Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-07-27
Denunciation Of Soviet
In Arms Aid Papers
Could Lead 10 War
All Forms Of Diplomacy
Publicly Put Aside to
Coll Russia An Enemy
By David Laurence

By David Laurence
The most sensational statement
IN the official documents just
issued by President Truman and
the State Department concerning
the military assistance program
is not that relative to the amount
Of money Or equipment to be
furnished other nations but the
public denunciation of Soviet
Russia as the enemy Of the free
nations of the world.
The documents formally pro-
nounce Russia as an aggressor
state and charge that the Soviet
Union cherishes plans for further
aggression.
One can search his memory for
q single instance where such a
public pronouncement and as
sembly of armed might against
an aggressor has not led to war.
The United States apparently
decided to discard all the forms
of diplomacy and to call Russia
publicly the enemy against which.
the arms program is designed.
Caution Put Aside.
Whatever caution may have
been exercised in the wording of
the North Atlantic pact. which
named no nations, the messages
transmitted by President Truman
to Congress and the paper given
to the press as representing the
viewpoint of the Interdepartment-
al Foreign Military Assistance Co.
ordinating Committee mince no
words. Thus the State Depart
ment through which the commit
tees document was officially publi-
cized, says:
"Our support for this concept
Of the United Nations continues,
but. unfortunately. the great
power harmony we hoped for has
not materialized. Instead, the
political aggression and expan-
sionist aims of the Soviet Union.
abetted by the malignant growth
of international communism, have
bred new fear and insecurity
In the world.
Free peoples were alarmed by
the outright military pressure the
Soviet Union brought to bear upon
Iran. They were shocked by the
domination through Soviet-sup-
ported minorities of Poland, Bull
garia. Hungary, and Rumania and
by the almost total suppression
of individual freedoms in those
countries. The reality Of the
threat implied in these actions
was brought home again in the
sudden destruction Of democratic
government in CZechoslovakia. the
manipulated Communist pres
sures on Greece and Turkey. the
continued division of Korea,
Soviet intransigeance in Germany,
and the recent blockade of Berlin
calculated to force the Western
occupying powers out of that city
in violation of agreements.
These events, and the syste-
matte obstruction of the Security
Council by the Soviet bloc, have
turned attention toward those por-
tons of the United Nations char
ter which express the purposes Of
the United Nations to take effec-
tive collective measures for the
prevention and removal of threats
to the peace
Emphasis on Force?
If the President of the United
States had intended to write a
message recommending to Con-
gress the recognition of state of
war with the Soviet Union, he
need not have looked elsewhere
for pharaseology to describe ag-
erosion. Indeed, the State De-
partment document goes further
than mere recapitulation of past
actions, and says:
THE program recognizes that
the free nations of Europe, by
virtue of their present economic
and political condition and their
geographic situation, stand under
ever present threat of the military
power of the Soviet Union and
its satellites"
Does this mean that the United
States is discarding all other
forms of international relations
as less desirable and putting in
stead an emphasis on military
force as the way to frighten a
would-be aggressor into submits
sion? Does it mean that the
Russians now will conclude that
the die has been cast and that
they, too, must increase their
ornaments?
These are questions that are
more important than the quantity
of aid furnished. They emerge
from the blunt language of the
State Departments pronounce
ment as a decision to mobilize
military force to compel another
sovereign state - Russia - either
to disarm or to modify it's policies
throughout the world. The con-
sequence may not be fully meas
ured at once.
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