Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-04-16
Dulles Successor Faces Tough Task
In Taking Over Direction Of Policy
BY JOHN M. HIGHTOWER
AalnclatAd Preaa star writer

Few men In his position have
been more controversial. and
---------------~--~--~
The effects Of Secretary Of State
Dulles eoreeF on international events
viii be discussed and argued for q
long time. This Is the first Of q
two-port series assessing those ef-
feets in the light Of M. Dulles
resignation Yesterday.
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historians will be slow to adopt
President Eisenhower's esti-
mate that he was the country's
greatest Secretary Of State.
But there can be no doubt
that in the critical weeks ahead
he will be sorely missed around
the State Department. and the
White House and in the high
councils Of the allied powers.
His successor faces a tough
task in picking up the direc-
ton of foreign policy where Mr..
Dulles, stricken by cancer, has
put it down. In the six years he
was In Office, the lawyer-diplo-
mat achieved great stature not
only as a figure in American
Government but also as a leader
of the free world in its struggle
against expansive Soviet-Chi-
nese communism.
Capacity for Work
He demonstrated a rugged
capacity for work-days, nights
and week ends-which probably
few other men can equal. He
knew other leaders Of the free
world from close personal con-
facts and he travelled. with APP
parent relish, 100000 miles on
trips which took him to 46
countries.
His feats of physical indur-
ance were. in fact, so remark
able that associates sometimes
protested he was setting a pace
which no one else would be
able to equal when he had to
step out Of Office. How correct
this was will be determined in
the following months. because
his successor will have to move
with similar speed and a COM
parable capacity for work in
order to meet the Soviet chal-
lenge to the West over Berlin.
Normally. any man replacing
Mr., Dulles would require a Pc
Rod Of adjustment to master
the State Department organ
ization and all the problems for
which Mr.. Dulles was accus-
toned to take primary respon-
sibility.
No Easy Period
This would be true even for
a man in the position of Under
secretary of State Christian
Herter. who has worked with
Mr.. Dulles for two years.
But the times now allow no
easy period of settling in. The
man who takes over Mr.. Dulles
desk in the fifth-floor State De-
partment executive suite has
his work already cut out.
At the end of this month,
April 90. he must meet in Paris
with the Foreign Ministers of
Britain. France and West Ger
many to make final prepara-
tionS for negotiations with the
Russians on delicate and dan
gerous questions of the future
of Berlin and Germany. On
May IL, with his British and
French colleagues. he must sit
opposite Soviet Foreign Min
lister Andrea Gromyko in a Big
Four conference that is likely
to stretch into a gruelling
month of frustrating argument.
Very likely in late July or
August there will be a Big Four
summit conference in which
the new Secretary will play a
key role as the chief adviser to
the President in further ex-
changes with the Soviets.
Lifelong Ambition
For such negotiations as
these, Mr.. Dulles was prepared
by long experience and a love
of the game of diplomacy born
of a lifelong interest in foreign
affairs. His ambition to take
over the job went back to his
boyhood association with two
other Secretaries of State, his
grandfather, John Watson
Foster. and his uncle, Robert
Lansing. Mr.. Dulles achieved
that ambition January 81. 1858
Mr.. Dulles ran the State De-
partment with complete con-
fidence in his own abilities and
the know-how accumulated over
the years. From the time he
took over, he was the dominant
figure. One of the most fire.
quent criticisms was that he
operated out of his vest pocket
Few even of his closest ad-
visers knew precisely what he
would do in a given situation
Even high officials in his owr
organization looked to his new;
conferences many times fol
fresh light on his policy think.
ing about critical problems.
Some weeks ago while Mr.
Dulles was undergoing cancer
treatment at Walter Reed Hos.
pital, this reporter asked 6
State Department official: Wh(
is really running United State!
foreign policy?.
Dulles" he replied. "Wher
there is a meeting on somt
problem. everyone tries to figure
out what the Secretary woulC
decide if he were there. It's
tricky business. Because wheI
Dulles was there he didn't al
ways think exactly as othe
people guessed he would"
This period of administering
foreign affairs under the SHADOW
of Mr.. Dulles is now coming Il
an end. With the appointment
of a successor, the technique o
trying to project Mr.. Dulles
own concepts to deal with ney