Evening star., 1949-04-05
Nerve Center of Freedom

One of the most significant changes In
the changing history Of mankind was
dramatized here yesterday when Secretary
of State Acheson and the foreign ministers
of eleven other independent lands affixed
their signatures TO the North Atlantic
Treaty.
The change Is this: That the United
States, largely as a result of the Second
World War has become the arsenal OF po-
litical, economic and military power in the
free world. And by the same token this
city, this once sleepy little Southern
town." has become the great capital Of that
world-its hub, It's heart, its nerve center.
small measure of the change is the
fact that never before, until now. have we
had as many as eleven foreign ministers
here at one and the same time Events
have thrust us into our new position so fast
that we are not yet quite accustomed to 1t.
The similar power that once centered in
Britain and France, for example, came to
them gradually. over q period Of genera
tions, but ours has come to us with such
relative suddenness that we have a prob
lem OF sorts in adjusting ourselves to the
heavy responsibilities 1t entails.
Yet, even If we have been cropping some
and even If a small minority still yearns
for an isolationist way out, the compelling
logic of events has certainly put us on the
right road in company with like-minded
nations. We have recognized, in shrunken
and upended world threatened by aggres-
sive Soviet totalitarianism, that the United
States can prosper, be safe and remain
free only II its friends abroad can prosper,
be safe and remain free. SO, step by step,
making far-reaching revisions in our ira
ditional foreign policy in order to cope
with the perils confronting us in the age Of
the atom and supersonic fight, we have
come forward with the Greco-Turkish aid
program, the Marshall Plan for the eco
nomic recovery of Western Europe, and
now the Atlantic Pact for mutual security,
to be implemented with q kind of peace
time military lease-lend.
Considered within the context of our
economic aid, the new treaty is obviously
designed to deter the Kremln from
further aggressive acts and thus create an
atmosphere of security In which Western
Europe will be able to recover and achieve
a firm footing in the international balance
of power OF course, with the opening of
the new session of the United Nations Gen.
eral Assembly, the Russians can be counted
upon to assail the arrangement as war
mongers' alliance aimed at unleashing an
attack on the Soviet Union. In his address
at yesterdays signing ceremony, however,
President Truman gave an effective an
swer to that Actually, as he, has put it,
the pact is meant to be positive influence
for peace throughout the world, an en-
to free peoples haunted by
the specter of expanding communism, "a
shield against aggression and the fear of
aggression-a bulwark which will permit us
to get on with the real business of govern
ment and society, the business Of, achieving
fuller and happier life for our citizens"
It is only because the Soviet Union, by
direct and indirect aggression and by
chaos breeding obstructionism in the
United Nations, has been deliberately
sabotaging the effort to build decent,
democratic world that the Atlantic Pact
has come into being. The signers-not
least of all little Denmark and Norway
have signed it not in fighting mood but
war, that it will make an enduring peace
possible, by persuadng the Kremlin that
If it does not stop where 1t is, 1t will be
asking to be smashed by the tremendous
actual and potential massed might of the
West.
The hope Is not an empty one. Certainly,
II the Congress Of the United States, In
this capital Of the free world, does every
thing necessary to the proper discharge of
the great responsibilities implicit in Amer
ican power, and if the other signatories do
their full part, then the Atlantic Treaty
and related programs can be decisive in
insuring the safety and liberty of all
In the Presidents words, there are no
"blind tides of history beyond the control
of men and nations. Standing as one and
acting resolutely, the Atlantic community
has power and genius enough to check the
Soviet drive, prevent war and remain free.
That is good faith to be governed by here
In the nerve center of the western world.