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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, Sept. 30, 1964
Behind the Berlin Wall
A concrete wall runs through Berlin today. It stretches for 28 miles separating two and a quarter million West Berliners from family, friends, and fellow Berliners.
Yesterday the government of the East Berlin made another "concession" to the West concerning the Wall. According to the new agreement, West Berliners will be able to obtain passes from the East German authorities, to visit relatives in the East sector during certain specified periods.
The West Berliners, however, must conduct these visits in the East sector, on the "other" side of the Wall.
TO THOSE WHO SEE THE WALL with its concrete blocks and barbed wire wrapping, the importance of this "concession" becomes clear. Prior to this agreement, West Berliners could see relatives from the East side only on Sundays, when the Communist guards permit the East Germans to stand a distance from the Wall and wave to those on the other side. Platforms and stands have been constructed on the West side so the people can stand about two feet above the wall and look down into the East side, and hope to catch a glimpse of a relative or friend.
On all other days of the week, East Berliners are not permitted near the Wall, or, if they are in the vicinity, they are not permitted to show any signs of recognition to anyone on the Western side. The penalty for disobedience is death.
I visited Berlin this summer, and was near the Wall on Sunday. Women, mostly elderly, stand on the small wooden platforms and wave handkerchiefs over the wall. Often their faces are streaked with tears.
The men cluster in small groups on the pavement in front of the Wall, and talk quietly, yet sternly, or merely stare at the wall. They wait for the women, who have the privilege of openly displaying emotion.
The new "concession" will make it possible for the people of the two sides to be together, but it will not make the partings easier, nor will it remove the barrier, first physical, now emotional, that separates the Berliners.
THE "CONCESSION" OF THE East German government shows once again their intent in building the Wall in the first place. It is the "physical ideology" erected by the government, "for" the East Berlin people. It is strong, it is rigid, and it is inescapable, just as the political procedures of the Communists are strong, rigid, and inescapable.
The "concession" seems also to show that the East Germans are not afraid of keeping the West out, but of keeping the East in.
But the people will keep meeting. They will meet on the East side, or their gazes will meet over the barbed wire, and as long as they keep meeting, a part of the East will be "getting out"
The concrete wall that runs through Berlin today could grow higher and longer, and be more rigidly patrolled, but it is only physical, and time has a way of proving that the physical are not the lasting things.
— Bobbetta Bartelt
Elections in Review
Editor's note: This is the third article in a series on the history of American Constitution" by Wilbur D. Jones, professor of history at the University of Georgia.
The Republicans had won with Grant, Hayes and Garfield, all of whom had been generals, and had lost when led by Blaine, a founder of their party, so they reverted in 1888 to their former tactic and chose Benjamin Harrison, another Civil War general, and a grandson of William Henry Harrison. Furthermore, he was from Ohio, a pivotal state. Levi P. Morton of Indiana was made his running mate. The Democrats, of course, nominated Cleveland for a second term, and made Allen G. Thurman of Ohio, that rich source of Republican candidates, their vice-presidential selection.
AS IT TURNED OUT Thurman did not carry Ohio, and Indiana, having no vice-presidential nominee on the Democratic ticket, went Republican. Cleveland was too busy to campaign in New York, and, according to one account, certain of the New York party bosses withheld support from Cleveland in exchange for Republican support for a Democratic governor of
that state. Be this as it may, Cleveland lost Indiana and New York, and with them, the election.
The Republicans nominated Harrison again in 1892, but this time they turned to New York for a vice-presidential candidate Whitlaw Reid. The Democrats placed their trust in Cleveland for a third time, and gave him Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois as a running mate. Cleveland this time added New York and Illinois to his Solid South, as well as some other states, and he gave Harrison a good drubbing. Harrison had been a disappointment as president, and a depression fell the year of the election to add to his difficulties.
FOR THE ELECTION of 1896 the Democrats tried a new approach which was to cost them dearly. Instead of seeking a popular New York candidate, the convention (the only one which was ever stamped, according to some observers) committed itself to William Jennings Bryan, the "silver-tongued" orator, whose demand for the free coinage of silver appealed to the debtor classes, but was
strongly opposed by the monied interests. Bryan came from Nebraska; the vice-presidential candidate Arthur Sewell came from Maine. Together the states had 14 electoral votes, and the hope, then, was that the farmers and the working classes in other states would provide enough votes, along with the Solid South, to win the contest. The Republicans chose William McKinley of Ohio and Garret A. Hobart of New Jersey.
Bryan made a spirited fight of it, but McKinley carried all of the large states, and won easily. Democratic strength in this election was drawn from the Solid South and the Far West.
Dailiü 17änsan
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The Republican convention of 1900 naturally nominated McKinley for the second term, and the interest centered upon the selection of the vice-president. T. C. Platt, a New York political boss, had found Theodore Roosevelt, the governor of the state, to be rather uncooperative, and he was anxious to push him out of New York politics. With the aid of M. S. Quay, a Pennsylvania political figure, Platt managed to have Roosevelt nominated for the vice-presidency, despite his lack of enthusiasm for the position. Bryan, a magnetic figure, had built up such a following among the Democrats that they were quite ready to nominate him again. Adlai E. Stevenson, who had served in that capacity under Cleveland, was nominated for vice-president. Bryan ran even more poorly than in 1896, and even lost such states as Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming.
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
NEWS DEPARTMENT
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
Jim Langford and Rick Mabbutt Co-Editorial Editors
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.
In 1904 Roosevelt was nominated by the Republicans without hesitation, and Charles W. Fairbanks was advanced as his running mate. After two defeats under the banner of Bryan, the Democrats tried to make peace with the Eastern business interests, and nominated Alton B. Parker, a New York judge, and Henry G. Davis, the wealthiest man in West Virginia.
:
"And We're Casting YOU Off"
BOOK REVIEWS
THE PROFESSIONAL: LYNDON B. JOHNSON, by William S. White (Crest, 60 cents).
Among campaign biographies this one isn't too bad. It has been greeted largely by catcalls from the press, with the exception of the friendly John Cauley of the Kansas City Star, who likes most politicians and seldom writes an angry word about anyone.
As one thinks back to the terrible days of last November he may realize that a lush and overdone book about President Johnson by William S. White should not be too surprising. White, though saddened by the death of John Kennedy, was cheered that his long-time friend Lyndon B. Johnson would be in the White House. White admires Johnson greatly; this is obvious in this short biography.
White does know Johnson well, better than most columnists know the President. The acquaintance qualifies him for the job; passing years may show us that this flamboyant book may be, after all, a good picture of the man to whom we are almost too close to evaluate well today.
* * *
THE AGE OF PERMANENT REVOLUTION:A TROTSKY ANTHOLOGY. edited by Isaac Deutscher (Dell Laurel, 95 cents).
Now comes another excellent collection to enrich our understanding of the rise of communism. Trotsky was one of the leaders in the Russian Revolution; he broke with Stalin over the question of extension of Marxism, and died at the hands of an assassin in 1940.
Isaac Deutscher has selected excerpts from both speeches and writings of this significant figure. He attempts to show through the writings the man Trotsky, the philosopher, theorist, revolutionary, and writer.
Trotsky discusses the proletariat and the revolution, Lenin and the Bolsheviks, terrorism, the United States, the Far East, the Moscow trials, the future of the Soviet Union, and his vision of the future.
The People Say...
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Editor:
Because the current presidential election reflects such sharply divided partisan views about the two candidates, many of the important issues in the campaign have been largely ignored. Instead the personal attacks on the candidates have greatly overshadowed what should be an important and constructive debate on the major problems confronting the country.
One of the ultimate results of the campaign could be a reorientation of political beliefs along liberal and conservative viewpoints rather than traditional Republican and Democratic party lines. The results of the election in the South and such states as New York and Pennsylvania will indicate whether or not this will occur. Is such a change desirable or would it just merely reflect the current trend of political thought in the United States?
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reporting and trying to influence political beliefs of the electorate. Consequently, there exists in this campaign an urgent need for the mass media to delineate distinctly between objective reporting of the campaign and editorial comment concerning the candidates and the issues. A preponderance of editorial comment toward a candidate should not be reflected in the leading news stories concerning the campaign.
Progress can only be achieved through an objective and thoughtful discussion of the issues; the next five weeks will indicate whether or not an objective debate on the issues can be achieved. Such a debate will be beneficial regardless of who wins. "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right . . ." let the American people conduct this campaign with dignity and fairness.
John R. Toland Iola junior