Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-03-23
Eisenhower Urges Big a Talks
After Paris Pacts Are Ratified;
Opposes Politics on Ya|ta Data
Sees No Reason
To Try to Prove
Someone Erred

President Eisenhower made it
clear today that he does not
! think the Yalta conference of
1945 should be a political foot
ball in 1855.
| The President said he sees
nothing to be gained by trying
to prove now whether some one
was wrong or right at Yalta 10
years ago.
He told a news conference the
! Yalta conference documents
should be studied dispassion-
ately for the lessons that might
be learned from any mistakes
made there, but urged against
any use of the documents just
to thy to damage regulations.
Careful Editing Urged
Mr.. Eisenhower also empha-
sized his belief that in publish
ing such documents this Gov
eminent should be exceedingly
careful to see that the publica-
ton included only essential mat
tiers and not what he called
casual conversation.
His news conference remarks
seemed aimed at putting a
damper on plans of some Repub-
lican leaders to try to make
political capital out of the Yalta
conference papers by pointing
up what they allege were mis-
takes by the late President
Roosevelt in making concessions
to Russia at that 1945 con-
ference.
The Presidents comments also
gave the impression that the
President did not entirely ap-
prove of the way the American
documents relating to the Yalta
conference were released for
publication by the State Depart
ment last week, although he did
, not say directly whether he ap-
proved or disapproved.
Source of Criticism
| Much of the criticism in Great
Britain, France and other coun-
tries of the publication of the
documents has been directed at
portions which seem to come
under the category of casual con-
versation which Mr.. Eisenhower
said should not be included in
such publications.
While he earnestly believes
that all essential documents
pertaining to such important
matters as the Yalta conference
should be published, the Presi-
dent said, casual conversation
should be carefully screened out,
especially when the good faith
of an ally is involved.
| While there was some differ
ence of opinion with the British
about the American publication
of the Yalta papers, he said he
did not believe there was any
breach of good faith in this in
stance.
He also told questioner that
he would hope that the publica-
ton would not cramp the style
of diplomats in future interna-
tional conferences.
Can't Re- Create Atmosphere.
In saying nothing is to be
gained by going back 10 years to
try to show whether someone
was wrong or right at Yalta, Mr..
Eisenhower said the people who
think that can be done forget
that you never can recapture the
atmosphere of wartime.
In this connection, he recalled
that one of his most difficult de-
clsions as commander of the
Western Allied forces in World
War II was that of directing
the capture of the tiny Italian
islnad of Pantelleria as a prel-
ude to the invasion of Sicily.
1t the fears of the pessimists
about that operation had been
realized, Mr.. Eisenhower said, he
would have been relieved of COM
mand. But the operation came
off successfully.
| His point was that you never
could tell at the moment of such
a decision how it would turn out
in history.
Doesn't Question Motives
Asked if he believed the Amer
lean participants at Yalta acted
honestly in good faith, the Presi-
dent said he could not question
the motives of anyone who took
part in that conference when he
himself was not there, even
though he might disagree with
their actions.
A reporter inquired if MIR.
Eisenhower recalled whether at
the time of the Yalta con-
ference he had any opinion of
(See YALTA, Page A-6)