Evening star., 1954-04-20
The Political Mill
Administration Works
To Stuy out Of New War
II U. S. Goes Into lndo-C Chino
All-Out Fight Is Likely
The Political Mill
By Gould Lincoln
What price the Korean war?

By Gould Lincoln
What price the Korean war?
1t was fought-and mostly by the
United StateS-to check further Com
munist advances in Asia. And having
kept South Korea from being overrun.
are the United States and its allied
free nations going to acquieSce in q
Communist victory in Indo-C China, q
victory which could we'll be the fore
runner of Communist conquest of all
the rest of Southeast Asia, and even
tually India and Pakistan?.
Obviously, the policy of the Eisen-
hover administration is to prevent
such an event, with its disastrous
connotatiorS for the free world. Just
as obviously, the President. Secretary
of State Dulles, Vice President Nixon
and Senator Knowland of California,
Republican leader of the Senate. have
sought in recent speeches and state
ments to impress upon the American
people the need for preventing this
advance of the Communists and at
the same time to warn the Red Chinese
and the men in the Kremlin that the
Korean type of Red Chinese aggres-
sion will not be tolerated. but will
meet resistance Further, the warn
ing to the people of Red China has been
that if it persists, there will be no
sanctuary for them-as was permitted
above the Yalu River in the Korean
war.
Conditioning the Country.
Intervention by this country in the
Indo-Chinese conflict is unwanted by
Americans. from the President down.
They hope it will be unnecessary. But
that will not prevent the President and
other high administration officials from
conditioning the country to the need
for resistance if the Red Chinese pour
forces into Indo-China. This does not
mean the President would or should
announce that this country will use its
armed forces, although he is already
being pressed for Statement-partic-
ularly as to whether he contemplates
the use of land forces in Indo-China.
In the first place, he hopes to avoid
war there. He and Secretary Dulles. ap-
parently, are convinced that if they tell
the Red Chinese and Soviet Russia
often enough and firmly enough that
an expanded war in Indo-China will
mean eventual disaster for them, there
will be no expanded war.
The President will receive strong sup
port for his Indo-China policy in Con-
gress. Indeed, he has it already, not
withStanding criticisms which have
come from some Senators and Repre-
sentatives charging him with bringing
the country to the brink of war. Those
who support the President are saying,
first, that we must encourage the
French to hold on firmly in Indo-China;
second, we must persuade the French
to promise independence to the ASSo-
ciated States of Indo-China at some
fixed date, either within or outside the
French Union; and third, that we must
help bring about a united front of al
lied nations, particularly those in the
Southeast Asia area, to resist further
Communist aggression.
The French have borne the brunt of
the fighting in Indo-China for nearly
eight years. Without the willing assist
ance of the VietnameSe-the anti-Com-
munist natives-they have to fight an
uphill battle. A promise of freedom to
these people, and their training for
armed resistance, would change the pic
ture enormously.
All or Nothing.
Generally speaking, the members OF
Congress who take this position declare
themselves in favor of throwing every
thing" at the Communists if we are
eventually involved in the fighting in
Indo-China. Senator Smathers, Demo-
crat, of Florida and Senator Cooper,
Republican, of Kentucky have made
typical comments to that effect. So
have Senator Knowland and Senator
Flanders, Republican, of Vermont.
Secretary of State Dulles has made
important strides toward gaining the
acquiescence of France and Britain, and
other free nations, in warning to Red
China to watch her step in Indo-China.
President EiSenhower'S recent state
ment to the French government that
American troops will be kept in Europe
as long as the present Communist
threat persists was not made idly. 1t
was calculated to encourage the French
and other nations in that area, at a
time prior to the Geneva Conference,
which opens next week, at which a
Korean peace and the Indo-China situ-
alton are to be discussed. The United
States will go into that conference with
a determination not to agree to ap-
peasement of the Chinese Reds or So
Wet Russia. To suggestions from French
and British sources that this Govern
ment be realistic" in its approach to
the problems at issue, the administra-
ton virtually replies that it is far more
realistic than appeasement. 1t points to
the fact that the war in Korea-al-
though it saved South Korea-has not
changed the Communist plans for world
domination. And it recites the stepped
UP Communist attacks in Indo-China