The Wilmington morning star., 1945-07-22
At Potsdam
BY ANNE O'HARE MCCORMICK


Mr.. Truman and Mr.. Churchill spent their
first day in Berlin surveying the ruins. The
Soviet leader was there all the time, though
they did not know it. and while there is no
report of his poking about in the wreckage of
Hitlers Chancellery, it is hard to believe
that he could resist the temptation to view the
remains of the huge maausoleum in which his
arch-enemy is supposed to have met his death.
There are moments when the drama of our
times seems to focus on single scene The
meeting at Potsdam is one of those moments.
We can hardly take in the sense of what is
happening until it is spelled out in a picture
like this. The picture of three men walking
| in a graveyard. They are men who hold in
their hands most of the power in the world
and the graveyard they gaze on is Germany,
only little while ago stronghold it took their
combined force to storm.
The background is in way more striking
than anything in the picture For the human
figures wandering in the debris are so dulled
and beaten that they take no interest in the
meeting that is to decide their fate
The contrast between this apathy and the
excitement of the crowded streets when An
thony Eden and Sir John Simon visited Ber-
lin in 1886 or when Chamberlain was cheered
in Godesberg in 1888 measures the depth of
German defeat But also it serves to throw
into high relief the new figure in this confer
Russian Generalissimo whose armies are in
possession of the palaces of the former Kaisecs
and the headquarters of the elite of the old
RelchsWehr. It is not on the British leader
who must keep one ear cooked for the electoral
verdict that will decide his role and Brtains
postwar policy. The key figure is the Ameri-
can whose name was as unknown throughout
the world a few months ago it is today to
the coWed inhabitants Of Berlin.
The only conversations we shall hear while
the conference is in session are imaginary con-
versation. And though as the meeting proceeds
issues will be argued out that affect the lives
of states and populations, for decades to come,
| the most piquant of these unreported talks was
the colloquy over the luncheon table yester-
day when Stain and Truman sounded each
other out. This was not full-dress conference
or one of those fabulous official banquets the
Russians stage to honor and bemuse their
guests. 1t probably the first time Stain
ever sat down to a meal of liver and on ons
with the head of another Government And it is
unlikely that matters of high import were dis
cusses at this first meeting The Soviet chief
tain was undoubtedly genial and jovial; per-
haps he tried out on the new President the
rather Rabelaisian jokes President Roosevelt
used to quote to his intimates Mr.. Truman
may have displayed his own brand of home
ly Midwestern humor. Certainly the two men
were sizing one another up, Stain warily,
with sharp eyes that miss nothing; Truman
openly, with the shrewd scrutiny of the Mis-
sourian who is not over-mpressed by poten-
tates, royal or proletarian.
Yet the two might we'll have been impressed
might even have been nervous, for great is
sues depend on whether they "get along or
not They speak for the two greatest powers
on earth, and while it is. of course. absurd
to assume that their personal relations are
all-important or that they can decide national
policies by themselves, the fact that such
power stands behind their words gives their
exchanges extraordinary influence. In the next
few days, weeks, these two men, neither
of whom has had much intercourse with hte
outside world or long international experience
will set the pattern OF the peace.
In these decisions Mr. Truman will be the
key factor. This is only another way Of say.
ing that the United States is in position tc
give direction to world policy. In this enter.
prise Mr.. Truman is in some respects more
representative of emerging America than Mr.
Roosevelt was. He typif' es the forwardlooking
mind Of the Middle West, the region in which
national policy is made and broken, and he
mixes with Rooseveltian and Wisonian re.
cognltion OF the necessity of international co.
operation a little of that native suspicion Of
foreigners which Stain should understand, be-
cause it is the lett motif of Soviet policy
Mr.. Truman inclines to put special empha
problems, and every observer of the world to-
day knows that unless the elementary CO.
nomic needs of the liberated peoples take prio
rity over every other question there is no pros.
pect of peace. Whether Stain gives the same
weight to economic factors is question. Will
he favor any modification of the closed eco.
Monty IN Russia itself, or even in the Soviet
zone of occupation? This is matter of the
first Importance to European recovery. 1t is
lso matter in which the Unuited States car
exert great powers of persuasion, and since
Russia has as much reason as we to act tc
prevent chaos in the dangerous passage from
war to peace, there is ground for hope that
Stain will agree with the President on what
things come first. Obviously political settle
ments will have no reality unless the desperate
needs of the next twelve months are first
provided for. The first test of the collaboration
of the President and the Soviet leader and
of the competence and responsibility of the
Big Three will be on their ability to work
together in tbs field.--New York Times.
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