Evening star., 1950-03-19

tries, was the target of light criti
Its members were described a.
ing their British colleagues. Others
called them cookie-pushers be-
cause of the popular belief that
our diplomats, at home and
abroad, were principally engaged
in attending teas and cocktail
parties.
henever Congressman
wanted to make headlines with
out stirring up controversy he
used the State Department as his
punching bag. He could poke fun
at its officials and be sure to draw
popular applause. The fact that
the department had a substantial
number of hard-Working and able
men, who were devoting their time
and energies to difficult and
thankless tasks, was generally
overlooked.
Also overlooked was the fact
that the personnel of the foreign
service no longer was drawn from
the ranks of the sons of rich
men, but, like the armed services.
came to represent a croSs-Section
of the American people.
Since World War II, however,
the State Department has UNDER
gone a radical change.
While Franklin D. Roosevelt
was President the State Depart
ment was in the White House" ="
That is to say, all the major
policies of the United States were
determined by the Chief Execu-
tive himself. 1t was his constitu-
tional right to do so.
Hull Was By.Passed
But more than that, Mr.. Roose-
welt after 1910 failed frequently
to keep his Secretary of State
informed of what went on between
himself and the heads of other
foreign governments which even
tually became our Allies. Secretary
of State Hull's pride frequently
was hurt when he heard days or
weeks afterWard about decisions
or commitments made by the
White House on which he should
have been consulted and was not.
Mr.. Roosevelt's reason for fall
ing SO frequently to keep his Sec
retary of State posted on his ma
neuvers was that there were too
many leaks in the State Depart
ment and it was not a good secu-
rity risk. This is illustrated in
the memoirs of Admiral William
D. Leahy, II Was There" when
he recounts some of the events
which preceded our invasion of
North Africa.
Admiral Leahy asked the State
Department, on orders from Pres
ident Roosevelt, to resume sending
shipments of food for the people
of North Africa and unoccupied
France. State Department officials
were reluctant to engage in such
an act of appeasement. Admiral
Leahy says in his memoirs that he
could not tell them the real reason
for this order, since the State
Department was not a good secu-
rity risk and could not be in
formed about this first major
military operation, which required
top secrecy.
President Truman has far less
reliance in his own knowledge of
international affairs than his
predecessor had. Hence, he leaves
the handling of these matters en-
tirely in the hands of the men at
the head Of the State Department.
Mr.. Truman never interfered
with the activities of James F.
Byrnes when he was conducting
the Nations foreign affairs. When
the Chief Executive became dis
satisfied with his Secretary of
State, for reasons other than his
handling of international matters,
he replaced him with Gen. Mar
shall, who had carte blanche from
the President to do what he
pleased.
After Gen. Marshalls retire
ment Mr.. Truman called to the
top post in his cabinet Dean Ache
son, whom he has given the same
latitude as he gave Gen. Marshall.
And as long as Mr.. Acheson's
conduct of the Nations foreign
affairs does not depart from the
line of Mr.. Truman's domestic
policies, he can do whatever he
pleases without fear of interfer-
ence from his superior in the
White House.
Public Grows Uneasy
In other words, the State De-
partment is back in the State
Department.
But for the first time in our
history there is widespread fear
and suspicion of our diplomatic
establishment, not only among
members of Congress. and the
handful of intellectuals and other
persons vino are particularly in
terested in foreign affairs, but
among the rank and file of Amer
ican people.
The man-in-the-s street in the
United States has became aware,
possibly subconsciously. that the
nightmarish situation has been
caused by faulty handling of our
diplomacy. He knows that we won
the war on the European and Far
Eastern battlefelds and is aghast
to find that now, five years after
the wars end, we may be on the
threshold of another deadly con-
flict in which we may become the
principal actors and the main
target of attack by Russia.
The American public for many
years took little if any interest
in foreign affairs. That was the