Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-12-13
Plea for an Open Mind

Mr.. BulganinS letter to President
Eisenhower may be as phony as a So
r0ble. It may be designed to rock the
shaky NATO boat. And there may be
no specific proposals in it that are new.
Still, there are some things in the letter
that seem TO make sense We hope 1t
is not going to get the circular file
treatment in the State Department.
Essentially, Mr.. Bulganin was argyll
ing against an intenSification Of NATO
military preparations. and particularly
against establishment of balliStic mis-
ale bases in NATo countries. There Is
nothing new about this. And, OF course.
It. may be just an extension of a Krem-
In propaganda line which some people
believe is paving the way for Russian
effort to take over the world There IS
no need at this time to explore this
possibility Umpteen million words have
Seen written in support Of this thesis
III the paSt-and 1t is still a dubious
assumption.
= Let's look at the other side. Mr.
Bulganin says that crucial moment"
has arrived in the development Of the
International situation. This is true.
he also says that the governments OF
the great powers. meaning the United
states, Russia and perhaps Britain. have
Responsibility in shaping future policy
That is particularly great" We believe
that this is true. too
What does Mr.. Bulganin propose?
He says, although perhaps not in so
many words, that the United States
mould not pursue policies which VIII
Simulate the arms race and tend to
$plidify cold war positionS lie urres
that we must accept the situation which
really exists in the world today-a STU
ation in which both capitalist and
socialist states exist-and recognize that
any attempt to change this situation by
force would lead to catastrophe results
Finally, the Soviet Premier delivered
himself Of this interesting paragraph:
The tense and all but hostile charac-
ter that these GSoviet-Americanl relations
assume cannot be justified either polt-
icaly or economically or morally. Absurd
is the very fact that two vast countries
which have everything necessary for their
economic DEVELOPMENT. which have co-op-
Grated repes teddy and with success in the
past and which we are convinced. have
no irreconclable conflict Of interests
today. cannot establish normal relations
between them.
What Mr.. Bulganin says respecting
economics and the noncnnflcti1~ IN
terests is largely true, and we think It
will be a monstrouS absurdity If the
United States and Russia fail to estab-
hsh relationship which will prevent
both countries from stumbling into a
cataclysmic war.
In trying to look at Mr.. Bulganins
side Of this argument, we certainly do
not mean to absolve the Russians of
blame for the deplorable situation which
prevails today They have been guilty,
time and again, of transgressions which
encourage belief that they cannot be
trusted in anything. There is some
hope, however, some evidence, that the
Kremlin's thinking is changing: that
the Russian leaders realize that war is
the worst possible solution of outstand-
ing problems and that other means of !
dealing with them must be found.
II this is the case, or even II this
may be the case, what we appeal for is
an open mind in the United States. We
must not let ourselves become prisoners
Of announcement or a policy, how
ever valid 1t may have been five or ten
years ago. For trite as the saying is,
time does change many things The
hope of this world-the only real hope
that we can see-lieS in finding toler-
able solution Of the major issues which
divide Russia and the United States 1t
Is possible that the Russians are begin
ming to think along this same line. II
80, 1t will be great tragedy, perhaps
the final tragedy, II we should become
20 mired in old policies, so enmeshed in
old patterns Of thinking, that We muf
the golden opportunity.