Evening star., 1944-07-03
War and Peace Plank
Of COP Called Vitul
Pledge Given at Convention IL
Unprecedented, Says Writer
By David Laurence

By Daid Laurence
Although the platform adopted un.
animously at the Republican National
Convention has many contradictions IN
1t and the Republican nsminee win
soon have to interpret and state which
Of the positions taken will be his pledged
policies, there A one sentences In that
platform which may have escaped gen.
eral notice.
Emphasis seems TO have been given
primarily TO the promise Of the Repub-
Ncans to participate In . postwar co.
operative organization among sovereign
nations to prevent military aggression
and to attain permanent peace with
organised Justice In . free world"
But this i BY no means the most I'M
portant platform pledge made at the
Chicago convention. Rather 1t Is con-
tanned In the frst part OF the plank on
"the war and the peace" which reads
- follows:
I'VE declare our relentless aim to win
the war against all our enemies: % For
our own American security and welfare;
(2) to make and keep the Axis powers
impotent to renew tyranny and attack;
80 for the attainment Of peace and
freedom based on justice and security"
Large Undertaking.
The vital point Is the second one: ITO
make and keep the Axis powers impotent
to renew tyranny and attack" That's .
very large undertaking. 1t can readily
be understood how we could make the
Axis powers "impotent" by q military
victory won this year or next year but
1t isn't 50 easy to grasp how We plan
ITO keep the Axis powers impotent to
renew tyranny and attack"
The Republican party platform rejects
\ super state" as the means Of doing
the job. This was also rejected in 1919
by both Democrats and Republicans.
The League Of Nations was not super
state" but . cooperative organization
among sovereign nations" and the
League Covenant specifically respected
the sovereignty OF the member nations
in the articles themselves and in the
right Of withdrawal to any member
state.
Who then failed to keep Germany
"impotent" after the World War? The
task was entrusted to the League Of
Nations. Supposing 1t is entrusted again
to another league or association Of
Nation in the world, namely the United
States. again yields to Republican party
votes and arguments and does not join?
supposing We say again that our Army
and Navy and Air Forces shall not fight
abroad? Would such q league be able
to keep the Axis powers impotent7"
Plainly tn. Republicans this time
pledge that they will use the physical
force Of the United States to keep the
enemy conquered in the decades after
the war.
Gov. Dewey has before him q duty to
tell the country what means he intends
to use to fulfill that pledge If he il
elected President. In one of his earlier
pronouncements he said he favored an
extension Of the British American mill
tary alliance. Can the Axis powers be
kept impotent merely by the physical
force of Britain and America? Will it
not be necessary to have not only the
wholehearted support Of the Russian
armies Of the future but of China and
of all other nations which can and
should participate in carrying the cost
Of the postwar military burden?
Unprecedented Pledge.
The kind OF international organizat ton
Is important but the technical squabbles
about limitations on sovereignty are
meaningless unless perhaps they are to
be mere devices Of evasion or obstruc-
ton. The Republican platform in prom
ising to keep the Axis powers 'impo-
tent undertook . commitment namely,
that the United States Government,
under = Republican administration,
would use all of its physical might In
cooperation with the other victorious
countries to take any and all measures
necessary to preserve peace against, az.
gressor nations This Is an unprece.
dented pledge
Thus it is not correct to say the Re-
publicans have adopted an isolationist
or an internationalist platform. They
have made historic pledge to avoid
= third World War They cannot, in
self-respect, do again as they did in
1919 and 1920. They not only defeated
the League of Nations Covenant but
when entrusted to power for IL years
afterward offered nothing effective as
substitute for the weakened League.
At no time from 1920 on did the United
States, under Republican administra-
tions, say openly that 1t would use its
physical force to aid the victims Of
aggression As promised by implication
in the Kellogg BRAND treaty. And from
1888 on, the Democratic administration
failed likewise to give notice to the az
gressors until after the latter had fully
armed
To keep the Axis powers impotent
will require practical program which
the brief pledge of the platform could
not possibly outline. But Gov. Dewey
will doubtless, in time, reveal his ideas.
It's how the platform pledge is to be
carried out that's more important than
the words Of the platform itself.
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