Evening star., 1950-12-21

ivy oyStSW tdSC HtgtL lott0tDS:
Il HAVE received hundreds of
Il requests that I appraise
the present situation and give
my conclusions as to our ma
tional policies.
I speak with a deep sense of
responsibility. And I speak to-
night under the anxieties Of
every American for the Ma
tions' sons who are fighting and
dying On a mission of peace and
the honor of our country.
No appraisal of the world situ-
alton can be final in an unstable
world. However, to find our
national path we must constant
ly re-examine where we have
arrived and at times revise our
direction.
I do not propose to traverse
the disastrous road by which we
reached this point.
One Center of Aggression.
We may first survey the
global military situation. There
is today only one center Of ag-
gression on the earth. That is
the Com munist . controlled
Asian European land mass OF
800 million people. They have
probably over 800 trained and
equipped combat divisions with.
over 10000 tanks, 10000 tacti-
cal planes and further large re-
serves they can put in action in
80 days. But they are not a
great sea power. Their long
range air power is limited. These
congeries of over 80 different
races will some day go to pieces.
But in the meantime they are
cannon fodder.
Facing this menace on the
Eastern front there are about
100 million non-Communist
island peoples in Japan, For
mosa, the Philippines and Ko-
rea. Aside from Korea, which I
discuss later. they have prob
ably IL effective combat divi-
sions with practically no tanks,
air or navy.
Little Military Force.
Facing this land mass on the
south are the Indies and the
Middle East of about 500 mil
lion non-C Communist peoples.
There are about $50 million non
Communist peoples in North
Africa and Latin America. Ex-
cept Turkey and Formosa, these
$50 million people have little
military force which they would
or could spare. But they could
contribute vital economic and
moral strength.
Facing this menace on the
continental European front
there are about 160 million non
Communist people who. exclud-
ing Spain, have less than 20
combat divisions now available,
few tanks and little air or naval
force. But their will to defend
themselves is feeble and their
disunities are manifest.
OF Importance in military
weight at this moment there is
the British Commonwealth OF
15O million people, with prob
ably 80 combat divisions under
arms. a superior navy, 1consld-
erable air force and o few
tanks.
"War without Victory"
And there are $50 million peo-
ple in the United States prepar-
ing 3.5 million men into a gl-
gantic air force and navy. with
about 80 equipped combat diVi-
sions.
IF we weigh these military
forces as they stand today we
must arrive at certain basic
conclusions.
(a) We must face the fact thai
to commit the sparse ground
forces of the non-Communist
nations into land war agalnst
this Communist land mass would
be a war without victory, war
without a successful political
terminal. Any attempt to make
war on the Communist mass by
land invasion, through the
ouicksands of China, India or
western Europe is sheer folly:
That would be the graveyard OF
millions of American boys and
would end in the exhaustion OF
this Gibraltar of Western civil
lization.
Could Never Reach Moscow.
Even were Western Europe
armed far beyond any contem-
plated program, we could never
reach Moscow. The Germans
failed with a magnificent army
of 240 combat divisions and with
powerful air and tank forces.
co Equally, we Americans
alone with sea and air power
can so control the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans that there can be
no possible invasion of the West
ern Hemisphere by Communist
armies. They can no more reach
Washington in force than we
can reach Moscow.
(c) In this military connec-
ton we must realize the fact
that the atomic bomb is a far
less dominant weapon than 1T
was once thought to be.
Cd It is obvious that the
United Nations have been de-
feated in Korea by the aggres-
sion of Communist China. There
are no adequate forces in the
world to repel them.
Even if we sacrifice more
American boys to hold bridge
head, we know we shall not sue
ceed at the present time in the
mission given to us by the so
members of the United Nations.
Our Economic Strength.
We may explore the Ameri-
can situation still further. The