Evening star., 1944-05-31

This does not mean that those
responsible for this extraordinary
oGtburst are inspired by Mr.. Roose-
welt or reflect his views.
AS a matter of fact, there is sound
ground for believing that the Presi-
dent and Mr.. Churchill are in COM
plete accord on political as well as
military policies; that none of the
steps reported by Mr.. Churchill to
the House of Commons was taken
without our full knowledge and
approval; that neither in Turkey,
Spain, North Africa, Italy or any
where else in which the Allies are
cooperating in the common cause
has any action been taken without
consultation with us.
Editors note: Mr.. Kent's col
umn was written prior to yester-
days White House press confer
ence, at which the President
indicated some disagreement with
the views expressed by Mr..
Churchill).
Nor has any dissent been regis
tered by us.
However, these attacks do make
clear two things-first, the unfor-
tunate fact that the President Is
far less frank with the American
people IN matters pertaining to the
war than Mr.. Churchill is with the
British people; second, that these
ardent liberal" advocates of the
fourth term have as slight a sense
Of responsibility as they have of
proportion.
News Revealed In Speech.
As to the first, 1t Is undeniably
true that much news was revealed
In the Churchill speech which MIR.
Roosevelt has not thought fit to
give to the American people. The
frequency with which this has hap
pened and the absence of any ade-
quate explanation are undoubtedly
disturbing.
Perhaps, the reason is that this
Is election year and he Is a candi-
date; perhaps, he does not think
the people can digest the facts; per-
to report to Congress or any one
else; perhaps, it is because he has
not felt physically up to making
such a report.
In any event, 1t hasn't been made
and the Churchill speech enlight-
ened people here quite as much as
1t did In England.
Z
It Is interesting that the criticism
on this side came all from the "nber-
ais" and was mostly provoked be-
cause Of Mr.. Churchill's friendly
reference to Spain, in the course of
which he pointed out that but for
the change In the Spanish attitude
the Allies would not have been able
to have achieved the concentration
OF shipping at Gibraltar which was
essential to the success of the North
African and Italian landings.
Mr.. Churchill noted further ad-
ditional aid given by Spain and
spoke Of the satisfactory relations
now existing with Great Britain, ex-
pressing the hope that these would
be strengthened in the postwar
period.
This threw the leftwing friends of
Mr.. Roosevelt into frenzy and ever
since they have been screaming
about the iniquity of Mr.. Churchill
In dealing with the villainous
Franco, once allied with Hitler and
the perpetrator of many ghastly
brutalities in the Spanish Civil War
when all our American liberals"
were ardently prot -Communist-and
still are.
Two things should be said about
this. One is that the aid from
Franco, of which Mr.. Churchill
speaks, was accepted by ourselves
as well as by the British, and was
of benefit to the whole Allied cause.
Thus, this is an American as well
as a British policy; the only differ
ence is that Mr.. Churchill has pro-
claimed it and Mr.. Roosevelt has
mot
The second thing Is that Mr..
Churchill very completely answered
the criticism of the present policy
toward Spain before it was made,
when he declared that I'm one place
we support a king, in another a
Communist. There Is no attempt
by us to enforce particular ideologies.
We only want to beat the enemy,
and then, N happy and serene
peace, let the best expression be
given by the will of the people"
Vital Consideration.
This is precisely the political
policy that should be followed and
it should be noted--has been
followed from the date of the Casa
blanca landing until now by both
the British and ourselves. Our
political setups have been made
largely by our military commanders
with but one thought in mind
how best to crush the enemy.
Neither the Atlantic Charter nor
the Four Freedoms nor any other
altruistic formulas have entered
into consideration.
The idea. as Mr.. Churchill said,
has been to crush the enemy as
quickly as possible. That is the
first and most vital consideration,
and one to which it seems most per-
sons would unhesitatingly agree.
1t would seem further that most
persons would agree that the mill
tary and diplomatic representatives
on the scene are the most compe-
tent judges of what should be the
political policies in these occupied
and neutral countries while the war
is still on. If they are not, then we
should get new military command
ers and diplomats.
But until they have been proven
wrong their judgment should be
accepted. Anything else would ap-
pear folly. But that isn't the way
our left-wing leaders here look at
tt--not at all.
In the first place, they assume
to know better what should be
done to win the war and make the
peace than the men on the SPOT
who are intrusted with response
bility.