forceful leader in the area of the cold war. During the seven and one-half years he has been in office.
Eisenhower has constantly worked to end the present world stalemate.
If Eisenhower's public record had ended with his military career, it seems safe to assume that a high place of public esteem would be secure for him. But he went on to become President of the United States in a time when this office was never of greater importance for the country and the world.
During Eisenhower's administration the presidency declined both in authority and prestige. The office, under Eisenhower, has resembled much more nearly what it was in the late nineteenth century, when a ceremonial president was content to let the tides of economic destiny have their way. But this is what today's majority wanted. Because of his repeated illnesses, the President has delegated perhaps more authority than any other man to occupy the White House. He has done this in part by default and in part because of his own belief and his conditioning in the chain-of-command system of the Army. The paradox, in view of his indifferent and hesitant approach to the powers of his office, is that with the overwhelming popularity he carried, Eisenhower failed to use the backing he had to act.
IT IS HERE THAT THE MAGNIFICATION of the office, to which Roosevelt contributed so much with the glitter of his personality, is seen in sharp perspective.
After the glamour of FDR and cult of personality that adhered to him, it was for a time, at least, something of a relief to have Harry Truman in the White House. In the popular interpretation he was just a plain, ordinary American, proving that any American boy could be president, and his popularity in the polls rose to a high point. But this did not last for long. Soon many of his fellow citizens were discovering that he was a small man, not big enough for the presidency, "just a politician."
In contrast, Eisenhower was above politics, he was a big man; he stood for something. The desire, one might say, the necessity, was for a new personality, inflated by one device and another, to fit the new dimensions of war and crises, the dimensions of the big man, the leader. With his self-deprecation, his determined modesty, Adlai Stevenson ran counter to the popular desire.
WHILE THE OFFICE ITSELF HAS SUFFERed a serious erosion of power in Eisenhower's tenure, the magnification of the personality is still in evidence. For his failure to use the powers of the office, Eisenhower, in the interpretation of weak and strong, must be put down as a weak president.
But any assessment has also to take into account the fact that he brought to the office so little preparation for what is surely the most difficult and demanding position in the world today. The unreasoning expectations were so high in the light of a towering reputation that had little or nothing to do with politics or government.
— Susanne Shaw
And Again, Mr. Abels
Editor:
I would like to comment on Mr. Abels' editorial, reprinted in Monday's UDK.
Mr. Abels has apparently missed the point of the campaign currently being waged against discrimination. The fact that there "... must be at least a hundred places in Lawrence where anyone can buy the stuff (beer) if he wants it" is irrelevant. It is not the right to buy beer that the Civil Rights Council is defending; it is the right to be served, regardless of one's race, religion, or country of origin. It is my hope also that the CRC will soon extend its activities into areas other than taverns and housing, the two main areas so far.
MR. ABELS MENTIONS "numerous stories and communications that undoubtedly have been written to stir up bitterness and hatred." Perhaps I err in this, but it seems to me that Byron Klap-
... Letters ...
per and the Kansan staff have done a good job of objective reporting, and there certainly has been nothing deliberately written to stir up bitterness and hatred. Moreover, the Civil Rights Council itself, in its statement of purpose, pledges to use legal and non-violent methods to achieve its goals.
Incidentally — this is a bit off the subject — I do wish I had heard Mr. Abel's 'expose of "... one of the Civil Rights organizations at the University attempting to integrate the fraternities." Somehow, I knew nothing about that, even though I am both a member of a fraternity and a CRC officer.
AS A FINAL POINT, I WISH to protest the use of what I shall call the "Brooklyn smoke-screen." Mr. Abels seems to insinuate that one Byron Klapper and other non-Kansans are behind all this activity. This is an example of the old "scapegoat" tactic, so successfully used by Hitler against the Jews. The idea is to pick some minority group (Brooklynites, in this case) and blame all one's troubles on it, thus directing the people's attentions away from the fact that it is actually the system which is at fault.
Mr. Abels would have us believe that the activities of the CRC are evil, when actually the evil lies in the system of discrimination being attacked. And I hate to damage a nice theory, but unfortunately I am not from Brooklyn. As a matter of fact, I was born and raised in Kansas.
Alan D. Latta
Wichita junior
Short Ones
College students sometimes mature during their four-year stay. More often, they become confused and overwhelmed—R. G. Descord
"Boy, does that feel good!"
International Jayhawker
By Aqil A. Asfoor Jordan Freshman
People, before getting acquainted with each other, are strangers. They see each other every day. Maybe they take meals and drink in the same place and walk in the same direction to their jobs, classes or study halls at the same time. This is the case here on the KU campus. But, despite this they are still strangers—at least in how they feel about one another.
WHEN A BOY IS DESIROUS OF BECOMING A FRIEND OF a girl, he has to know her first; and, in order to do this, he needs to be introduced to her-by a friend of hers or, more often, by himself. Since the latter method is deeply concerned with psychological feelings, it should be performed most courteously and tactfully.
To make this acquaintance the boy, consequently, has to seek an excuse for himself before taking the initiative of speaking with the girl for the first time. After the introduction has been made it is the boy's duty at this critical period to direct the conversational flow towards strengthening the acquaintance with the girl in a respectable manner. One of the most important steps to be taken by the boy, if he is really interested in the girl, is for him to take a fast move by politically obtaining her proper address; this will enable him to have a good control on the process of further operations pertaining to making a friendship with the girl.
THE BOY, HOWEVER, IS ADVISED TO ACT SMARTLY AS to know how much interest the girl is giving him; and, therefore, he should respond to this interest; otherwise, there will be a lack of good understanding between the two of them. It is advisable, too, that the boy, at this particular stage of developing a friendship with the girl, should not display over-anxiety towards setting a date with her right away, unless she obviously implies otherwise.
Another important item which the boy should take into consideration is that he should practice a great deal of respect in order to give the girl a good idea about how he feels about her.
WHEN THIS HAS BEEN DONE, THE NEXT THING FOR the boy to do is to call the girl for a date or to invite her to some party where they could further their friendship. This, of course, will aid in determining to what extent their friendship could develop. Also, it will minimize the affectation of formality between the two of them, resulting in a great advancement toward their friendship.
Once the boy and the girl have reached the level of a close friendship, only then, by analyzing their likes and dislikes, beliefs and common interests, will they be able to decide if anything other than this friendship will develop between them.
UNIT WRITE
Dailu Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
Telephone Viking 3-2700
Extension 711, news room
Extension 376, business office
Member Inland Daily Press Association. Associated Collegiate Press. R. Represented National Advertising Service, 18 East 50 St., New York 22, N.Y. News service: United Press International. Mail subscription rates: $3 a semester or $5 a year. Published in Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays, University holidays and examination periods. Entered as second-class matter Sept. 17, 1910, at Lawrence, Kan., post office under act of March 3, 1879.
NEWS DEPARTMENT
stay Miller ... Managing Editor
Carol Heller, Jane Boyd Priscilla Burton and Carrie Edwards, Assistant Managing Editors; Pat Sheley and Suzanne Shaw, City Editors; John Macdonald, Sports Editor; Peggy Kallos and Donna Engle, Society Editors.