Evening star., 1950-03-29

We Must Stand Together

All Americans aware of the deadly serious
nature Of these times, all who have an under
standing of the tremendous stakes involved
In the cold war all who realize that bipartisan
foreign policy is essential to the safety OF the
United States and the rest of the free world
will hope and pray that Senator Bridges of New
Hampshire fails to enlist even handful of his
fellow-Republicans in his projected parade" OF
attacks against the State Department and
Secretary Acheson.
For what Mr.. Bridges wants to do, as indi-
Gated by the Senate speech he has just made in
launching that parade is to lead the Nation
on sensational hunt for master spy" by
going all the way back to 1888 and making an
exhaustive inquiry into our relations with Russia
from that day to this In effect, by digging up
the dead dogs of the past and kicking them
around, he would divert everybodys attention
and energy from the hard realities Of the present
world crisis. Perhaps he really believes that in
that way by concentrating major effort on
investigating events that have long since passed
into history we can best cope with the current
pressures of the cold war. It is difficult not
to suspect however, especially because Of the
tone of his remarks, that what he is really
seeking to do is to play politics of sort that
would do violence to our tradition of nonpar-
tisanship at the waters edge.
Needless to say if many Republicans should
join him in that kind of parade" this country
would be rven by partisan passions that could
have the most dangerous consequences both for
us and our friends abroad. For if given sub
stantial support his line of attack, coming on
top of the emotionally supercharged atmos-
phere already caused by Senator McCarthys
blunderbuss tactics, could so confuse our public
opinion, so infame the spirit of faction among
u.s. so harry and distract the executors of our
foreign policy, and so bewilder and discourage
our overseas allies that the free world might
easily suffer a catastrophe defeat in the cold
war. Mr. Bridges, of course, does not want to
bring about such defeat Nevertheless, no
matter how unwittingly, he could accomplish
great deal to that end if he and lot of his
colleagues staged an all-out offensive of the
sort he has outlined.
Happily however, distinguished Republicans
in and out of Congress-men like Stimson,
Vandenberg, Knowland and Nixon-are making
themselves heard as voices of reason calling for
calnness, sense of proportion, balanced judg-
ment, fair play, and unity in foreign policy.
The latest to speak out in that respect is
Senator Smith of New Jersey. He has made
clear that he favors Mr.. McCarthy's objectives,
but he has come out against his methods.
Similarly, although as much against espionage
as is Mr. Bridges he has counseled against the
Bridges type of attack. Deploring the airing of
loose charges and suspicious he has urged both
parties to deal firmly with the threat of dis
loyalty but in way that will protect the
innocent. Above all, emphasizing the great
dangers of the hour, and warning against
factional passions which serve only to divide
U.S." he has appealed eloquently for genuine
bipartisanship in the field of international affairs
In saying these things, Mr.. Smith has spoken
and acted not as a vote-seeking politician but
rs an American. That is the way all OF us
should speak and act in these fateful days We
cannot afford to do otherwise. The threat