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Show Hull Realized the Gravity Of Post-War Readjustment By BAUKIIAGE 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, at this critical time, have the responsibility of saying what way the world is going for 50 years to come." 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-1 the record press conference In his f v fit , ' ofnce in the old State, War and Navy building and the fire of conviction convic-tion in his voice created such an impression that we asked him to let us quote him directly di-rectly that one sentence. sen-tence. For that reason I have been able to reproduce it literally. Since that day in 1945 we have e As Cordell Hull looked back on his long period of public service the last years of which covered the most trying times up to then that our nation has faced, he came to the conclusion which more and more of our great leaders are reaching reach-ing today and he said; "We have a desperate need for more religion and morality as the background for government. The religious and moral foundations for thought and conduct require strengthening here as well as 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 concepts con-cepts give men the faculty to recognize rec-ognize such evils and the strength to eliminate them." If the political pendulum swings at the next election as is likely, and the logical appointee for the office 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." Charles E. Hughes Two-Career Man To mention the office of secre tary of state naturally brings forth memories of another great statesman states-man who held that office and whose death occurred recently Charles Evans Hughes. Chief Justice Hughes had a remarkable re-markable career. In fact he had two careers, each lasting 43 years. The first as a brilliant and successful success-ful lawyer in private practice and the second as a public servant holding hold-ing among others two of the highest positions in public life in America, secretary of state and chief justice. I happened to be present on two occasions within a few hours of each other which might be the high and the low point of any man's career. ca-reer. With a group of reporters covering cov-ering his headquarters in New York on election day I bid him good-night, fully believing as he and all of us did, that he was the president-elect. I saw him the next morning when he came te the door of his hotel room with a grandchild in his arms to take in the morning paper which recorded re-corded the late returns from BAUKIIAGE 8een president Roosevelt die and Secretary Hull retire; peace come in Europe; the United Nations founded found-ed and then, all unexpectedly, the new and terrible force released which brought the sudden cessation of 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-ton hori-ton of world relations. Cordell Hull realized the necessity ne-cessity of maintaining friendly relations between the United States and Russia. Against the dvice 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 I was shown Into his office he was fitting 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 Dotes the similarity of today's record rec-ord and that which was the chief concern of Cordell Hull. When he rose to greet me on the occasion of my earlier interview in-terview with the courtesy which was a natural characteristic and ne 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. Russia's Background Forms Her Attitude I saw him again with a small group after his return and he reminded re-minded us that Russia's attitude must be considered against her background, that she was a nation which had been virtually locked up for 25 years and during all that time had heard nothing but epithets against her, that she had cultivated the habit of slapping back twice as hard whenever she heard anything he thought was criticism against her. Thus, a defense psychology was built up, a suspicious attitude toward the whole world, which made the Soviet psychology entirely different differ-ent from ours. Each had much to learn from the other, both must improve, im-prove, and that, Hull said, would take time. He felt very much the same way when he concluded his memoirs this year and offered this advice: "In dealing with the Soviet Union we must never waver in this determination or give any - evidence of weakness, or cease to insist that, although she is entitled en-titled to freedom from intervention inter-vention in her domestic affairs by any other nation, her government govern-ment has no right to force communism com-munism on other nations ur 10 Intervene In their domestic affairs af-fairs in any other way." the West and gave the majority of the electoral votes to Wood-row Wood-row Wilson. That same night Woodrow Wilson had gone to bed accepting defeat. The only paper supporting him which failed to haul down the flag (signal of Republican victory) was the old New York Evening Post whose special correspondent, David Lawrence, had predicted Wilson's re-election and stuck to it when he was almost alone in his belief. How much of a disappointment Hughes suffered it's hard to say. No man was ever more reluctant about accepting the candidacy and the fact that he received such a proportionately large popular vote must have been gratification enough. He looked forward with anticipation anticipa-tion and pleasure to his return to private life but his keen interest in the law caused him to accept the judgeship on the world court. He made a brilliant secretary of state under Harding and continued under President Coolidge. His selection se-lection as chief justice of the supreme su-preme court by President Hoover was perhaps a most fortunate thing in the light of the crisis brought about by the famous "court packing" fight under Roosevelt. His success as Chief justice was due not only to his remarkable remark-able knowledge of the law but his tremendous capacity for work and his ability to reconcile different points of view among the members without attempting attempt-ing to enforce his own legal viewpoint upon the individual. Hughes was a brilliant speaker. He spoke naturally and easily, ytt with an excellent choice of wora-i. Although he was extremely dignified digni-fied in appearance and manner he was able to convey a warmth of feeling which immediately aroused sympathy and interest in an audience. |
