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University Daily Kansan Thursday, Feb. 8, 1962
The deadlock between Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and the Senate Armed Services Committee investigating alleged censorship of military leaders points out a rare, but much needed occurrence in politics.
The Pentagon Censors
McNamara has steadfastly refused to release the names of the censors, stating that the responsibility for any and all acts of censorship is his alone. The Senate committee had requested the names in its investigation of alleged censorship of military leaders.
"It is I, and not they who should be queried," he said.
THE THEORY of executive privilege means the right of the executive branch of government to keep certain of its materials and actions secret. McNamara has said that he has been informed by the Justice Department that executive privilege in his case would be fully warranted. He added at the time that he would be "loathe" to invoke this doctrine of separation of powers.
There is no apparent reason for the committee requesting the names unless it is a power test between the theory of executive privilege and the right of Congress to know. Or perhaps it could be the start of another Congressional witch hunt—checking the deletions of each censor to determine his political leanings.
He said in a news conference that any contempt citations resulting from the withholding of the censor's names should be directed at him and not to subordinates carrying out his orders.
McNamara's refusal to release the names is apparently based on his statement that "a wave of uncertainty and fearfulness sweeps through an organization if its members are not protected
at the top by the leaders who bear full responsibility."
HIS OPPONENTS might conceivably argue that if everything is in order there is no reason to worry about a breakdown in morale of the department.
However, Congressional investigations have a way of getting into petty detail and wild accusation. They can easily break down the morale of any group, regardless of how well it is run.
Others might argue that McNamara wants to keep the individual censors out of the investigations because of something amiss in the censorship policy. If McNamara can keep down the number of people testifying from his department, he can present a much more solid front to the investigating Senate committee.
This could conceivably be the case, but there is certainly no way to ascertain if it is true.
BUT—TAKING the defense secretary at his word—he has maintained a strong and worthwhile position. He could have given the names of the individual censors when the committee asked for them and would have easily avoided the conflict that followed.
He has left himself an out. When asked recently if he would not name the specific censors or invoke executive privilege, he replied that he "should not project into the future" all of the actions he might take. He said that he expected to take up the issue again with the subcommittee chairman.
Nevertheless, as it stands now, McNamara has exhibited a courageous sense of responsibility in an area where it is all too easy to pass the buck. Kael Koch.
Letters Koch Criticized
In his recent editorial, Karl Koch asserted that it is militarily necessary for the United States to resume atmospheric testing of thermo-nuclear weapons. His lack of corroborating evidence is notable, considering that many of the President's closest advisers and others well-versed in the situation feel that the resumption of tests in the atmosphere is not justifiable.
Perhaps it is worthwhile to note that most military and civilian officials agree that the use of bombs larger than twenty to thirty megatons (this size the U.S. already possesses) is militarily unnecessary. The need to match Soviet bombs, megaton to megaton, can be questioned on the grounds that we already have sufficient nuclear and thermo-nuclear bombs, and means to deliver these bombs to effectively destroy the Soviet Union, if not the whole earth.
It is not necessary to develop retaliatory weapons beyond the point at which our power is great enough to destroy the enemy. Neither men nor nations can be killed more than dead.
Bruce E. Wright Lawrence senior
. . .
Movie Reviews in Kansas Editor:
In the Daily Kansas of February 6 Bill Charles reviewed the motion picture "Shocker," concluding that it was "a turkey." New York reviewers reached quite different conclusions about "Town Without Pity."
I wonder if Mr. Charles is aware that three women who pass on every film exhibited in Kansas might be responsible in no small part for his "turkey?" These judges of movie morals, officially known as the Kansas Board of Review, are Mrs. Kitty McMahon of Kansas City, chairman, Mrs. Claris McBride of Shawnee Mission and Mrs. Cecile Ryan of Kansas City.
Perhaps an interview with these protectors of the public interest would not only give Daily Kansan readers an interesting story, but also enliven Mr. Charles aesthetic values as a Kansas movie reviewer. Lawrence, it must be remembered, is not New York City.
James E. Titus assistant professor political science
LITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS by Dick Bibler
On Other Campuses
YELLOW SPRINGS, O. — Responding to President James Dixon's belief that "no mandatory external affiliations because of membership in the Antioch College community should exist," the campus National Student Association executive committee unanimously approved individual free choice in NSA membership recently and agreed 70 per cent of the student body must join for NSA to continue here.
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The nation's first dial-selector and monitoring system for language learning has been put to use in the University of Michigan's Language Laboratory. With the installation of the dial-selector, most of the longer lessons are being cut into shorter segments, according to Erwin M. Hamson, acting director of the Language Laboratory.
In the past, some lessons were 30 to 50 minutes long, making it necessary for the student to wait 25 to 45 minutes before hearing and working on the 5 or 6 minute segment he wished to hear. In addition, Hamson points out, the new system will not only help prevent students from learning faulty habits, but also will improve the speed and quality of language learning.
AMIHERST, Mass.—Two state universities have begun a North-South student exchange program as "an initial attack on the problem of provincialism in elementary education." The University of Massachusetts and Florida State University are the first participants in what the founders hope will be a national effort to promote understanding of sectional problems among teacher trainees.
Two Florida students are now studying in the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts, and five of the latter's undergraduates are at the southern university. Both institutions have waived out-of-state tuition requirements for the exchange students.
LARAMIE, Wyo.-The University of Wyoming's recently-published "Statistical Summary" covering the 1960-61 academic year shows that on the whole married men and women did better grade-wise than their single contemporaries, with a 2.20 grade average compared to 2.58. The difference is so slight it's hardly worth rushing into matrimony to achieve, R. E. McWhinnie, University registrar, points out.
DEMOREST, Ga—Piedmont College has recently completed a self-evaluation, the results being that it has returned basically to a strong liberal arts program, according to a report released here by Dean Ronald E. Weitman. Under the new programs that have been approved by the faculty and the Board of Trustees, Piedmont now offers only two degrees, the A.B. and the B.S. Majors in each degree are specified with only one major having a choice of either degree. All other majors must be taken under the degree specified.
The faculty believes that a college the size of Piedmont would serve society best by thoroughly training its students in a solid, sound liberal arts foundation. With such a foundation further graduate work in all academic fields could be better pursued.
'YOUR ENTRANCE EXAM INDICATES YOU HAVE A HIGH I.Q.-
BOWS IT HAPPEN YOU WANNA BE A TEACHER ??
By Robert D. Tomasek Assistant Professor of Political Science
THE RISE OF THE LATIN AMERICAN LABOR MOVEMENT, by Moisés Poblete Troncoso and Ben C. Burnett, Bookman Associates, Twayne Publishers. $5.00.
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This book is an attempt to describe the development and present strength of labor movements in Latin America. Mr. Troncoso, a Chilean labor specialist, and Mr. Burnett, a political scientist, claim that the book fills a glaring gap on this subject.
The authors and publisher claim too much. The book attempts a history of the labor movement in each of the twenty Latin American countries, but the treatment is very sketchy. Some of the sections are so short that one gets a mere cataloguing of the different unions. Other sections are more analytical but still gloss over a very complex subject.
The other chapter at the end of the book describes labor's great involvement in the politics of each country. Labor has been connected with the Socialist, Communist, Peronista, and a few other type parties for short run immediate economic gains. This has often meant a fast rise in status as under Peron in Argentina, but it has also meant a loss of bargaining power if the dependent party is out of office.
This book could have been improved in certain ways. The end chapter of interesting hypotheses could have been lengthened and put at the beginning of the book. Then the descriptive material on each country could have been directed to illustrate the major hypothesis. The 150 page book would have to be twice as long to carry out this approach. Either the authors did not have the time, the materials, the publishing assurance, or the originality to do this. This is unfortunate because what could have been an excellent book is instead rather mediocre.
TWO CHAPTERS of the book make it worth reading. One at the beginning describes the great amount of labor legislation found in the constitutions, laws and special codes of the Latin American countries governing collective bargaining, working conditions, etc. This legislation is favorable to labor—at least on paper. However, along with this governmental help has come close governmental regulation of union elections, finances, internal structure, and permissible strikes which frequently has been detrimental.
LABOR IS AN emerging power group in Latin America. Its condition is miserable, however, and thus it has used rather desperate means to make use of its growing power. Its approach to collective bargaining is crude. Strikes are held without much thought to the condition of the economy. Any party is acceptable as long as it helps labor. These and other points are brought out by the authors in the end chapter.
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