Evening star., 1951-03-01
Let Us Get On With the Task

Let Us Get On With the Task
In his testimony before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, former President Herbert
Hoover has brought to climax the oppositions
views on the troops for Europe issue. But he
has added nothing new to his earlier statements
on the subject. In effect, like Senators Taft
and Wherry-only perhaps more emphatically-
he has simply reafirmed the thesis that the
Russians have a kind of superman army and
that the free Western world will therefore be
guilty of dangerous folly II 1t keeps on trying
to organize defensive land forces designed to
hold that army in check.
AS far as the United States is concerned,
some of the key arguments behind this thesis
run roughly as follows: ID Western Europe
cannot be held against Soviet attack t2) Ac-
cordngly, although we should declare war in
the event of such an attack, American troops
ought not to be sent over there-either now or
later-in substantial numbers. 90 Indeed, in
Mr.. Hoovers opinion, the projected dispatch of
four divisions is ikely" to lead to the massacre"
of those divisions "a Our allies abroad are
making q poor effort to defend themselves. 90
We need only relatively small ground forces
taking up battle stations in places like Cape Cod
to keep the Nation safe from invasion. (6) II
the Russians unleash European conflict we
should fight them almost exclusively with our air
and sea power Cd That would finish them off in
fairly rapid order, and in due course our friends
would be liberated. Finally (8), in view of the
foregoing, Congress should strictly circulnscribe
our country's participation in the Atlantic Pact
Army being built up under the command of
General Eisenhower.
BaScally, at least in respect to Soviet land
power what all these points add up to Is sheer
defeatism and the counsel of despair. Taken as
a whole, they are strikingly reminiscent of the
things said by many MISUNDERSTANDING Mr.
Hoover-back in 1889, 1910 and just before Pearl
Harbor. In those days it was Nazi Germany that
had supern1an army against which the United
States could hardly hope to organize victorious
counter force. And now ten years later, it is the
Russians (who have yet to display anything like
German efficiency who are supposed to be in
vincible and unstoppable on the ground-so much
SO that we and our allies are trying to do the
impossible" in building up sufficient number
of troop divisions to deter them from attack or
to enable us to build up enough strength to hold
them and eventually defeat them in case they
do attack Here is an argument that would let
them have Western Europe without fight
by default-largely on the assumption that our
big bombers, despite the lessons of the Second
World War and the war in Korea, would ulti-
mately beat them to their knees and force them
to give up their ill-gotten gains.
W
other point made in behalf of the Wherry-Taft-
Hoover thesis is wide open to rebuttal in detail.
For the thesis itself-which incidentally says
nothing about how wrecked Western Europe
would be after Soviet occupation-runs counter
to the careful calculations and judgments OF
our most responsible military authorities, whose
life work makes them far more qualified to speak
expertly on the subject. Their view, their firm
faith-as expressed by General Marshall General
Bradley, the Joint Chiefs of staff General Eisen-
hover and numerous others-is simply this: That
the free European countries can be held against
a Russian attack if no effort is spared to
build up adequate defensive forces The as
sumption here-a sound one-is that such forces
(including six American divisions) will deter
the Krenlin from aggression, will be able to
take care of themselves under almost any con-
ditions" if the Russians attack, and will play
a vital role-along with air and sea power-in
insuring ultimate victory.
It is true enough that these projected forces
will not exist in full strength for the next two
or three years and that the Soviet Union, If 1t
strikes in the meantime, can take over Western
Europe. But there is at least some reason to
believe that our atomic superiority and strategic
bombing power will keep the Russians from
making any such move and that we and our
Atlantic allies will therefore be able to bring into
being defensive army sufficiently formidable to
discourage the Kremlin from aggression. That
is why Congress should steer clear of any re-
striction seriously interfering with General Esen-
howers task. The task is great and promising
one If it is carried through to completion, it
will leave the free world in far better position
than it is today to cope with the clay-footed
"supermen" behind the Iron Curtain.