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Show Democratic Advisory Council Issues Statement Outlining U. S. Dangers problems confronting it, in part because of the widespread mistrust mis-trust of the present conduct of our foreign affairs. (5) The U. S. is falling behind in using its scientific, technological techno-logical and industrial resources to maintain leadership in the couse of peace and in the interests inter-ests of the defense of the free world. (6) The American people have consistently been kept in ignorance ignor-ance of the actual state of affairs by concealment, half-truths and misrepresentations. How far behind be-hind would be have fallen in education ed-ucation and missiles had it not ' been for Sputnik? Only the disaster dis-aster of Suez revealed the collapse col-lapse of confidence among our oldest and best allies. (Continued on Page 4) A Statement by the Democratic Advisory Council Adopted Feb. 1, 1958, in Washington, D.C. For five years the policy of the Eisenhower Administration has been, in the name of economy, econ-omy, to do less than was required. re-quired. It has given grudging recognition to the facts only when they could no longer be ignored. Its operation "candor" has consisted in withholding or misrepresenting the truth. To all things it has applied it own special spe-cial view of moderation a disposition dis-position for meeting adequacy half way. The United States finds itself facing unlimited dangers which it is unprepared to meet. These are some of the facts: (1) The United States is threatened threat-ened with a serious relative deterioration de-terioration of its military power, upon which not only its own survival, sur-vival, but the survival of civilization civili-zation depends. (2) By economic and political penetration the Soviet Communist Commu-nist bloc is undermining position after position in the free world. (3) The image of the United States as the representative of a way of life superior to that of Communism has been tarnished throughout the world, and its consequence, it has continuously lost ground, not only among the uncommitted nations but among its very allies as well. (4) The influence of the U. S. abroad has progresively deteriorated deterio-rated in part because of the absence ab-sence of new ideas commensurate commensu-rate with the novelty of the Democratic Advisory Council Issues Statement Outlining V. S. Bangers (Continued from Page 1) MILITARY The State of the Union Message Mes-sage acknowledges the reality of the danger and the need to act wisely and promptly if we are not to lose altogether and soon the capacity to deter attack and to defend ourselves. It states a conviction that "the American people will say as one man: No matter what the exertions or sacrifices sac-rifices we will maintain our strength." But defense expenditures in the 1959 budget message are a smaller proportion of our gross national product than in any year since 1951. While there is to be a slight increase in fiscal 1959 over fiscal 1957 and 1958, it is not enough to keep up with the inflationary price rise that has already occurred. So when we put deed alongside word, we find that in face of the growing Soviet nuclear and missile mis-sile threat and the findings of the Senate Armed Services Committee Com-mittee the President recommends recom-mends not greater effort but less. Such increased effort on missiles and anti-missiles as is proposed, and it is not adequate, is to be at the expense of other forms of defense. As a result, we shall, in the future, have fewer ground divisions and they will will not have adequate mobility less power to deter limited wars without threatening unlimited un-limited nuclear war. So the new military policy appears to be more dependent on nuclear de- terrence at the very time that our nuclear strength relative to that of the Soviet Union is decreasing. de-creasing. The President also calls attention atten-tion to the need for reorganization reorganiza-tion of the Defense Department. This need has long been apparent appar-ent to those who have studied the matter and was the view of the minority in the first Hoover Commission report. Now it has become a matter of public clamor clam-or and has at last moved President Presi-dent Eisenhower to propose that someone act. But he has also made it clear that while we are now to have his views, a committee, com-mittee, and not he himself, will give whatever leadership is to be given in this area in which his background should give him special competence. (Next week the statement deals with economic and other matters). |