| OCR Text |
Show How GOP Has Ruined Our Foreign Policy The decline of American power and influence in the last seven and a half years has been in part caused by the amazing lack of a consistent foreign policy. We have been content to dance to Russian mucis rather than to forge a strong foreign policy of our own. The record of the Administration in the field of foreign relations and policy can best be described as the Ad Lib Era. It is not easy for any American to forget his shock at the boast of the late Secretary of State that on many occasions he carried us to the brink of war. For the first four years of what we hope will be a passing phase, in American history, Secretary Dulles insisted that the Communist regime in the Soviet Union would be overthrown from within. He maintained this position in conference with the Chief Executive and in appearances before congressional committees. If the Soviet regime has been overthrown, it has been done so in a manner to bring delight to Mr. Khrushchev. Moreover, when Josef Stalin died in 1953 an event to which historians will accord major importance as the beginning of a profound change in Soviet policy the late Secretary continued con-tinued to advise the President that a "wait and see" attitude would be rewarded with the collapse of the Russian state. In view of Mr. Dulles' enormous influence over the President, Presi-dent, is it any wonder that there seemed to be no life or death urgency in developing our rocket and missile program? There are very few instances in American history in which an adminis- ; (Continued on Page Foiix) v' . , How GOP Has Ruined Our Foreign Policy (Continued from Page 1) tration has been more wrong in its estimates. And there are few other instances when the rationalization of a mistake was presented pre-sented so effectively to the American people. They simply said, "You may think we're wrong. Sometimes we look wrong. But you must trust us to do the right thing." There's an old saying that if March comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb. This is a rather apt characterization of the Administration. It initiated its foreign policy on the philosophy philos-ophy of Brinksmanship. It is ending it on the theme of Smiles-manship. Smiles-manship. But the point is simply this: it was easier to flex our muscles in 1953, when we were relatively stronger, than it is to flex them in I960, when we are relatively weaker. Perhaps they have forgotten the axiom that in diplomacy you proceed from a position of strength. The stormy, two-fisted flights of the late Secretary of State have been replaced by the flower-bedecked smiling tours of the Chief Executive. But both techniques of foreign policy were essentially smoke screens for the fact that there has been no foreign policy. We have been an army of statesmen without an objective. In times of prosperity it is relatively easy to sweep problems under the rug. It is easy to forget that there is work to be done. Most Americans like to wait until the tooth really aches before going to the dentist. Yet in many cases problems can be anticipated. antici-pated. There is little doubt but that the Administration's programs in the field of Health, Education and Welfare have, since 1953, borne little relation to increasing needs. The school problem is caused by the rise in population. Although the Administration was well aware of coming needs, the programs presented were little more than acknowedgments of the problem. The shortage of classroom space has already reached crisis proportions. The prospect of double and triple sessions, teacher shortages and inadequate facilities worries every parent in the United States. If the present policy of stop gaps is continued, we will have to enter into a far more costly crash program. |
