Evening star., 1953-12-27
January

EOR THE UNITED STATES-and to
L some extent, for the world-January
was q month Of anticipation. After 20
years Of Democratic rule, the United
States was entering period of Repub-
Hcanism. And while the President who
had been elected so overwhelmingly had
run on a platform not greatly different
from the program being carried out by
the Democrats, there was a feeling that
great changes were in the offing.
The free world had been marking time
since the outset of the previous years
campaigns. Congress, which opened with
slim Republican majorities in both
houses, also marked time. The Truman
administration closed its books January
Is with farewell television address to
the Nation by the outgoing President.
The books of the Eisenhower admins
tration were opened five days later when,
on the steps of the Capitol, the new
President took his oath and spoke for 81
minutes ON his administration plans.
Sigh of Relief
For the non-C Communist world, a sigh
OF relief was in order. The central theme
of the inaugural address was pledge of
continued cooperation and leadership
in the free worlds resistance to commu-
nism. A right-wing newspaper sneered
that the speech could have been written
"at MIR. Truman's order" But more
moderate Americans-an the vast ma
jority of free Europeans and Asians-
applauded.
Even In the opening days of his ad-
miniStration, President Eisenhower found
something missing from the normal
honeymoon atmosphere. Republican Sen
ator Wayne Morse had broken with the
party in protest over the conservative
complexion of the Government. Million
aire Automaker Charles Wilson, nomi-
mated as Secretary of Defense, was told
to sell his General Motors holdings or be
rebuffed by the Senate, without whose
confirmation he could not serve. And
before the month was over, Gen. Eisen-
hover already had run afoul of one of
his oStenSible supporters in the House:
Representative Clare Hoffman of Michi-
gan, who bitterly opposed the new
reorganize the Government.
Silent KremIin
Little was heard from the Kremlin as
the year began. Like the free world, the
slave world seemed to be watching and
waiting for moves from Washington. In
the middle of January, however, the
arrest of nine Soviet doctors Gncluding
f1ve JeWS) caused furry in the West,
where the event was interpreted as a
new outbreak of anti-SemitiSm in a
notoriously anti-Semitic land Few OBJ
servers saw the arrests for what they
were-the first skirmish in a long
struggle that would end on December
% with the execution of Secret Police
Boss Lavrenti Beria as a traitor.
In France, of course, the more things
changed, the more they remained the
same. There was cabinet crisis in Paris
on New Years Day. There would be three
more before the year was out. That
seemed to be the nature of the ailing
Fourth Republic, which continued to
hold pretensionS of world leadership
without really giving evidence of leader
ship capabilities.
In Korea, the war that had been
dragging along for two and half years
persisted. Most activity was in the air
and airmen continued to grippe about
local rules which labeled the airfields of
Manchuria off limits. And as the war
entered its fourth calendar year, the
U. N. forces got their fourth commander,
Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, who succeeded
Gen. James A. Van Fleet. The departing
commander, like others who had fought
the strange war in Korea, would have
harsh things to say when he returned
to the States. Meanwhile, truce talks at
Panmunjom, which began in mid-1951,
continued to be stalled on the issue of
return of prisoners of war.