Evening star., 1948-10-11
Truman Plan 10 Sent
Vinson TO StaIin Held
Good Idea, but Late
Move by President
One of His Greatest
Blunders, Writer Says
BY David Laurence

By David Laurence
President Truman had a good
idea but he tried 1t at the wrong
time and committed one of the
most serious blunders of his whole
career.
Mr.. Truman was we'll intentioned.
In his down-to-earth Missouri
way. he tried to get at the COM
nonsense angle of the Russian
American dispute. He wanted to
deal directly with Stain and yet
couldn't go to Moscow himself. So
he thought of sending Chief Justice
Vinson. capable man and skilled
negotiator of compromises and ad-
justments in public policy.
Or maybe some one else in the
White House circle had the orig
inal idea ard he embraced it. Any
way it seemed like a wonderful plan
for 1t would show the country
in the midst Of the campaign that
the President was running foreign
policy himself and that closest to
his heart was the matter of max
ing peaceful settlement with
Russia at time when the air is
filled with talk of war.
Politically it was to be a ten
strike. For the Wallace vote is
supposed to be based on our alleged
unwillingness to keep the peace
with Russia. Likewise the winning
Democratic Party slogan Of 1916,
namely peace and prosperity"
seemed this year to be in need of
much more emphasis on the peace
side-especially in the East, be-
cause the Western farms appeared
to be rolling in prosperity. Thus
to win more votes in the East while
the West was coming along more
strongly anyway looked like the real
strategy for the campaign.
Networks Were Called.
So Mr.. Truman or some one in
his behalf told the four major net
works early last week to get ready
to clear the air for ''nonpolitical"
broadcast-which meant no need
for putting up any of the meager
funds of the Democratic National
Committee. The networks were
ready-and then something went
wrong. There was the little matter
of getting clearance with Secretary
Of State Marshall.
Naturally both he in Paris and
Undersecretary Lovett at home
promptly made strenuous objections.
They said it would undermine the
negotiations now under way through
the United Nations. It would un-
do all the work Gen. Marshall had
done and would certainly offend
the British and French because it
couldn't really be handled without
consulting them and If consulted
they wouldn't consent.
So the idea was given up. The
radio network officials kept mum
and so did most everybody else. But
it leaked. Last Friday it began to
spread over Washington. This cor
respondent heard the story in conf
dence Friday morning from a prom
inent Republican who said:
"All this talk about Truman alb
dicating to Marshall on foreign
policy is puzzling. Marshall doesn't
know half the time where he
stands. Somewhere in the palace
guard at the White House, some-
one tries to run foreign policy and
butts in on Marshall. They had a
plan the other night to send Vim
son to Moscow to talk to Stain.
They didn't consult Marshall but
asked the networks to line up the
time on the air. Then they put it.
up to Marshall at Paris and nat
urally he raised cain. He is coming
back here to straighten it out
Reason Not Discussed.
The published statements after the
Marshall Truman conferences on
Saturday endeavor to give the i'm
preston that the scheme was dis
posed of early in the week after Gen.
Marshall was consulted, but they
make no mention of the reason why
the networks were called in and ar
rangements made for time on the
air before Gen. Marshall actually
was consulted. 1t might have been
assumed that he would go along
with the plan if the President really
insisted. But Mr.. Truman didn't in
sist. He really trusts Gen. Mar
shall's judgment.
There has been a lot Of criticism
reaching the White House that the
present mess Is due to the fact that
military men are in control of for
eign policy and that a general at
Berlin and a general at Moscow and
q general at the head of the State
Department cannot attain the f1exi-
bility needed in a difficult negotia-
ton. The military mind is governed
by fear psychology and usually ne
gotiates behind guns. This often
produces a distrust on the other side
and makes diplomacy ineffective.
While Mr. Truman has the great
est admiration for Gen. Marshall,
there have been signs that he wished
somehow the situation could be
turned from one of near-war to
near-peace. He knows that peace is
better politics than war.
n 4CW "CCho oSOs VIC AoS1 Va
sending Justice Vinson would have
been capital. 1t could have been
done with British and French con-
sent as an unofficial exploratory
mission before negotiations were
broken off and hurried into the
United Nations.
But the three-power policy, def
nitely established beyond recall
now. is to get rid of the Berlin
blockade by pressure from the U. N.
Once the problem is lodged there, it
can hardly be sidetracked while
one nation tries to make deal
separately. So good idea not only
comes to naught but reveals dra-
matically and conspicuously how
lacking in Judgment and perspi-
cacity and tact Mr.. Truman hap
pens to be and how important it is
to get as quickly as possible new
approach and a new line of thought
in the White House If America Is to
avoid stumbling into war that
nobody wants.