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University Daily Kansan
Thursday, Oct. 8, 1964
A Losing Campaign
Last November, when former President Kennedy was assassinated, during all the uproar and chaos this tragedy caused, one thought implanted itself in this editor's mind. It was that at least such an incident would open the minds of the American people to the fact that the President of the United States is not infallible.
The President is a human being, although he may serve the people as a father image or as a knight in white shining armor.
He is just like you and me, although he carries bigger responsibilities than we do.
If an assassination can serve any purpose at all, I felt that at least a clear look at reality from all Americans would be accomplished. At the very least, I hoped the American populace would realize that the President is an able administrator, a leader, a persuader and should be the most responsible, qualified person for the job that he fills.
After looking at the results of the 1964 Presidential campaign so far, I sadly realize that such a belief was wrong and that such ideals stray from realism back into idealism where they are formed.
The presidential campaign of 1964 has lost all the excitement, mystery and challenge that was prevalent in the campaign of 1960.
Issues have been shoved aside and personalities are now the dominating factor in the speeches given by the candidates and in the releases and statements handed out to the press.
It seems as though what Goldwater and Johnson think about our foreign policy situation is no longer important in the minds of the voters who will elect our leader for the next four years.
What does seem important is the personal life of both candidates and how each got where he is today.
It suddenly has become very important how
much Miller and Humphrey are worth, as well as their pack leaders. And while both candidates' senatorial activities have been scrutinized very carefully, Goldwater's record especially is being used as propaganda against him. Johnson's accumulation of wealth is receiving too much attention, and in this editor's opinion the whole mess is traveling too fast along the wrong track.
Somewhere along the line since Nov. 22,1963, a change in attitude has taken place.
President Kennedy was definitely a dominating personality. His appearance on national television apparently won more votes than anything else. Yet personalities should not dominate such an important campaign.
It was my opinion that we had advanced forward, only a little, true, but forward from the days of the political machine as it was used before and during the turn of the new century.
It is not uncommon to hear the phrases, "Johnson's nothing but a crook," and "Goldwater can't be trusted, he always contradicts himself."
This campaign reminds me of nothing more than a local campaign in the South, where the important issue may be what are the candidates like and "Will I be able to get along with him?"
We don't have to associate with our President. All I ask for is a man who will fulfill the responsibilities of that high office.
My only fear is that somewhere in the mixup of personality strengths, the wrong personality image will be projected and the right man, if there is such a man right now, will be defeated.
A tragic event that should have opened minds has closed many. It is only for us to see where this road is taking us and when our goal such as it is is obtainable, to make sure that the right man is elected and that the right goals are achieved.
Jim Langford
Corruption in Government
Editor's Note: This article is one
one of many that appeared in the
1964 Presidential election.
"We have a new saying in Washington . . it goes like this. The butcher, the baker and the stereo-taker." These words were applauded wildly by 6,000 Kansans early one morning recently at a breakfast in Wichita for presidential hopeful Barry Goldwater. The speaker, of course, was the Republican senator from Arizona.
In an election such as we are experiencing now, the average voter has, for the first time in 20 years, a clear-cut choice between the two presidential candidates. Not since our own Kansas candidate of 1936 has the American public been offered two more contrasting candidates as this election offers.
Yet do they make speeches on their difference in views concerning foreign aid, care to the aged or the racial problem.
Of course not. They prefer to call one another insinuating but not libelous names — names which cause them to issue replies including more attacks to continue their mud war.
The latest allegation by the conservative side dates back some 19 years. At least we are thankful that the Republican team brought in part of an issue—that of civil rights. Records, presented by William Miller, vice-presidential running mate to Goldwater, indicate the President and his wife sold seven lots to the mayor of Austin on the outskirts of that town under an agreement that no part of the properties would be sold, rented or used by persons of African descent.
Miller added that no such restriction existed on the land when the Johnsons first acquired it, indicating an apparent contrast to Johnson's stated stand on civil rights.
Daili'17änsan
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NEWS DEPARTMENT
But now a new problem arises. The FCC, renowned for its sparkling decisions in a clutch, has recently ruled that all broadcast media have to give the Republicans equal time if they carry a presidential press conference over the air. Network awareness of this no doubt will interfere with regular news coverage until the election unless a matter of national importance appears.
Roy Miller ... Managing Editor
Don Black, Leta Cathcart, Bob Jones, Greg Swartz, Assistant Managing Editors; Linda Ellis, Feature-Society Editor; Russ Corbitt, Sports Editor;
Steve Williams, Photo Editor.
Jim Langford and Rick Mabbutt ... Co-Editorial Editors
BUSINESS DEPARTMENT
And then we may have trouble convincing those wary of the "fairness doctrine" and "Section 315" that they should let the public know we're going to bomb someone instead of worrying about having to give the Republicans equal time to say "I told you so."
John Pammney Business Manager
John Pepper, Advertising Manager; Dick Flood, National Advertising
Manager; John Subler, Classified Advertising Manager; Tom Fisher,
Promotion Manager; Nancy Holland, Circulation Manager; Gary Grazda,
Merchandising Manager.
With no television debates,no press conferences and no apparent up-coming interviews,the candidates seem content to give the public God-fearing names to hear or read about in the evening news. And they may escape facing the reality of our present environment in the world if their attitudes and those of the news media do not change.
Instead of Bobby B., the ADA, bribes and warmongers, why not foreign aid, social security, medical care to the aged and human rights? So far, I have yet to discover if Goldwater and Johnson are still different. Barry was when he wrote his books just as Lyndon was when we elected him, but both have altered their views with the advancement of the election date. Some have said it is a choice between the lesser of two evils. They forget that at least we, the voters, still have that choice.
Van L. Moe
“O.K. —— Let's Renegotiate”
BOOK REVIEWS
Unless you're completely oblivious to that great story developing in the United States right now, you couldn't go wrong on this beautiful issue of the American Heritage. And, though it has been on newsstands and out to subscribers for some time now, the issue is still available, and it's worth your money. The reason: the entire issue is devoted to the American presidency, from the striking cover showing both the American and presidential flags right back to a collection of observations on the presidency made by presidents themselves.
AMERICAN HERITAGE (August 1964, $3.95).
The editors have taken their usual half-scholarly half-popular approach to provide a book that should have broad appeal. There's an article on campaigning, with two pages of gadgets and gimmicks, and there's another on some of the women who have become known as First Lady. But there also are articles by D. W. Brogan, that delightful British observer; Richard Rovere, the New Yorker's man in Washington, and Bruce Catton, senior editor of American Heritage and a famous historian himself.
D. W. BROGAN'S PIECE gives us an interesting insight into the presidency—this Briton views the presidency as a monarchy. A monarchy in the sense, that is, that the president performs functions of the monarch, lives in perhaps the most revered of public buildings and gets, when it comes down to it, the kind of reverence paid to many monarchs in the world today.
And Bernard Weisberger has contributed a good article on campaigns; another writer has told us about the vice-presidents, and another has retold the story of the assassination of Garfield by Charles Guiteau.-CMP
Catton takes several important decisions of presidents—Thomas Jefferson's decision to go beyond his own concept of the Constitution and the office he occupied to authorize the purchase of Louisiana; Andrew Jackson's decision to tell South Carolina that its nullification doctrine could not be tolerated and that the federal government would take action if necessary; Lincoln's decision to draft the Emancipation Proclamation, which helped to change the whole meaning of why the Civil War was being fought; Theodore Roosevelt's decision to proceed against the Northern Securities Co. for violation of the Sherman Act; Harry Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Rovere writes a quiet article called "The Loneliest Place in the World," in which he considers the mystery of the presidency. He quotes the late President Kennedy, who said that the office "is mysterious because the essence of ultimate decision remains impenetrable to the observer—often, indeed, to the decider himself."
MUCH OF THIS ISSUE of Heritage is lighter in tone. There is a bright and perceptive portfolio on the military gentlemen who have been in the White House; another portfolio of historic photographs of the White House and its grounds and its occupants and visitors; and a group of unauthorized ads in which the presidents were used to promote such items as shaving soap, rye whiskey, biscuits, dandruff removers, cameo cigarettes and men's wear.
****
THE NONSENSE BOOKS OF EDWARD LEAR (Signet Classics, 75 cents).
Edward Lear was the son of a stockbroker, who went broke when the boy was 13 (the family had 21 children!) Lear lived a life of financial insecurity and had continuing ill health, but he was a draftsman, painter, and great literary comedian. His nonsense tales have been known for more than a century, and here they are in a volume that adults and children alike will appreciate. Mainly there are the famous limericks, but there also are nonsense songs about botany and the alphabet.