Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-07-26
Shield Aquinst Aggression

SuISIO 7SOIuSt NSS'SSS'S"
In his message calling upon Congress
to enact s1,45o 900, 900 arms-aid program
to strengthen the defensive position Of our
friends abroad, President Truman has
based his arguments on essentially the
same logic as has led us into such other
great and far-reaching enterprises as our
assistance to Greece and Turkey, the Mar
shall Plan for European recovery, and the
twelve nation North Atlantic Treaty for
mutual security against direct and indi-
rect aggression.
The logic is the compelling logic of the
cold Wharf.-The logic of the tumultuous and
threatening events that have impelled the
United States, in concert with the rest of
the free Western world, to build up, step
by step, a powerful defensive wall against
the COMMUNICATING forces of Red to-
and Turkey has been designed with tell
ing effect, to save those two countries from
being subverted and dragged behind the
Iron Curtain. Similarly the Marshall Plan
has been put into operation-again with
telling effect-to prevent the kind of eco
nonic and political disintegration which
for a time threatened to hand over the
whole of Europe to Soviet control. On top
of that, more or less evolving out of the
Brussels Pact uniting Britain, France and
the Benelux trio, has come the Atlantic
Treaty-an undertaking calculated to de-
ter the Russians from further European
aggression of the one-by-one sort that has
wiped out the liberty and independence Of
such lands as Poland, Romania, Bulgaria,
Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
But the defensive wall is not yet as ef-
fective as 1t can and should be. Accord
ingly, to strengthen it, to make 1t more
formidable as "a shield against agrees
sion," the President has now asked Con-
gress to provide for foreign assistance of
three types: Cd Limited dollar aid to en-
able our overseas friends to make some
increase in their own ornaments produc-
ton without impeding their economic re-
covery; (2) direct transfers of certain
items Of American military equipment;
and 90 the assignment of experts from
this country to help the recipients train
personnel and familiarize themselves with
our equipment. The program-though it
would coordinate all our armS-aid prof.
ects, including that for Greece and Turkey,
into a single operation-would be con-
centrated chiefly on improving the de-
fensive position of the Atlantic Pact coun-
tries by making them capable of main
tanning internal order and resisting the
initial phases of external aggression" It's
duration would depend largely on whether
or not Soviet policy changed for the bet
ter In administering it through the State
Department, the President would have
very broad discretionary powers.
Such a program obviously is wide open
to debate, and Senator Vandenberg, who
has been one of the key architects and
most eloquent supporters of our bipartisan
foreign policy, has made clear that he is
far from convinced of its soundness and
intends to challenge It, In his opinion
still tentative-it seems too wide In scope,
too generous in It's grant of presidential
authority, too armaments-mindeda and too
needless of the machinery set up in Arti-
Gle 9 of the Atlantic Pact to effectuate the
self-help and mutual aid envisioned in
Article 3. In short, his first impression of
the project is unfavorable enough to make
him feel that curtailment may be neces-
sary-a fact indicating that the under
taking faces real trouble in Congress.
Nevertheless, the program has been
drafted with such apparent care that Mr.
Vandenberg and men of similar vision are
not likely to modify it drastically unless
facts can be produced to warrant such
action. In essence, in principle, in pur-
pose the proposals are both sound and
necessary. II Congress decides to curtail
them, it should do so in a way that will
not make us lose any OF the ground we
have gained against Russia. For it is true,
Is the President has said, that wise appli-
cation of the arms proposals can help the
free West hold on to the initiative 1t has
now and form a common front strong
enough to persuade the Kremlin that "its
own welfare lies in the direction of mutual
tolerance and peaceful foreign relations"