Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-04
BY FRED THERoUx

The Big Three alliance of Brit
ain, France and the United States,
born of the post-World War II
policies Of the Soviet Union, last
week was shaken to its foundations
by the joint British French military
action against Egypt.
1t is too early to say the alliance
has been shattered; the cold reali-
ties of world politics would seem to
rule out any such possibility so long
as the expansion of Communist i'm
perialism is the overwhelming fac
ter in world affairs.
But the unity of the free world,
built on the basic concert of interest
shared by the United States, Brit
ain and France has been shown to
be far less than perfect. Already in
the past few days the United States
and the Soviet Union have been seen
voting together in the Security
Council Of the United Nations. The
General Assembly emergency ses-
sion, called by U. N. Secretary Gen.
eral Dag HammarSkjold after the
British and French vetoed U. N. &C
ton on Egypt in the Security Coun-
Gil. cemented the strange agree
ment.
On the basis of the Big Three al
lance was built the North Atlantic
Pact. the NATO relied upon to stem
the westward advance of the Soviet
drive. Although there have been
occasions of disagreement in the
past few years among the three
powers, at no time have they been
serious enough to cast doubt on the
stability fthe alliance as the key
to the fere worlds defenses against
the Communist threat.
Crystollized BY Churchill
The genesis of the working unity
OF the Big Three in postwar in
ternational politics was crystallized
by Winston Churchill in 1916 at
Fulton, Mo-, when Britain's war
leader, in a commencement speech
to an audience that included Presi-
dent Harry S. Truman, declared:
From Stettin in the Baltic to
Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron cur
tain has descended across the con-
tinent. Behind that line lie all
the capitals of the ancient states
OF Central and Eastern Europe"
When the doughty British leader
made that statement there were
protests from many quarters in the
West, and bitter denials from the
Communist world. Mr.. Churchill
was labeled a 'warmonger"; only
the most dedicated of anti-Com-
munists at the time were eager to
accept the old statesman's appraisal
of realities.
But events quickly confirmed his
blunt description. Soon the war
time Big Four-including the So
Wet Union--Was but a memory.
And as 1t grew clearer and clearer
that the Soviet blueprint for the
postwar world showed no struc-
ture Of cooperation, or even space
for co-exiStence-between East and
West, the necessity for a commu-
nifty of purpose and of action among
the three leading nations Of the
West became starkly apparent.
Thus the Big Three became the
bulwark of the Communist
nations against the seemingly over
whelming tides Of Russian expan-
sion.
That the Big Three succeeded at
last in stemming the headlong
drive of Communist designs has
long been certain. 1t created the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) and encouraged the slow.
steady growth of realization that
a community of peril demanded a
community Of interest.
But the Big Three was never,
within itself. a harmony trio. There
have been strains and more strains,