The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-05-13
Today and Tomorrow
By WALTER LIPPMAN
NO HEMISPHERE ISOLATION

Il
NO HEMIsPHERIC ISOLATION
SAN FRANCISCO.-The Big Five having
reached agreement among themselves or
amendments, the consultation with the other
nations has begun. The first question, and
one of the most interesting and important
arises oft of what appears to be, though II
| is not in fact, contradiction in the United
States position in regard to regional arrange
ments for the use of force.
! We have proposed an amendment to the
Durnbarton Oaks text, which is really clar
ification rather than a change, under which
specific pacts directed against the renewal oil
German or Japanese aggression go into eff
feet without the approval of the Security
Council This covers bi-lateral pacts such as
the Anglo-Soviet and the Franco-Soviet; il
would cover a pact such as Senator. Vanden
berg proposed in his celebrated speech Of
last January; it covers our whole rights te
enforce the surrender terms now imposed or
Germany and those which will be imposed
on Japan.
The purpose of all this is to make sure
that action against a renewal of German anc
Japanese aggression will be prompt and eff
fective, that it shall not be stalled by the
veto of nations which have no direct power
and no immediate responsibility in policing
the enemy states. It is special arrange
ment and it is provisional, that is to say
it is to last only until the principal belliger
ents agree that Germany and Japan have
| been made safe members of the international
community.
There is another regional arrangement
worked out at Mexico City, for the defense
of the American republics. The question has
now been raised whether it too should be
made independent of the Security Council
There is strong desire among many of the
Latin-American republics to do this But the
United States cannot agree to that. This looks
like an illogical attitude and calls for careful
and patient explanation. Why should the Sc
curity Council have authority over enforce.
ment action under the Act of Chapultepee
and not over enforcement action under the
pacts which are to police Germany and ia
pan?
| There is no contradiction if we remember
that we are talking about military security
The anti-German arrangements which bind
Britain, France, Russia, the United States
and the states bordering on Germany, are
true security arrangements in that these ma
tons can in fact police Germany They are
moreover, provisional in that they will be
1iquidated in due time.
The Act of Chapultepec, on the other hand
in that the Western Hemisphere cannot be
defended successfully by the states which
have signed the Act of Chapultepec. The Unit
| ed States, which is the only great military
power among them, can insure the security
of the Western Hemisphere only in conjunc
ton with great non-American powers. Tc
make the Act of Chapultepec autonomous
would be for the United States to make a
military commitment which it cannot carry
We ole hac SacI1ritv ar,
rangements with the British Commonwealth
with France, and with the Soviet Union il
the Western Hemisphere is to continue to en-
joy the security which it has enjoyed for loo
years. For that reason, whenever there is a
question Of important military action, we must
be able to come to agreement with the prin.
cipal powers in the Security Council.
At this stage in the world war it ought
to be perfectly clear to all the American re.
publics that the Western Hemisphere is in
capable of isolated selfdefense. It is, Of
| course, very necessary to have solidarity If
the Western Hemisphere, and the lack of it.
| thanks to Argentina, has cost us dearly. But
American solidarity in itself will not provide
American security. In this war the effective
defense of the Americas was begun wher
General Eisenhower landed in North Africa
and when the battles of Midway and Guadal.
canal had been fought. Eisenhower could not
have landed in Africa had we not been the
ally of Britain, and no less of Russia, which
engaged so large part of the German army
Nor could we have mounted the defense at
Guadalcanal without the alliance of Australia
New Zealand and the British Commonwealth.
In defending the Americas we had very
great assistance from many Latin American
states, particularly from Brazil in the South
Atlantic. But the decisive battles which pre-.
served the Western Hemisphere were fought
on the other side of the Atlantic and in the
distant Pacific. So we must not be asked
now to forget these strategic realities, and
to indulge in the illuson that the inter- Amer
lean system is strategically seIsufficient. II
never has been-as President Monroe, who
inaugurated it, knew-and the two world wars
Of the twentieth century have proved it be-
You'd serious challenge.
| To say all this is not to minimize the great
promise of the Act Of Chapultepec. In fact
| it is entirely consistent with the final para
graph of that act, which was put there by
Senators Austin and Connally to make sure
that the American republics did not relapse
into the dangerous illusion of hemisphere iso
lationism.
| The system of nter-American law which
has been developing is not jeopardized by
recognizing the fact that the military security
| of the Americas requires cooperation, and
therefore consultation, with non-American
- e ,Jo., 81,