Evening star., 1952-02-14
Senator Taft: stroteqist

When man takes to the hustings In bid
for the biggest political prize OF them all, 1t is
not to be expected that he will weigh and
measure every word that he utters. He Is apt
to tell particular audience what he thinks It
wants to hear, and In Seattle as Senator Taft
well knows, the traditional concern Of the voters
has to do with the threat from Asia. @
Even when the fullest allowance is made
for these considerations, however, the strategic
plan which the Ohio Senator unveiled In Seattle
is bit on the startling side.
He would begin, If elected President by firing
the Joint Chiefs of Stan, In whose Judgment he
says he has no confidence. He implied that he
would put his trust in the judgment of General
Macarthur, adding the singular comment:
Better an army of goats led by lion than an
army of lions led by goat"
The trouble with this, of course, is that
Senator Taft, even II elected, could not dismiss
the Joint Chiefs for another year. And much
can happen in the course of year.
Senator Taft is afraid that one OF the things
that might happen is that Stain will seize all
Asia and build up such massive strength that
he will ATTEMPT finally an assault on the United
States. And he thinks that the only way to
stop this is to the Chinese Nationalist troops
on Formosa and let them invade China.
This is a strategy that rests on some highly
dubious assumptions. One Is that Chang Kali
shek's troops, as Senator Taft put it, are imbued
with a burning desire" to attack the Comnnu-
nists II this is true that burning desire to tight
was not much in evidence when the general
issimo, with vastly larger forces than he has
now, was defeated and driven out Of China by
the Communists.
Another highly dubious assumption is that
Chiang's $4,000 ground combat troops, to use
Senator Tafts figure, would be match for the
forces that the Chinese Communists and per-
haps the Russians would throw against them.
Presumably we could arm Chiang's troops and
transport them to China. But If Senator Taft
has any reason to believe that this relatively
small force could defeat the massive Commu-
mist armies he did not set it forth in the Seattle
speech.
This matter might be pursued a step fur
ther Suppose Senator Taft's advice should be
taken. The Chinese Nationalists are armed
by us and put into China. What happens then
If it should be shown that they will not fight
the Communists or, If willing to fight, that they
are no match for the Communists?
Senator Taft says that his plan offers the
only hope Of stopping Stain from seizing ali
Asia and eventually assaulting the United States
It that is the case, then logic suggests that
in addition to equipping the Nationalists to fight
the Communists we should be prepared to take
such additional steps as may be necessary to
insure their victory and prevent the seizure of
Asia by Stain. One such step might well be to
raise and send q powerful American ground
force into China to support the Nationalists.
Would Senator Taft be willing to take that
step? He probably would not, and certainly no
military man. including General Macarthur,
advocates it.
The effect Of this Is merely to illustrate
the point that military strategy cannot be
formulated in political speeches. It would be
nice II we could simply arm the Nationalist
troops and then leave to them the job of de-
Tending Asia against the Communists. It is
suggestion that sounds good from political
platform. But it is completely unrealistic, and
Senator Taft must know it. There may arise
situations in which the Nationalist troops, in
military sense, can be armed and used to good
advantage. But we ought not to delude our
selves into thinking that they can fight and
win the battle Of Asia for us.