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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, January 9, 1969
War 1968-bombing halt and peace talks
Editors' Note:
This poll was taken before Christmas vacation. Since the Kansan editorial staff seldom uses a crystal ball, the three astronauts, Col. Frank Borman, Capt. James Lovell and Lt. Col. William Anders, who made the Apollo 8 moon flight were probably relegated to a much lower place in the Kansan poll than they would have been had the poll been taken after Christmas.
By JIM ANDERSON and ALISON STEIMEL
In new media standards, 1968 outdid itself.
Not only was it an election year with an eventful and unpredictable campaign but the year also abounded in tragedies such as the assassinations of Sen. Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King and in exciting breakthroughs such as the Apollo moon flight and heart transplants.
The editorial writers of the Kansan voted on the most important national news story of 1968 before Christmas vacation.
Apollo moon flight is rather low in the list of top news stories, since it took place after the poll. Undoubtedly it would now be much higher on the list.
The announcement of the bombing halt on North Vietnam made this fall by President Lyndon Johnson and the subsequent beginning of the Vietnam peace talks was voted as the first place story. This story also included all of the other war news and the intangible but ever-present effect of the Vietnam war on the United States and life of its citizens.
The second news spot was the 1968 campaign with the election of Richard M. Nixon as the next president of the United States. The election
category was also comprised of the many different facets of this campaign: the unusual candidacy of Eugene McCarthy, the third party competition of George Wallace and his running mate, Curtis LeMay, and the late candidacy of Sen. George McGovern.
The assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy in California was ranked the third top story. Killed as he was acknowledging his primary victory in California last June, Kennedy's death ended the career of one of the brightest young liberal politicians of the times and also brought back memories of his brother John Kennedy's assassination in 1963.
The fourth story was student riots on college and university campuses across the country. The year began with riots at Columbia University in New York City on one side of the continent and ended with San Francisco State College being closed by protestors' demonstrations on the other side of the United States.
Student rebellion peppered the country throughout the year with riots in Paris, Czechoslovakia and other foreign countries as well as the United States. The goals of the students were diverse, from protests against racism to complaints of French students about General Charles de Gaulle. But the protests did display the determination of many of the world's students to have more rights and more representation in both campus and national affairs.
The invasion of Czechoslovakia by the troops of the Soviet Union in August of last year was judged the fifth ranking story. The smothering of the liberal Alexander Dubek's Communist regime and the stubborn though quiet resistance of the Czechoslovakian people has continued to make news throughout the fall and winter months.
"I shall not seek nor will I accept the nomination of my party." These words of President Lyndon Johnson last April will go down in history and the story was polled in the sixth place.
Johnson's surprise withdrawal from the Presidential race opened the campaign field up and
what had been prejudged as a possible boring election year with Johnson escenced as the Democratic candidate turned into a free-for-all.
The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King in April was judged as the seventh place story. King's death robbed the civil rights movement of one of their most effective spokesmen and the United States of a great leader. His death also touched off bloody riots in Chicago, Kansas City and other cities.
Eighth place went to the demonstrations and riots of students and police in Chicago during the Democratic convention in August. The turmoil in Chicago with its reflections on Mayor Richard Daley and his police force carried into December of 1968 when the report of the President's commission on violence stated that some of the police, under heavy provocation, lost control and committed unnecessary violence.
Pope Paul's encyclical, Humanae Vitae, banning the use of the pill or other birth control devices for Roman Catholics touched off heavy controversy in the Church not only over this issue but over the whole matter of Church authority and the individual conscience. This story was polled in ninth place.
The Pueblo incident—the capture of 26 American men by the North Korean government—and the accusation that the ship had been in North Korean territorial waters was judged as tenth place story. This story would also probably have rated much higher after the pre-Christmas release of the men and the about-face apology and rejection of apology to the North Koreans by the United States.
Other stories which rated close to the top ten were the starving millions in the Biafran-Nigerian war, de Gaulle and the franc crisis, the many heart transplants of 1968, the third party candidacy of George Wallace, the Congress commotion over the nomination of Justice Abe Fortas for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the New York teachers' strike.
THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL
All rights reserved 1981
Publishers-Hall Syndicate
Don't you guys leave anything to imagination any more?
Paperbacks
THE DOOR, by Mary Roberts Rinehart (Dell, 60 cents)—Not really a Gothic romance, even though that is what Dell chooses to call it. It is a mystery in the old-fashioned school, it takes place in a frightening old mansion, and there is murder. Murder which our heroine sets out
to solve by herself. A fairly gentle tale, considering everything, and much better than some of the claptrap appearing today (this one goes back 40 years).
HUMANISM, by H. J. Blackham (Pelican, $1.25)—In which
the director of the British Humanist Association discusses humanism not as a creed but as an attitude of mind, showing how humanists see man as being alone and as therefore responsible for himself and his fellow man. The emphasis is present-day as well as historical.
Man of the year
Campus rebels
By DON WESTERHAUS Kansan Staff Writer
Completed—a unique year which almost defies description
To date, 1968 has brought events of world importance seemingly every day. And since last New Year's day, the people who made that news have been just as unique.
For several years, the University Daily Kansan has tried to pick a "man of the year"-one who figured most prominently in the news. This year, a poll taken of Kansan editorial writers showed a collective group being chosen the top contributor to the news.
Student protestors made their presence felt—sometimes peacefully, sometimes not—in every part of the world. They stormed buildings, held sit-ins, carried signs and made demands in Mexico City and Paris, from San Francisco State to Columbia University, and even made their appearance in Lawrence.
and even made their appearance in Lawrence. This collective group has been chosen the Kansan's newsmaker of the year.
There were other top newsmakers, however. Rounding out the top five chosen in the poll were three political names and another group.
Second on the list was the late Senator Robert Francis Kennedy, who caused quite a stir and gathered a large political following prior to his assassination in June and made one of the greatest news attractions of the year.
Any President of the United States who caused as much controversy as Lyndon Johnson must be ranked high on a newsmaker list. He was ranked third.
advancement were voted fourth as a consecet group. Rising from the political ruin of defeats in 1960 and 1962, Richard Nixon overcame extremely stiff competition to become our next President. His accomplishment gained him fifth place in the Kansan poll.
The Kansan's fourth place newsmaker deviated from the political scene. Heart transplant surgery, which first made news in December 1967, made giant strides during 1968, and the several teams of physicians around the world who contributed to this medical advancement were voted fourth as a collective group.
Several other individuals figured high in the news of 1968. They were:
were:
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Eugene McCarthy; Alexander Dubeke; Pope Paul VI; George Wallace; Hubert Humphrey; Charles Daulle; Abe Fortas; Julian Bond; Richard Daley; S. I. Hayakawa; Eldridge Cleaver; Creighton Abrams; Edmund Muskie; Adam Clayton Powell, and Ronald Reagon.
Franklin Cullen Rodgers, by putting a little "Pepper" into an already salty football team, directed the Jayhawks to their first Orange Bowl appearance since 1947 and earned the nod as KU's campus man of the year.
campus man of the year. Votes were also received for woman of the year. Ethel Kennedy, widow of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was the unanimous choice. She was followed by Goldie Hahn, the blonde bombshell of Rowan and Martin's "Laugh-In," and by Jackie Kennedy Onassis.