Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-06-06
SeIf-Doubf Grips US.
In Spite Of Advances,
Stevenson Lamenfs
By the Associated Press

ov inc ASsOGtoI0o TTWss
NEW YORK, June 5.-Adlai
E. Stevenson said today o
"rattled" America suffers q ma
tional neuroSis" Of self-doubt
and, despite all 1t has accomp-
hshed:
1.-The horror of our time In
history is that things are worse
than ever before. There is no
peace; we are besieged and we
are ratified"
The 1852 Democratic presiden-
tial candidate said the struggle
is between the humanistic ira
dition of the Western culture"
and the new pagan religions"
of the dictators.
Perhaps" he said, 1--WE are
even passing through one of the
great crises of history. when man
must make another might
choice"
Mr.. Stevenson addressed o
Columbia University bicentennial
conference. President EiSen-
hover spoke before another phase
of the celebration last Monday.
Moral Vacuum Within
THAT we are not invulnerable,
that there is a moral and human
vacuum within us is, think,
demonstrated by many Symp-
toms, of which McCarthyism-
which has succeeded in frighten-
ing so many-is only one" Mr..
Stevenson said.
In some respects Mr.. Steven
son echoed President EiSen-
hower's words. The President
had praised the role Of the
university in American life and
had spoken out against those
who would impose thought con-
troll" on the nation. -.--
Mr.. Stevenson said:
I'VE must see to it that no
one, for whatever reason or in
the service of whatever interest,
divertS the university from its
basic objective -.
Men may be born free; they
cannot be born wise; and it is
the duty of the university to
make free men wise. The uni
versity is the guardian of our
heritage"
Disturbed by MiStruSt.
Mr.. Stevenson said he has
been disturbed by a chorus "of
irrational criticism, abuse and
mistrust of America" at home
and abroad.
why" he asked, shave we of
late acted as though the whole
of this Nation is a security risk?"
He said it is not merely at.
tackS on academic freedom, the
pressure for conformity, our
failures in the field of foreign
affairs, or the present wretched
manifestations in Washington
Of our national neuroSiS."
Rather" he said, IT am talk
ing about malice, distemper, and
the new fashion of being cynical,
sarcastic and Skeptical about
America, or about fellow Ameri-
cans in large groups
Whats the matter with us,
anyhow? The usual diagnosis is
ignorance and fear
But wonder if all these
alarming concerns are not Amer
ica's surface symptoms of some
thing deeper, of a moral and
human crisis in the Western
world
Accents Underlying Crisis.
Since man cannot live by
bread alone, is not the under
lying crisis whether he is going
to be inspired and motivated
again by the ideas of the hui
manistic tradition of the west
ern culture. or whether he falls
for the new pagan religions, the
worship of the State and a
leader. as millions of believers
in the Fascist or Soviet systems
have already done?"
The plain truth, Mr.. Steven
son said, is that Americans have
written the greatest success
story in human history"
1--WE here in America have in
a few years made socialism OBJ
Solete," he said, land shown
communism to be a noisome,
Stagnant pool of reaction, a
breeding ground for all the dis
eases of violence, slavery, and
spiritual suffocation that man
has spent millennia trying to
escape"
Mr.. Stevenson's speech was
televised nationally.