Evening star., 1946-08-25
Iron Curtoin' Phrase
Held Real Weapon
Credits Churchill With Armins
Democracies Against Russia
BIZ Ronald Stuart Kahn


By Ronald Stuart Kahn
Two short words uttered by Winston
Churchill In his speech at Fulton, Mo-.
on March S are today a standing re-
minder of the lethal power contained
in a pregnant and wel,-turned phrase.
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste
| In the Adriatic," he said. IAN iron cur
tain has descended across the continent.
Behind that line lie all the capitals
| of the ancient states of Central and
Eastern Europe, Warsaw, Berlin, Prague.
Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest
and Sofia. All those famous cities and
the populations around them lie in the
| Soviet sphere and all are subject, in
one form or another, not only to Soviet
influence but to very high and in
creasing measure of control from Mos
COW. Athens alone, with its immortal
glories, is free to decide it's future at
an election under British, American
and French observation"
Churchill himself could hardly have
foreseen that his iron curtain" phrase
| would, temporarily at least, eclipse in
| political significance all the rest of his
important address. But it rapidly in
yaded the political thought and ex-
preston of the English-speaking peo-
! Piles, and Is gaining currency among
other nations.
The farther Moscow pursues its isola-
| zionist and repressive policies in Eastern
and Central Europe the more apt be-
comes this biting accusation wrapped
| in grim metaphor. And the more
| often it is used. 1t describes and at
the same time castigates the whole
| system of secrecy and suppression by
which the Soviet government strives to
isolate and dominate areas liberated
| from German control by the Red Army
| Everywhere outside Of the Soviet
sphere-and possibly in some places
words are a constant reminder that
barrier made in Moscow blocks the
path to cooperation and peace among
the victorious Allies.
The iron curtain stands before the
western world as a symbol of ruthless
dictatorship imposed from Moscow
through Communist controlled min
critics; Of suppression of free speech,
| free press, free assembly and popular
government; of deliberate obstruction of
the free interchange of persons, goods
and ideas with the democratic nations.
Where can we look for better ex-
ample of "a world of thought in one
translucent phrase? The wide currency
and dread significance of the term en-
dows it with a cutting edge so sharp
that it has pierced the hard shell of
Moscow's indifference to world opinion.
No greater admission Of the political
| power of the expression could be made
than the current efforts of the Krem-
Inns leading propagandists to defect 1t
and turn it against the western democ-
| racies.
Il
First the Moscow radio began to speak
of velvet curtain" which, 1t charged,
was erected by the capitalist press to
prevent the truth about Russia and It's
policies from reaching the western
peoples. And now the well-known Soviet
| journalist, Ilya Ehrenburg, writes In the
official Soviet organ Izvestia that the
iron curtain between the U. s. S. r. and
the west really exists and prevents the
average American from seeing what is
going on in the Soviet Union.
But" he added, this curtain was
prepared in America, in editorial Offices.
newspapers, radio stations, in movie
studios. Many American newspapers,
with the aid of their own correspond
ents,' daily fool their readers"
To quote these countercharges is to
reveal their weakness. So long as it
accurately describes the situation in
Soviet-dominated Europe, Churchills
powerful phrase will remain to plague
the masters of the Kremlin. Their every
additional move to impose their system
by undemocratic methods or to exclude
western observers will rivet the tren-
chant accusation more firmly upon them.
The Soviet leaders are admittedly
among the worlds most experienced and
aggressive mass propagandists. But at
Fulton, in the "Show Me" State.
Churchill gave them lesson in the art
OF political warfare. 1t was q verbal
atom bomb-not rose petal-that he
heaved in the general direction Of the
Kremlin. And the devastating blast that
followed is like the music in that old
jazz tune that still goes round and
round.
Every one familiar with Churchill's
great speeches during the darkest year
of the war knows that he hath a
mint of phrases in his BRAIN" as
another famous English phrase-maker.
Shakespeare, put it. But more than
that, he has the political experience and
sagacity to WELD with maximum effect
the keen-edged sword of his facility for
choice word and measured phrase.
beyond the reach of ordinary men,"
Part Of the secret Of Franklin D.
Roosevelt's great popularity among the
common people Of many different nations
is to be found in his homely description
| Of American foreign policy as that Of
good neighbor." But it is we'll to re-
member that, as in the case Of "iron
curtain" the term good neighbor''
gained acceptance and wide currency in
proportion to the practical application
of the idea in American foreign relations.
Roosevelt, with Churchill's collabora-
/ ton, initiated the great effort to make