The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-12-19

S1SId1AIo OO NOCClc~ tary of State Ed Stettinius, all gave splendid accounts of themselves and came through clean.
 In addition, the Senate's public exhibition served to put all six of the nominees in the limelight, gave them publicity build-up of inesti- mable value. made the names of Grew, Clayton, Dunn, Holmes, Rock efeller and McLeish much better known than they were before, serv- ed to spread on the record their achievements and views, cleared the air of lot of malicious misinform- ation, and in general did the De- partment of State no end of good in making its reorganization, needs, aims and policies matters of com- mon knowledge.
 GET THE INCONGRUOUS
 PICTURE
 There is another aspect of the Senate'S litle pre- Christmas probing party which does not look so good, By comparison with performances of the six nominees, performances O4 bAAS oCAAoAOOAC HCIC xlOS thing to shout about.
 Now this is matter of some con- cern. Get the picture. The Foreign Relations Committee is perhaps the most important committee in the Senate. In the days ahead its res- possibilities for shaping the future of the world will be tremendous.
 As such, it should have the best minds in the Senate, the most searching intellects, men of clearest vision, men who can rise above triv- ialities.
 Granting that some of the sena- tors wer rightly opposed to any public inquisition of the Presidents nominees for top jobs in the State Department and may have refrained from asking embarrassing questions for that reason, did the Senate For eign Relations Committee members who did speak up conduct them selves in such way as to reflect only credit on their group?
 It was good cross-examination when Senator Guffey of Pennsyl- vania asked former Ambassador Grew if he favored leaving Hirohito in power after defeat of Japan. The same goes for Senator Murray's asking James c. Dunn about his att titude towards Franco and it was equally enlightening to have Sen- ator Pepper ask General Holmes to clear up the part he played in deal- ings between Robert Murphy and the French in North Africa.
 AND ON THE OTHER HAND
 But consider the spectacle of Sen- ator Henrik Shipstead of Minnesota asking Secretary Stettinius to 'Ex- plain what our foreign policy is?" and asking Grew to Give us your definition ot diplomacy"
 What do you make of Senator James Tunnel of Delaware asking Grew to give definition of Lib eraP'?
 To what purpose did Senator Hi- ram Johnson of California ask Jim- my Dunn where the Atlantic Char ter was now? Johnson then got fur ther tangled up by inferring that the Four Freedoms were part of the Atlantic Charter, and had to be set straight by the man he questioned.
 Does Senator Murray really be- lieve the U. s. State Department is under domination of Churchill and the British Foreign Office, as he in- ferred in his questioning of Dunn?
 Senator Bennett Champ Clark, of Missouri, introducing an utterly frivolous autobiographical sketch of Archibald MacLeish, merely defeat ed his own end by cheapening the whole performance.
 In summary, the investigation gave a chance to look at not only the assistant secretaries but also it gave a good close look at the Sen ate Foreign Relations Committee. If the latter was perhaps the less in- spring sight, in that respect the investigation backf1red.
 An investigation of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by the proposed Secretariat in the Depart ment of State would have been in- teresting.