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Show Hull Realized the Gravity Of Post -War Read justment By BAUKIIAGE I News Analyst and Commentator. , WASHINGTON. "I wish," he said, "I wish I could burn this into your minds and memories for the next 50 years at least that the human race this hour, this day, this week, this year is confronted with the gravest crisis in all its experience, ex-perience, and that we who are here on the scene of action, i at this critical time, have the responsibility of saying what I way the world is going for 50 years to come." 1 Those words I recorded in 1945 as the war in Europe was drawing to its close. They were spoken by a man now retired from public life who is living to see their significance growing each day Cordell Hull who on October 2 reached his 77th year. He spoke that sentence at an off-"3 the record press conference in his office in the old " State, War and f Navy building and ' e fire of convic" s- ? , tion in his voice created such an s impression that we $ $" M asked him t0 let ' 1 1 ft f us Quote him di- Ijy'&flfJ rectly that one sen- ' it s! J i tence. For that 'I ' reason I have been X able to reproduce ' literally. i, Since that day imirlt&tM3 in 1945 we have i As Cordell Hull looked back on his long period of public service the - j last years of which covered the ' i most trying times up to then that I our nation has faced, he came to i the conclusion which more and I more of our great leaders are reach- j ing today and he said: j "We have a desperate need for more religion and morality as the i background for government. The i religious and moral foundations for ; thought and conduct require j strengthening here as well as j throughout the world. There is no higher civilizing influence than religious re-ligious and moral concepts. Corruption Corrup-tion and tyranny can be driven out of government only when these con- ; cepts give men the faculty to rec- ! ognize such evils and the strength. ! to eliminate them." v' j If the political pendulum swings j at the next election as is likely, and j the logical appointee for the office j of secretary of state is named, it will be John Foster Dulles. It will be a satisfaction to many to know that he shares the views of Mr. Hull in. so far as they both recognize the importance of the influence of religion re-ligion in the carrying out of our relations, re-lations, domestic as well as international. inter-national. For those who, as Cordell Hull said "are here on the scene of action at this critical time," this fact is vital, since we have the responsibility of saying "what way the world is going: for 50 years to come." BAUKHAGE seen President Roosevelt die and Secretary Hull retire; peace come in Surope; the United Nations founded found-ed and then, all unexpectedly, the lew and terrible force released vvhich brought the sudden cessation jf hostilities in the Far East. We saw, too, (few of us realized it) a tiny cloud no bigger than a man's hand, take shape on the hori-zon hori-zon of world relations. Cordell Hull realized the necessity ne-cessity of maintaining friendly relations between the , United States and Russia. Against the advice of his physicians and the wishes of the wife to whom he was devoted, he flew to Moscow to talk to the one man upon whom the future of world peace then seemed to depend. I had the great privilege of talking talk-ing with Secretary Hull on the eve of his departure for Moscow. When was shown into his office he was sitting at the great desk in the room from whose windows have looked so many of the great statesmen states-men who have been America's spokesman to the world. The office of the secretary of state has been removed from the ancient rococo building next to the White House which, with its high ceilings, its gloomy marble corridors, cor-ridors, wide stairways and its fireplaces, fire-places, which was filled with a certain cer-tain odor of sanctity, slightly tinged with a touch of obsolescence which spoke of days and eras that were gone forever. Today, the offices of the men who direct our foreign affairs are housed in an ultra-modern building, air-cooled, air-cooled, brisk, almost modernistic in its design. But I can imagine that History, as she solemnly records each day's agenda of 1948, must smile a bit ironically when she notes the similarity of today's record rec-ord and that which was the chief concern of Cordell Hull. When he rose to greet me en the occasion of my earlier interview in-terview with the courtesy which was a natural characteristic and one not acquired by acquaintanceship acquaint-anceship with the masters of diplomatic protocol, his desk was. covered with papers. He indicated indicat-ed them with a gesture and explained ex-plained that they all dealt with his forthcoming mission to Moscow. Mos-cow. We talked for a long time and the viewpoint he expressed then concerning con-cerning our policy toward Russia remained unchanged on his return. |