't
'PAGE IORm
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
'10UIBSi)AI, APRtl;IL Z, 1'05
d
Quiz Show
With No
Answers
RECENT events in the McCarthy-Army
controversy have done little more than
confirm the popularity of television quiz
programs.
The analogy, however, can easily be car-
ried too far. For the Senate Investigations
Subcommittee's show is unique, differing
in several respects from the ordinary quiz
show.
On the usual half-hour program, a ques-
tion is asked and an answer given, where-
upon a smiling emcee either hands out a
check or expresses his sorrow. For he has
an advantage; he knows the correct an-
swer.
How does he know? He has recourse to
an infinite number of references to sup-
port his stand, which no one disputes
anyway. But in the McCarthy-Army hear-
ings, two answers are allowed. Being con-
tradictory, only one can be correct. Which
one it is that is correct is the problem to
be solved by the hearings.
Here arises a question that will not be
asked on television. Can the committee de-
cide which is the correct answer? The ques-
tions are questions of fact, for which only
one answer is correct. And the correct an-
swer lies in behind-the-scenes events in the
struggle for political power in the nation's
capitol.
Hence the answers will be determined
by considerations of political power. They
will be correct only, if making them so
serves a definite political purpose.
Back to the problem of the committee in
solving the riddle; the answers lie in con-
versations that were carried on in such a
way that implications were more influential
and meaningful than the words themselves.
This is nothing new in politics. To disen-
tangle the meaning of any statment is hard
enough. The committee must also determine
whether a contestant in the feud did or did
not say what he is accused of saying. The
only evidence is sworn testimony.
There were no impartial witnesses. Every-
one who knows anything about what actual-
ly happened also will be affected by the out-
come of the hearings. His testimony, either
consciously or unconsciously, necessarily
would be tinted by this fact. The result is
a conglomeration of conflicting, sworn ac-
cusations and testimony.
Emergence of the truth depends on the
testimony of those involved. The testi-
mony depends on the interests of those
giving it. There is no handy reference
shelf to determine who is right. It looks
like a monstrous waste of valuable tele-
vision time. Even if the committee reaches
a decision, it will be disputed no less than
each side now disputes the other.
The whole affair leaves the owner of it
television set with a bad taste in his mouth.
-Jim Dygert
ICURRENT MOVIES
At the Michigan.. ..
SAADIA with Rita Gam and other scenic
wonders.
SAADIA IS really a wonderful movie-par-
ticularly if you share this reviewer's
morbid love of bad movies. It has every-
thing; hordes of howling Berber tribesmen,
the Moroccan camel corps, Rita Gam, and
the funniest death scenes. Every face in the
theatre was wreathed in Charles Addams-
type smiles as it seemed that Cornell Wilde
was expiring with a bullet in his head.
The movie also had a splendid Moroccan
witch who could conjure up a most ele-
gant and talented devil who could "give
her more pleasure than any mortal man."
The story does not interfere in the slight-
est with the Technicolor. It concerns a
French doctor who is attempting to bring
enlightenment and DDT to the superstition-
ridden hills of Morocco. The doctor, Mel
Merrar, is assisted in this enterprise by
Cornell Wilde, who plays the European-edu-
cated chieftain of the area.
Ferrar piques the pride of the local witch
by curing Saadia (Rita Gam) of her appen-
dicitis and carrying her off from squalor to
work in his shiny hospital. To get her re-
venge, the witch, apparently with the aid
of her elegant devil, calls down a plague on
the city.
Ferrar is a match for her. He flies serum
in from France. Unfortunately, the plane
crashes andathe serum falls into the hands
of some unruly and unshaven tribesmen
who plan to hold it for ransom.
However this gives Saadia a chance to
repay the doctor for his timely appendec-
tomy so she rides out, kills the chief of the
tribesmen and brings the serum back with
the bad guys in hot pursuit. The city is
saved and Ferrar wins another round from
the witch.
Then the story goes along and goes along
and finally Saadia, the doctor, the chief-
tain, and his bodyguards are out riding
one day when suddenly the bad guys re-
appear and corner them in a cave. They
are still made at Saadia. They attack.
Then, ;just as the unshaven tribesmen are
beating down the last of the defenses; just
as Cornell Wilde gets a bullet in the head;
just as all hope is gone . . . But there, it
wouldn't do to give it away.
TODAY AND TOMORROW:
Nasser and the Revolution
Man On The Effel Tower
Xette/4 TO THE EDITOR
The Daily welcomes communications from its readers on matters of
general interest, and will publish all letters which are signed by the writer
and in good taste. Letters exceeding 300 words in length, defamatory or
libelous letters, and letters which for any reason are not in good taste will
be condensed, edited or withheld from publication at the discretion of the
editors.
A FEW days ago I came across the transla-
tion of three articles written for the
Egyptian weekly, "Akher Sa'a" by the chief
organizer of the Egyptian revolution, Col.
Gamal Abdul Nasser. He wrote them last
summer for publication on the first anni-
versary of the uprising by the Revolutionary
Council of Army Officers which occurred
July 23, 1952. They forced King Farouk to
abdicate three days later and in June of last
year they abolished the monarchy. They are
the ruling power in Egypt.
What Col. Nasser had to say about the
Egyptian revolution seems to me excep-
tionally interesting and significant for an
understanding of the epochal situation in
Asia and Africa-of which at the present
time Indo-China is the focal point of dan-
ger and of our anxiety.
* * *
After telling the story of his long revolu-
tionary apprenticeship going back twenty
years to the time when he was a student in
Cairo, Col. Nasser explained why he, an
army office who has "believed in the ideal
of military service all my life," came to be-
lieve that it was "given to the army rather
than to some other force to bring about
the revolution." He then goes on to tell us
that having made the revolution of July 23,
1952, he was surprised and dismayed by what
followed.
"I had imagined that the whole nation
was ready and prepared, waiting for nothing
but a vanguard to lead the charge against
the battlements, whereupon it would fall in
behind in serried ranks ready for the sacred.
advance toward the great objective ... The
facts became clear to me after the twenty-
third of July. The vanguard performed its
task and charged the battlements of tyran-'
ny. It threw out Farouk and then paused,
waiting for the serried ranks to come up
in their sacred advance towards the great
objective. How long it had to wait! Thus,
crowds came, there was no end to them.
But how far the reality from the dream!
Thedmasses that came were disunited and
divided groups of stragglers. The sacred ad-
vance towards the great objective was
stalled, and there emerged a prospect dark
and foreboding, full of danger . .
"We were not ready for this. So we set
about seeking the views of leaders of opinion
and the experience of those who were ex-
perienced. It was misfortune that we were
not able to obtain very much. Every man we
questioned had nothing to recommend ex-
cept to kill someone else. Every idea we
listened to was nothing but an attack on
some other idea. If we had gone along with
everything we heard, we would have killed
off all the people and torn down every
idea; and there would have been nothing left
for us but to sit down among the corpses
and ruins, bewailing our evil fortune and
cursing our wretched fate!"
Col. Nasser then says that this experi-
ence produced in him a distressing per-
sonal crisis. Reflecting on it, the real
meaning of the events raging about him
was brought to a "distillation" in his
mind and this eased the burden within
him.
This was the insight he reached: "We
are going through two revolutions, not
merely one. Every people on earth goes
through two revolutions, a political revolu-
tion by which it wrests the right to govern
itself from the hand of tyranny or from
the army stationed upon its soil against its
will; and a social revolution involving the
conflict of the classes and which settles
down when justice is secured to the in-
habitants of the united nation.
"Peoples preceding us on the path of
human progress have passed through two
revolutions, but they have not had to face
both at once; their revolutions were in fact
a century apart in time. But as for us, the
terrible experience through which our people
is going is that we are having both revolu-
tions at once . . . The political revolution,
to be successful, must attain the objective
of uniting all the elements of the nation,
binding them together solidly, and instilling
the idea of self-abnegation for the sake of1
the country as a whole. But the social revo-
lution, from the moment of its first appear-
ance, shakes values and loosens principles,
and sets the citizenry as individuals and as
classes to fighting each other. It gives free
reign to corruption, doubt, hatred, and ego-
tism.
"We are caught between the millstones of
two revolutions we are fated now to be going
through."
There is in this moving passage-re-
membering who Col. Nasser is-a deep
claim on the understanding of the West-
ern peoples. The formula of the two revo-
lutions is, granting that it is a simplifica-
tion, manifestly true not only of Egypt,
but indeed of many other countries in that
great semi-circle from, let us say Korea,
to North Africa. Why, we must ask our-
selves, do these countries have to pass
through at the same time these two revo-
lutions, the one for independence and self-
government and the other for what we
may call, in the terms of our Western
history, the dismantling of the feudal or-
der? Why do they first not learn to gov-
ern themselves and then later on under-
take their social reforms?
Col. Nasser does not answer that question
explicitly. But the answer is, I think im-
plied in what he wrote. In Egypt, and in
many-though not in all-the countries
emerging from imperial domination, the
native feudal magnates and their retainers
have been protected by and have been the
beneficiaries of the foreign ruling power.
National independence means the with-
drawal of power and authority of the for-
eign rulers, and this in effect destroys the
power and authority of the native magnates.
They are much too deeply involved with the
foreign rulers, they have become much too
habituated to depend upon them, to become
the effective rulers of the new nation. The
grievances of the masses and their own im-
potence engender Col. Nasser's second, that
is to say the social, revolution.
* * *
The Western world, and to speak con-
cretely, the great maritime powers of the
Atlantic Community, are in the process of
an epoch-making readjustment of their re-
lations to all the people of Asia and of
Africa who, until this generation, were de-
pendent upon them. The crucial issue is
whether, and the crucial problem is how, the
power which they one exercised and can
no longer exercise, is to be transferred to the
people. How to do this without their com-
ing under the new domination of the Com-
munist powers, how to prevent this without
a war which could be the ruin of civiliza-
tion?
It is in this context that we need to
examine the failures of the Western
world in dealing with this epochal change:
-notably in China-and to examine also
the successes of the Western world, not-
ably in India and in Pakistan and in the
Philippines, presumptively in Burma and
in Indonesia.
* , *
The predicament of the West in Indo-
China come from the weakness and the
incapacity of the Viet Namese to whom we
should like to see the French authority
transferred. Bao Dai fits precisely Col.
Nasser's formula of the two revolutions:
Bao Dai has virtually no chance of sur-
viving the withdrawal of the French author-
ity and power, being himself the creature
and the beneficiary of it.
'Until there is some reasonably promis-
ing solution for this problem-namely the
appearance of native leaders who are com-
petent to govern and are not hostile to
the West-the best that can be done is to
make sure that enough of the critical
powers of the area are held firmly, choos-
ing the places where the West is surely
able with its own power to hold on.
, ., '.j .'
D ' '
I ,
- 'r
I.,, .
..
l Il/
ie g w, ,n-
ON THlE
WASHINGTON
MEIUIY-GO-ROUNDI
WITH DREW PEARSON
Editorial Cynicism .. .
To the Editor:
HE recent "editorial" by Shel-
don and Reader on the Deke's
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" Michigras
float is as infuriating a piece of
snide, unhumane, self-indulgent
cynicism as I can recall.
If these two oh-so-coolly-de-
tached commentators do not un-
derstand what the Uncle Tom ster-
eotype means to Negroes-if their
desire for editorial cuteness leaves
no room for compassion and un-
derstanding-they apparently re-
quire instruction in some funda-
mental decencies.
Negro Americans have had a
long struggle to be recognized as
full-fledged human beings, and to
shake off the images of slavery,
ignorance, slothfulness and irre-
sponsibility imposed on them by
white men. "Uncle Tom" is the es-
sence of this miserable heritage
to parade it on a carnival day for
the entertainment of spectators is
to turn the agony of a race into an
object of humor.
I am not a Negro. But as a Jew
I know how I would feel if a
Michigras flqat brearing a gross
caricature of Shylock were to pass
before me. Could Sheldon and
Reader see no justification for my
reaction?
Several years ago on this cam-
pus, I fought hard to show a film
"The Birth of a Nation," a vicious-
ly anti-Negro, racist story of the
Reconstruction. I did so-very re-
luctantly-because this film ha
been banned from the campus and
I felt that students had the un
qualified right to see, read and
think anything they wish to; i
was an issue of academic freedom
In the same way, I would vigor-
onsly oppose removing the book
I "Uncle Tom's Cabin" from the li
brary.
But the Deke's float is not suc
an issue. Certainly everyone ha
the legal right to be cruel, thought
less or indecent. But everyone als
has the moral obligation to re
spect the humanity of other peo
ple and where possible to avoid in
sulting them.
--Allan Silver, Grad.
Insulting Float . .,.
To the Editor:
[ DISAGREE with the results! I
think the prize for the best
float in the Michigras parade
should have gone to Delta Kappa
Epsilon for their float, "Uncle
Tom's Cabin." That it was an un-
usual entry is an understatement.
Imagine, in the year 1954, at the
'Jniversity of Michigan, citadel of
conservatism, in the heart of the
industrial liberal north, a float
reminiscent of old southern plan-
tation days.
This is certainly a possible view
of the Delta Kappa Epsilon float,
but certainly not the most plaus-
ible. My own reaction to the spec-
tacle was that of extreme em-
barrassment, for myself, the mem-
bers of my race, the University I
attend, and most of all for fifty
innocent degraded Negro children.
Was this insult, not even subtle,
r intentional? Or was this just a
s thoughtless effort to produce
something different with no real
evaluation of the implication of
, the display of an age old stero-
type.
s And what was the implication?
s In my opinions the struggle of
d the Negro from his "old planta-
tion days" status to his present
unenviable position as an Ameri-
can citizen has largely been a
, struggle against the very kind of
- sterotype conceptualized by the
e float, (to paraphrase a recent lec-
turer from the psychology dept.
d who addressed the University
d Chapter of the National Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Col-
d ored People) the mechanism that
t keeps racial intolerance and dis-
. crimination in progress is the per-
petuation of these sterotypes. Can
k it be said that those responsible
- for the float were completely un-
aware of the possible import of
h such a spectacle? What student
s on a university level could be that
- naive? Was not this the very stero-
o type, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," that
. was the subject of so much litiga-
- tion in the movie industry a few
- years ago? Give Delta Kappa
Epsilon the Prize!
-Robert L. Evans, L.56
President, University of Mich-
igan Chapter of the National
Association for the Advance-
ment of Colored People
No Sympathy .. .
4
.
WASHINGTON.--The troubles Secretary of State Dulles is having
at Geneva were pretty well anticipated by him even before he
left Washington. In fact, he outlined them fully and pessimistically
during a closed-door session of the Senate Foreign Relations Com-
mittee just before he took off.
Secretary Dulles had received a report from the American Em-
bassy in Paris which caused him grave concern about the French
Government's stability and the French political situation gen-
erally. The French, it was reported, were becoming more and more
torn apart, so that anything-even revolution-might happen.
Dulles touched on some of this briefly during his closed-door talks
with Senators.
"There's no telling," he said, "what the French might be saying to
the Russians privately at Geneva."
Prodded by the Democrats, the Secretary of State insisted that we
couldn't rush France into granting independence to the three native
states of Indo-China.
"When a man is holding a bandit, you can't keep beating him
on the back of the head," shrugged the Secretary of State.
He told how he had an appointment to meet Vietman's Emperor Bao
I ;
Dai in Paris during an earlier trip, but the emperor never showed up.* * *
Dulles suggested confidentially that the emperor had been sunning Michigras Con gratula-
himself in the Riviera and there were probably "too many restaurants
between the Riviera and Paris." (ionS . * .
* * * *To the Editor:
-WHY NOT FORMOSA?-
Regarding: MICHIGRAS
SENATE Majority Leader Knowland of California, sometimes called #rHE 1954 version of Michigras 1
the "Senator from Formosa," wanted to know why Formosa and was in all respects the best
South Korea hadn't been included in the Asiatic NATO proposal. production which I have seen in
"We can't do everything in a week," replied Dulles, acknowledg- I my several years at Michigan. The
ing that Knowland's friend, Chiang Kai-Shek, may later be in- outstanding parade, the high cali-
vited to join the Pacific security pact, bre of performance and operation
at Ferry Field and the planning,.
Dulles presided at the closed-door meeting and did most of the organizing and functioning of the
talking. One of his sharpest critics, GOP Sen. Styles Bridges of New undertaking in general terms all
Hampshire, had to leave early, merit high praise,
HyI wish to take this opportunity
"Do you have anything you would like to say before you leave, to convey my sincere compliments!
Styles?" asked the Secretary of State. Bridges smiled, shook his head, and congratulations to ALL who
and walked out the door. by their participation were respon-
However, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Alex Wiley of'Wiscon- sible for the success of this excel-
sin paused as he also was about to leave and remarked how "greatly, lent example of student activities
disturbed" he was over the chance that Russia might use the Geneva on our campus.
Conference to get world recognition for Red China.
--Walter B. I
Kea
"Your fears are unfounded," replied Dulles. "We will not recog-
nize Red China at Geneva under any circumstances."
Note-Dulles didn't breathe a word about the special resolution hej
WIhose Society? , ,
To the Editor:
E DRA
At Lydia Mendelssohn . .
CES DAMES AUX CHAPEAUX VERTS
by Albert Acremant
THE DRAMATIC offering of the Cercle
Francais this year was a harmless, fairly
unenterprising farce concerning four ageing
and socially antiquated maiden sisters and
a sprightly cousin from the city who con-
siderably livens up their lives. Arlette, the
cousin, played in excellent French by Mar-
guerite Goebel, has been left an orphan by
her father's suicide (an occurrence which
disturbs her winsome cheerfulness not a bit)
and arrives chez her cousins to find life not
at all as it had been in Paris. She is a brick
about the whole affair, however, and in-
stead of moping in a corner as undoubtedly
a less amiable young lady would have done,
se aa therse frediin totheir six o'clock
Then Geneva will not be the last diplo-
matic negotiation, but only the first of
many, about the future of Southeast Asia.
(Copyright, 1954, New York Herald Tribune, Inc.)
LM
ious--a double wedding in view, and a
long needed repair of a leaky gutter pro-
jected for the near future.
Under the "direction generale" of Profes-
sor Charles Koella of, the French department,
the actors spoke their French lines very well.
They obviously were enjoying themselves
and, as a consequence, I believe the audience
did too. Nevertheless, it seems really a pity
that their talents could not have been put
to better use. Surely modern French theater
offers us something better than this! Al-
though the French department is admitted-
ly limited in its facilities, plays of real merit
both with regards to literature and the lan-
guage itself, have been performed success-
fully in the past. Much work is needed and
indeed, willingly given to these annual pro-
ductions; it is only fair to the students in-
volved that their efforts produce more than
mediocre result.
had asked Congressional leaders to endorse at their last meeting to- R. Peter Kalinke is quite right
gether. Dulles had pleaded with them to push a resolution through when he says that "Mr. Shaf-
Congress, approving in advance any action the President may decide fer realizes that he was and
is necessary to take in Indo-China. Both Republicans and Democrats through his former actions still is
overwhelmingly opposed the idea, an outsider in our society." I am
proud of the fact that I have not
* * * only been outside but have actual-
-MCCARTHY AND SENATORS- ly fought as a soldier against the
. society which Mr. Kalinke so euph-
Though most Senators fear McCarthy and few will criticize him emistically describes as "our."
publicly, not more than thi'ee or four really like him. This applies to At the end of the war by broad-I
both Republicans and Democrats. casting for Germany he was help-
Chief reason is that 'McCarthy is essentially a showman, not a i ng spread the Nazi gospel over
Senator. His attendance record is the worst in Washington. He tured by the Czech patriots.
raguy te rdizehewasicap-
is off speaking in every corner of the United States instead of "This so-called, tolerant and lib-
being on the Senate floor. He pays no attention to the tough, diffi- eral view point," he writes, "gives
cult legislative routine by which laws are passed. And, significant- full rein to the hand of the Krem-
ly, not one piece of legislation of any importance has ever passed lin ... It seems to me that there
Congress bearing his game. is something wrong with our 'lib-
eral, democratic viewpoint.' "This
In contrast is a quiet, unassuming Senator who has been in Congress is exactly the same type of reason-
18 years-Allen Ellender of Louisiana. The average newspaper reader ing Hitler used in his drive to
in the north hasn't heard much about Allen Ellender. That's chiefly power.
To the Editor:
CANNOT weep over Mr. Shaf-
fer's present plight. The fact
that he has lost his job, might
find it difficult if not impossible to
find another, that he might sooA
be penniless, that he faces a "des-
perate economic situation" does
not raise my emotions above arc-
tic temperatures. I am coldly in-
different, completely unmoved.
Moreover, I can find no evi-
dence of a political blacklist oper-
ating against him. I can see only
a company, and of course all oth-
ers who will refuse his services,
which has rid itself of a man who
seeks to destroy, it and also the
social framework within which it
exists. There would be no justifi-
cation for Mr. Shaffer's dismissal
if he were a socialist, a reactionary,
a middle-of-the-road liberal or of
almost any other political philoso-
1 phy. And indeed, this is very rarely
the case in this country. But if Mr.
Shaffer is a communist means that
he has determined for us what our
future shall be and is equally de-
termined to bring this future into
being despite all our wishes to the
contrary. In such a case he must
stand alone on his own resources
and all the consequences he may
suffer are justified.
-Sam Victor Manzo
Sixty -Fourth Year
Edited and managed by students of
the University of Michigan under the
t authority of the Board in Control of
Student Publications.
Editorial Staff
Harry Lunn.........Managing Editor
'Eric Vetter...............City Editor
because he doesn't do much bragging, though he has a lot of things
be could brag about.
Some of the most constructive bills in Congress were introduced or
coauthored by the Senator from Louisiana-including the Wagner-
Taft-Ellender housing act for slum clearance, various sugar-quota
bills, Federal aid to education, the original farm price support bill, andI
the school-lunch program.
Some time ago, Senator Ellender went to South America to study'
Communist infiltration there, and upon his return gave a comprehen-
sive, closed-door report to the Senate Appropriations Committee.1
Other Senators, including Joe McCarthy, listened intently as Ellender
told how poverty, dictatorship, and agents from Moscow had com-
bined to spread the Communist doctrine in Guatemala, and to a
lesser extent in some other countries.
Next day, Ellender got a phone call from the junior Senator from
Wisconsin.
"Allen," said McCarthy, "I heard your report on South America
yesterday and I've got the TV and radio equipment all ready for
you to testify tomorrow morning before my committee. We'll give
When Mr. Kalinke says that
"against a, totalitarian system you
have to use certain methods of,
prevention," I wonder how far his
t.
"methods of prevention" would go virginia Voss........Editorial Director
Would they go as in Germany, Mike Wolff........Associate City Editor
where "the liberal, democratic Alice B. Silver. .Assoc. Editorial Director
viewpoint" which gave "full rein Diane D. AuWerter....Associate Editor
viewpint"Helene Simon... ,.... Associate Editor
:" the hands of the Kremlin" was Ivan Kaye,.............Sports Editor
entirely eliminated? Paul Greenberg....Assoc, Sports Editor
Mr. Kalinke should be more Marilyn Campbell....Women's Editor
Kathy Zeisler.. .. Assoc. Women's Editor
careful about the use of the word Chuck Kelsey .,.... Chief Photographer
"our" in his letters. As a veteran
of World War II I strenuously ob-
ject to the way this former broad-Thomas Te e sSns
Thomas T reeger...... Business Manager
caster for the Nazis is now trying William Kaufman Advertising Manager
to represent himself as the spokes- Harlean Hankin....Assoc. Business Mgr.
man for democracy. The type of William Seiden.......Finance Manager
society he is defending is not our Anita Sigesmund..Circulation Manager
society. It is the society of fas-
cism. Telephone NO 23-24-1
It is indeed regrettable that3