Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1952-01-29
M. Hoover on NATO

On hLneIlCaH nlAuGaEy polcy, has SPOKEN WIFI
considerable eloquence and obvious sincerity.
BY his own admission, however, he has done
little more than repeat his past contentious in
an effort to revive the so-called "great debate"
over stationing six divisions of our troops in
Europe. What he has called for is "recalcula-
ton" Of the risks the Nation has undertaken
in connection with the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, but his arguments against those
risks have not increased in responsiveness or
grown less defeatist, with the passage Of time.
Thus, as in his testimony before the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee last February, Mr..
Hoover has come out once again in favor of
defense policy concentrated on the Gibraltar"
of the Western Hemisphere. Under this policy,
in cooperation with Britain, the United States
would continue to expand its strength at sea
and in the sky. At the same time to stop
dangerously overStraining" its economy, it
would ultimately" reduce its ground armies to
"the force necessary to protect our homeland
and our essential air bases outside of European
NATO countries" Further he would make it
Enthusiastically clear to our Atlantic Allies that
we will send no more troops over there and that
we expect them to relieve us as rapidly as pos
sible Of our present SUBDIVISION commitment.
In other words, it would be up to them to supply
all the land power against a possible Soviet
onslaught, while we supplied full naval and
aerial support, plus aid in the form of munitions
Mr. Hoover would take this course for numer-
Gus reasons, including the following: ID Our
friends misunderstanding Britain-are behind
schedule in building up their forces. (2) They
have been holding back because many of them
believe-perhaps rightly-that the Kremlin does
not intend to attack them, lpreferring Asian
aggression and fearing that any Western attack
would be crushed in the end by our sea and air
power 80 Along with the Communists, the
Socialists among our Allies have been obstructing
preparedness and spreading the belief that we
are trying to convert free Europeans into
American cannon fodder" ~ General Eisen-
howers prospective NATO army of go divisions
will never be able to stop Russia's 800 divisions
which "for several years to come" will be able
to drive clear to the English Channel within a
period of two months. And (5) in the event
of an all-out war our Navy and big strategic
bombers could be counted upon to defeat the
Soviets,. and in due course our friends would be
CELEBRATED" #
The basic trouble with Mr.. Hoover's thesis
is that it is essentially as defeatst as the views
that he and others once expressed about the
hopelesSness of trying to stop Hitler. More
specifically wholly apart from errors like his
grossly unjust comment on the SocialistS-who
have been among the strongest supporters of the
Atlantic Pact-the thesis ignores the fact that
our Allies, even If they have been tagging in
their effort, have really begun to strive hard
for defense build-up, are desperately anxious
to gather the strength needed to cope with the
Red threat, and naturally want to prevent
situation in which they would have to be
liberated" after being overrun and devastated
Beyond that, although NATO preparations may
be behind schedule, the thesis does not mention
that steady progress is being made, that the
presence of our divisions is of utmost Importance
to such progress, and that within few years
the allied land force overwhelmingly European
should be strong enough to make Communist
attack highly improbable.
Above all, nothing could be more illusory
at this stage than hemisphere defense ready
to let Europe and Asia go by default in way
that could readily isolate the Nation and leave
it wide open to assault from every side. This
point is self-evident. It underies every decision
made in the commitment of money and troops
for European defense. The risks involved, of
course, call for constant Rehabilitation" but not
the kind of Rehabilitation" that would have us
abandon some of the basic steps that must be
taken now if the free world is to prevent
global war, or win it if prevention proves i'm
possible. To say the least, Mr. Hoover's debate
revival idea is hard to reconcile with his earnest
hope that General Eisenhower will succeed in
making the NATO alliance powerful force for
peace.