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August 09, 1961 - Image 2

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Michigan Daily, 1961-08-09

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I

"Right With You. Amigo"

f ySeventy-First Year
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Where Opinions Are Free UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
STUDENT PUBLICATIONS B, DG.* ANN ARBOR, MICH. * Phone NO 2-3241
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of stqf writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1961 NIGHT EDITOR: JUDITH OPPENHEIM

INTERPRETING THE NEWS:
Delay Counter-offensive
OnBerlin Crisis
By J. M. ROBERTS
Associated Press News Analyst
THE UNITED STATES is delaying a political counteroffensive to
which the Soviet Union has laid itself wide open in Europe.
Just what the counteroffensive amounts to has not yet been re-
vealed and perhaps it has not yet taken concrete form.
The major effort at the moment, as clearly indicated by Secretary
of State Dean Rusk's tactics in Paris, is to make the not-one-step-
backward policy of the Kennedy administration the accepted policy
of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with emphasis on military
posture.
This is not to be accomplished by waving a wand, one reason being
the expense, and another being the vociferous conviction in many

Civil Defense Plans
Should. Be Taken Seriously

THE PRESIDENT'S CIVIL DEFENSE PLAN
has been gaining favor in Washington, and
may well become law - either as the fore-
runner of more extensive measures, or just
by itself.
But because of the seriousness of the topic,
civil defense ought to be given more careful
consideration than it is now getting.
The present proposed plan would call for
inspections to determine what public buildings
could best be used as mass shelters. These
buildings could then be labelled and would
figure in local civil defense planning.
BUT EVERYONE ADMITS that the effects
of this particular labelling operation would
be insignificant in the vast scope of the civil
defense problem.
In order to provide "adequate" shelters for
most people, billions would have to be spent
each year for many years. Even then, serious
doubts have been raised over actual resulting
protection.
For instance, even if everyone in New York
built a back-yard shelter, the way Gov. Rock-
efeller wanted them to last year, the blast
would kill a majority outright since New York
is a key area. And even those outside "danger
areas" would be roasted in the shelters, be-
cause superheated air would enter the ventila-
tors.
IF REALISTIC ANALYSIS has convinced the
government that Russia cannot be won over
for peace, and that war is certain, then a
program to develop effective shelters should
start and be given emergency priority. It is
no secret that up til now civil defense has
been ludicrously neglected.
Likewise, efforts for peace should be made
seriously, with a real will to see them suc-
cessful:
The trouble with United States policy right
now is that neither policy is being followed.
Disarmament is notoriously unpopular even
-among those who negotiate with Russia. And
the possibility of war seems to slow up, rather
than speed up, peace talks.
At the same time, although military build-up
continues all the time, civil defense planning
isn't being taken seriously, because the pos-
sibility of peace slows up civil defense the
same way the chance of war slows up the dis-
armament talks.

WHAT HAPPENS is that in the present state
of affairs President Kennedy's defense
plan looks quite suspicious. It is much more
likely that his plan was designed to show the
Russians he "meant business" on Berlin than
that he thinks the plan will actually save
many lives in the bitter eventuality of nuclear
war.
But not only the Rusians are influenced by
the "tough" policy - the American public is
too. And if the public is being reconciled to
war, when the President intends no such thing,
added pressure from that public will heighten
the war fever Kennedy opposes.
Anyway, the Russians are much more likely
than the American public to accept the gesture
for what it is. And if the United States really
doesn't expect a war, what's the sense of having
Americans get ready for one?.
One of the most objectionable parts of the
New York shelter campaign was that it was
frankly designed to do more for the con-
struction business than for public welfare. The
present Kennedy pln is almost "pure" in this
respect. But later action may not be - it
would be tragic if a shelter building campaign
was put underway because of lobbying by pri-
vate interests. The resulting increase in the
public's readiness to go to war might do a lot
to hurt the chances of any United States
government's chances to negotiate peace.
MANY SCIENTISTS have even doubted if
any conceivable shelter program would
work - and all planners write off everyone
living in major cities as sure casualties. But,
if war is likely to be forced on this country, the
government has a clear obligation to tell the
truth about the need for shelters and act to
meet the need.
Peace talks, on the other hand, should also
be pursued seriously and not carried on with-
out intention of finding:an agreement - which
is the state of affairs now.
In any event, nothing is more dangerous
than launching a civil defense campaign de-
signed not to provide defense, but only to build
up war fever. As it stands now, this scare
psychology is all that will come of Kennedy's
proposal. If this wasn't his intent, he ought
to suggest new - and massive - defense
plan that would have more than propaganda
value.
-PETER STEINBERGER

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COSMONAUT FLIGHT:

U.S. Trails Russia in Space

Officers Should Stick to Guns

SEN. STROM THURMOND of South Carolina
now wants an investigation into the pos-
sibility of using military officers to help alert
Americans about the dangers of Communism
and the Cold War.
All this grew out of a memo Sen. J. William
Fulbright of Arkansas sent to Defense Secre-
tary Robert S. McNamara objecting to the
sponsorship of forums by military officers
featuring speakers of the radical right. Sen.
Thurmond feels that "in the Defense Depart-
ment among military personnel lies the real
bastion of knowledge and understanding of the
Communist threat, an understanding and
knowledge long since lacking in the White
House."
Thurmond's statement raises at least several
questions. First, what qualifies United States
military officers as experts on the Communist
menace? Certainly, they would most likely
know more about military questions dealing
with the Soviets, but there is no reason to as-
sume that they necessarily have any knowledge
at all about the ideological, political and eco-
nomic aspects of the cold war.
Officers graduating from the military aca-
demies have degrees in engineering, not in
international relations or political science or
philosophy or economics. It is bewildering to
try to understand how Sen. Thurmond con-
cludes that these men have extraordinary
knowledge of a problem beyond their field of
specialty. We might better draw upon the
State Department if there is a need for expert
opinions on the non-military aspects of Com-
munism.
OF COURSE members of the armed services
have the right of any American to express
ideas on the subject. But of necessity, these
should be regarded as the opinions of an in-
dividual rather than being automatically con-
sidered knowledgeable.
* But Sen. Fulbright has a further objection
to the political role of the military with which
Sen. Thurmond fails to grapple. Military of-
ficers have been sponsoring meetings featuring
speakers of the radical right who have railed
against not only Communism but have equated
internal social legislation with socialism which
they in turn equate with Communism.
V ERY BLUNTLY, it is not the function of the
army or the navy or the air force or the
marines or the coast guard to serve as politi-
cal indoctrination centers. Officers do have

to them to receive political training but to
defend our nation.
The consequences of allowing the military to
become a political as well as defense organiza-
tion would be disastrous. The military must
remain under the control of civilians whether
or not military leaders agree with them. If.
we were to allow such indoctrination to con-
tinue uncurbed it would open the way for
military interference into civilian political af-
fairs as has happened in France as well as a.
number of other countries.
OFFICERS should speak freely to the public
on the matters about which they are quali-
fied to comment: military affairs. And if what
they say is politically embarrasing or com-
plimentary, it should not matter so long as a
political, rather than a military, effect is not
their objective.
For, like many people in a position of power,
there is a temptation to comment on matters
about which they know or understand little.
And the military must remain a branch of the
government rather than attempting to become
a political force which dominates it.
-DAVID MARCUS
ABC Democrac-
ABC Tyranny
CASTRO'S MINISTRY of foreign affairs is
announcing triumphantly the results the
new order has had on Cuban education.
When the Revolution took power, 50 per
cent of the school-age children were without
schools. Many adults, also, were illiterate.
Now all this is changing. Cuban propaganda
claims 10,000 new schools built within 20
months and 500,000 volunteer teachers at work
to end illiteracy. .
Of course, the textbooks teach Revolutionary
loyalty as well as the ABC's, and the volun-
teer teachers are given special training in
ideology.
THE UNITED STATES watched for decades
while Cuban education was neglected in
favor of an efficient army.
No one would say that this country wanted
to keep Cuban education stifled. But is was
willing to stand by while this was happening.
Now, it can only stand by and watch a sys-

By HANSON W. BALDWIN
New York Times News Analyst
THE NEWEST Soviet space
achievement poses some ugly
military implications for the fu-
ture.
Civilian opinion in the Defense
Department tended to depreciate
t h e s e implications yesterday.
However, the military viewpoint
was that the Soviet triumph ap-
peared to have both short-term
and long-term importance. The"
short-term results of the twenty-
five hour orbit of Vostok II will
effect the Berlin crisis. In fact,
the flight was probably timed for
this purpose.
Moscow, Washington observers
have noted, has always demon-
strated a keen awareness of the
political and psychological impor-
tance of spectacular s p a c e
achievements. Such an awareness,
they say, has long been lacking in
Washington.
* * *
THE TENDENCY in large parts
of the world to equate the num-
erous Soviet "firsts" in their space
spectaculars with primacy in
military, technical and scientific
power has been pronounced.
The Soviet achievements have
undoubtedly influenced people and
thereby influenced diplomacy.
They have helped to imbue the
Russians, from Premier Khrush-
chev on down, with a cocky self-
confidence that could, in mo-
ments of crisis, be a dangerous
factor.
Arthur H. Dean, the chief Unit-
ed States negotiator at the Geneva
nuclear test-ban conference, noted
even prior to the latest Soviet
space shot, the "terrific lift" that
Maj. Yuri A. Gagarin's single or-
bit on April 12 gave to the Soviet
negotiators.
* * x
THIS FEELING of superiority,
he noted, made them regard the
signing of a nuclear test-ban trea-
ty at this time as unimportant.
This same feeling of superiority
is now likely to be reinforced and
translated, in the negotiations
about Berlin, into somewhat
greater Soviet intransigeance, in
the opinion of many in Washing-
ton. But plainly Moscow is likely
to feel, more and more, as its
space "firsts" accumulate, that it
is negotiating from a position of
strength.
The long-term implications of
Maj. Gherman S. Titov's achieve-
ments are many.
As far as man in single orbit
is concerned, it demonstrates
what was already clear. That is,
the Russians are at least eight
months ahead of us, and we shall
propably not be able to match Ti-
tov's twenty-five hour orbit for
eighteen months or two years.
We lag, too, in the power of our
booster rockets. How much is any-
one's guess, but it will certainly
be many months before we can
equal or exceed the present So-
viet capability.
* * *
THIS DOES NOT MEAN that

But not until President Kennedy
decided to try to beat the Rus-
sians to the moon has Washing-
ton had a full awareness of the
political, psychological and mili-
tary implications of great space
achievements. It is now United
States policy to attempt to land
men on the moon in this decade,
if possible by 1967 or 1968.
* * *
CONGRESS has taken the first
steps in providing the funds for
this gigantic project. But Titov's
flight makes it clearer than ever
that we start the race for the
moon with a great handicap.
Unless there is a far greater
sense of urgency and much bet-
ter .organization than there has
been in the past, it is held, we
shall be second on the moon, as
we shall be second in orbit.
There are, in the opinion of
many military men and of others
in Washington, two major ob-
stacles-now that policy has been
established and the moon project
funded-to the successful develop-
ment of our space program.
ONE, a consequence of the early
division of space tasks in the Ei-
senhower administration between
civilian and military, is the dicho-
tomy that still exists in our space
efforts.
Some of the military uses of
space are now acknowledged. A
reconnaissance satellite in proto-
type form is now circling the
earth. Weather, communications,
navigational and early-warning
satellites are all under develop-
ment.
There will inevitably be military
uses for man in space, yet so. far
as man in space is a monopoly of
the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration. A frank
recognition of the unknown po-

tentialities of military man in
space and a speed-up of the Dyna-
soar project for orbiting a winged
vehicle are essential, it is consid-.
ered.
The recent experience of Capt.
Virgil I. Grissom in his sub-orbi-
tal flight on July 21, and other
incidents have increased the
doubtsnmanyhhave felt about the
organizational effectiveness, sense
of urgency and capabilities of
NASA.
There was no flotation gear on
the capsule used by Captain Gris-
som, even though he landed in the
sea. There was no automatic clos-
ure mechanism to the opening in
his space suit, which flooded with,
water when the astronaut forgot
to close it manually. There were
no pontoons or boat hulls on the
recovery helicopters.
* * *
DETAILED PROBLEMS such as
these and thousands of others
even more important must be
solved quickly if the United States
is to send a man to the moon
and if he is to get there safely
and get there first.
If we are second once again,
Soviet truculence about the poli-
tical issues of 1965-70 is certain.
And more important, we may be
in real and lasting danger of los-
ing the military superiority that
today we still possess.
For the human conquest of
space opens enormous and, at the
moment, unknowable vistas. Mili-
tary applications now undreamed
of will inevitably follow in time
for the first human trail blazers
across the infinite.
Neither the United States nor
any other nation can now chart
these discoveries with exactitude.
But that they may be immense is
possible; that they will be of mili-
tary importance is certain.
Copyright 1961, The New York Times

quarters that negotiation must go
at least hand in hand, if not
ahead, of military containment.
* * s
THIS negotiation - mindedness
even goes to the extent, with some
people, of believing that diplomat-
ic recognition of East Germany
should be paid for Soviet guaran-
tees of the status quo in Berlin.
This the governments are not
about to do, but they cannot com-
pletely ignore the pressure, despite
the fact that the synthetic crisis
over Berlin created by Soviet
Premier Nikita Khrushchev is
within itself clearly relevatory of
the value of Soviet guarantees.
The delay in putting forward
demands of a political nature to
counter the Soviet offensive is not
entirely due to the fact that dip-
lomatic decisions have not been
reached. They could be rushed up
a little. But there is a tendency
throughout the Atlantic commu-
nity not to rock the German poli-
tical boat with a national election
coming up next month.
* * *
CHANCELLOR Konrad Ade-
nauer's challenger, Mayor Willy
Brandt of Berlin, is well-liked in
the West, and there will be no
great cause of lamentation if he
wins. But the old man has become
a symbol of Western unity, of
German cooperation with France
-a most important element in the
Western posture-and of West
German ability to withstand the
temptation to pay in vital coin
for reunification.
These considerations, however,
may cause the West to miss a
most opportune time to meet So-
viet demands with demands of
their own that self-determination
as advocated by the Communists
for part of the world's new coun-
tries be made something more
than a political football, and be
applied to the old but subjugated
countries of Eastern Europe as
well. The Kennedy administra-
tion already is putting new em-
phasis on this issue.
* * #
KEEPING it on the back burn-
er until late in the year, at a
conference which might then ap-
pear to the world to have been
forced by the Russians instead of
demanded by the West, may dull
its edge.
There is a difference between
going to a conference mrely to
answer Soviet demahds, and to a
conference at which the Soviets
will also have to answer concrete
and determinedly pressedAllied
demands.
Pride
'THE SUPERIORITY of the So-
cialist economy over capitalist
economy is now not- only being
proved by theoretical arguments.
The material evidence of this is
already distinct. The countries of
the Socialist community are from
year to year demonstrating their
superiority in the rate of eco-
nomic growth, in the development
of scientific and technical thought
in the raising the living standards
of the working people--:
-Nikita S. Khrushchev

PUERTO RICO:
Iooming
Economy
By BEN F. MEYER
Associated Press News Analyst
WASHINGTON - This week,
governors of six Venezuelan
states will go to Puerto Rico - as
hundreds of other Latin Americans
have been doing each year since
1954.
They are trying to determine
whether Puerto Rico provides an
answer to the question which is at
the heart of the Western Hemis-
phere's future:
"Can a poor, underdeveloped
nation grow into a happy, pros-
perous country without resorting
to Communism or to rightist dic-
tatorship?"
The United States is convinced
that it can - and that Puerto
Rico is doing it. That's why the
State Department is encouraging
them to go to Puerto Rico aid
see for themselves.
THE VENEZUELAN governors
have been touring the United
States looking for new ideas in
government, argiculture, industry
and social progress.
Puerto Rico has witnessed not-
able industrial development under
a program propelled by its Gov.
Luis Munoz Marin and called
Operation Bootstrap. With this
development have come better in-
comes for Puerto Rico, a densely
populated area; s better schools,
hospitals, roads; broadened gov-
ernment services to the people;
more efficient government admin-
istration.
For the United States, Puerto
Rico has become something of a
symbol, officials say. -
The things that have happened
in Puerto Rico, United States of-
ficials explain, are precisely the
things that Latin American na-
tions, large and small, have been
clamoring for. It is the reason so
many Latin Americans choose
Puerto Rico, for observation or
training, they add, since what has
occurred there has been done by
a Latin America area, and the
projects are more nearly within the
reach, of the poorer countries of
Latin America.
For its own program of cultural
and educational exchange for all
of Latin America, the State De-
partment spent about $7 million
in the fiscal year ended last June
30, and plans a similar outlay in
the next year. There is no break-
down in figures, officials say, for
the part of State Department or
International Cooperation Admin-
istration funds spent in Puerto
Rico alone. They explain that the
breadth of the program carried
on by Puerto Rico, which has
played host to an estimated 14,000
persons from all underdeveloped
areas of the world since 1954, is
due to Puerto Rico's own contri-
bution.
Gov. Munoz Marin calls Puerto
Rico's effort "our way of repay-
ing a part of the debt we owe to
to the United States for what it
has done for us, and for services
it still provides us."

I

DISAGREEMENT IN UN:
Berlin Tactics Shaken by Tunisia

By WILLIAM N. OATIS
Associated Press News Analyst
UNITED NATIONS, (P)-Diplo-
mats believe the United States
has hurt its chances of getting
United Nations action on Berlin
by alienating many Asian-African
nations through its neutral posi-
tion in the French-Tunisian dis-
pute.
These delegates claim the Unit-
ed States lost much support in
the 46-member Asian-African
group by failing to denounce
France's military action against
Tunisians blockading her Bizerte
naval base.
One African moderate said the
United States would now have a
hard time getting the two-thirds
majority needed for General As-
sembly condemnation of any Com-
munist pressure on West Berlin.
He predicted the United States
would get few if any votes from

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