The Wilmington morning star., 1947-06-20

Wnlcn Is the occasion for the
Vatlcan's warning and is a prin-
clpal subject matter in the Beyin-
Bidault conversations.
AL the leading countries OF
europe, including many within the
russian orbit, are deeply opposed
to the expansion n the comma
t1on o. Russia. But none of them
is prepared to sccept American
leadership in an anti : Communist
coalition. And they have come to
believe that this is the intent of
the so-called Truman Doctrine.
ana OF its. %progenitor, Mr.. Church
lps Fulton speech.
During the past year reaction
and resistance have ben growing
In Europe to any policy which
would make Europe the stakes of
Sovlet-American competition, and
me Continent the battlefield of an
theological and an international
war.
We have been, l believe, curl
ously blind to this phenomenon,
and have failed to appreciate its
historical importance. The fact is
tn Europe is rising again, and is
determined and is destined to
align itself neither with Russia as
She is now nor with America, as
we have in this past year appear
ed to be. This is not, as So many
Of us imagine, the opinion exclu-
sively of the Left and Of the fellow
travellers. The idea that the Euro
pean states. including Britain,
should mediate between Russia
and America and prevent a war,
was put forward for the British
Commonwealth and Empire by
Prime Minister Shuts last June,
by General de Gaulle in France
last July, in effect by Mr. Church
i'll in his more recent speeches
about the United States of Europe,
and nov by the Vatican newspa-
per. When President Truman was
in Ottawa recently, he SENS to
have been talked to on this sub
ject by the Canadians.
It goes without saying that on
the Continent almost any leader
Of a labor party, a Socialist party,
or a popular Catholic party, and
of an ordinary liberal party
breads and resists being placed in
the position where in order to re-
tain the good will of this country
he must be uncompromising and
irreconcilable with the Soviets.
For the Europeans do not wish
to be ground between the upper
and neither millstones.
The question now is whether the
Marshall proposals r a revision
Of the Truman Doctrine" To an
swer that question sincerely would
greatly improve the likelihood Of
their success abroad. Yet it must
be admitted that a sincere answer
may cause some embarrassment
within the Administration here at
home.
The fact is that the Truman
Doctrine was a hasty and ill-con.
sidered improvisation, designed to
meet an emergency for which the
State Department was not pre-
pared, and propounded in q form
which, whatever its effects else
where, was deemed most likely to
win quick support In Congress.
The Marshall plan is a considered
attempt to supersede the crudities
and the unavoidable elements of
the Truman Doctrine and to
place this country behind a con-
sructive settlement rather than
at the head o. an theological
crusade.
The ooner we admit this, the
more frankly we say it, the sooner
and the more surely we shall re-
gain what we have been losing
the confidence of the great
masses of the people who are too
civilized and too proud to be the
satellites of Russia or the clients
of the United States.
Neither the exhibition o. our
military power nor the spending
of money can restore that popular
confidence. We shall have also to
prove to mankind that Jul influ-
ence and power are the instru-
nents Of craftsmanship, which
seeks peace, and the rehabilita-
ton Of this shattered world, and
the settlement Of the secular is
sues that divide it.
Copyright, 1947, New York Tri-
bune Inc.