Evening star., 1959-10-17
Rejects All Thought
OF Political Role

he told reporters, on his ar
rival in Washington. that hi
never can be considered as g
candidate for political Office
and that he never could be
drafted" He emphasized thai
he considered the Office of Sec.
retary of State under condi-
tions then non-political anc
that he would govern himself
accordingly.
The new Secretary barely was
settled in Office when he took
off for the March, 1947, confer.
ence of Big Four Foreign Min
listers in Moscow. That confer
ence failed to make headway
toward agreement on German
and Austrian peace treaties, as
did another meeting that fall
in London.
Between the Moscow and
London conferences, the Mar
shall Plan" for European recov-
cry had raised new hopes for
rehabilitation of Western Eu-
rope. Gen. Marshall said on his
return from London that the
Russians frustrated" efforts to
speed German and Austrian
peace settlements in the hope
that the recovery program
would fail and leave a political
vacuum in Western Europe. He
made it clear that he saw no
hope for peace until the West
ern European nations were re-
habilitated.
The Marshall Plan" was put
forward with deliberate casual
ness by Gen. Marshall in q
speech at Harvard University
on June S. 1947. He said the
United States could not con-
tinue "piecemeal" economic aid
to Europe. He suggested that
the European nations work out
together a cooperative pro-
gram for reconstruction. using
their own pooled resources to
the fullest extent possible. Then
he promised American aid to
those nations so helping them
selves-aid designed to help
provide "a cure rather than a
mere palliative"
Gen. Marshal left it to Euro
pean leaders to take the initia-
tive from there-and they did
Great Britain and France in
vited % nations to confer on
the Marshall proposal. Russia
turned down the invitation, as
did the eight Soviet satellite
states in Eastern Europe under
Moscow pressure. A 16-nation
organization was formed in
Paris to carry the program for
ward. After months of study
here and abroad, Congress
finally approved the program in
April. 1948, with a IS billion
appropriation for the first year.
AS Secretary of State, Gen.
Marshall often spoke of the
United Nations as the worlds
best hope for peace He attend
ed sessions of the General AS
sembly in New York and Paris
in 1947 and 1948. leading the
American delegation in gen.
orally successful efforts to show
up before world public opinion
Russia's peace-blocking actions.
His formula for winning the
cold war" was summed up in
a speech in California in the
spring of 1948. He urged a con-
tinued firm policy toward Rus
sia. a consistent United States
foreign policy to convince Euro
pean countries they could rely
on this Nation and a wariness
of deliberate, cynical propa-
ganda" spread by Russia.
If what some of his critics
called the military mind" in
f1uenced Gen. Marshall as Sec
retary of State. it probably was
most apparent in his view of
the relationship between real
power and diplomacy. He was
one of the foremost advocates
Of the theory that the United
States must keep physically
strong in order to be politically
effective in the world; good
intentions and high ideals are
not pn01ph