Evening star., 1947-02-06
A Text for Our Time

There is just one thing to be said
in favor of Senator McKellar's
badgering of David e. Lilienthal: It
has moved Mr.. Lilienthal to give
voice to such an eloquently simple
statement on the meaning Of our
democracy that every American can
profit by reading it. The words do
more than demolish Mr.. McKellar'S
attack on the chairman-designate
of our Atomic Energy Commission.
Applied to the Nation at large, they
serve as an apt text for the times
in which we live-a text that would
benefit all of us If only all of us
would take it to heart.
Our democracy, as Mr.. Lilienthal
sees it and as every good American
must see it, is ''an affirmative belief,
rather than being simply belief
against something else and nothing
more" 1t holds that the state Is
not an end in itself. 1t holds that
the individual comes first. It holds
that "all men are the children of
God and their personalities are
therefore sacred" And because
these things are basic to our free
way of life we have a system of law
and justice designed to guard
against hearsay, gossip, the bearing
of false witness and other evil prac-
tices that would steal from hui
man being that which is most
precious to him-his good name"
In recent years we have seen these
vital principles abused all too often.
The times have been highly con-
tentious. Depression, political up
heaval, war and the titanic problems
of the wars aftermath have created
an atmosphere conducive to junpy
nerves, short tempers, suspicion and
impassioned prejudices and precon-
ceptions. So we have had name
calling in high places, and the
smearing technique has become
kind of art. Men of repute, because
they may happen to look at things
little differently, have had their
honest motives impugned, or have
been victimized by reckless charges,
or have been indiscriminately ac-
cused of being "fascists" or fascist
sympathizers," or Communists" or
communist sympathizers." Indeed,
public debate as whole has tended
toward extremes, with one side see
ing everything as black and the
other seeing everything as white,
and with neither seeming to realize
that this intemperateness, If carried
far enough, could be the undoing of
our democracy.
The times are still dangerous, of
course, and it is essential that we
remain intelligently alert against
disloyal and conspiratorial elements
in our midst. Yet, as Mr.. Lilienthal
says, while we practice this alert
ness, "while we seek fervently to
ferret out the subversive and anti
democratic forces" we must hold
fast to the principles that have
made us the greatest of free nations.
We must guard against hysteria,
against the quick and angry in
nuendoes and smears, against the
irresponsible witch hunts, that can
divide our people and do lasting
harm to our American society.
The problems confronting us are
tremendously complex. They make
differing views inevitable. If they
are to be handled wisely and well,
they must be studied and debated
in statesmanlike manner and in a
genuinely democratic spirit. What
Mr.. Lilienthal has said on this point
needed to be said. It is time for all
of us to re-examine and reaffirm
our American creed and put an end
to tendencies that would do violence
to it.