Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-26
Popular Front Pressures

Popular Front Pressures
In addition, I fear that in some of the
nations of western Europe, such as
France or Italy. the pressure for So
called popular 'front.' governments will
grow to a point where the Communists
will again hold cabinet seats in coalition
governments as they did just after
World War II.
The Communists now control one
third of the human race Neither the
Roman empire at its greatest, nor Islam
at the height of its expansion, nor any
other system at anv previous time In
history ever controlled such a proper
ton of the worlds population.
The uncOmmitted nations Of Asia and
Africa contain roughly half the worlds
population. If they should slide into the
Communist Orbit-and there Is fright
ening likelihood that unless we in the
United States adoDt much holder, more
understanding and more IMAGINATIVE for
eign policy manv of them will-then the
Communists would control about five
sixths Of the population of the world.
But what is even more important than
mere population totals is the fact that
the Communists would then control the
sources of many of those minerals and
raw materials which are vital to the
functioning of the free worlds industrial
economy.
If that should come to pass, possibly
or even probably. some Of the countries
now a part of the so-called free world
would conclude that they had better
come to terms with the Communists 1t
is even conceivable that T. S. Eliot's
phrase about the end of the world COM
ing not with bang but with whimper
might be prophetic.
Danger of Complacency
hope / am much too pessimistic,
but fear that unless the American peo-
pie become far better informed upon
the realities of international affairs, the
United States will not do the things
that are necessary to reduce or avert
the possibility of the Communists abb
sorbing so much more of the globe as
to lead to possible future disaster. We
are, | think, in danger of becoming too
complacent about the long-term Com
munist threat, simply because there is
no hot war raging today.
express no opinion as to how long
it may be before the Communists might
take over most or all the rest of Asia
and most of Africa, unless we take
moves to prevent it, but certainly with
in the lifetimes of most of us here to-
day and possibly in a very few years.
What can we do, you ask, to avert
this calamity?
The first part of the answer is to
find some way to educate the American
people as to the potential future danger
in the existing international situation,
so that an informed public opinion will
induce the congress and the executive
branch of the government to do certain
things that they are not now doing
either because they are themselves un-
informed as to the urgency of the stu
alton or because they think the public.
that is the voters, would not approve
We should promptly adopt a much
larger and far more imaginative proc
gram of foreign economic aid-not mill
tary aid-to help raise the productivity
and standards of living of the poverty
stricken countries of Asia, most all of
whom have just emerged from colonial
ism. | do not think President Eisen-
hover asked the congress for as much
money for foreign economic aid as he
should have asked, but | suspect he
asked for the maximum he thought the
congress would conceivably appropri-
ate, and it now appears that congress is
going to approve only part of what
he requested
believe we could reduce our foreign
military aid expenditures by an amount
approximately equivalent to what we
should add to our foreign economic aid.
am in general agreement with the con-
gressional belief that the amount Of for
eign military aid that the administration
requested Is larger than necessary but