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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, March 19, 1968
America needs a Kennedy
The point to note in Sen. Robert Kennedy's decision to run for the presidency of the United States on a Democratic ticket is not whether it is wise or not. It is not even whether he will be nominated or not at the forthcoming convention in Chicago. It is that even though Robert Kennedy is not John Fitzgerald Kennedy, (in as much as he would have us believe he is, and in as much as some of us are inclined to believe,) America needs him now because he is a Kennedy and he is for the taking.
Faced with a domestic and an international crisis, the present administration has not achieved in either area objectives that are in any way near ideal or desirable. Instead, the death toll mounts in Vietnam. To Vietnam too the drain in dollars and resources continues unabated. Vietnam dissent spreads like a festering sore without any end in sight.
Domestically, of course, there is the urban crisis the flames of which everyone is already fanning by predicting the inevitability of its getting worse before it gets any better. The administration has shown neither the determination nor played the kind of dynamic leadership that can bring a sense of security, purpose, confidence, calm and clear direction to the nation.
And there are other problems, of course. Running inflation, the crisis in dollars and gold, the talk of devaluation in the air, and the all important but unpassed tax bill withering its life away in a recalcitrant Congressional committee, are just a few more of the problems.
President Johnson and his Great Society programs are not quick enough in resolving these problems.
Richard Nixon, the most likely Republican alternative is surely not the ideal kind for resolving the nation's ills. And chances are Nixon might just be able to defeat Johnson.
And he will have no trouble defeating Sen. Eugene McCarthy, who, until recently, has had no long standing national exposure and whose one issue candidacy—Vietnam—lacks the broad perspective of an overall national program for renewed reconstruction and reallocation of priorities.
That leaves us with Nelson Rockefeller on the Republican side and Kennedy on the Democratic side. Rocky still lags behind Nixon, and at this stage of the game, there is no telling if he will get ahead of him, at least not if the majority of the party leadership has its say.
But even if he should beat Nixon, and, as some predicted, proceeds to beat Johnson, America's need would still stay unfulfilled simply because Rocky, like all the other non-Kennedy candidates, is not a Kennedy. A Kennedy, however bad he is, is what America needs now to resolve its two most important ills—the urban crisis and the Vietnam war.
These problems will not be resolved in the way they are expected to be resolved, that is, to be cleaned up now for once and for all. They will be resolved gradually through deliberate policy and through the acceptance and encouragement of that policy by the other side involved in each of the issues. This response from the other side is not now forthcoming. A catalyst is needed to set the stage for the evolution of the proper response. In this case, it is in a name, the Kennedy name. And this is the name Robert Kennedy is dangling before America.
And Bobby cannot only beat Nixon where Johnson might not be able to, but in doing so, he will also save the nation its liberal programs which have been given further impetus by the Johnson administration.
The importance of a Kennedy victory therefore lies in the boosting of the chances for peace and the abating of the potential conditions for urban disturbances.
Hanoi will be willing to negotiate with his administration, not only because it is different from Johnson's, but also because it is headed by the internationally respected Kennedy name. The urban crisis is likely to simmer down for similar reasons. People will be more willing to give Bobby a chance to prove himself in deed as he has already done by word.
These should be enough good reasons for opponents of Kennedy to support him instead.
Let's overlook the fact that he is running on his brother's reputation and on the basis of the unexpected results of the New Hampshire primary which were so favorable to peace candidate Eugene McCarthy. Let's remember that a Nixon comeback, the lack of a clear presidential support for the report and recommendations of the urban crisis commission, and what Kennedy himself referred to as "disastrous, devisive policies" especially in regard to Vietnam, are even better reasons for our support of Bobby.
If these are not good enough reasons, the charismatic charm that shrouds the Kennedy name is. And if Bobby Kennedy decides to profit from America because of his name, America should not hesitate to capitulate to him, for the deal is fair.
There is room enough for both America and Bobby Kennedy to profit from the name of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
— Swaebou Conateh
Assistant Editorial Editor
"We ARE showing them the letter, Mr. President . . . But, the
Viet Cong can't read English!"
Paperbacks
In the mail came, of all things, five books about Doctor Dolittle. They are all by Hugh Lofting, all in the Dell Mayflower line, and cost 60 cents each—THE STORY OF DOCTOR DOLITTE, THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTE, DOCTOR DOLITTLE'S CIRCUS, DOCTOR DOLITTLE'S ZOO AND DOCTOR DOLITTLE'S POST OFFICE. We purists who read Dolittle in the Twenties and Thirties will protest that even the publisher has a representation of Rex Harrison on the covers, big as life, for we remember the fat and gentle and quite un-Henry Higgins Dolittle of our childhood. But the books are not changed, and your children or little brothers and sisters will love them. At least they should.
And there is Richard H. Heller's Who's who in TV (Dell, 60 cents). This is for the fall of 1967, and it will be quite dated in a year, but you might enjoy browsing through to see all the intellectual delights in store for you this year, from Bonanza to the new adventures of Vaughn and McCallum.
Editorial essay
Ho seeks world power
By John C. DiPierro Assistant Instructor French and Italian
Dr. Walter Judd, former Republican Congressman from Minnesota informed a KU audience March 5 in a speech on the "World Crisis" that "Ho's goal is world power."
So, this skinny emaciated, old president of North Vietnam has threatened to take over the world with force as a possible alternative.
Let's look at Dr. Judd's thought concerning this Communist threat to world peace and at some of the ways of how Ho's domination of the world might come about.
Two possibilities would be opened to Ho Chi Minh in the event his dream to prove the equal of Alexander the Great remains a dream. One possibility for the old man is to consider recruiting Red Chinese troops. His strategy might then be to invade the U.S. by sea as the most direct way to accomplish his goal.
He would have to arm his men with stolen American machine guns and fit as many of them as he can in outrigger junks and arm the rest with light bombs and have them pilot the few flying machines available for the second phase of his strategy: the invasion of the U.S. by air. Ho Chi Minh would have to depend on the strength and success of his navy, for his poorly equipped air force would be helpless against a far superior American air power.
One other possibility would be opened to Ho Chi Minh. He might accept Russia's help to offer as many migs as needed. However, in order to receive such great assistance the Viet Cong leader might have to relinquish all help from Red China (a Communist foe of Communist Russia) and depend totally on air strength to bring the U.S. to its knees.
Whichever alternative he might choose, Ho Chi Minh's plans to take over the world might be seriously jeopardized. Were he to bring upon himself the wrath of either China or Russia, Ho might lose the few men that he has by means of whom he would execute his age old desire.
As one can see Ho's position is a very delicate one. He has to continue relying on whatever help he gets from both Russia and China and continue playing on their forced generosity or else he might find himself the lone foe of the U.S. Thus the best that Ho can do, if he is to weaken the U.S., is for him to go on fighting as he has been and hope that the rice supply lasts and that his men do not ever tire of it.
If only Ho Chi Minh were to bring the two greatest Communist powers together to serve under him, then his problems might be over and he might just prove himself worthy of the fame of Alexander the Great, after all and conquer the world as the Macedonian did.
No other country would stand in his way, certainly not France or England for both these old allies have deviated somewhat from the American cause. If an international Communist conspiracy were a reality instead of a myth conjured up by the present administration, and if the Communist were within reach of the U.S., then our country would really have something to worry about.
In the final analysis, it looks as if the U.S. has the advantage in Vietnam—at least at the present. If the Pentagon hopes to pressure those uncompromising Viet Cong to hurry to the negotiation table, it must seriously consider a return to the World War II tactics used to bring Japan to an unconditional surrender (then France can make another movie entitled "Hanoi, mon amour,"). Should the Pentagon decide not to risk such an all-out war then our country would have to face patiently and heroically a limited and long-drawn out war and hope that legislation would be passed at home to postpone higher education and to declare the pill illegal in the interest of national security.
If and when our troops come home, winners or losers, will the people of the United States welcome them home and provide jobs for more than one half a million of them? Will our government make available to a number of these men the supply of dope used by them in Asia, probably as a stimulant for battle? Will our government solve the inflation problem? Will we battle as bravely at home for domestic causes: poverty, crime, civil rights, etc? Will the United States convert successfully from its present war economy to a peace economy or will we consider waging a bloodier and holier crusade in some South American banana republic?
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY kansan
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