Evening star., 1950-05-10
Make No Mistake

Whatever may be said for or against his
advocacy of the controversial Brannan Plan,
President Truman, in the course of his farm
speech at Lincoln Nebraska, made an incidental
point that Is hardly open to dispute. The point
is simply this: That the cold war, in its own
way, is as deadly as was the shooting war with
the Tokyo-R Rome Berlin Axis and that the United
States and like-minded nations, if they value
their long-range safety and freedom, must do
everything possible to win it.
Excepting parts of ASIA there are no artillery
barrages in this titanic power contest. There are
no marching armies no air bombardments, no
battles at sea. Yet "cold" though 1t is in that
sense, it is as grim, tough and total-in terms OF
what Its outcome can mean for free mankind-as
the one that ended in 1945. Certainly, the Presi-
dent has not exaggerated its significance in
referring to it with these warning words: make
no mistake about it, the struggle we are in now
is Just as important to our future as was our
victory in the last war"
1t is a struggle, moreover, which none of us
can really dodge, even though some may yearn
for the dear dead past when there were no such
things as intercontinental atomic bomberS and
when the United States could find security in the
wide oceans separating it from the rest of the
world. For the fact is, as the President has said
at Lincoln, that Nebraskans Californians, New
Englanders Texans, all Americans everywhere
in this broad land "are directly affected by what
happens these days in Berlin in Paris, in Singa-
PORE" We have long since ceased to be an island
sufficient to ITSELF the period of our splendid
isolation"-political, economic and military-is
gone forever.
That is why we cannot hold ourselves aloof
from the cold global war being waged by the
Kremlin with such weapons as propaganda,
tus of Communist conspiracy and other
instruments of direct and indirect aggression
That is why we must not merely maintain
strong economy here at home but also do what
ever we can to help our friends abroad grow in
health and power. In the Presidents words. If
we and the other non-Soviet nations are to be
victorious in this struggle, and If catastrophe
armed conflict is to be averted, then there must
be no let-up in our present tremendous effort to
bring about peace based on freedom and justice"
What all this means is that projects like the
Marshall Plan, the Atlantic Pact, the develop
ment of backward areas and the promotion or
reciprocal trade in the free world must be carried
forward with the greatest vigor. AS far as the
United States Is concerned, the money costs OF
these undertakings are anything but light, but
they are negligible compared to what we would
have to pay out-in blood and tears as well as
dollars-n the cold war became hot as result
of our doing too little too late instead OF doing
what clearly needs to be done and doing 1t on
time.
OF course no matter what we do. shooting
war may break out eventually. There can be no
absolute guarantee against that. Nevertheless, if
the free world grows steadily in unity and
strength the likelihood of such catastrophe
will diminish proportionately, and even if the
worst happens, we shall be better prepared to
meet it. In his current trip through the West
and Midwest where he is attracting big au-
diences, the President ought to emphasize this
point over and over again to counteract what
ever isolationism may still exist out there.