Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-01-10
Not. the Fading Type

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Ing thing, about the state-of-the- Union
message was the state Of the man who
delivered 1t.
The wordS-and there were some
very good words-may soon be forgot
ten. But the image, the impact Of the
personality which appeared on the tele-
vision screen, made a deep and, one may
hope, lasting impression.
This speech had been billed as a
kind Of supreme test for an ailing Presi-
dent, a President who was thought by
some to be losing his grip and Indicating
the essential responsibilities OF his ONCE.
II this was the case. Mr.. Eisenhower met
the test, and met it very well indeed.
He may be an old soldier, but on the
basis Of yesterdays performance he is
not about to fade away. 1t is something
OF an ordeal for any man to stand up
and speak for as minutes. And there
must have been many who watched anx-
iously for sign Of faltering, some evil
dence that three major illnesses had
taken their toll But 1t didn't happen.
Instead, this was the old Ike" the
cheerful, confident, almost bouncy cam
paigner. II 1t was an act, he ought to
get an Oscar for it.
The speech itself was a down-to-
earth assessment Of our country's situa-
tion-now and in the relatively near flu
ture. No shots were fired into outer
space. One gathered that the President.
for the time being at least. is willing to
let Senator Lyndon Johnson lead the
charge on that far-off battlefield.
Mr.. Eisenhower spoke with conf
dence, however. as he has done before,
Of our present military position. He
alluded to our great existing deterrent
power. capable, If necessary, of virtually
annihilating any aggresSor But no saber
was ratified, no mailed fist was shaken.
The President conceded that we might
lose the capacity to deter attack or de-
fend ourselves, yet he did not impress
us as intending to let this happen. His
plans to prevent it from happening were
not spelled out in any detail, but he gave
assurance that details will be forthcom-
ing later. On this score, the President
talked like man who. perhaps be-
latedly, Is alive to the danger, who is
giving the problem close attention, and
who Is determined to do all that he be-
heves needs to be done
From the discussion of armed
strength, Mr.. Eisenhower turned to what
he called the constructive work Of
building a genuine peace" and this, we
thought, was the best section Of the
message. The details are published on
other pages, and need not be gone into
here. But some stress should be put
upon the underlying theme. There Is,
Of course, threat Of war, and as long
as the threat survives this country must
arm against it. There is a prevailing
belief. however, that the prospect Of
major armed clash is receding. It's con-
sequences would be too frightful for any
sane person to accept. And the Rus
SLAMS seem to feel pretty much the same
way, for they have been shifting over to
an economic offensive-what Mr.. Eisen-
hover described as total cold war"
The United States must meet Russia
on this front. We have no other ra-
tional choice. There are at least two
reasons why. One is that Russian
economic conquest of the world, or Of
and all of our ornaments could not save
us. The other is that the foundations
of peace, II there is to be peace, will be
laid In this area. The mo give away"
boys, to whom Mr.. Eisenhower paid his
sharp respects, will rant and rail. But
II the United States does not make and
sustain this effort, II 1t is the hand of
the Kremlin which lifts up the multi
tude Of people who do not now have
enough to eat, there is no doubt how
the balance Of world power will shift.
1t will shift toward Moscow, and neither
missiles nor supersonic bombers will be
able to prevent it. 1t may not be easy
now to see and recognize this prospect.
But 1t will become visible soon enough
and we had better not wait too long.
The thinnest part Of the message
was In that section which Mr.. Eisen-
hover presented under the heading:
works Of Peace" It can be read and
reread, and there is not much in 1t. The
President said we must not stand stlll
on disarmament, but he did not point
out any new approaches. Nor was there
any clear response to recent feelers
which have come from Moscow for
direct negotiations
Mr.. Eisenhower did reiterate, how
ever, that I'VE will always 60 the extra
mile with anyone on earth IL 1t will bring
us.nearer a genuine peace" This is am
biguous There is no doubt in our mind,
however. that Mr.. Eisenhower spoke with