The Wilmington morning star., 1947-04-17
TODAY
and
TOMORROW

lOMONNOW
In Henry Wallace the inner diff
ticulties of what might have re-
NAMED a private drama have be-
come an international problem.
He is a man trying earnestly to
deal with a world which is too
much for him, and like many an
other he is cracking under the
strain. For public life in u epoch
is a fearful ordeal particularly for
those who cannot shut their eyes
and stop their ears, who are
aware as he is. that the issues
are life and death.
AS long as Henry Wallace was
protected, led, guided, and disci-
plined, he was a good and faith
full public servant. There was in
terposed between him and the cri-
sis of our times the strength OF
personality, the sup
port of the institutions of the
government, the organization OF
lis party. But when he had to
face the realities of our time d.
rectly, on his own, and had to
find within himself the intellectual
resources to decide the issues and
the emotional steadfastness anc
stability to endure responsibility,
the realty was too much Cor Inn.
He has not been able to take it.
He has fled from it, has fled from
equal debate, from tedious persua'
sion. from the laborious give and
take of politics and administration
to the comforting applause OF
coteries, to the development OF g
cult. and to making himself a
sacrificial offering for the sins OF
the world.
The more furious the hubbub he
creates, the more he provokes a
persecution of which he a be-
lieye himself to be the martyr, the
greater his inner gertrude that ne
is right.
The reason why Roosevelt and
his closest advisers decided
against re-nominating him TOR
Vice-President in 1914 was that
these tendencies were already wi
dent then. He was known to be
too soft for a hard world, and dis
posed, because he could not crap
pie with reality, to eccentric az
ton and to mixing up unpredlc'
tably truths, half-truths, myths,
panaceas, nostrums, and quacK-
cry. .
Back in 1919 it was already
clear that he was psychologlcally
untitled for prime responsibility In
time of crisis. Writing just before
tn. Democratic convention, l was
I think, merely rejecting the con-
sidered and friendly judgment OF
those who had observed him II
Washington, in saying that there
is in him much of the feeling and
the tendency of things to come;
But he is a mystic and isolated
man to whom the shape OF the
real world is not clear, in which
he is not at home and at ease.
his elevation to the Presidency
would produce a profound, per,
haps an unreasonable sense .o1
anxiety. . 1t would arise from al
irtuitive realization that his good
ness is unworldly, that his hear
Is so detached from the realities
thai he has never learned te
measure, as a statesman must
the relation of good and evil II
current affairs"
The effects of his present tout
in Europe are mischievous AM
confusing, though they are no
tragic and irreparable, excep
possibly for him personally. Blu
the results cannot be ignored. ane
considerable effort will be re
ouired on both sides OF the Az
llantic to repair them.
Thus he has told the people O
Europe that the United States Il
|commited to a ruthless imperial
ism and war with the Soviet Un
lion. That is not true, and it is
cruel falsehood to tell Europe tina
this is the posture OF the onltet
States. The truth is that the amer
lean people are in the midst o
an immense discussion as to nov
they can play Their uaprecedente!
role amidst unprecedented Gill
culties and dangers.
1r that discussion Mr.. wallace
has not ventured to confront 1ac'
to face, as he could have by ap
pearing before the Congresslona
committees, the advocate OF thf
policies, which he opposes. He ha'
fed from the reality Of direct dis
cussion to uttering his views BY
radio, in his magazine, and a
mass meetings in England - any
where but in places where HI
would have had to debate then
seriously with his own Country
men.
He is also telling the govern
ments and people of Europe VIVA
they ought to do about the unlte'
States. This is not only an un
couth thing for an American to b
doing while his country is in tn
throes of a difficult decision. l
lis also a grossly embarrassing
way of interfering i'll the mterna
affairs Of Europe.
For Henry Wallace, as a forme
Vice : President Of the unlte'
States, has to be received by tn
officials of any country he choose
to visit. It is a courtesy that ma
to be paid to the high office whicl
hn has held regardless of all par