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University Daily Kansan Thursday, April 16, 1964
Elections and ASC
Vox Populi bowed out Tuesday night, victims of new interest by independents in student government and the general feeling that it was "time for a change."
THE INCREASED INTEREST in the ASC election was evidenced by the large rise in the total vote and by the campaign demonstrations on Daisy Hill.
The new officers are, we feel, qualified and dedicated to furthering student government at KU. Perhaps next year Mickey Mouse won't get 179 votes for President.
Reuben McCormack ended his term as Student Body President with several suggested reforms for ASC members to consider.
First, that major student body officers receive a salary, as editors of student publications do now. Certainly the expenditure of time and personal finances that these officers make deserves compensation.
Fond Farewells
McCORNACK ALSO SUGGESTED that more freshmen and sophomores be involved on the ASC to provide more continuity in student government.
But then, in vague terms and referring to the Newsweek article reprinted in yesterday's Kansan, McCornack asked the ASC to investigate and "do something about" the "morals problem on this campus." Was this inane pronouncement perhaps a substitute for a statement on human rights?
JOHN STUCKEY, retiring ASC chairman, also addressed the Council. He suggested reform in the area of campaign expenditures, financial reports from ASC-supported organizations, and recall procedure, all of which would bring about more efficient and effective government.
Stuckey also made a strong plea for ASC action against discrimination. He emphasized the role of individual ASC members in working for civil rights. "As long as any one of you know of any existing discrimination and are not actively working against it, you yourself are discriminating."
Stuckey's speech was a fitting end to his outstanding term as ASC chairman.
The outcome of this afternoon's preliminary hearings on contested ASC elections could upset the balance on the Council. Now University Party has a majority of two, but two petitions have been filed with the Student Court.
Vox Majority?
THE FIRST is in the Fine Arts contest, in which a tie vote was decided by lot in favor of the UP candidate. Norma Sharp, the defeated Vox candidate, claims that a hand-counted ballot was unfairly declared invalid.
In the special election to fill the Large Women's Halls post, a claim of negligence by the elections commission has been made by the Vox loser, Bev Nicks. Reportedly, many district residents were not given ballots, while several freshman women voted in the election.
Hugh Taylor
Hugh Taylor, University Party's nominee for ASC chairman, seems an excellent choice. Taylor was appointed to the Graduate School seat in February and was elected by a large majority this spring.
A graduate student in political science from Stoke-on-Trent, England, Taylor has a law degree from Exeter. He was a runner-up in the English Debating Championship. British delegate to the Council of Europe Youth Conference in 1962, and president of the university debating society at Exeter.
S400 Under
When the new Student Body President and Vice-President moved into the ASC office last week, surprise, surprise! There was not enough money to buy paper for committee applications. In fact, the outgoing ASC secretary told them that the ASC has a $400 (that's right, four hundred dollar) deficit.
Margaret Hughes
MacArthur: A Great Legend
Douglas MacArthur was one of the great legends of his time.
By Rick Mabbutt
the great legends of his true. Controversy, perpetuated by those who worshipped him and those who hated him, surrounds his name to such an extent as to make an objective judgment about him almost impossible. But something can be understood about MacArthur by answering the questions: "Who was he?" and "What was his impact on America and the world?"
Courage always was cited as being MacArthur's dominating characteristic. The risks that he took, almost to the point of foolishness, were legendary. One observer reported: "Like all courage that isn't stupid, his was a feat of will. A soldier, frankly frightened but faithfully at his side completely exposed during an air-raid at Corregidor, said, 'I felt the General's knees shaking.'"
"In most Oriental countries the man who shows no fear is master," said author-historian John Gunther, *MacArthur was* that man. The courage that made him go unarmed and unprotected during his five years in Tokyo as the leader of the occupation forces, also made a god of him in the eyes of the Japanese and chiefly accounted for his success in ruling the conquered nation.
The general was a brilliant man and a military genius. The greatest general of World War II, in the opinion of many, and perhaps one of the greatest of all time, Mac-Arthur relied on his intuition and bold, daring moves for his military successes.
He was a handsome man with a personal magnetism that inspired almost blind devotion from his staff members. His persuasiveness won him many battles with superior officers and other branches of the Armed Forces.
But there was another side to Douglas MacArthur. Next to courage his most dominating characteristic was ego. Hand in glove with his egotism was his love of theatrics. MacArthur was fancy and colorful and many people hated him for just that reason.
He also was disliked because he was the personification of the military man in a society of civilians that distrusted the military. Aloof, (during the occupation of Japan he consulted no more than 15 Japanese leaders) and sensitive to criticism, he was quick to take credit when things went well, but unwilling to share the blame for failure.
The people loved MacArthur, but not as a politician. In 1944 and 1948 there were loud, but short-lived booms for him as a Presidential candidate. He did not want the nomination in 1944, but he did have political aspirations in 1948. However, his backers were isolationists and other fringe groups. He never won the favor of the influential Republican leaders. He was also hurt by the opposition of organizations made up of ex-GI's.
MacArthur's sense of duty and of his "divine mission," combined with his extreme egotism, made him seek a "larger role in affairs than is normally accorded any generals, thus confirming a distrust of military figures in politics, firmly rooted in the American tradition," says Louis Merton in The Reporter.
This seeking a larger role in things (MacArthur was intensely conscious of history) led him to attempt to make American foreign policy.
Here he met his Waterloo in the person of the President of the United States. Harry S. Truman.
By his public pronouncements, MacArthur was advocating and forming a policy on Korea and China that was different from that proposed by the President and his
On the positive side history will remember him for his island-hopping campaign across the Pacific, his landing at Inchon, and his being largely responsible for the building of a wrecked nation into a thriving power in an incredibly short length of time.
History has shown that some of MacArthur's proposals might have been best. Nevertheless, he was under the command of Truman and was subject to his orders.
How will history treat MacArthur and his tremendous impact on the American people? The public indignation over his firing was greater than the response to F.D.R.'s court-packing plan. Most Americans took it as a personal affront.
MacArthur overstepped his authority and was recalled from Korea for that reason. Truman was right, but perhaps harsh in his method of firing the man who was the virtual political and military ruler of Japan and most of the Far East.
"Was he truly a great man?" At least he performed the extraordinary feat of conquering an enemy, occupying its territory and making the people like it," says Gunther.
On the negative side, history will say that he was a man who let his ego and sense of mission blind him to his proper role in the service of his country.
Douglas MacArthur, the man is gone. Hated bitterly by some, adored almost as a god by many. A brilliant man, but sometimes misguided, who had the best interests of his country in the forefront of his thinking, is gone.
His good outweighed the bad and the history of which he was so conscious will not treat him harshly.
MacArthur, the legend, will live
Fission
Why Senator Smith Won't Be President
Clare Booth Luce, herself a famous politician and writer, reviews a biography of Sen. Margaret Chase Smith in this month's Saturday Review.
The biographer, Frank Graham Jr., contends that women all over the nation should support Senator Smith's bid for the Presidency both because of her political qualifications and her symbolism of women's rights.
MRS. LUCE REPLIES to Graham's contention;
"The answer, I believe, is clear, but paradoxical. Senator Smith can project an admirable personal image but, unfortunately, widowed and childless, she cannot project that "family" image which tradition associates with the aspirant to the White House, and which offers the main appeal to many women voters in national elections.
"The plain fact is that the vast majority of voters want not only a President, but a First Family. Millions of American wives and mothers "identify" with the President's family, even as their husbands "identify" with their chosen leader. The possible vote-getting, or vote-losing capacity of candidates' wives and children is seldom ignored by professional politicians when choosing their candidates at the conventions. In the days before the late President's death, a Democratic politico was heard to observe that Jackie, Caroline, and John-John would pull the Administration through any crisis short of a major depression.
"THE PECULIAR IRONY of Senator Smith's position it that the same unhappy personal circumstances that will in part prevent her from securing the nomination are precisely those which have enabled her to reach her present eminence.
Down to Gehenna
Or up to the Throne,
Who travels alone
"Traveling alone, Margaret Chase Smith has been able to go faster, and higher, in professional politics than almost any other woman in our history. And for all women who are also alone, and consequently unencumbered by a conflict of family loyalties, she is an exemplar. There are many such women."
"But to her far more numerous sisters who have given up early the hope or desire of a career for the values of family life, she is also an inspiration. For what her long and distinguished career has proven is that there is no inherent inferiority in women that prevents them from competing successfully with men in a "man's world." There is simply a price to be paid—living alone and liking it.
IT IS UNFAIR, perhaps, that men need not pay the same price for success, or service to the nation, but short of a revolution in the relations between the sexes, this is the way it is. Nevertheless, there are high compensations for able women who are willing to pay the price for having a career. Certainly not the least of the many compensations that Senator Smith has enjoyed is the esteem in which the Lady from Maine is held throughout the Union."
Dailij Hansan
111 Flint Hall
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