Milford chronicle., 1953-06-19
TAFT's SPEECH WAS WELL MADE

MisinterpretatiOns and misunderstand-
sings of important news events can and often
do cause great deal of trouble in the world.
A recent and unfortunate example is found
in Senator Taft's Cincinnati speech which
& stirred up something of an international hor-
nets nest. Some commentators, both here
and abroad, said in effect that Mr.. Taft had
T advocated a strongly isOlatiOnist ego it alone"
i foreign policy and had characterized the Uni
( ted Nations as useless, and intimated that he
might have been speaking for the Admins
s tration The uprOar was so great that shortly
thereafter President Eisenhower found it
3 necessary to announce that this country
wants and must have allies, and that the free
world must work closely together against
aggression.
Anyone who gives a close reading to the
fortnight Taft speech will find that the Re
publican leader did not say what some of the
interpreters thought he said. For one thing,
he did not speak for the Administration, nor
did he pretend to. He spoke only for himself
and, as usual, he spoke bluntly and pOintedly
Secondly, he did not suggest that the Uni
ed Nations be jettisoned He said, 81 believe
in the United Nations myself" But he also
observed that it has not turned out to be an
effective means OF preventing aggression
a fact which will be appreciated by anyone
who reads the papers and listens to the radio
Thirdly he did not come out for isOla-
tionism. Senator Taft was once pretty much
! of an iSolatiOnist but the course of history
+. caused him to change his views long ago.
He did point out, however, that the anti-com-
munist alliance in the Far East is in bad
shape and must be repaired and strengthen
ed. Again, this is obvious to anyone who
Z reads or listens.
Perhaps the major virtue of the Taft
8 speech was that it's focus was on some tre-
mendouS problems the western world must
face up to-and on policies which are highly
debatable. A key paragraph in the talk said:
is this policy of uniting the free world
against Communism in time of peace going
to be practical fong-term policy? l have
always been skeptic on the subject of the
military practicability of NATO. / am no
military expert, but ! have never heard an
argument that impressed me attempting to
show that United States ground forces could
effectively defend Europe. l have al
ways felt that we should not attempt to fight
Russia on the ground on the continent of
Europe any more than we should attempt to
fight China on the continent of Asia. have
always felt that defense must be undertaken
by those who occupy Western Europe"
In any event, many of the commentators
think that Senator Taft did a considerable
public service, whether one agrees with his
conclusions or not, by dealing with hard facts
and avoiding wishful thinking. David Law
renee wrote: Though there will rightly be
differences with Senator Taft on certain
points, especially as to the military defense
Of Europe, his main thesis-that we should
face the realism Of our times-is wholesome
and will be helpful in forging a strong alli-
ance. For our allies must Inevitably per-
ceive that their failure to support whole
heartedly the American effort and purpose in
the Far East can be as fatal to the principle
Of collective security in Europe as it has
been in Asia" Dorothy Thompson, in a col
umn given to the Taft talk, made this wise
observation: "To doubt the possibility of
anything that ought to be is anathema in the
present climate of American opinion. But
no nation ever saved itself by closing its
eyes to facts"