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University Daily Kansan Wednesday. Nov. 9. 1'60
The Presidential Burden
The new president of the United States is the youngest man in our history elevated to that office. He comes to his job at a most difficult period. It will be his responsibility to wage the cold war—and wage it successfully. He will have to unite the American people as they have seldom been united in order to preserve the heritage of freedom in this nation.
This is not easy in a time of peace, a time of contentment, a time when the fat cats purr. A deceptive sense of security threats to suffocate us and stifle our greatness. John F. Kennedy bears the awful responsibility of driving us forward.
WAR HAS NEVER FAILED to weld the nation together. When the dangers to freedom have become concrete and tangible, the American nation has never failed to respond with magnificent force and power. Our industrial strength, our national spirit, have always guaranteed us victory.
But this is a different kind of war. It is a war of words and ideas, only occasionally flaring into a conventional killing war. Even this last is different. The opposing armies are puppets, manipulated behind the scenes by the real adversaries.
It is also an economic war. The assault on the trade between nations, the silent struggle over aid to underdeveloped areas, the attempts to debase the enemy's currency—these too have been features of the cold war.
WE KNOW TOO LITTLE of this. So long as bombs do not fall on our cities, so long the armies of the enemy remain within their own borders, we prefer to believe that things aren't so bad after all, that certainly everything will come out all right in the end.
Many insist that the military might of the United States is sufficient reason to stop worrying. Didn't we beat Germany twice? Didn't we humble Japan and Italy?
But Soviet Russia is a more dangerous foe than any we have faced. We are outnumbered and confronted with a type of war we have never had to fight.
If the cold war flares into general war, this will also be a vastly different conflict from any we have ever known. There will be no time for mass mobilization, no immunity from attack. In 15 minutes the war may be over or its outcome made certain.
THESE ARE THE JOBS our new president must take on; the mobilization of the nation in time of peace, the maintenance of a strong and alert defense posture, the defense of our economic interests and—most important—the creation of a driving, aggressive national spirit.
To do these things, he must first look to the internal affairs of this nation. He must insure that conditions exist which provide a sound basis for fighting a protracted cold war. This does not mean merely the pacification of pressure groups; it means attendance on the basic needs of the nation.
This is no time for partisanship. The major parties must join together and forget whatever bitterness was engendered by the campaign. The United States must present a solid front to the world. It must act as a united body, sure in its basic convictions.
THE PRESIDENTIAL CHAIR always looks too large for a new president. No doubt it appears to many that John F. Kennedy will not be able to fill it; but this is yet to be known. In the meantime, we can strengthen him and the entire nation if we, lay aside petty squabbling and remember that we are Americans, not just Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals.
-Bill Blundell
CHARGES SLANTING
...Letters ...
It strikes me as one of the most disgusting pieces of participship I have yet witnessed in the Kansan (and this is saying a great deal) that your paper stooped to printing so obviously slanted and inaccurate a view of Vice President Nixon as was expressed in the Murray Kempton excerpt featured in Monday's "From the Newsstand" column.
It seems hardly a coincidence that this potentially damaging piece of propaganda was printed on the eve of the national election, when its invidious immuendoes
would have their maximum effect on undecided voters. This, it seems to me, is dirty journalism. Where was the corresponding critique of Senator Kennedy's electioneering techniques, for fairness' sake? An unfavorable report of the latter candidate could also have been located. I am sure, if the Kansun had been so inclined.
This vicious excerpt is unworthy of the Kansas's editorial space, which is usually marked by slightly better taste. It is so slanderous, so libulous, so complete with all the techniques of "yellow journalism" that it makes my blood fairly seethe. Admittedly, I am a
partisan and strongly pro-Nixon, but this type of reprint is an insult to the independent, as well.
If the Kansan denies printing this piece of infamy now for a specific purpose, perhaps it can explain why it has Iain untapped since October 20.
Robert Scott Phillips, Chanute Junior
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS
THAT'S A RIDICULOUS RUMOR, DEAN I RUN HERE A VERY DEMOCRATIC CLASSROOM.'
* *
Editor:
ODE TO FALL
In the fall every man is a poet, and traditionally someone writes in the UDK about "frosty death" changing leaf colors. Searching for a fresh approach, I got out one of my volumes of Haiku, in which I found a few impressions I'd like to share with the readers.
The first two are by the 17th century (Japanese) master, Matsuo Basho. In them he has expressed the Zen state of mind:
The winds of fall
how green the chestnut burr
This road:
are blowing, yet
with no man traveling on it,
in darkness falls.
The last, by his pupil Shiko,
sums up succinctly what is trying
to be said in the article.
caring to such loveliness—
red leaves that fall.
Envied by us all,
Editor:
CUCKOO CLOCKS
* *
Kenneth C. King Junction City Senior
Kenneth C. King
Certainly, the main problem that exists at this university is the inconsistency of the clocks on the Hill. I am prone to set my watch by the bells of the Campanile. However, the freshman women's dormitories set their clocks by a different standard which does not coincide with radio time either. It would be much more convenient for me and other frustrated males if the clocks were set by the same time. I would appreciate hearing other views on this problem.
Dennis Moriarty
Kansas City, Mo., freshman
... Books in Review ...
By John Brown
REVEILLE FOR REBELS, by James P. Warburg, Doubleday & Co.
Garden City, New York. 95c paperback.
Walter Lippmann has said: "The critical weakness of our society is that for the time being our people do not have great purposes which they are united in wanting to achieve." In this short book James Warburg attempts to unify the pre-voting-age Americans by helping them to understand what great purposes must be achieved if future generations are to escape total disaster.
Warburg is on the whole optimistic. He denies that the current young generation is the "disillusioned, tired, silent, or beat generation." If this generation is a generation of rebels it is because they must rebel against Warburg's own generation—a generation that has been "on the whole too lazy, too indifferent, and too self-centered to fulfill the duties of citizenship." Warburg's "reveille" is in effect a push in the direction of active concern with the problems that must be faced by the leaders of near-tomorrow.
FOLLOWING THE GENERAL DICTUM THAT HE WILL tell us "not what to think, but what to think about," Warburg discusses the problems of world poverty, the possibilities for the abolition of war, and the need to rise above prejudices and discrimination. After outlining the boundaries of the problems, he then makes an effort to suggest a few ways by which the individual can have some effect on the policy of the society. Unfortunately, his suggestions are so traditionally general and utopian that the reader receives no new insights. For example, one of the avenues the responsible citizen can take is to learn foreign languages so that he may "promote goodwill and understanding among the world's diverse peoples."
A very valuable service offered by this book to its readers is a short but important bibliography of the outstanding books written on all the subjects which are classified as immediate problems nuclear diplomacy, the Far East, economic policies for a rich nation among poor neutrals, etc.
Published shortly before the national elections by an author who was in charge of American propaganda policy in the European theater in WW II as well as being an FDR New Deal adviser, this book is surprisingly non-partisan in its assessment of the mess we are in today. Eisenhower of course gets his full share of the blame, but Truman and even FDR are not denied a bit of criticism.
IF YOU HAVE TWO OR THREE HOURS TO SPEND WITH A book other than one assigned in the "line of duty." I would suggest that you look over "Reveille for Rebels." In the first place it is kind of nice to read about oneself in such flattering terms. Also one may take pleasure in hearing how the young generation can really put all the blame for its own insecurity on its elders.
Of course it is also possible that Warburg's occasionally brilliant summations of problems and future responsibility will make a few readers uncomfortable. Maybe they might even feel a need to read summations of problem and future responsibility will make a few some of the books listed as "must reading" by the author.
Dailu Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
University of Kansas student newspaper Founded 1889, became biweekly 1904, trieweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912. Telephone VIking 3-2700
Extension 376. business office
Member Inland Daily Press Association. Associated Collegiate Press.
Represented by 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.