Evening star., 1955-05-11
At the Summit'-f

AS President Eisenhower has re-
affirmed to the Republican Women's Con-
ference, he stands ready to do anything,
meet with anyone anywhere, if there is
the slightest chance of furthering peace"
And it is in keeping with that view-which
he has eloquently expressed on other
occasions in the paSt-that the United
States has joined with France and Britain
in inviting the Soviet Union to participate
during this coming summer in an "at-the-
summit" Big Four get-together designed
as IAN effort to remove sources of conflict
between U.S."
1t is easy, of course, to be cynical about
this projected meeting. One may suggest,
for example, that the President has as
sented to the idea partly because it will be
helpful to Prime Minister Eden in the
forthcoming British national elections.
One may suggest, too, that Anglo French
pressureS are primarily responsible for Mr..
EiSenhower'S Willingness to enter upon
such conference despite the fact that
there is much reason to wonder whether
the heads of the Western Big Three gov
ernmentS can accomplish anything of
value in talks with Soviet Premier Bull
ganin whose actual power and influence
in Russia are still conjectural at best
But cynicism is poor and sterile mood
in the context of current events What
ever the cause, something has happened
in recent weeks to change the climate of
the international situation There is
f1uX now, marked tidal movement in the
affairs of nations, that was not discernible
earlier this year. The world seemed frozen
then in mold of uncompromiSing hoStil-
ity, but what we have today is the appear
ance of at least mild thaw in the cold
war. And in such circumstances there is
ample justification for the Presidents view,
as expressed at q news conference not
many days ago, that "there is no place on
this earth to which I would not travel,
there is no chore would not undertake,
If had the faintest hope that, by so doing,
would promote the general cause of world
peace"
Presumably, it is because of that
'faintest hope" that the PreSident-acting
through Secretary of States Dulles in Paris
has agreed to take part in a Big Four
conference at the highest level "if it seems
feasible and useful that such a meeting
be held" The "if' here is a very large
one-large enough, as loophole, to per-
NIT him to retreat gracefully from the pro-
posed venture in case the Soviet attitude
turns out to be unsatisfactory. But that
is something that remains to be seen. At
the moment, as far as Mr. Eisenhower is
concerned, the meeting can and will be
held-as a brief, direction-giving prelude
to deflnitive session of the foreign min
isters-if the Kremlin is really willing to
be reasonable participant.
All this, it is true, may expose our
country to some pitfalls. Nevertheless,
since great part of the free world is
emotionally eager for Big Four meeting
"at the summit" the President could
hardly have vetoed the project without
seeming to be uncompromising at time
when the Soviet Union conceivably may
be prepared to work out genuine live
and-let-live understanding. Certainly, in
undertaking to explore that possibility at
the heads-of- government level, the United
States is not going to hurt itself On the
contrary, it may we'll succeed in improving
the prospect for peace.
H. n cIeE