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University Daily Kansan Thursday, Jan. 14, 1965
Balancing Act
Go Left, Go Right
Between the left and the right of modern day political beliefs lies that big shade of gray. Is it rightly termed "moderate" or should it leftly be designated "conservative liberal?"
Is the left right and will the right be left out in the cold, or must radicalism and extremism maintain the equilibrium of today's stability politically?
TAKE FOR EXAMPLE what seems to be the faction at the extreme right of the political fence. According to the propaganda material they send through the mails our country is in one heck of a mess.
It seems that now, not only is the administration dyed the same color as the proverbial tape that ties up governmental machinery, but, the strong Baptist religion, specifically their headquarters in Nashville has been infiltrated by that dogmatic group termed Communists.
Their statement and I quote, of Brooks Hays,
"identified communist-fronter" certainly gives
one something to think about. Hays is the president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
THIS COMMUNIST INFILTRATION was discovered when a Baptist quarterly for young people recommended the books of James Baldwin as reading material.
It looks like the Communists took over Nashville like Grant took Richmond.
IT IS NOT HARD to remain tolerant of many political beliefs. It is easy sometimes to smile at the propaganda that sifts your way.
If nothing else, extremism helps to give at times a better picture of where our stability lies, even though it may fluctuate.
HOWEVER, IT IS sometimes not inappropriate to wonder if someday the propaganda exceeds the ridiculous, how influential it may become on the mind that is easily impressed.
And, the extreme weights that today seem to balance the scale of political left and right, may eventually tip that scale downward.
Jim Langford
The Big Lie
When Senator Joseph McCarthy used the Big Lie to get results in the early 50's during his communist hwit hunts he was using a tactic that, to communists is as old as the ideology. The Big Lie treatment had been used recently in a case that involved the entire United States and most of the rest of the world.
The case involved an American couple who were born and raised in the East Side of New York City. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested for, convicted of and executed for espionage in the early 50's—prior to Senator McCarthy—and the outcome of their efforts to get off the hook greatly influenced the Senator's tactics.
THE ROSENBERGS personally used the Big Lie tactics by repeatedly denying their guilt. Their followers, and there were plenty of them, quite effectively used the tactic to try to save the convicted spies.
The case began in July of 1950 when Julius Rosenberg was arrested. His wife, Ethel, was arrested in August on the same charges—giving atomic secrets to a foreign power, the Soviet Union.
THE USE OF THE Big Lie is well known to communists and in this case was used to help the Rosenbergs by the formation of the Committee to Secure Justice for the Rosenbergs. This committee, after having mustered as many sympathizers as possible among kindly humanitarians, the Rosenbergs' defenders at the beginning of 1953 stood adamant on the proposition that the Rosenbergs were entirely innocent of the crime.
In the years during the trial attitudes towards such things as communists, spies, traitors, and espionage in general changed largely due to the antics of this committee.
With member committees in all major U.S. cities and many European capitals, the group tried to get the Rosenbergs clemency. They alternately denied the fact of any crime on the part of the two and then merely asked for a lighter sentence thus acknowledging the existence of the crime.
ALL EVIDENCE POINTS to the fact that the Committee was communist inspired because of the tactics used to obtain the wished-for clemency. The Committee used non-Communist names to cover the operation of the group. It was unsuccessful and many people knew the real reason for its existence.
One of the main reasons for the formation of the committee was the fact that it was the first time in the history of this country that two people were given a death sentence for treason. It set a precedent.
"While the Committee to Secure Justice for the Rosenbergs Case would spurn the idea that known Communists are so objectionable that none of them should be named on the lists of its sponsors, it is obvious that the list could have included more Communists and more prominent ones. Similarly the Committee could have swiftly gathered a sheaf of statements of well-known Communists declaring that the Rosenbergs were innocent of espionage. Instead of doing so the
operators of the Committee made every effort to find or secure quotations from non-Communists, and publicized these quotations with great diligence."
With the knowledge of this Committee and its activities it seems incredible that the Communist Party ignored the Rosenbergs for fully a year after their arrest. Their comrades sealed their lips, paid no heed to the arrest, public trial and conviction of the two loyal friends.
The formation of the Committee was also due to the alleged American hysteria about Russia as it had been reported in the Communist press, in literature of the Rosenberg Committee and most important, it had been cited by the Rosenberg attorney when he moved under U.S. Code to vacate and set aside the conviction.
THE QUESTION OF THE Russian hysteria is almost as big as the Big Lie angle. Many people felt that the case was being used as an "Example" and that it was just a frame-up.
To the average American in this period Russian hysteria was a very real thing. Communists were being hunted under every rock. Just to have been an acquaintance of one was enough to put you under surveillance by the FBI. All friends of the convicted spies either denounced them or denied ever knowing them for practical reasons if nothing else.
PERHAPS THE ISSUE OF communism in regards to the Jewish of America was the other greatest problem of the trial.
Not their Jewishness but their position as communists was the main problem. Questions arise as to their loyalties. Were they really so devoted to the cause? Did they remain silent throughout the trial in order to protect their conspirators? The technique of putting up a defense for a thoroughly guilty criminal by having him deny everything is not new in criminal trials. It usually seems that a person who does not admit his guilt and persists in protesting that he is being wrongly punished is innocent. This was also the case with Bruno Richard Hauptmann in the Lindbergh kidnapping case.
But regardless of the proven guilt of the two, their lawyer and especially the Committee kept trying to get them off their sentence. Their lawyer ended up saying many things that were violently anti-American after the Rosenbergs' were executed. He said: "This was the face of Nazism that killed the Rosenbergs. I place the murder at the door of President Eisenhower, J. Edgar Hoover and Attorney General Brownell. This is not American justice. America today is living under the heel of a military dictator garbed in civilian attire."
— Linda Ellis
THE COMMUNIST problem was summed up in this case long before the execution of the two U.S. News and World Report said: "Whatever the outcome, there is no evidence that the Communists will quit trying to squeeze the last ounce of value from the Rosenberg case. If the sentence is commuted the Communists will claim a victory; if they die Communists can turn them into martyrs of peace." This is exactly what happened.
"That's My Boy"
The People Say...
Dear Editor:
Due to the petty wages paid on campus, there are many students who must work 30 to 40 hours a week to keep themselves in school. The library pays salaries of 75 and 85 cents an hour, as does the student union; 1 dollar an hour is considered premium. Yet reports indicate that student expenses are at a peak . . . and still rising.
Waiting for the problem to solve itself is a fairyland wish, and putting one's hope in a benevolent administration to care for all the wants of its kiddies borders on regression to childhood. Students ought to make their feelings . . . gently . . . known about this. The Berkeley campus of the University of California, for example, has a fair student wage policy sponsored by student government with the sanction of the administration. A minimum wage is paid by all on-campus employers, and to which city merchants are requested to pledge themselves.
It's my feeling that our own student government is long overdue in making such a proposal part of their platform.
Sincerely
Stephen Goldfarb
California graduate student
Dear Editor:
On behalf of the Douglas County Association for Mental Health, we
extend a very special thank you to all those fine young people who participated in the Association's drive for Christmas gifts for the patients at the Topeka State Hospital. We wish it known that everyone who contributed to it in anyway at all, should feel a warm glow of satisfaction for the happiness brought to the very appreciative patients.
Those students who delivered their contributions of money and many varied gifts and who attended the conducted tour of the Hospital, felt, we are sure, as we did, a very deep feeling of "worthhileness."
Our report to you is a very heartwarming report, namely that $462.05 was your monetary contribution, however added to this were the hundreds of lovely gifts, large and small, contributed by the sororities.
We are pleased that we shared this effective drive together. Our fondest hopes are that in the not too distant future, there will be no need for this project; however, as long as there remains this need, we shall endeavor to carry out our part of it.
Gratefully and Sincerely,
President
Mrs. Ralph Wolfson,
Chairman of Hospital
Volunteer Services
Dailij' Mänsan
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EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Jim Langford and Rick Mabutt
Jim Langford and Rick Mabbutt ... Co-Editorial Editors
NEWS DEPARTMENT
Roy Miller Managing Editor Don Black, Leta Cathecart, Bob Jones, Greg Swartz, Assistant Managing Editors: Linda Ellis, Feature-Society Editor; Russ Corbitt, Sports Editor; James Bennett, Photo Editor
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
Bob Phinney Business Manager John Pepper, Advertising Manager; Dick Flood, National Advertising Manager; John Suhler, Classified Advertising Manager; Tom Fisher, Promotion Manager; Nancy Holland, Circulation Manager; Gary Grazda, Merchandising Manager.