Milford chronicle., 1952-02-29

" has enabled our people to in
fare and their spiritual freedom.
spired by the motive Of raising the
standard Of living Of millions
throughout the world, because that
is utterly beyond our capacity.
We hear a great deal Of argument
that If we do not deliberately, as
part Of a world welfare program,
contribute to the raising Of stand
ards Of living Of peoples with low
income they viii turn Communist
and go to war against us. Apart from
such emergency situations as justi-
fled the Marshall Plan, following
World War II, see no evidence
that this Is true. Recent wars have
not been started by poverty-strick-
en- peoples, as in China or India. but
by prosperous peoples. as in a Ger
many led by dictators.
Moral Leadership
There are a good many Americans
who talk about an American CEN
tury in which America win DOM
mate the world. They rightly point
out that the United States is so
powerful today that we should as
sumo a moral leadership ip the
world to solve all the troubles Of
mankind.
/ quite agree that we need that
moral leadership not only abroad
but also at home. We can take the
moral leadership in trying to i'm
prove the international organization
for peace. I think we can take lead.
ership in the providing Of example
and advice for the improvement Of
material standards of living
throughout the world.
If we confine our activities TO the
field of moral leadership we shall
be successful if our philosophy is
sound and appeals to the people Of
the world.
Our active partisanship in World
War II was based on the theory that
a Hitler victory would make Ger
many a serious threat TO the liberty
Of the United States. I did not be-
ieve that Germany would be such
threat, particularly after Hitler
brought Russia into the war. and
that is the reason I opposed the war
policy Of the Administration from
the elections Of 1910 to the attack on
the United States at Pearl Harbor
in December 1941.
! A Russion Thre0f
The more recent measures for
Marshall Plan aid on a globaI scale
and to the extent Of billions Of
dollars Of American taxpayers
money-and the Atlantic Pact arms
program are and must be based on
the theory that Russia today pre-
sents real threat to the security
Of the United States.
The Russian threat has become
so serious today that in defense oi
the liberty and peace Of the people
Of the United States / think we are
justified in extending economic aic
and military aid to many countries
but only when it can be clearly
shown in each case that such aic
will be an effective means Of com.
batting Communist aggression. We
have now felt it necessary in order
to protect the liberty of the United
States against an extraordinary spe'
cial threat to adopt policy which
do not believe should be considered
as part Of any permanent foreign
policy.
/. We have had to set up a much
larger armed force than We have
ever had to do before in time Of
peace, in order to meet the Commu-
mist threat. l believe this effort
should be directed particularly to-
ward a development Of an aU-power-
full air force.
Economic, MilitoY Aid
2. We have had to adopt as a
temporary measure the policy Of
extending economic and military
aid to all those countries which,
with the use Of such aid, can per-
haps prevent the extension Of Rus
sian military power or Russian or
Communist influence. We have
backed that up by announcing def
initely to Russia that If it undertakes
aggression against certain coun-
tries whose independence is impor-
!ant to US it will find itself at war
with US. THIS is a kind Of Monroa
Doctrine for Europe.
3. We have had TO adopt a policy
of military alliances to deter. al
least. the spread Of Communist pow.
er. To control sea and air through.
out the world, the British alliance
is peculiarly important. Again. we
!. hope that With the decline Of Rus
: sian power and the re-estsblishmeni
Of an international organization fol
peace such alliances may be un
necessary.
I opposed that feature Of the At
|. lantic Pact which looked toward {
: commitment Of the United State,
to fight a land war on the con
tinent Of Europe and therefore op
/. posed. except to limited degree
! the commitment Of land troops 4
. Europe.
s NEXT WEEK: The place Of
, the. President and Congress Ia