Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-06-05
Mr.. Broden Bows Out

Spruille Braden's resignation as Assistant
Secretary Of State removes the last bull
wark of an adventure in foreign policy
which failed of achieving its main purpose.
It can be argued, of course, that the
policy has not failed. Argentina has gotten
rid of a few suspected Nazi agents or
sympathizers. She has also eliminated
"Nazi influences from her schools and has
taken ever certain businesses which had
been controlled by Germans. But the real
objective of our Argentine policy has been
much more fundamental And it is i'm
portant to understand this unless We are
to miss the real significance of what has
happened.
Actually, we have been trying over the
past four or five years to play decisive
role in influencing the character and COM
position of the Argentine government.
This purpose will not be found spelled out
, anywhere. But 1t is clearly implicit in the
things that we have done and said.
Three years ago the then Secretary of
State Hull denounced the Argentine gov
eminent in the harshest terms. Mr. Hull
had plenty of provocation, for the gov
eminent of General Farrell, then in power,
was giving aid and comfort to our Axis
enemies. Still, the fact remains that the
language used by Mr.. Hull was such as
might be expected to discredit the Argen-
tine government. Later in the year Mr..
Hull fired another blast at the Farrell
regime, and, still later on, Mr.. Braden kept
this diplomatic offensive going with his
Blue Book attack on the Argentine gov
eminent on the eve of the election in
which Colonel Peron came to power.
1t may be said that there was good
reason for us to resist the trend toward
totalitarianism in Argentina. An excellent
moral argument can be made in support
of what was done. Yet If nothing succeeds
like success, it is equally true, in diplomacy
at least, that nothing fails like failure.
And the evidence of failure is clear.
Peron's position in Argentina is stronger
today than it was when he won a fair
election in 1916. Apparently we misjudged
the sentiments of the Argentine people.
Furthermore, Perons relations with other
Latin American governments seem to be
as good or better than they were. Our
attempt to isolate the Argentine govern
ment has obviously failed, and we now
find it necessary to come to terms
The character of the Peron government
has not changed. He is just as much of
dictator now az, he was a year ago But
that is an internal matter with Argentina.
1t is none of our affair. So long as Argen-s
tina does not threaten the peace of the
hemisphere, we have no right to NEEDLE
in her domestic politics and we will only
burn our fingers if we try to NEEDLE.
Presumably, Mr.. Braden's resignation
and the announcement that we are ready
to 60 forward with our program of Pan
American solidarity, mean that we have
seen the light, and that, henceforth, we
will take more realistic view of our rela-
tons with Argentina. There are many
reasons to hope that this is so, not the
least being the growth of communism in
Latin America.
AS for Mr.. Braden, 1t is only fair to
say that he has fought hard for principles
in which he deeply believes; for acceptance
of concept of democracy to which we
adhere, but which is not shared by all of
our hemisphere neighbors. Time may not
have indicated his judgment, but the
record discloses nothing of which he need
be ashamed In what he has tried to, do.