Sixty,-Ninth Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS STUDENT PUBLICATIONS BLIG. * ANN ARBOR, MICH. * Phone No 2-3241 hen Opinions Are Free Truth Will Prevail" Pos t-Election Nation Turns To Liberals By BARTON HUTHWAITE Daily Staff Writer RUMBLINGS OF A CRUSHING Democratic landslide turned into roars as the final results of the recent congressional elections were finally tallied. Not since the sound trfncing administered by the New Deal in 1932- have the Republicans suffered such a defeat. The liberal tide Observations Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily ex-press the indiiidual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. I )AY. NOVEMBER 16. 1958 NIGHT EDITOR: LANE VANDERSLICE .. V ...............,....... _,., _..,.,.. Liberalism: Definition And Political Application, ACCORDING TO WEBSTER: "LIBERAI-Not bound by authority or orthodox tenets or established forms in politi- Cal or religious philosophy; independent in opinion." More than the definition of a word, this is the definition of a philosophy, a philosophy that has maintained America in strength throughout her history. It is a philosophy of change, the description of a constantly mobile society that is the heart of American life. For American life is based unconsciously on the theory that there must be leeway in all directions. The hardened mold, the costriction of "orthodox tenets" is its mortal enemy, for the fundamental ideal is a fluid system. This must be so, for the hackneyed phrases that ask "opportunity for all" remain the keystone of American society even when overeworked. And the only way all doors can remain open is by constant shuffling of the patterns of society. In America today, those who are "not bound by orthodox tenets" are becoming increasingly hard to find. However, meaning and applica- tion being two different things, the word liberal itself remains, attached to people not entitled to it, purely as a political appellation. E MAJORITY of present-day "liberals" simply do not fall under Webster's defini- tion; indeed, many of them would be horrified by any such suggestion. They would, of course, claim independence of opinion (so would con- 4ervatives, reactionaries and fascists) but few of them would be willing to fully reject ortho- dox tenets. There has come to be a "liberal" pattern of thinking almost as restrictive as any strongly- conservative system. It is, basically, the pat- tern of the New Deal, the advancement of social legislation and civil rights measures beyond their current point. But it does not seem to be going any further than consolidating, stretch- ing and administrating a program that began back in 1932. The Right ALTHOUGH the Right to Work proposal was th e most contentious issue in the election campaign, the voters knew less about it on November 4 than they did in prior months. With the decisive defeat of the proposal in five states, a grave mistake was made. But the electorate must plead innocence. The guilty ones responsible for its failure are the labor unions and the various Right-to-Work commissions. Labor officials acted on the faulty premise that an enactment of a Right to Work proposal would prohibit the continuation of labor unions Jn their present form or even cast the concept of unionism into oblivion. These men ought to know better. They are afraid only of a slightly depressed pocketbook. The rank and file were intimidated to vote against the issue or else be reduced to a state of slave bondage by the op- pressive management. This sort of propaganda is vicious. The actual facts of Right to Work were witheld The voters merely expressed the 1ears of the union leaders at the polls, On the other hand, the promoters of Right to Work instilled false confidence in the public. Their platitudinous exaggerations backfired be- cause of ignorance to come to grips with the essence of their brainchild. Right to Work, if on the state statutes, would not eliminate cor- ruption within the unions; it would not halt the recession; it would not raise union member- ships: Liberals today seem to be thinking along the lines of certain "established forms," the very antithesis of the term "liberal." IT IS, OF COURSE, possible that there is no need for any further revolution in thinking. And then again, perhaps there is. At any rate, there is no way of determining whether a better system exists unless new ideas and new con- cepts are proposed and considered. This must be the function of true liberals, and this is precisely what they are failing to do. This failure is evident in all areas of Ameri- can life. In business, government, labor and education, the brilliance, the flash of fanciful genius have not been forthcoming. The current of world affairs has swept over them but left them unchanged, unable to see that new world conditions require new concepts. Nowhere is the failure more dangerous than in the academic world, for if imaginative think- ing will come from nowhere else, it must come from the American intellectuals. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, in fact, are in the most favorable position to produce such new thinking. It is here, in the oft-de- graded "academic atmosphere," that new ideas have their best ,hance of fruition, simply be- cause the process of pondering and analyzing is most refined at this level. There has been much emphasis on stimulat- ing students to think for themselves. There has been less talk about doing the same for pro- fessors. And yet this, too, is necessary, for academicians also have the lamentable ten- dency to fall into a mental rut. New theories, revolutionary concepts must continue to be advanced, even if they are only to be discarded shortly after. It is certain that no great progress will ever be made, if there are no great progressive ideas to begin them.. -SUSAN HOLTZER To Work ORGANIZED LABOR was highly successful in manipulating the public. The RTW sup- porters weren't. Since both dealt with their own distortions of the facts, it is illogical to conclude that the labor unions were in the right since they emerged victorious. Right to Work is a moral rather than political issue. The political repercussions of such a proposal are manifold, but the considerations of the voters should be based on its ethical merits. A person who expends his efforts at a job to secure the necessities and comforts of life must be allowed to work toward such ends un- hampered by pressures to join organizations. THIS IS NOT TO DENY the benefits unions offer their members, but to affirm the individual's responsibility to himself and his capacities to decide. Conscious acceptance or rejection of what confronts him is an ir- revocable right. Supposedly, free choice pre- vails. If one has reservations about belonging to an organization, must he be cut off from avenues of work? Expenditure of effort by working and group affiliation are independent factors. Only the individual within the province of his own decisions, can reconcile the two. One's right to work should be safeguarded. A Right to Work amendment can guarantee only that. A job is a job, nothing else. -GILBERT WINER inspired by the strong Democratic IN CONGRESS: New Tends Seem Likely By RALPH LANGER Daily Staff Writer NO ONE is actually sure just what "liberal" trends will re- sult from the recent election, but President Dwight D. Eisenhower and observers have some fairly definite ideas. It isn't the first time, rather, the third that the President has been faced with a Democratic Congress but this time he said the people had ". . . obviously voted for people that I would class among the spenders, and that is what I say is going to be the real trouble." The President said a trend toward higher spending is a dangerous thing and promised to "fight it." THE POLICIES that do emerge from the coalition of liberals, how- ever, will meet opposition from the White House. Although the President's first reaction, that he will fight the spenders, was rash, he will be an obstacle to a great many proposals of this group. The new Congress will un- doubtedly have more spats with the President because they won't have to watch themselves, politi- cally, as much as previously. In previous sessions, open conflicts were avoided because of Presi- dent Eisenhower's popularity. Now, with a tremendous vote of con- fidence in their briefcases, the Democratic majority will not be as hesitant to advance more pro- gressive measures The conservatives, recently de- feated by more liberal candidates, often held back and were able to defeat many measures which will probably be pushed through by the new majority. Such things as increased Federal aid to school construction and a raise in the minimum wages look promising. THE FILIBUSTER may find it- self a thing of the past or at least curtailed greatly. Attempts to abolish or curtail this conserva- tive refuge has failed in the past but the exponents of the filibuster now find many of their group on the outside looking in. Help to exceedingly hard - hit areas, economically, will probably be forthcoming and the farm pro- gram could be in for an extended revamping. Congress will also probably attempt to keep a tighter rein on foreign policy, notably that towards Chaing Kai-Shek and foreign aid may be slanted more towards a "development of under- developed nations" than a "friends-buying" type of program. The overwhelming popular vote against right-to-work laws will find support with the new Con- gress. The AFL-CIO has already begun pressuring the new Congress to repeal the section of the Taft- Hartley act allowing state "work laws." machine captured an almost two- thirds majority in both houses of the Congress. Nearly three-fourths .of the state governorships are now also occupied by Democratic Party supporters. The the GOP camp consoled it- self somewhat with the success of a "modern" Republican in the New York gubernatorial race. Nel- son A. Rockefeller turned the Democratic tide upside down with his victory over Gov. Averell Har- riman in the much-publicized "Battle of the Millionaires." Harriman's defeat wiped out any presidential aspirations the ex- governor may have had and fo- cused attention on governor-elect "Rocky" Rockefeller as a possible presidential nominee. Republican Congressman Kenneth B. Keating, pitted against New York District Attorney Frank S. Hogen for the senatorial post, also rode the crest of the state GOP tide to victory. ONLY ARIZONA, almost un- touched by the recession, bucked the strong pull of the Democratic tide in reelecting conservative Re- publican Barry Goldwater to the Senate. The western state gave the Democrats their only loss of a House seat. After a national ap- peal by her irate husband "to come home," Mrs. Coya Knutson was defeated. The GOP suffered their hardest blow in California. A faction-rid- den Republican Party proved dis- astrous to thet16 years of GOP dominance in the state. Attorney General Edmund G. (Pat) Brown crushed conservative Republican Sen. William F. Know- land for governor. Sen. Know- land's defeat boosted governor- elect Brown to a possibility in the Democratic presidential nomina- tion in 1960. Republican Gov. Goodwin J. Knight returned to private life after his defeat at the hands of Rep. Clair Engle. Gov. Knight decided to fade from the political scene after losing the Senate seat he supposedly didn't want. MASSACHUSETTS awarded Democratic Sen. John F. Kennedy a history-making plurality of 869,- 000 in his race for reelection. Ken- nedy's resounding victory bolsters h's hopes for a presidential bid in the 1960 Democratic convention Democratic Gov. Foster Furcolo also won reelection but fell far short of Kennedy's vote plurality. Connecticut's steadily rising un- employment enabled Gov. Abra- ham A. Ribicoff, a Democrat, to eatn the biggest sweep either party has made in the state in 34 years. The mounting tide also aided Democratic Thomas J. Dodd to the senatorial post. In Ohio, the labor force turned out to swamp both the Republican candidates and the proposed "right to work" law. Stephen M. Young won theSenate seat occupied by the conservative Republican Sen. John W. Bricker. It was Sen. Bricker's first defeat since 1936 in a' state-wide election. Democrat Michael V. DiSalle wrested the governorship from Gov. C. William O'Neill with a 458,000-vote plurality. STILL IN FIRST--Despite setbacks to the "traditional" wing of the Republican Party and the stunning victory in New York of "modern" Nelson Rockefeller, Vice-President Richard Nixon firmly retains the strong support of party chairmen and workers. CRUSHED CONSERVATIVES: ight Wing Clipped By CHARLES KOZOLL Daily Staff Writer A ONCE-POWERFUL group of "conservative" Republican legislators has diminished to a fraction of its former size. The bloc's right wing element, soundly defeated in the Congressional election, fell to what seems to be a nation-wide trend to a more lib- eral viewpoint. What remains is a possible co-. alition of the conservative ele- ments in both parties to back the President who has been leaning more and more to the political right. The new force of liberals in the House and Senate could cross' party lines to thwart the Eisen- hower program for the remaining two years. * * * MISSING from the legislative battles over spending, anti-reces- sion tactics and the looming labor question will be some important Republicans. Probably the most vocal was Senator William Know- land of California who reached for the Governor's post in Calif- ornia and found almost nothing in the way of voter support. Knowland, whose right-to-work amendment aroused labor union wrath, was a victim of an all-out- to-oust campaign by the organ- ized labor group. The landslide win has also been attributed to an increasingly powerful Demo- cratic party which thrived on the disunity of California's GOP ele- ment. IN MANY CASES, what hap- pened to Knowland is the story of other Republican defeats. ". .. Re- publican weakness has been evi- dent since the end of 1953," quipped on political observer. Where the GOP has retained its strength, the power has come from local leadership and not the support from the present Admin- istration. Presidential backing might have been termed a liabil- ity with a large population ele- ment disgusted with equivocating stands of GOP in recent years. Democrats capitalized on this fact by slamming the Administra- tion for failing to face issues such as the recession and foreign pol- icy. ". . . Eisenhower failed to strike while the legislating iron was hot and the GOP suffered by his lack of aggressive ability," commented Senator Clifford Case (R-New Jersey). While Democratic incumbents raked GOP failures to accumulate votes, the followers of the Repub- lican old line which has been crumbling since the death of Ohio's S e n a t o r Robert Taft, smarted under constituent criti- cism of "nebulous GOP policy." THE EFFECT of the defeat is realized when the axe fell on Sen- ator John Bricker of Ohio who survived almost 20 years of New Deal administration. Labor rallied behind Democrat Stephen Young when the thorny right-to-work amendment came up. In other areas, Nevada, Wyo- ming, West Virginia and Maine, where the GOP was highly re- garded, the Republican's failure, to ease the problem of unemploy- ment cost the incumbents heavily. Despite Eisenhower's late entry in the campaign to defend his poli- cies, the balance had been weight- ed in favor of the Democrats. A LATE ATTEMPT by the Ad- ministration to attack the "social- istlc Democratic radicals" failed to arouse voters, many of whom were evidently offended by defi- nite partisan tactics by the Pres- ident. The loss almost smashed a rela- tively disunited Republican Party, leaving broken remnants of a con- servative tradition of politics. The job of the "lame-duck" President will be to salvage the remaining conservative elements led by re- elected Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona and forestall the liber- alized intents of a 1960-minded. Democratic party. Nixon Still Far Ahead By MICHAEL KRAFT Daily Editorial Director 3HE STOCK of conservative Re- publicanism went down in the Congressional election and many political observers are saying that Vice-President Richard Nixon's chances for the 1960 GOP Presi- dential nomination is doing the same. Before the Nov. 4 elections, it was duly noted that Nixon had moved "all but openly" to the top leadership of the party and that his efforts were primarily on be- half of the traditional, conserva- tive wing of the party. Voter repudiation' of this wing, despite Nixon's campaigning, pro- vides a dark (for him) contrast to the one Republican bright spot -the stunning victory of Nelson Rockefeller over New York Gov. Averell Harriman. ROCKEFELLER suddenly has emerged as an obstacle to Nixon's walk to the speaker's platform to voice thanks for a nomination that everyone until recently agreed was all but fbrmally his. Already, "Rockefeller for Presi- dent" chants can be heard and national attention will increas- ingly focus on Albany. However, it seems that much of the political strength attributed, almost overnight, to Rockefeller (and correspondingly taken away from Nixon) will melt before the harsh light of political reality. Nixon has afirmgrip on the Republican party organization and the strong confidence of regu- lar party workers which cannot be quickly shaken. True, it is possible that the 1960 GOP convention will repeat the theme of 1952's, when an insur- gent Citizens for Eisenhower movement capped a long series of struggles to wrestle control and votes by nominating Dwight D. Eisenhower over "Mr. Republican" Robert A. Taft. There are also similarities in the way sides might .shape up, with Nixon backed by the regular, "traditional" Old Guard, and Rockefeller backed by the "mod- erns," who see the recent election as a strong sign of national sen- timent. But Nixon is now, and probably will remain, much more deeply entrenched in a position of party leadership than Taft ever was. * 4' * AT THE 1956 convention, about the only newsworthy thing was Stassen's futile effort to unseat Nixon. After talking to numerous delegates, this reporter and oth- ers covering the convention found an enthusiastic, almost complete- ly unqualified support for the W2ce-President. Much of this, of course, may have been an emoonal defense to attacks from Stassen and the Democrats, for many of the atti- tudes towards Nixon, pro, and especially con, seem to be emo- tional in nature. But Nixon, who has a reputa. tion for acting in a calculated and rational manner has built his fences out of other than emotion- al materials. A recent Associated Press poll of GOP state chairmen found Nixon far ahead, Those opposing his nomination face a strong uphill fight. OFFEE ....BLACK 4tI By Richard Taub Vlichigan "Can You Make Out If They Look Real Determined?" f - CAPITAL COMMENTARY Romanics vs. Regulars [HE UNIVERSITY has been making the headlines lately. Gambling, football and od have projected it to the general public a our mass media. Even the status of Sigma appa has made the Detroit newspapers. And yet, these are but small and unrelated 'agments of University life. Somehow the forts of students to increase their knowledge nd understanding about the world-the efforts . faculty members to advance the frontiers of an's knowledge-the truly dramatic stuff oes not sell newspapers. * S s lAYBE, HOWEVER, the newspapers are a little bit more justified than it might seem. or how much of the work done in and for the assroom is carried beyond the buildings round the diag. A high school senior staying a dormitory reported yesterday about the ck of "intellectuality" she had witnessed. f course her visit did take place on a football eek-end and there is little advantage anyway fwearing signs saying "I think" on one's rehead-Yet, we hope that excitement gen- ated by the discovery of new ideas in the asaroom. would find its way hevond them. tunately, this all too often never gets past the academic deans. Certainly, it is a bit shocking to hear our Dean of Women in a public meet- ing after a display of incredibly bad thinking herself, take pot shots at the "ivory tower, aca- demic mind." Perhaps we need more examples of that very type of mind in our administration. : s s THE UNIVERSITY community is a funny kind of place. Students from all over the county, in fact, the world, come here "to go to college," and that will mean different things. Some strive to become the pipe smoking, urbane character so often depicted in the movies; others, finally free from parental restraints, see school as an opportunity, in one form or another, to raise Hell; still others see the University experience as a chance to raise their status, income, or both; and finally, there are some who see college with its hallowed ivy walls as a place in which to learn, explore, mature and develop. The attractive thing about Michigan is that each of them can find here as many compan- ions as he wishes. The University can be molded with some By WILLIAM S. WHITE WASHINGTON-In the Demo- cratic party there are profes sional, or romantic, liberals and there are plain, or working, lib- erals. The romantic Democratic liberals respond to to new and "modern" faces with ecstatic high- mindedness-the newer the face the gladder the ecstasy. The work- ing Democratic liberals have most- ly a common view on issues with their enthusiastic colleagues. The great difference is that the working liberals are, first of all, simply Democrats. To them, the word "liberal" qualifies but does not supplant theoperative word "Democrat." In short, they like their party to win elections. These are what might be called the Har- ry Truman liberals. But the romantic Democratic liberals have aims so much more diffuse - and possibly so much more elevated - as to be difficult to define. They will have none of the crudebonds of party; they wish to soar wild and free above all that is commonplace in poli- tics. These gentlemen-and ladies-- are now considerably worrying the more "regular" liberal Democrats -and sorely worrying all purely organizational Democrats of what- ever hue. For these professional All this Is not welcome news to the 1960 Democratic Presidential nominee, whoever he may turn out to be-and however liberal, for that matter, he may turn out to be. For ostensible Democrats are making very early, and very emo- tional, commitments to Mr. Rocke- feller. And by this they are neces- sarily weakening the prospective Democratic position for 1950. There is, in fact, a strong paral- lel between this "I like Nelson" movement among the romantic liberal Democrats and another movement among the same kind of group in 1948. Then, some of these professional Democratic lib- erals-including a few who were at least supposed to be close to the Truman Administration-began an earnest pursuit of a curious theory. This was that President Truman ought to step aside and more or less force a "new face," Dwight D. Eisenhower, to take over the Presi dential nomination. Mr. Truman, who is not gener- ally thought to be to conservative but has nevertheless never quite hidden his distaste for profes- sional liberals, was of course in- sensitively unwilling to oblige. It was then supposed by the disap- pointed professional liberals that General Eisenhower was the only authentic and fully respnetable A Cod M1' f n L Sj - F sy JW.A lop tu. -