Evening star., 1945-02-14

of selected Frank R. Kent.
House and Senate members with
the background" of the Black Sea
conference, in order that they may
understand more fully the agree
ments there reached.
He will not, it was said, address
the entire Congress, nor even the
Nation, except in a general way. But
he does think it desirable for certain
key men to know what is behind
the official communique. These he
will invite to the White House for
talk.
This, of course, is very kind of
: the President, very kind, indeed.
But it is by no means satisfactory
r either to Congress or to the Amer
ican people. That is the way they
were treated after the Teheran con-
ference and, in fact, after every
one of the several international
conferences which he has attended.
There are signs that both Con-
gress and the people are getting
extremely tired of the treatment.
The President has not gone to
these conferences representing him.
self. He has gone representing the
country, and the country has right
to know more about them from him
than it has known before. 1t is
tired of being talked down to on
international affairs; it is tired of
being told only what he thinks it
well for it to know; it is tired of
having no independent channel of
information on these vital matters.
Churchill Reports Cited.
In the past, news of where and
when these conferences were held
has come to us first from England
and Russia. And after they were
over, the real information as to
what was discussed and what was
done has come to us not from our
own President but through the
British Prime Minister'S full and
frank reports to the House of Com
mons.
At no time has Mr.. Roosevelt
talked to the American people with
the candor Mr.. Churchill has talked
to the British people For long
time there has been increasing re-
sentiment on this count. 1t was
strongly voiced the other night by
Gov. Dewey in his Lincoln Day
speech and newspapers, generally,
are increasingly restive over the way
in which Mr.. Roosevelt has side
tracked the press, made it impossible
for neWspapermen to accompany
him and arrogated to himself the
sole right to inform the people.
If upon his return the President
attempts, as his spokesman has in
dicated, to continue this policy, the
expression of discomfort will be
very much more concrete and en-
phatic. Apparently, except for
possible reassuring radio talk to the
Nation, he proposes to confine his
background" conversations to the
aforesaid selected group and the
White House press conferences,
which he controls so completely
that he is able patronizingly to
laugh offAny question he does not
want to &nswer, and talk entirely
on his own terms.
II this happens again, the people
and Congress will get no more of
the real story of this conference
than they did of the Teheran con-
ference, about which it Is agreed
they got very little. If there were
military or security reasons for this
sort of reticence no one would pro-
test. But these reasons do not seem
to exist-certainly not as far as Mr..
Churchill is concerned. The kind
Of secret diplomacy which the
President has been pursuing in
these conferences is a vast contrast
to the open covenants openly
arrived at" of Woodrow Wilson. 1t
does not sit well with the people
and it is time it was abandoned.
COP Supports Notables.
There seems, particularly, no
excuse for it now in view of the
wholehearted Republican support
for his foreign policy which has
been given Mr.. Roosevelt recently.
As Ernest Lindley, one of the
Presidents great friends, wrote the
other day, mo President engaged
In crucial international negotiations
could ask more of the opposing
political party at home than Mr..
Roosevelt has received during the
last few weeks" The speeches of
Gov. Dewey, Senator Vandenberg
and John Foster Dulles, the letter
Of the freshmen Senators, the
resolution of Senator Ferguson
and the significant silence of the
shrunken group of dissenters have
all proclaimed that the people are
overwhelmingly united in their in
ternational objectives.
And, except from Senator Wheeler
he has almost complete support
from the anti-New Deal Democrats
such as Senator Byrd. All of this,
as Mr.. Lindley says, strengthened
the Presidents hand very much.
Considering these things, for him
to come back this time and talk to
the people through controlled and
patronized press conferences and
platitudinous radio pronouncement,
is going to be pretty hard to take.
If he can do this without protest
bout this conference, there seems
70 reason he cannot do it about the