Daily Hansan
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
59th Year, No. 88
Thursday, Feb. 22, 1962
Myers Defends Role Of House Committee
The man who criticized KU's World Crisis Day was the focal point of many questions after the showing of the film "Operation Correction" last night in Fraser Theater.
Nine of the 16 questions asked during the question-answer portion of the program were directed to Kenneth Myers, chairman of the Americanism Committee, Patrick Henry American Legion Post No. 174. He made a statement last December opposing the appearance of Alexander Fomin, counsel to the Soviet embassy in Washington.
THE AMERICAN Civil Liberties Union made "Operation Correction" to counter "Operation Abolition," a film used by the House Un-American Activities Committee to explain student riots against the Committee during its hearings in San Francisco, May 12-14, 1960.
Mr. Myers was one of four pane members who discussed the film and the HUAC. The other three were John Grumm, associate professor of political science; Charles Landesman, assistant professor of philosophy; and C. W. Tankersley Jr., a Lawrence citizen.
Klaus Pringsheim, instructor of political science, asked Myers, "Do you think the people who brought Fomin and Schlesinger here are Communists?"
Mr. Myers answered that he did not think the KU World Crisis Day program was organized by Communists.
MR. MYERS WAS asked if he thought World Crisis Day helped to progress Communism. He said the Communists present the good side of Communism, and the "result is paralysis through confusion."
He reminded the audience that Americans in Russia do not have the privilege of presenting the American side.
Prof. Landesman was asked if he thought a person had the right to harbor any belief, even if it presents a danger to the United States.
He replied that harboring such ideas is all right, but the right to express them depends on the "clear and present danger" to the United States. He said, "I would like to have a stricter definition of 'clear and present danger.'" He said he is generally in favor of the right to express almost any idea.
Myers said Prof. Landesman's position is like waiting to exterminate termites until the house foundation crumbles away.
PROF. LANDESMAN replied "But the termites in question happen to be human beings."
Asked if he felt the HUAC has the right to investigate the beliefs of American citizens, Myers said, "Your beliefs are like the spring-board of all human actions" and when these beliefs become translated into action for foreign control of the country, they should be investigated.
Duane C. Nichols, assistant instructor of English, asked Myers to give his Americanism Committee's definition of the rights of free speech, inquiry and association.
***
Questions Continue After Panel Ends
Immediately after the close of the program in Fraser Theater last night, dozens of people from the audience hurried onto the stage to engage the four panel members in an informal chin-to-chin, discussion.
Students and faculty members swarmed around Kenneth Myers and questioned him on many topics for 45 minutes.
SMALLER GROUPS hovered about the other panel members, throwing out many subjects which were vehemently discussed from various angles.
Meanwhile, at the front of the theater, a group of people craned to hear the lucid comment of John Ise, professor emeritus of economics. Throughout the theater, groups gathered to discuss the events of the evening.
"Are you a member of the John Birch Society," one person asked Mr. Myers.
"I AM A MEMBER of the John Birch Society," was the answer. The discussion with the somber Mr. Myers then drifted to communism in the United States.
Asked if he felt the communist movement in this country was most effective at the level of the working man, Mr. Myers replied:
"MOST OF THE communist recruiting in this country is done among the intellectuals."
"Like at Harvard?" came a quick retort. (Harvard is Mr. Myers' alma mater.)
"Harvard? You bet your life. Harvard is the biggest Red school in the country," Mr. Myers answered without hesitation.
MR. MYERS was requested to give his definition of a communist. "I think a communist is someone who consciently believes in the systems organized by Russia and who works toward that goal," he replied.
Mr. Myers, hoping to make a quick exit after the conclusion of the formal discussion, was hemmed in by listeners and questioners.
HIS BLUE and gold American Legion cap could be seen in the middle of a milling group of people. He maneuvered toward the wings but the determined questioners forced him to retreat.
(Continued on page 12)
Mr. Myers said, "There isn't any Constitutional bar against Communists, fascists," and other subversive groups. He said they do have the right to speak but should not be allowed to use tax-supported facilities free of charge.
MR. MYERS WAS asked to comment on the Meisenbach case. (Robert J. Meisenbach was the only one of 63 students arrested in the San Francisco demonstrations who was charged and tried. Meisenbach was charged with jumping over a barricade, beating a policeman with the policeman's night stick. He was acquitted following a three-hour court session.)
Mr. Myers said, "Not everyone who is acquitted is not guilty."
Prof. Grumm replied, "But in this nation we assume a person is innocent until proven guilty."
Mr. Myers was asked to verify the political position of Archie Brown. (Archie Brown was subpoenaed to testify at the San Francisco HUAC hearings.)
Mr. Myers said, "Archie Brown, of course, is a Communist"; he is 'second in command of the Communist Party in California.
Prof. Landesman commented that Brown's affiliations were not disputed, but he had nothing to do with the San Francisco demonstrations.
Prof. Grumm said the films (both Operation Abolition and Correction) gave no evidence that students were rioting prior to the police fire-hose attack. Of 63 students arrested, only one was detained and charged.
PROF. GRUMM said "Operation Abolition" was based on two assertions:
- Police had to intervene when students, rioted.
- The student demonstrations were Communist inspired.
Prof. Grumm suggested that the students needed no Communist inspiration to demonstrate against the HUAC because they were already aroused by the committee's treatment of 110 California teachers. The committee subpoenaed the teachers and their names leaked out to the press. The committee postponed the teachers' hearings several times and finally did not call them at all.
PROF. GRUMM noted that police had arrested student demonstrators and not known Communists. He said, "Actually I think that the committee and the Communists need each other. That's how they get headlines."
Mr. Myers said, "I am here to fight the reds." He said that he wanted to look into "the motivations of the film and the issues behind the issues."
He said, "The abolition of the House Un-American Activities Committee is an open, declared and announced objective of the Communist party U.S.A."
He said the reason that the subpoenaed individuals did not want to be investigated is that they were hiding something. He continued that "no subversive group wants to be investigated.
"If these people have nothing to hide," he asked, "Why don't they testify?"
testify. "They (HUAC) are charged to investigate subversion of the constitutional republic and of freedom." he said. They not only fight against Communism, he continued, but
(Continued on page 12)
KENNETH MYERS makes a point in last night's discussion of "Operation Correction."
Pacific railway executives said there were at least 100 casualties, including four Americans, who were injured. The cadets were from the training ship Golden Bear which docked in the Pacific coast port of Buenaventura Feb. 19.
CALI, Colombia — ( UPI ) — A passenger train with 87 California Maritime Academy trainees aboard collided head-on today with a diesel locomotive 30 miles from Cali.
Over 100 Injured In Train Collision
RAIWAY INSPECTOR Jose Israel Ruiz said 10 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage of three cars which left the track and turned over after the early morning collision. An estimated 100 persons were in the three wrecked coaches.
Nikita Answers On Arms Summit
WASHINGTON — (UPI) — The Soviet Union today delivered a reply from Nikita Khrushchev to President Kennedy's Feb. 14 letter in which the U.S. chief executive rejected the Soviet Premier's proposal for a March summit conference in Geneva.
There was no immediate word on the nature of the Soviet reply. Officials said the Soviet note was being translated and would be sent to the White House before Kennedy left this afternoon for Florida to greet astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr.
THE SUMMIT EXCHANGE began Feb. 7 when Kennedy and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan proposed to Khrushchev that the Big Three foreign ministers meet in Geneva prior to the scheduled March 14 opening of the 18-nation disarmament conference.
Their idea was that the Soviet, British and American foreign ministers might be able to make some progress toward cracking the nuclear test deadlock and other East-West issues.
Two of the Americans reported injured in early official information were in critical condition. The four men were transferred by helicopter to the nearest hospital facilities at Buenaventura.
The injured Americans were at breakfast in the dining car when the collision occurred. The group occupied a rear car of the train. The railway said the accident happened at 7:29 a.m. There was no immediate official information available as to the cause of the head-on crash. The locomotive was coming from the opposite direction on a different track, en route to Dagua.
All available first aid equipment in Cali and Buenaventura was rushed to the scene of the crash, 30 miles from Cali and 20 miles from Buenaventura.
A SPOKESMAN for Pacific Railways said the passenger train collided with the locomotive head-on when one or the other was derailed.
The American group was the second from the ship to be granted shore leave in Cali. A similar group of 87 persons returned to Buenaventura from Cali only yesterday after two days in the mountain city.
The commanding officer of the Golden Bear, Capt. Carl Bowman, was in Cali awaiting the arrival of today's contingent when news of the crash came.
Weather
The forecast for northeast Kansas is considerable cloudiness today with occasional snow likely in the extreme northeast. Rain or snow is possible tonight and not so cold temperatures. Blowing snow and turning colder is expected tomorrow. Lows tonight and highs tomorrow will be around 30.