Evening star., 1950-05-23
Editorial indicates
America Is Without
Effective Leadership
pleu for q Commission
Gives Impression Thut
President Has FuiIed
By David Laurence

By David Laurence
When a newspaper Of influence
IN the National Capital comes tc
the tragic conclusion that "fea,
and Illustration" abound in the
country and that a commission OF
citizens should be appointed "tc
survey the major aspects of ma
tional security" it is a rather clear
indication of the fact that Amer
lea is without an effective leader
ship today either In the executive
or legislative branches Of the Gov
ernment.
The Washington Post presents
a lengthy editorial analyzing the
deep and troubled state Of the
Nations mind" and comes up with
a suggestion for a national COM
mission. Senator Humphrey oi
Minnesota. Democrat, promptly
introduces a resolution calling fol
the appointment of such a com
mission.
What is most remarkable is that
the editorial finds considerable
fault with so-called witch-hunting
and congressional investigations
and condemns those who have
tried to capitalize "for selfish po-
litical gain" the frustations of the
hour but does not say a single
word about the utter lack Of COM
petence Of the leadership in the
Congress nor a single word about
the fact that America is supposed
to have elected in 1948 a Com
mander- Chief who presumably
was deemed by majority of his
countrymen capable of dealing
with the very problems that a
commission Is now asked to solve.
Pretty Large Order.
The editorial recommends that
the commission be "unpartisan"
and that it survey "the internal
menace Of the fifth column, civil
ian defense, development of new
weapons, the size and use of mill
tary expenditures, economic resto-
ration of our friends and allies"
This is a pretty large order and
gives the impression that somehow
the President of the United States
has failed or there would not be
now a suggestion that a national
commission take over and do what
the President and his Cabinet Off
GERS and various national security
councils and interdepartmental
committees should have been
doing right along.
What would be more to the point
would be an examination of the
reasons why the morale of the
country has deteriorated under
the Truman Administration. II
doesn't require any resolution by
Congress either for group OF
prominent citizens to assume the
Initiative and take a look at the
serious damage that has been
done to America by the ward
politicians in both parties.
The country is sick and tired of
politics-the machine variety that
is tied up with gambling and
gangsterism, and the machine va
riety that appoints to office only
persons cleared" by a national
political committee. .,
The country is also sick and
tired Of political junkets that are
brazenly called "non-political." It
Is sick and tired also of the way
IN which innocent persons are
smeared while whitewashes of
guilty persons are permitted.
Cover-ups Suspected.
The word from the country gen.
orally Is that there is strong sus-
picion Of all sorts of cover-up of
scandal and wrongdoing. The
AmeraSia case, the Fuchs case, the
Hiss case, the mess at the Army
Finance Center at St. Louis have
all contributed their share to Ma
tlon-wide diStrust. Also, no mat
ter how many denials or counter
denlals are issued, the fact re-
mains that China has been lost
to the West md the Communists
rule more territory than any gov
eminent ever acquired without a
war.
The leadership In Congress is
lacking because the central issue
Is not how many Communists stole
papers or what persons sent in
memoranda to formulate foreign
policy. The real issue is why China
was lost. The so-called white
paper doesn't explain it, and only
the other day Paul Hoffman OF
the ECA admitted publicly that
China might have been saved from
the Communists if a realistic at.
tltude toward that country hac
been pursued in time.
The basic trouble with America
today is that it is saddled with
rigid tenure for Presidents. Ir
Britain or Canada or Australia
they can overnight turn out q
leader who fails and get another
IN his place. They can turn out
one legislative body and elect an.
other that is responsive to the
peoples wishes. In America, lead.
ership can be inadequate and il
takes months and months ane
sometimes years to get a new
leadership. II a commission /.
needed now, 1t is one that will
propose an amendment to thu
Constitution permitting the re.
call Of executives and legislator.
as Is the custom in other de,
mocracies.
Reproduction Rights Reserved.)
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