The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1952-08-28
THE A
WASHINGTON
U. S. Election Influence
IASlaaai5ESTA

1t is probably no accident that the
planners in the Kremlin have chosen
the most hectic of all American
election summers to do some of
their ugliest nose-thumbing.
Election years in the U.S.A. are
always watched most carefully by
those in Europe who have some
thing omiIous to put across.
1t was no accident, for instance,
that Mussolini, Hitler, and Japan
ganged up in the fall of 1936-an
election year-to start unofficial
submarine warfare in the Mediter-
n while Japan was pushing
farther into China. Roosevelt called
a conference in Brussels to try to
stop the laps, but worried politici-
ans, including Cordel Hull, finally
induced him to pull his punches.
1t was also no accident that Hitler
picked the election summer OF 1910
to drive into France and try to take
England. He knew that American
isolationists would do their best to
tie Roosevelt's hand.
Kremlin's Moves
Likewise, it is probably no acct
dent that the Kremlin is making
some of its most telltale moves this
summer-at a time when the Amer
lean public is thinking about the
heat, summer vacations, and who
will be the next President Of the
United States. Here are some of the
moves spurred on my Moscow at
this time:
1. Reported test of the first Rus
sian hydrogen bomb. If this is true,
then the Soviet is ahead of us in de-
veloping the H-bomb. Bruno Ponte-
corvo, who escaped behind the iron
curtain, is reported to be the scien-
fist who developed it. Of course,
these reports could be another part
of the war of nerves. But if true, a
hydrogen bomb in Russian hands
will seriously upset the balance of
military and diplomatic power in
Europe. For nations like to be on
the side of the nation with the great
est power, and so far u atomic
power has been overwhelming.
2. Possibility that Iran will go
Communist. Iranian riots and the
demand that the American arms
mission pack up and leave is no
accident. Of course, incredible State
department and British stupidity
have played right into Russian
hands. But Communist agents, who
now swarm all over Iran, are
rapidly bringing about a situation
where the Shah will have to abdi-
cate, and Iran will fall into Red
hands like a ripe plum.
When that time comes, Commu-
mist influence is bound to march
down through neighboring oil-rich
Iraq, to oil-rich Arabia, to strategic
Egypt and the Suez canal. Thus, the
Soviet by working around Greece
and Turkey, may circumvent the
billions of American money sent
into Greece and Turkey.
3. Frenzied Soviet rearming of
East Germany. This raj spurred on
partly by Jul pushing of a West Eu-
ropean army. 1t is also why thou
sands of German refugees are flee
ing into West Germany. They want
to escape CONSUMPTION into the Red
army. But this rush by Russia to
build up an East German army has
brought great CONSERVATION to 9TH
er Germans regarding the most i'm
portant, farsighted project Europe
has been since 187O-the unity Of
French and German troops under
one flag.
Luck and Stupidity
On top of these, are some other
factors attributable more to bad
luck or American stupidity than to
Soviet ~astuteness. While the men
in the Kremlin can't take credit for
them, they certainly are benefiting
from them. Here they re:
A. The economic illness Of Great
Britain. This goes hand-in-hand with
the split in the labor party and the
increasing strength of the c~ut-loose-
from-America group.
What's happened in England is
exactly what's been happening in
the United States. England now has
an isolationist party. It's somewhat
comparable to the isolationistS led
by Senator Taft and Colonel McCor-
mick, except that, being labor lead
ers, they don't belong to the same
economic strata.
B. The wabbly situation In
France. What most people don't
realize is that American subsidies,
both under the Marshall Plan and
later under the North Atlantic pact,
long have kept middle-of-the-road
leaders of France in power. .
We have long benefited from a
loose alliance between the Catholic
leaders of the middle, the nom
Communist leaders of labor, and
small businessmen of the middle.
The chief factors keeping them to-
gether are fear of communism plus
the fact that the French govern
ment could balance its budget
through subsidies from the United
States. While these have not been
large compared to the total French