Evening star., 1950-10-11
Truman Hailed on Plan
For Personal Meeting
With Macarthur
Trip Should Clear Up
Points of Differences
On Far East Policies
By David Laurence

By David Laurence
President Truman made ten
strike when he decided to have a
personal meeting with Gen. Mac
Arthur. The contact will prove
invaluable In many ways.
Recently busybodies have been
trying to stir up friction between
the general and the White House.
Inspired articles have appeared in
the press by persons anxious to
emphasize points of difference.
Dispatches emanating from Tokyo
have been cited to make it appear
that the general In some way is
playing a game trying to benefit
the Republicans. All this is the
veriest nonsense, but 1t has its
influence behind the scenes in
creating a standoffishness that is
not conducive to smooth operation
between the President and his top
general in the Pacific.
Entirely apart from the above.
the President undoubtedly has come
to recognize that some of his
emissaries to the Far East have
not come back with clear picture
of what is in the generals mind.
Douglas Macarthur knows, more
about the Far East than anybody
else in the military service, and
he is entitled to present at first
hand his views on what is strate-
gically necessary to defend Ameri-
can interests there.
Advisers Going, Along.
The personal visit will afford an
opportunity for such an exchange
of ideas. It will be noted. how
ever, that quite a stable entour-
age of advisers of the President is
going along. Some of these ad-
visers are more concerned with
international politics than with
con-deratton1 of military strategy.
Mr.. Truman will need all the
horse sense he can muster-and
he has a lot of ito reach de-
clsion as to what is a good course
to follow with respect to the mill
tary and naval problems of the
Far East.
The bald fact, for instance, IS
that Communist China is now
controlled by Moscow. This means
many new submarine bases and
many air bases close to the Philip
pines and close to Japan. It is a
brand-new military dilemma for
the United States, on both a
short-range and a long-range
basis. No man is better qualified
to discuss the strategy that must
be developed to meet the contin-
gencies that can arise in the Pa
cific than Gen. Macarthur.
The trip naturally will be ap-
praised by the politically minded
as piece of smart politics. During
the 1914 campaign, the late Presi-
dent Roosevelt Travelled to Hawaii
to meet Gen. Macarthur. It was
played up in the press as a jour-
ney by the Commander -in-C Chief.
It so happens that Mr.. Truman's
prestige as Commander in Chief
has been played down of late. So
the trip will be useful politically,
too.
More Prestige for u. N.
Coincident with these angles is
the very important matter of de-
veloping more prestige for the
United Nations. The U. N. selected
Gen. Macarthur as its commander
in Korea, and it is important that,
when Mr.. Truman speaks before
the U. N, he shall be able to say
that he discussed personally some
of the very issues about which the
U. N. is concerned-namely, the
restoration of Korea and the poll
cies that must be followed when
North Korea is fully conquered.
Mr.. Truman. it has been an
nounced, will make a foreign
policy speech in San Francisco
after he returns from his visit to
the Pacific. This affords an op-
portunity to get Nationwide at
tention, as well as Pacific Coast
attention, to the phases of foreign
policy which have stirred up much
opposition there.
The President may wish to ex-
plain what the attitude of the
United States is going to be to-
ward Red China in the future and
what Americas attitude must be
toward any government which
shows itself incapable of discharg-
ing international obligations and
of obeying the principles of civil
ized intercourse among nations.
Communist China is being con-
sidered for admission to the U. N.
Security Council after the con-
gressional elections-a move that
may agitate also the matter of
diplomatic recognition. There are
observers who think Communist
China can be weaned away from
Moscow. The advice in that di-
rection is vehemently challenged
by others. who think that there
can be no compromise with Com
munism on any front. But these
underlying issues, which are so
difficult for any President to deal
with, can be. better understood
when the military phases are
thoroughly presented. This is
something that top-level men in
the Pentagon have often empha-
sized. Certainly the defense plan
ners in the United States will feel
much better satisfied after the
Tr um n-MacArthur conference
than would have been the case
with a continuation of the ex-
changes by cable and press dis