Evening star., 1953-04-17
Plain and Cruel Truths

1t is poSSible-juSt posSible-that Dwight D.
Eisenhower has voiced the appeal for peace
which will reverse the "black tide of events"
which is carrying this world down to ruin
The time is ripe. New men have moved
into the place of power in the Kremlin. They
are not irrevocably bound to the policies of the
past Their future, Russia's future, and, cor
respondingly, the worlds future, is, as the
President said, for them to shape.
General Eisenhower made the most of the
opportunity which this situation presents. His
address to the American Society of Newspaper
Editors, his first major foreign policy speech
since assuming office, was a powerful and
persuasive appeal for peace. It may not move
Mr. Malenkov and his associates. But it will
strike a deeply responsive chord in the hearts
of men around the world
For while it was not peace-at-any price
speech, it presented the case for peace with
unansWerable logic.
The course of Soviet conduct President
Eisenhower said, has "instilled in the free ma
tions-and let none doubt this-the unshakeable
conviction that as long as there persists
threat to freedom, they must, at any cost,
remain armed, strong and ready for any risk
of war" That was the clear warning to those
who may be toying with thoughts of aggression.
But this was not the main theme of the address.
The world, General Eisenhower said, can
turn back from this course that is leading to
choice between atomic war at the worst, and, at
best, to life of perpetual fear and tension,
with all of its armament burdens and waste.
We need not, to use two of his illustrations,
continue to invest the cost of 80 modern schools
in single heavy bomber, nor need we con-
tinue to spend the equivalent of the cost of
half million bushels of wheat for single,
fighter plane. The hour is late, but there is
still chance for hungry needy world to
know better life. There is still hope that the
energies of mankind may be applied, not to
human slaughter, but to war upon "the brute
forces of poverty and need"
No doors were slammed shut by General
Eisenhower Despite the hostile manifestations
of the Soviet Union, one thing, he said, has
remained unaffected: The readiness of the
free nations to welcome sincerely any genuine
evidence of peaceful purpose enabling all peo-
Piles again to resume their common quest of
just peace"
The President spelled out in some detail
the things that could be done by Russia which
would be construed as evidencing a sincere
desire for peace. He also spelled out in con-
siderable detail the things we would be ready
to do if the Russians really want-and show
that they want-a just peace Not the least
OF these, certainly, was his pledge that this
Government is ready to ask it's people to join
with all nations in devoting a substantial per-
centage of the savings achieved by disarmament
to fund for world aid and reconstruction.
Perhaps all this has been in vain. The
Russian leaders may prefer war or the threat
of war to the bright promise of real peace.
Still, it was an appeal that should have been
made, and General Eisenhower has made it in
Statesmanlike terms that stand in singular
contrast to the petty pickering, the fear, the
small hates and the suspicious which some
times seem to be the order of our day. If the
men in the Kremlin turn away from this offer,
all people who can be reached by the truth will
at least know that another bid for peace in
stead of war has been made. And, for such
small comfort as it may provide, they will also
know, If the worst comes, that it was Russia,
and not the United States, which pronounced
the death sentence on our civilization.