Evening star., 1945-01-17

altogether wise.
The trivial de- Frank e. Kent.
bate between Senator Wheeler and
Senator Pepper in the Senate yes
terday merely emphasized these
facts. 1t did not detract from them
The fact is that the Vandenberg
speech is the sort of speech which
Mr.. Roosevelt might we'll have
made himself. But, barring him
logically it should have come from
his Secretary of State or the chair
man of the Foreign Affairs Com
mittee or some other recognized
administration spokesman.
That it came from regular Re-
publican and that it awakened a
response more favorable in the
press and among the people than
any presidential or administration
titterance on foreign affairs since
Mr.. Cordell Hull's great speech more
than a year ago, can hardly help
but be a matter of considerable
White House chagrin. Some of
those in the White House circle
have not been as successful as Mr.
Roosevelt in concealing this.
It has been generally commended
as a clarifying, constructive, con-
crete speech which correctly inter-
prets the feeling of the great bulk
of American citizens. Aside from
its contribution to the cause of
postwar international cooperation,
which, of course, is the overwhelm-
ingly important thing, Mr.. Vanden-
berg appears to have done several
other things.
Lucid, More Practical.
For one, his speech renders it i'm
possible to maintain longer the
theory that Mr.. Roosevelt and Mr.
Hopkins, because of their vast wis
dom and experience, are the only
persons in the country capable of
formulating foreign policy and that
to offer advice or criticism is pre-
sumptuous, unpatriotic and isola-
tionistic.
For another, because Senator VAN
denberg has been more lucid, more
practical, more definite and very
much more realistic than any one
else in the administration in dealing
with the whole business of postwar
collective security and current sta
bilization in the liberated countries.
Mr.. Roosevelt has been forced now
into position of following instead
of leading For example, as able and
fair commentator as Mr.. Walter
Lippmann asserts that if "the Presi-
dent and his lieutenants will recog-
nize promptly and firmly the impor-
tance of the speech it can, If it is
understood and appreciated, break
the vicious circle in which American
foreign policy has been revolving SO
Intellectually" -"
Comment such as this has come
from liberals as well as conserva-
tives, from Republicans as well as
Democrats, from pro-New Dealers as
we'll as anti-New Dealers. And from
the press it has been all but unani-
nous.
Thus 1t would seem that on the
eve Of his departure for a vital con-
ference with the Messrs. Churchill
and Stain, Mr.. Roosevelt has had
laid down for him by Republican
Senator the lines upon which in
formed opinion in America wants
him to proceed-and that he has no
real choice save to proceed on these
lines.
AS has been pointed out, these
Vandenberg lines are wholly con-
sistent with both the spirit and the
letter of the Dumbarton Oaks plan.
The trouble is the administration
either has not realized this before or,
If it has, has not seen fit to make 1t
clear. Now that it has been made
clear, there seems no excuse for
further cloudy inaction.
A final thing which the Vanden-
berg speech has done is to make
rather ridiculous some of the recent
allegations against the Republicans.
One is that the Republican party is
still isolationist.
Should End Attacks.
IL would seem unaC the utLerdnceS
Of nearly every important Republican
leader in the past year would be suf-
ficient to refute that assertion with
out the Vandenberg speech But the
Vandenberg speech, and its accept
ance by Republicans generally, ought
to put an end to that kind of attack
At any rate, it is certainly time
to cease going back to the Harding
administration to prove this con-
tention.
The only effect of that is to cause
the other side to rake up Mr.. Roose-
velt's discreditable reputation of the
League of Nations in 1924 and again
in 1882. Actually, the strongest and
most effective isolationist in Con-
gress today is Democrat-Senator
Wheeler of Montana, whose speech
Monday stood him out as the isola-
ton leader of the Senate.
1t would also seem that Senator
Vandenberg has done much to dispel
the notion that there are no men of
craftsmanship stature in the Repub-
1ican party, that Republicans have
neither initiative nor thought power