Evening star., 1947-02-05
LiIienthoI States His Greed
As q Democratic American

(DaDid E. Lilienthal, nominated
to be chairman of this country's
Atomic Energy Commission, yes
terday gaze the Senate Atomic
Energy Committee his pieaDs OF
democracy in terDent statement
in 1Ghich he also made an un-
eQuiuocaI denunciation OF COM
n1unisnl. FOLLOWING is the tran
script OF that portion of his tes-
timony ,Dhich replies to ques-
tion of Senator McKellar, Demo-
crat, of Tennessee: "What about
your Uie,os on communistic doc
trine?")
This I do carry in my head, Sen
ator. I will do my best to make it
clear. My convictions are not so
much CONCERNED with what am
against as what I am for; and that
excludes lot of things automatic
ally.
Traditionally, democracy has been
an Affirmative doctrine rather than
merely negative one.
7 believe-and I SO conceive the
Constitution of the United States
to rest upon-as does religion-the
fundamental proposition of the in
tegrity of the individual; and that
all government and all private in
stitutions must be designed to pro-
mote and to protect and defend the
integrity and the dignity of the in
dividual; that that is the essential
meaning of the Constitution and the
Bill of Rights, as it is essentially the
meaning of religion.
Basic Unit of Communism.
Any form of the government,
therefore, and any other institutions
which make men means rather than
ends; which exalt the state or any
other institutions above the import
ance of men, which place arbitrary
power over men as q fundamental
tenet of government or any other
institutions, are contrary to that
conception, and therefore am
deeply opposed to them.
The communistic philosophy as
well as the communistic form of
government fall within this cate
CORY, for their fundamental tenet is
quite to the contrary. The funda-
mental tenet of communism is that
the state is an end in itself, and
that therefore the powers which
the state exercise over the individ-
ual are without any ethical stand
ard to limit them.
That I deeply disbelieve.
1t is very easy simply to say one
Is not a Communist. And of course
if my record requires me to state
that very affirmatively, then it is
a great disappointment to me. 1t is
very easy to talk about being
against communism. It is equally
important to believe those things
which provide a satisfying and ef-
fective alternative. Democracy is
that satisfying affirmative alterna-
tive.
Its hope in the world is that it is
an affirmative belief, rather than
being simply a belief against some
thing else and nothing more.
One of the tenets of democracy
that grow out of this central core
of belief that the individual
comes first, that all men are the
children of God and their personali-
ties are therefore sacred, carries
with it a great belief in civil lib
critics and their protection, and a
repugnance to any one who would
steal from a human being that
which is most precious to him-his
good name. Either by impugning
things to him by innuendo or by in
situations And it is especially an
unhappy circumstance that oc-
casionally that is done in the name
of democracy. This I think can
tear our country apart and destroy
it if we carry 1t further.
I deeply believe in the capacity
of democracy to surmount any trials
that may lie ahead, provided only
we practice it in our daily lives. And
among the things we must practice
is that while we seek fervently to
ferret out the subversive and anti
democratic forces in the country, we