Evening star., 1951-04-01
National Unity Viewed
As Missing Quantity
Writer Deplores Apparent
FuiIure Of Biportisonism
By Eronk R. Kent


One Of the great tragedies Of the
washington scene is the almost complete
disappearance Of anything like the BIZ
partisan foreign policy which seemed so
great national asset during the days Of
Senator Vandenberg's Craftsmanship Of
the Foreign Relations Committee and
even later when he still had his health
and was the recognized leader of his
party in the Senate on matters Of foreign
policy.
There are, Of course, other sickening
aspects of the situation-such as the
utter inadequacy of the administration
in dealing with the vital problem of in
fation; the selfish and unpatriotic atti-
tude of the labor bosses in refusing to
cooperate in the defense effort unless
granted concessions that put them in q
favored class; the failure of both Pres
ident and Congress to take any effective
step toward plugging what William JET
fers describes as the thousands Of rat
holes" down which the taxpayers money
is wastefully pouring; the feebleness
with which the great questions Of rails
ing revenue for defense purposes are
being tackled; the distressing evidence
of breakdown in governmental moral
and ethical standards as shown by the
sordid RFC exposures Of the Fulbright
committee.
Without minimizing any Of these, the
complete buStup Of the bipartisan foreign
policy is probably the most damaging
thing nationally that has happened in
the last eight months just as unity
would have enhanced the prestige and
increased the power Of this country, the
lack of unity has exactly the reverse ef-
feet abroad where we are looked to for
leadership by the free nations of Europe.
But there are other reasons why the lack
of bipartisan foreign policy has been
harmful When politics and personal
animosities wrought destruction, the de-
terioration did not stop there. Politics
and personal animosities were promoted
all down the line. The difficulties of in
on defense legislation and on lot Of
other things were increased.
The whole fabric of the Government,
which should have been strengthened to
meet the great emergency. has been
torn and weakened. Responsibility for
this state of affairs is divided. True
enough, the Republicans in Congress
have permitted bitterness and bad feel
ing to warp their policies and prevent
them from taking high ground. Politics
! has favored both their words and their
deeds. They exhibit a pitiable inability
to do much except attack and berate.
On the other hand. the Truman ad-
ministration has done much to make
bipartisan foreign policy impossible
or for that matter bipartisanship in any
other direction. The national danger
clearly makes it incumbent upon the
administration to take the initiative in
promoting unity in the national in
terests. Certainly no one will contend
that the Truman administration has
even attempted to do this.
Nor has the administration done any
thing calculated to allay bitterness in
the Republican ranks. Certainly the
appointment of ex-Senators Dulles and
Cooper cannot be so construed. They
merely emphasized the fact that the
Republican leaders In Congress are not
consulted and that personal relations
with them are not good. Actually, the
administration has no effective liaiSon
man with Congress. Mr.. Acheson, Of
course, irritateS instead Of conciliates
and there is no one trying to improve
relationship concededly and unneces-
sarily bad.
Also, there is Senator Tom Connally
Of Texas, now chairman Of the Foreign
Relations Committee. His contribution
may seem small but actually it is not.
His bad manners and bad temper have
played their part in indaming partisan
ship and preventing cooperation in the
Senate His coarse and insulting rude
ness to ex-President Herbert Hoover
when the latter appeared before his
committee was just one example Of his
ability to engender bad feelings. None
of these things constitute adequate
excuse for the Republican failure to
measure up to the crisis. But add them
all up and the failure is easier to un-
derstand.