Worldwide Echoes Recall JFK Death
By Suzy Tichacek
It was Saturday morning. An Israelite woman came downstairs in a night gown and entered an apartment weeping. She brought the news of President Kennedy's assassination to an American family.
James Seaver, professor of history, and his family were living in Haifa, Israel, at the time of Kennedy's assassination. Because of only a few English-spoken news broadcasts, Prof. Seaver and his family had missed the news of Kennedy's death on Friday, Nov. 22.
According to Prof. Seaver, the people in Israel were very moved by the President's death. Friends sent letters to his family expressing their sympathy and about 26,000 people went to the American embassy to sign a book in remembrance of the President.
NOT ONLY DID the American people feel a great loss when Kennedy died but people all over the world took it very personally, Prof. Seaver said. "The people in Israel took it as though a member of their own family died," he said.
The German people were as shocked as the people of Israel. Prof. Roy Laird was also abroad at the time of the President's death. "We were eating in a small local German restaurant when my oldest son came and told us of the news," Prof. Laird said.
From the grief expressed by the Germans and Britains, Prof. Laird said, "Whatever Kennedy's role in the domestic realm might have been—his place in history was not insignificant.
"We met people of all walks of life in Europe who couldn't believe what happened and cried," Prof. Laird said.
"I BELIEVE that the impact of the Kennedy personality, the Kennedy style and the Kennedy policy had a far more profound effect upon the rest of the world, certainly on Europe, than it had in the United States." Prof. Laird said.
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"This is to say the European people are much more aware than the Americans of the smallness and interdependence of our world and the enormity of power of the U.S. and Russia," he said.
Prof. Laird explained that the traits of Kennedy had provided the world with a new hope and vision. "At no time in peace was the American leadership so highly accepted and looked to as providing the possibility for a hopeful future," he said.
Prof. Seaver, agreeing with Prof. Laird, said he felt he could speak for the Europeans because he had read a lot of the European press. "The Europeans felt they lost someone whose ideas they could understand," he said.
"A PROPHET is not appreciated in his own land," Herman Lujan, assistant professor of political science, said. He said that before Kennedy's death the American people could find many faults with his programs and policies but now he has become a legend.
"The Europeans were removed from the domestic problems," Prof. Lujan said. "They felt Kennedy was an American who had a positive sense about the role of America in the world. They wanted us to have a sense of direction—it made us more predictable in the eyes of the Russians." he said.
As far as predicting Kennedy's role in history most all of the interviewees felt it was too soon to do this. According to Ethan Allen, chairman of the political science department, it will take at least 25 years to determine Kennedy's place in history.
"I expect he will go down as an eloquent president, a leader of opinion, and a world figure," Dr. Allen said. "He brought to the presidency an eloquence that few, if any presidents, will equal or surpass."
PROF. LUJAN SAID, "Kennedy did turn the American political process in a new direction一to a new frontier. This means a democracy with a social responsibility—in foreign policy as well as domestic affairs.
In viewing the effect of the assassination on legislation and this month's election, the professors had varied ideas.
"I looked on Kennedy (to use Dean Rusk's phrase) as a civilized man," Prof. Lujan said. "He was a man with a sense of direction and a man who cared about civilization."
Prof. Lujan felt that Kennedy's death aroused a sympathy in legislators as well as the general population. He explained that the civil rights legislation was approached as a memorial to Kennedy when Johnson stood before Congress and said that although Kennedy was dead his legislation could live on.
"The Kennedy legend predisposes people to what Kennedy wanted to get done," Prof. Lujan said. "The legislators wanted to be persuaded. Now Johnson could twist arms and make deals with people who were less rebellious to being managed."
DR. ALLEN felt it was hard to determine whether President Kennedy could have gotten the legislation out of Congress had he lived. He did feel that Johnson's political astuteness got the legislation out. "Johnson knew legislative process when Kennedy didn't't' he said.
Prof. Seaver felt that almost all of Kennedy's programs were aided by his death because of the sympathy aroused. He doubted Kennedy could have gotten it through because of a great deal of opposition which existed.
As far as the recent election, "His death made it almost impossible or very difficult for a Republican candidate to win—his name was almost a legend with the American people," Prof. Seaver said.
According to Timothy McDonald, visiting assistant professor or history, Kennedy's place in history will not be measured by his specific accomplishments. "His most important contribution was to once again chart the course of the nation and emphasize the ideals of democracy," he said.
Daily hansan
Schilling, a Strategic Air Command base, has 763 officers, 4,244 enlisted men and 357 employees-a total of 5,364 persons. Salina's population is 45,000.
The base operates B-47 bomber units and KC-135 air refueling planes which are like Boeing 707 passenger planes, Boston said. The base also operates Atlas "E" and "F" missile squadrons, which are equipped with atom warheads.
"EQUALLY AS hard hit by the Defense Department's move will be Salina schools. Because the city is an "impacted area," deluged with military children who would not be in Salina except for the base, the schools have received a great deal of help from the government. There is even a separate school on the base, run by Salina. This aspect of the problem is a serious one." Boston said.
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
Dan Austin, Salina freshman, believes the city is "in a panic." Since Salina's whole economy is dependent on the base, he said, the real estate and construction businesses will suffer drastically.
62nd Year, No.46
Schilling Shutdown Will Cripple Salina Economy
Friday, Nov. 20, 1964
By Corinne Newberry
"BUT AS I UNDERSTAND it." Austin said, "the city has already gotten the ball rolling to acquire some other military installation right
The city of Salina may receive harsh and long-range effects from the Defense Department's order to close down Schilling Air Force base there by June 30, 1965. KU students and an instructor from Salina said.
The city's schools, employment and population, the Salina residents feel will suffer severe set-backs from Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara's order to close 95 bases and military installations in 33 states for economic reasons.
Larry Boston, former Sunday editor of the Salina Journal and present assistant director of University Relations at KU and a journalism instructor here, said, "Even more important than the unemployment problem this will present in Salina is the tremendous number of military people living in the city. Schilling has created a payroll there of several million dollars, and there is simply no industry to replace the loss of the base," he said.
away to alleviate the situation. I believe the President has already been contacted, and the city should get some kind of answer soon. It's a drastic situation, and before it's over, a lot more than 357 (number of employees at Schilling) will be out of work." Austin said.
The Defense Department estimates that the closing of Schilling may show a savings of $9.5 million. The twelve Atlas missiles to be de-missioned by April alone show an estimated savings of over $6 million.
John Young, second year law student from Salina, thinks the only solution to the future problems of the city might be several small manufacturing or industrial concerns, since "large manufacturing firms aren't too stable in this part of the country."
"I would guess that nearly half of Salina's population depends on Schilling, and we can expect to lose thousands in the next few years unless something is done. Somehow, I cannot imagine anything in Salina to equal the base," Young said.
OTHER MILITARY installations affected by McNamara's order will include Forbes Air Force Base in Topeka, where only the missile units will be removed, the Brooklyn, N.Y., Navy Yard, the Portsmouth, N.H., Naval Shipyard, and Hunter Air Force Base at Savannah, Ga.
Shilling Air Force Base at Salina was constructed in World War II to train B-17 bomber crews, and was then called Smoky Hill. At the end of World War II, it was closed.
"In 1949 however," instructor Boston said, "a news commentator in the east named Fulton Lewis Jr., discovered the Defense Department didn't even know Schilling was on its roster. He created a stir about it, and the base was reopened for training during the Korean War."
"Salina will pull through somehow, though. She has met this big a loss before, anyway. There was a huge Army infantry base there during World War II which, of course, closed down with the war's end. The city met that crisis all right, and will do the same now." Boston concluded.
Football Team Has Send-Off at Rally
Despite sharp, biting winds, approximately 2,000 students gathered in front of Strong Hall to send the KU football team off to Columbia, Mo., amidst cheers and shouting.
Starting the wave of enthusiasm the band struck up with "I'm a Jay, Jay, Jay, Jay, Jayhawk", joined in by the cheerleaders and students.
The cheerleaders led students in more cheers and shouting to encourage the football team which was seated in buses for the game Saturday.
COACH JACK Mitchell climbed upon a wooden platform among shivering students to deliver his last words before leaving for Columbia.
"Since this is our last game—or should I say our last scheduled
game—we'll need everything we can get," he said.
"This is our chance for the conference title he said and I know that it means a lot to you students. This is the year I have seen the most enthusiasm in seven years. We'll give you everything we can," said Mitchell.
BEFORE THE STUDENTS were quieted, the cheerleaders hauled a black and yellow paper tiger onto the platform and proceeded to throw it onto the ground. Cheerleaders jumped onto the Mizzou tiger, ripping it apart, in hopes of a MU defeat.
The bus with the football players drove off as the students and cheerleaders sang the alma mater.
Afterwards, students quickly dispersed in search of warmer places.
Nov. 22-Campus Was Silent
By Leta Cathcart
Assistant Managing Editor
It was raining that Friday and it was a depressing kind of rain, cold and pelting. Some say it was sunny in the morning, but nobody seems to remember really. For this was the afternoon that the President of the United States was murdered in Dallas.
The Union, always a little crowded on Friday afternoons, was packed with silent, unmoving students clustered around the television sets. The Hawk's Nest, usually noisy with the blare of the juke box, was unnaturally quiet. The radio commentator's voice was the only sound.
The Campanile toiled the death knell for the President and the students walked down the street, silent, dazed, unopened umbrellas in their hands. They bumped into the knots of people on the sidewalk and stopped, listening to transistor radios.
THE USUAL STUDENT-faculty barrier was disintegrated in the face of the tragedy. A common bond of sorrow united strangers who stopped to talk, trying to reassure themselves that it wasn't
The information booth broadcast information about the assassination as it came in from the United Press International wire services. People clustered around the Daily Kansan window, reading the bulletins that were taped there.
really true, that it couldn't happen in the United States.
As the news filtered over the campus, classes were cancelled. A professor walked into his class and quoted briefly from the inauguration address of Thomas Jefferson. He started to say something else, but his voice broke. He choked, "It is treason to kill the President of the United States." He hurried from the classroom.
Weather
The students' TGIF ritual lost
The weather bureau predicts cloudy skies and a few snow flurries today and tonight. Temperatures are expected to drop to 15 degrees. Northerly winds blowing 20 to 30 miles per hour will diminish tonight. Saturday should be fair and cold.
its appeal that day. The Old Mission Inn, usually crowded with laughing, drinking students, was deserted and quiet. "A lot of kids came running in when they first heard it. I just turned up the TV as loud as I could and let them listen. No one said a word," the waitress said. The story was the same all over Lawrence.
THERE WAS NO ESCAPE from the tragedy that weekend. The television sets showed nothing but films of John Kennedy's life, as a private citizen and as President. Students were drawn to the sets and the radios, as if driven by a compulsion to make themselves believe it.
Then, before the campus had time to recover from the assassination Lee Harvey Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby and another act of savagery was added to the already senseless tragedy.
The churches were crowded Sunday morning as students listened to priests and ministers pay tribute to the young, dead President.
THE UNIVERSITY PAID its
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