Evening star., 1950-05-08
Our Conduct in q Time of Crisis

On this fifth anniversary of Nazi Germany's
unconditional surrender-an event that seemed
to herald the coming of decent and enduring
peace-it labors the obvious to say that the high
hopes of five years ago have turned to ashes in
the mouth. Instead of agreement and conStruc-
tive collaboration between the victorious allies,
what we have now are grave new tensions in
cold war in which one of those allies-the Soviet
Union-has become for the United States and
the free world as a whole another deadly
totalitarian menace.
It is because of that menace-the menace of
direct and indirect Communist aggression on a
global scale-that Secretary of State Acheson
has gone overseas to confer first with his British
and French counterparts and later, next week,
with all the foreign ministers representing the
sgnatories of the 12-nation North Atlantic
Treaty What he will be seeking in these talks,
what every participant will be seeking, is meet
ing OF minds on measures designed to promote
greater coordination and unifcation of the free
worlds political, economic and military strength
as an overwhelmingly superior counterweight to
the Kremlin in the international balance of
power
In Mr.. AcheSonS words, as expressed in the
statement he issued on leaving for Europe, Free
men and free nations everywhere will face in
creasingly crucial tests in the years Immediately
ahead" Accordingly, for the sake of their COM
mon safety and well-being, it is imperative that
they work closely together, without delay, to ac-
celerate the mobilization of their vast tapped and
untapped moral and material resources" and
70 acnleVe "a new sense of community" Other
wise, lacking united front, lacking the fullest
possible cooperation, they may find themselves
succumbing one by one to the very real and very
pressing threat now confronting them in every
key area of the globe
All this is something that needs to be taken
10 heart not merely by our friends abroad but by
ourselves as well. Indeed, here in America, it
mas become matter of special urgency. For the
truth Is that in spite of the mounting Soviet
menace, in spite of the ominous course of inter-
national events this country of ours-in a kind
OF psychoneurotic mood-has lapsed into degree
OF olsunlty that should alarm us every bit as
much as it has alarmed our overseas allies.
VINO are looking to us for leadership in these
supremely critical times Certainly it is a fairly
shocking measure of our internal division that
senator Mccarthy has chosen this particular
moment to deliver another below the belt attack
on Secretary Acheson and to accuse the President
OF the United States of deceit and dishonesty"
regarding loyalty files.
This being an election year, certain amount
OF reckless poiticking is more or less inevitable
IN both major parties. But Mr.. Mccarthy no mat
1oI AOW SOOQ MS OO1ecLtOeS, mas reS0rted to
methods that simply cannot be justified Playing
upon widespread diSillusionment over the course
OF postwar events and exploiting sound public
desire to remove Communists, If any, from Fed
eral office, he has made use of practically every
trick IN the handbook of demagoguery He has
done so, moreover, with such talent and verve
(not to mention considerable personal charm)
that our American atmosphere today is poisoned
by confusion that makes fact hardly dis
tinguishable from fiction and by suspicious that
imperil the once-strong foundations of our
bipartisan foreign policy
In such circumstances-circumst be-
tuddling us at home and injuring our prestige
and influence abroad-it is high time for all of
US, regardless of party, to get grip on ourselves,
take hard and dispassonately critical look at
the grossly Incorporate nature of McCarthyism,
return to unity at the waters edge, and achieve,
within ourselves, that "new sense of community"
which we are seeking to promote in the free
world at large. AS matters stand, in period of
real crisis, our conduct as people is tending to
play right into the Kremlin's hands in a way
that endangers our own throats.
William Rose Benet