The Wilmington morning star., 1945-05-16
High Politics at San Francisco

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SAN FRANCISCO.-With M. Mo
lotov gone and Mr.. Eden about te
leave, we are at the end of phase
and we can begin to see more clear.
ly what has been happening.
The death of President Roosevelt
has had a profound effect on this
conference. For Roosevelt was his
own Secretary of State. 1t was he
who determined foreign policy
When he agreed to call the San
Francisco conference, and when he
appointed the delegation, it was
supposed that Mr.. Stettinius and
the Congressional leaders would
confine themselves to translating
the DUmbarton Oaks proposals into
a charter which would be accept
able to the Senate and to the pub
lie opinion of the world. 1t was
assumed, as a matter Of course,
that vital matters of foreign policy.
particularly those touching the
wartime alliance, would continue
to be firmly in the hands of Presi-
dent Roosevelt, and would be handl-
ed, as in the past, with Churchill
and Stain. Nothing was further
from the original intention than
to commit the shaping and manage
ment of the highest issues of
foreign policy to the San Francisco
conference
Yet owing to President Roose-
velt's death, this unforeseen and
unattended thing has happened. AS
result our delegates and their
advisers, who fairly well prepar-
to to work out the charter, have
found themselves called upon to
improvise in the realm of high
policy-in regard to our relations
with the British commonwealth
and empire, the Soviet Union, Pan
America, and the Far East.
The work on the charter pro-
ceeds well enough. But interna-
tional relations have suffered, not
disastroIsly or irreparably, but
still they have become confused.
Messrs. 1Molotov, Eden, and Stet-
tinius have a very different rela-
tionship among themselves. and to
their own governments, than had
Stain, Churchill, and Roosevelt.
This has become quite evident
here. 1t is most evident in the
extraordinary alteration of roles
which has taken place since Roose-
velt's death.
While he was alive, Roosevelt
kept the United States in the po-
sition of mediator and stabilizer
between the British Empire and the
Soviet Union. How well he main
tanned this position was shown by
his critics, who charged him one
day with being in Churchill's
pocket and the next with being in
Stalin's. Actually he was never in
the pocket of either. He had a
clear understanding of the fact
that there are many real conflicts
of interest between Britain and
Russia, that there are no conflicts
Of vital interest between Britain
and America, or between Russia
and America, and that therefore
the true American interest and
policy was to conciliate, mediate,
and stabilize in the zones of diff
Guilty between the British Empire
and the Russian Empire.
This, he realized, was a feasible
policy for the United States be-
cause British and American secur-
ity are so deeply linked, and be-
cause Russia reconstruction and
her internal tranquility are so
closely connected with the power
and the need of the United States
to export capital goods.
But here in San Francisco the
mediator position of the United
States has been lost temporarily,
and Secretary Stettinius has drift
ed into the position where America
and Russia appear to be- the two
great protagonists. This will have
to be righted not only in the in
terest Of Soviet-American relations
but in the interest, no less, of Anglo