Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-06-29
The World and Mr.. Rostow

In terms Of Republican politicking.
Senators DirkSen and Goldwater seem
10 nave chosen poor ground in irving
to dig up pay dirt out of a couple of
vague Newspaper articles suggesting
that Walt Whitman RoStow. chairman
OF the State Departments Policy Plan
ming Council, may be advising the Ken
nedy administration to deal softly with
the Soviet Union.
The articles, although based only
on anonymous sources and lacking any
nara evidence worthy Of the name, ap-
parently have persuaded the two Sena-
tors that Mr.. RoStow has drafted a
report" or a paper" whose theme is
this: The Kremlin is "mellowing" in
both It's domestic and foreign policies
and therefore our country may be able
to work out good IDEALS" with it. Mr..
Goldwater has been particularly agi-
tated by the rumor, which is all that
it is. AS he has put it:
the Rostow paper sounds to me like
the most dangerous document in America.
Inc idea seems to be that changes have taken
place in the capital Of world communism
we can make use Of these changes through
calculated policy of appeasement and soft
speaking. Well -. should like to say
that the American people have always known
what was best for them They may not have
the same level Of "SophiStication" that the
new Frontier insists upon, but they do know
that Russia Is not melowing. And thew
DO know that appeaSement in the present
world crisis Is of one piece with a policy of
surrender.
These are ringing words, but they
must be read with certain measure of
reserve. In the first place, the so-called
"RoStow paper"-as indicated the other
day at the closed hearing before the
senate Foreign Relations Committee
is not actually a personal one-man
job. On the contrary, it is the work IA
Still-unfiniShed work that has not vet
been studied by the President or Sec
rotary RuSk) Of many individuals in
several key agencies of the Government.
Further, as Mr.. Kennedy himself has
Just suggested, it amounts to little more
than an up-dating Of preceding reports
IN the same field-an up-dating that
Is sort OF continuous process, regard
less OF who is in the White House, be-
cause the world changes from day to
day.
Senator Goldwater, If he gives the
matter second thought, must himself
realize that he has spoken out extrava-
gantly on the subject. The American
people, he says, have always known
what was best for them" Well, they
chose the New Frontier that he opposes.
Beyond that, he says that all of us
know" that the SovietS are not mel
lowing" Actually, however, very few of
us have any idea Of what is going on
behind the Iron Curtain, except that
there Is mounting evidence of trouble
there, agriculturally, industrially and
otherwise.
In such circumstances, men like
Senator Goldwater seem to us to be
making political mistake of the first
magnitude when they seize upon I'M
documented news stories to accuse the
Democrats of appeaSing the Reds. In
thlS connection, what ought to be re-
membered by the Republicans is that
the late Secretary of State Dulles, as
far back as 1856, spoke of the yeast of
freedom" at work in the USSR, and
predicted a great and beneficent inter
national transformation by 1865.
There are three years still to go.
Maybe, by that time, the present big
TODD over the "RoStow paper" will be
categorical as a historical absurdity
which it doubtless is