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Summer Session Kansan
Friday, July 3, 1964
A Teacher, First and Always
In the tragic death of Arvid Shulenberger last week the University lost one of its most memorable teachers.
It is presumptuous at a time like this to say that so-and-so is "what he would have wanted," but one can be reasonably sure that this is the way he would have chosen to be remembered: as a teacher who made a uniquely deep impression on the hundreds and thousands of students who sat in his classes since he came to KU in 1951.
THOUGH HIS OWN list of publications—in fiction, in verse, in criticism and critical theory, in literary history—was extensive, he consistently expressed the view that the best, the most meaningful scholarship took the form of the spoken rather than the written word, was expressed in dialogue rather than in print.
To him the class and the conference were supremely important.
Certainly he lived up to his own standards. His courses in American literature, creative writing, literary criticism, and Shakespeare were always filled to overflowing, and he was constantly sought out by graduate students who wanted him to supervise their research and direct the writing of their theses and dissertations.
A man like Arvid Shulenberger, who enriched so many young lives, will not soon or easily be forgotten.
TO ALL THESE STUDENTS he gave of himself unsparingly: his time, his energy, his ideas, his wit. A genuinely learned man, he never let his knowledge degenerate into stuffiness or pedantry. He was rare in his ability to inspire admiration and affection in those whom he taught.
— George Worth
Chairman, Department of English
Reston Compares Kennedy, Johnson Sees Texan as Characteristic American
By David Schultz News Workshop, New York University
The room was uncluttered as Washington newspaper offices go. At one end there was a green metal desk. That was cluttered. Behind it sat the dean of political columnists, James Reston. News workhoppers sat at a table, and against a wall.
Wearing a tweed sport coat, a blue oxford shirt with button-down collar and a black-and-gold diagonally striped tie, he spoke softly, slowly, as thought he were searching for the right words.
He was comparing our last two Presidents. "Johnson is the first man to come to the White House whom the press corps really knew well. Because he was a majority leader, we saw him almost every day."
BITING ON THE END of an already well-chewed pipe stem, he stopped his comparison to search for tobacco. He found it, filled his pipe and lit it. He then continued.
PAUSING FOR a moment, he gazed over the top of his horn-rimmed glasses perched half-way down his nose. He reflected for a moment.
"Kennedy was not at all a typical American. He was an Atlantic man. His was the America of Boston, Washington, New York and Palm Beach. It wasn't trans-Appalachian America at all."
"Johnson is a characteristic American; optimistic, gregarious, a hard-working guy who loves physical activity. He works too hard, is a little too rough, maybe a little coarse. I think he's a remarkable human being myself.
"Johnson loves to talk to reporters for hours. He has no outside interests other than his job. Johnson is a political animal.
"Kennedy was a much more private person. He had no outside interests."
"Johnson has always been paranoidic about the press. If you're with him 90 per cent of the time . . . oh, that other 10 per cent."
IN HIS COLUMNS he had written of the working methods of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. In a column on July 26, 1962, shortly after the medicare bill had failed in Congress, Mr. Reston wrote that President Kennedy "asked for everything he wanted all at once, sometimes with the result that he overwhelmed certain committees with work they could not hope to get through in a single session of Congress."
On January 26, 1964, Mr. Reston wrote:
"President Johnson is playing the political game with a skill and persistence that has not been seen since the days of Roosevelt.
"THIS IS NOT a part-time operation. The President works at it 18 hours a day. If there is a key committee member whose vote is required on the tax or civil rights bills, it will be surprising if he is not asked to come upstairs in the President's house to talk. Social occasions are working sessions, directly or indirectly."
Having considered the men, and their methods of working. Mr.
Reston turned to the press conference method of each.
enforce the method.
He told the Workshoppoppers, "I didn't like the Kennedy system; it was a brilliant theatrical performance. A press conference of this size is extremely difficult. There is no intimacy. It is like trying to make love in Carnegie Hall."
He turned onto the relationship of the President with the press.
"I DON'T BELIEVE in intimacy of the press with the Presidents. His (the President's) duty is to be clear as to his relationship with the reporters. Television destroyed the intimacy of the press conference. Nothing could be said off the record."
One wall of the office was covered with a map of the world. Another wall had a reproduction of a political cartoon from a Washington newspaper. Mr. Reston, sounding more like a university professor than a journalist, took a look at our last two first ladies.
"THE DIFFERENCE between Jackie and Lady Bird is the difference between Bonwit Teller and New York Hospital. Mrs. Kennedy is interested in the arts. Lady Bird's principal interest is in the humanities. One is interested in pictures, the other in people."
Capsulizing Lady Bird, as he had done with LBJ, Mr. Reston said, "She'll be nearer in action to Eleanor Roosevelt than she is to Jackie, even though she looks more like Jackie."
Once again, puffing on his pipe,
Mr. Reston made a final observation
on the Kennedys to the Work-
shoppers in his office. "They had an
appeal for the young that Johnson
will never have. To your generation,
JFK was a man of the 20th
century, Johnson a man of the
19th."
IN HIS JAN. 26 column, he had revealed another side of Lady Bird. "Mrs. Johnson works at this (playing politics) as hard as the President. Senator's wives who have seldom been upstairs at the White House are there constantly now."
On the Republican Presidential nominee, he said, "They've got to nominate someone; why not Lodge?"
CHANGING TO the Democrats, he observed, "On the basis of everything we know and guess, Lyndon Johnson is going to win the Presidency." He then considered vice-presidential hopefuls. "Humphrey may be punished by his ability, Bobby Kennedy ran the campaign against Johnson in 1960. He cut up Johnson."
He made a more revealing statement in his Jan. 26 column: "The President's approach to the vicepresidential nomination on the Democratic ticket has troubled many of his supporters. He approaches this the way Roosevelt did in 1944 by indicating that the race is wide open. More than most Presidents he is in a position to choose his running mate on the sole ground of who would make the best President, rather than who would help win the election.
"ALL THE INDICATIONS at this point are that Mr. Johnson is well ahead in the race, but men around him are talking about running
mates who will help him get the sentimental Kennedy vote or the Catholic vote, or the labor vote.
"This was probably inevitable in an administration so politically oriented, but in view of the President's own heart attack, there is a very strong feeling here that on this one question at least, the interest of the country should be put ahead of everything else."
The Workshoppers in his office asked about one of the biggest topics of conversation last year stemming from the remark of Undersecretary of Defense Arthur Sylvester that "news is a weapon in the arsenal of the government." Most reporters in Washington agreed that the Sylvester statement had been taken out of context, that in times of national crises, news management is permissible.
"ALL GOVERNMENTS manage the news," Mr. Reston said. "All women manage the news. The whole country's cosmetic industry is based on that. Why should we tell the Russians if the country's in a critical position?"
In a column of May 10, 1961, shortly after the Bay of Pigs invasion, Mr. Reston had criticized the press for a "publish and be damned" attitude. His column cited the false information that was fed to the press from the CIA, regarding the details surrounding the invasion attempt.
"The best proof of the value of the Fulbright speech was the reaction to it. I think this argument about Cuba is false. It's surprising how much press coverage it got. It implies how rigid we've been in our thinking. The important point in his speech is that he said let's look at the world the way it is instead of the way we'd like it to be."
Shaking his grazing head, the hair just short enough not to be too long, he broke into one of his not infrequent pauses and smiled. One of the Workshoppers offered:
IN HIS OFFICE, he tapped his pipe and turned his remarks to the "mysts" speech of Sen. William Fulbright.
"Thank you, Mr. Reston."
Summer Session
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BOOK REVIEWS
THAT SUMMER IN PARIS, by Morley Callaghan (Dell, 60 cents).
The lost generation is still with us. Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast" is taking up much space on book pages these days, and here we have a book of reminiscence by a lesser literary figure who knew Hemingway, among others.
The summer with which Callaghan is concerned is 1929, just before the crash, when there were still many lovely illusions. Callaghan was in Paris, with people like Hemingway and Fitzgerald, and we are treated to the Left Bank, the cafes, the bright young people making themselves immortal.
Hemingway and Fitzgerald are the big names in this book, but Callaghan also gives us glimpses of Joyce, Sinclair Lewis, Sherwood Anderson, Ford Madox Ford and Maxwell Perkins. The book should have great appeal to enthusiasts of either the twenties or the literary figures of that time.
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IS SEX NECESSARY?, by James Thurber and E. B. White (Dell, 50 cents).
This delightful book goes back to the twenties, when Freud was enrapturing most of our literary greats. And those two warm and delightful gentlemen who have given us so many perceptive and entertaining books and essays took off after the sex craze in a comic work.
Mothers and fathers who are shocked by their children reading this book should not be. There's nothing shocking in it. It is broad and engaging satire. And Thurber's illustrations give it even more flavor.
FROM APE TO ANGEL, by H. R. Hays (Capricorn, $2.65).
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This is a book about anthropologists, which the author subtitles "An Informal History of Social Anthropology." This means that it can prove as delightful to the layman as it is informative for the expert. The style is entertaining and on the light side, and there is a great store of material.
Hays attempts to show the world of custom and the development of thought concerning ethnology. He includes many illustrations, to make an excellent paperback purchase.
Those anthropologists who are considered include Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, of the American frontier; Lewis Henry Morgan, the celebrated pioneer; the students of Darwin; Sir James Frazer; Franz Boas; Bronislaw Malinowski; Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict and Ashley Montagu.
* * *
THE ANCIENT GODS, by E. O. James (Capricorn, $2.25).
Here is a survey of the religions of the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean. The scope is wide, as James ranges from Italy to the Indus Valley in area and the Paleolithic era to the rise of Christianity in time.
The work is scholarly rather than popular in nature, but should appeal to non-students as well as students of religion. There are numerous illustrations, and the approach should be of interest to anthropologists.
* * *
THE AGE OF MAGNIFICENCE: MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF LOUIS XIV, by the Duc de Saint-Simon (Capricorn, $1.85).
All is arranged in topical sequence. Portraits of Louis XIV and the chief people of the court are provided, along with views of Saint-Simon himself and scenes of Versailles and other palaces.
Sanche de Gramont selected, edited and translated this document which gives us a view of the splendor of the court of the Sun King. The original work was a weighty one, but from it the editor has gleaned representative selections.
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A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE AND ITALY, by Laurence Sterne (Capricorn, $1.25).
Slight, light and short is this celebrated classic of the 18th century by the author of "Tristram Shandy." Sterne wrote the book in reply to Smollett's description of a similar journey, and it is in the delightful mood of 18th century writing.
delightful mood of Irish country. It is in the tradition of other adventures of the time, whether by real-life Sterne or Smollett or fictional Tom Jones or Joseph Andrews.
*****
INCREDIBLE ERA: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WARREN GAMALIEL HARDING, by Samuel Hopkins Adams (Capricorn, $1.85).
It took a popular novelist-short story writer to present one of the most thoughtful and entertaining books of the twenties. The story is shocking, as was the administration of the gay and lovable Harding, the man who couldn't say no. He was eminently unfitted for the presidency, and he became one of the most beloved of presidents, despite his incompetence.
Scandal still reverberates around the memory of Harding, rumors of his birth, rumors of his death, rumors of a mistress, of an illegitimate daughter. And the few short years in the White House—Teapot Dome, the veterans' administration. Adams has written one of the most fascinating and bizarre of American political biographies.
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PHILOSOPHICAL SKETCHES, by Susanne K. Langer (Mentor, 60 cents).
The author of "Philosophy in a New Key," which has been read by many university students in recent years, discusses in this book the relationship between the human mind and feelings. There are nine philosophical sketches, from theoretical considerations to broad speculations. She considers existence, the psychology of the self, the origin of speech, the definition of symbol and art, and the impact of technology upon society and the individual.
technology to make people happier. To Prof. Langer, art is of greatest significance in human development, and she deplores its vulgarization. And art must act upon science if science is to help create a true culture.