Evening star., 1951-02-11
Recalls 7. R. S Views
Of Russians in 1905
Writer Cites 10Th President
On Muscovite Treochey
By Fronk r. Kent


BY Fronk R. Kent
Not long ago. Herbert Hoover spoke Of
the recognition of Russia by the United
States in the Roosevelt administration 18
years ago as basic mistake. He pointed
out that four Presidents prior to Mr..
Roosevelt (Hoover. Coolidge. Harding,
Wilson, had steadfastly held Russian
recognition to be unwise.
What Mr. Hoover did not point out. but
what is equally true, was that though
Franklin Roosevelts predecessors had
considered the Soviet leaders unworthy
OF trust and their objectives such as we
could not decently countenance the
Roosevelt recognition went far beyond
formal recognition. From a position
where we viewed the Russian rulers with
a dlstrust bordering on adherence and
regarded them as extremely unpleasant
and sinister characters, we suddenly
shifted to position where they became
not only friends but brothers.
AS our first Ambassador to Soviet
Russia. Mr.. Roosevelt sent his friend.
William c. Bullitt, then very strongly
pro-Soviet. However. it did not take
the fortnight and discerning Mr.. Bullitt
very long to become disillusioned Before
ne had been in Moscow six months he
saw through the Kremlin hypocrisy.
realizing that the Soviet ruling group
was not composed of men of good will:
that their promises were not to be relied
upon and their ethics as low as their
goals were preposterous. Nor did it take
MIN long to realize that they had sur
rounded him with spies and infornlers,
He got out when he decently could, was
transferred to France, where he re-
malned as Ambassador through the try.
ing days before we got into the war.
After the So-called peace came, Mr..
Bullltt wrote perhaps the most devastat-
ing indictments of the Russian creed,
character, objectives and methods that
mas been published. His book was yio-
lently denounced by the professional
liberals and left-wingers generally.
For, 1t was then-and continued to be
Tor some years Observation-Disclosures
in the White House and the Administra-
ton generally to be pro- Communist.
Now. OF course. the change has been
almost complete. Now, of course. de.
nunclatlons of the Soviet rulers. fully
equal In vigor to those of Mr.. Bullitt,
come from all administration quarters.
including the White House There are
still some Communists in the Govern
ment, but they are pretty carefully COW
ereo up and it is no longer regarded
as smart to be pro-Soviet-quite the re.
verse. II is Interesting to note how COM
pletely the administration has swung
around to the Bullitt point of view-and
even more interesting to note that the
swing was not voluntary. The Alger Hiss
exposure by Whitaker Chambers, the
conviction OF IL Communists in New
York. the Remington case and even the
Mccarthy charges eXerted pressure and
stirred up sentiment that could not
be resisted.
In this connection, it seems worth
while to point out that long before the
true character of the present Soviet rul-
ers were revealed or their capacity for
treachery and untruth even suspected ex-
cept by few, there was a man in the
White House who clear -headedly voiced a
view that is as applicable to the Russian
rulers OF today as it was to the Russian
rulers OF his day-to wit. Theodore Roose-
welt. On May 13, 1865 year after he
had been elected President-that Roose-
velt wrote to the British historian, Sir
George Otto Trevelyan, letter in which
eaA0 AoAoW1lS SCuCcIlCG OCCuTreQ. i ike
the Russian people but abhor the Rus
sian system of government and cannot
trust the word of those at the head"
And on June of the same year, he
wrote to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge,
grandfather of the present Senator Lodge.
as follows: 'Of course, if the Russians
go on as they have gone ever since have
been President, they are hopeless crea-
lures with which to deal. They are ut
terly insincere and treacherous: they have
no conception of truth. no willingness to
look facts in the face, no regard for 9TH
ers OF any sort or kind no knowledge of
their own strength or weakness; and
they are helplessly unable to meet emer-
gencies." 1t is true these expressions,
recorded in the Theodore Roosevelt Cy-
clopedia, occurred before the Russian
Revolution and years before the present
Soviet leaders were heard of. But few
will doubt that Theodore RooSevelts view
of 1905 would have been even STRONGER in
1884 and 1851. All the Russian people
did was change one set of dictatorS for
another set even more brutal and treach-
erous.