Evening star., 1952-03-07
"A Fearful Responsibility

very carefully and very soberly By any senator
or Representative any citizen at large who
favors making drastic cuts III the funds re-
quested for our foreign military and economic
aid. There has been growing sentiment to that
end. but the people who share the sentiment
had better think twice about It. I'm terms Of the
hard realities still confronting this Nation and
the rest Of the free world vis-a-viss the threat
OF internal and external Soviet aggression.
That global threat continues to be very real,
and the President Is right In declaring that
"history has thrust fearful responsibility upon
the United States In leading the effort to cope
with ia responsibility that he has effectively
summed up by saying that "the survival Of
freedom and civilization on this earth may
depend on the initiative and decisions taken in
our own Nations Capital" He Is right, too, In
asserting that we cannot-as matter Of COM
mon sanity. as matter OF serving our own
best interests-turn our backs on our friends
and Allies abroad. For It is true that our aid
to them is aid to ourselves, and not simply
charity" or handouts which we can carelessly
offer or withdraw without regard to the effect
on our own safety"
Actually, in evaluating the need for such
aid. what we have got to keep In mind as the
President has said. is this fact: "The problems
Of American survival would be multiplied to an
incalculable extent II we had to face the Soviet
threat without the support and assistance of
other nations" Thus. without the cooperation
Of those nations, without their armed forces
without the bases on their soil, without access
to their raw materials which are vital to our
peacetime economy and military preparedness
our defensive power would be grayely hampered.
Further than that the menace of aggression
would move close to our own shores, and the
aAnykS
and alone in an encircling hostile world, would
have to convert itself into dictatorial garrison
state In desperate attempt to preserve itself
against a Red totalitarian assault from both
Europe and Asia.
It is because Of these and similar considera-
tions (hiS message must be read in full for
proper understanding Of all the factors In
volved) that the President has called upon Con-
greSs to approve an outlay Of $7.9 billion for
the Mutual Security Program in the fiscal year
ending June so. 1858. OF this sum, the great
bulk-$58 billion-would 60 to our Allies In
Europe in the form OF direct military aid and
defense support" Of a type designed to step
up their own rearmament output. The ball
ance-a bit more than 50 billion-would be
mixture of direct military aid and economic and
technical assistance, and It would 60 to the
Near East ,(including Greece and Turkey,
Africa, Asia, the Pacific area and Latin America
As with current expenditures along the same
lines, the objective Of these funds would be to
maintain the timetable OF the free worlds
progressive build-up in defenses against aggres-
sion.
In asking for all this, the President quite
obviously has asked for great deal, but he has
argued well for It. OF course. his thesis Is by no
means unassailable at every point. and there are
many In Congress ready-as they should be-to
dispute it and subject its figures to the closest
scrutiny. On the whole, however, it is persua-
sive enough to indicate that drastic cuts would
be against our own best interests, not to mem
ton the interests of our Allies. At any rate,
wholly apart from the possibility Of reasonable
economies, Mr.. Truman has made out powerful
case for the proposition that continuation Of
the Mutual Security Program, on strong basis,
Is Of paramount Importance to our national
safety and indispensable to the common en-
deavor to check and eventually throw back the
Red tide.
Clearly. to slash into this program with q
meat ak would be to threaten all the progress
that has been made thus far-particularly in
the Atlantic community-in the effort to de-
velop our allied strength to a point where
"even the most foolhardy man in the Kremlin
will not dare to risk open attack" The Presi-
dents words are SOLDERING on that score. Ger
tainly, IL the Nation has fearful RESPONSE
bility" of leadership in these times-as it has
Congress has an equally fearful responsibility
to make sure that that leadership does not dis
integrate for want Of imperatively needed funds.