Evening star., 1939-04-30

mature personality than he had during
his rather skittish. years under Mr.. Will
son, Mr.. Bullitt was set down in the
State Department in 1888 with the title
of special assistant to the Secretary. 1t
that he was working in close collabora-
ton with the White House.
Sounds Out Opinion.
Mr.. Bullitt's re-entry into diplomacy
was accomplished by off-stage cymbals
of sound and fury, beaten vigorously in
the United States Senate. During the
summer of 1888 the ubiquitous young
man from Philadelphia made lightning
tour of Europe and was seen lodging In
and out of various chancelleries. A de-
mand was made in the Senate for his
prosecution under the archaic Logan Act,
which forbids private American citizens
to negotiate on official matters with for
eign powers. The State Department sent
a form query to its missions in Europe
and afterward assured the palpitating
legislators that it could find no evidence
that Mr.. Bullitt had been negotiating"
AS, indeed, he had not. What he had
been doing, however, was acquiring data,
sounding out opinions and preparing
memoranda on such subjects as war
debts, disarmament and prospects for
an international economic conference
for Franklin D. Roosevelt, who, even in
the summer, was confident of his election.
After his return from the sterile World
Economic Conference in the summer of
1888, Mr.. Bullitt quietly went to work on
the problem of Soviet recognition. Some
very secret groundwork had been car
ried out in London, where Foreign Com
missar Maxim M. Litvinov was repre-
senting Moscow at the conference, and
subterranean talks were continued here
between Mr. Bullitt and Boris E. Skvirsky
unofficial representative of the Soviet
government. Mr.. Bullitt's work was cul-
minated in November by full-dress con-
versations between the President and
Commissar Litvinov, which resulted in
ending the 15-year breach in relations
between Washington and Moscow.
AS crowning reward, the young man
who, as Mr.. Wilson's investigator, had
staked his reputation on the prediction
that the infant Soviet republic would
live, was named the first American Am
bassador to the adult Soviet Union. And
Bill Bullitt long regarded in Moscow
as one OF its most ardent American
friends and defenders, was welcomed
there with JOY and acclaim.
Resentment Arises.
But this honeymoon" was short lived.
Mr.. Bullitt Soon found that the Asiatic
despotism of Stain in 1888, with its
liquidation of the Kulaks," its forced
labor, its terror and espionage, was a
very different state from the Socialist
Utopia envisioned by Lenin, Then, too,
acute resentment arose between the
American Ambassador and the Soviet
foreign Office over the settlement of
United States claims against the Soviet
Union.
And SO Mr.. Bullitt's two years in
Moscow were not happy ones, neither
for himself nor for the Russians. Re-
versing the Goldsmith quotation, he
came to pray and remained to scoff."
1t is doubtful that he has ever been
happier than when, in 1896, he received
1 oASeSAo AIO1lA Vic "1AUC 11OuSG 10 TGs
linquish his Embassy in Moscow and
was transferred to the more urbane and
congenial atmosphere of Paris.
Mr.. Roosevelt made happy choice
Paris long had been the Philadelphian's
spiritual home" He likes the French
and the French like him. For years,
even while living in America, he main
tanned an apartment in Paris and had
many contacts there. Mr. Bullitt has
nice appreciation for the finer points
OF French civilization. He is con-
noiSseur of rare wines, devotee of the
opera and ballet and, more to the point,
shares the Frenchman's love of sparkling
conversation and his preoccupation with
politics.
AS personality, the Ambassador to
Paris, like his famous fellow Philadel-
phian, Benjamin Franklin, has a gusto
for living. He likes all sorts and con-
ditions of incorporating only that they
are interesting. have seen him, In the
course OF the same day, don sweat
shirt and play baseball with gang of
Russian gamins, then change to white
tie and preside over diplomatic dinner
party.
UtOpian Liberal.
In his youthful days Mr.. Bullitt re-
volted against the conservatism of the
social group into which he was born and,
for a time, fancied himself a radical.
He moved in the Leftist circles of New
York and Paris and numbered among
his closest friends John Reed, the Amer
ican Communist who died in Moscow
during the early days of the revolution.
Until few years ago, at least, he kept
up his contacts with many of these old
radical friends.
But it is doubtful that Bill" Bullitt
was ever what a revolutionist would call
revolutionist. Rather, he was Uto-
plan Liberal. He cherished, perhaps,
the ideal of society in which the COM
mon man would have better chance to
enjoy the good things of life, but flinched
instinctively from the blood and sweat
and terror of revolutions as they work
out in real life rather than in the brains
OF philosophers. Stalinism, as I re-
marked earlier, left him nauseated and
disgusted.
Today, under the New Deal" "Bill'
Bulitt's star is in the ascendancy. But
his political fortunes, of course, are