San Francisco and FDR's "Unfinished Tasks"
GIDEONSE, HARRY D.
San Francisco and FDR's "Unfinished Tasks" Political and Economic Objectives Should Be Integrated By Harry D. Gideonse WHEN the new Woodrow Wilaon House wm >ruugurated ia Naw York City by tbe...
...AviATION and shipping are obviously fields in which some kind of international agency could preserve for peace time purposes many of the obvious gains of wartime administration...
...Immediately after 1939, in the wave of defeatism about the Geneva machinery, there was a strong Current against the establishment of over-all international institutions of the Geneva type, and a "realistic" emphasis developed toward the establishment of ad hoc institutions to organize areas of specific international contact Now that the outline of the pattern of conferences st Hot Springs, Atlantic City, Bretten Woods, Dumbarton Oaks and Chicago is gradually emerging, it is also becoming clear that we may encounter a new problem of coping with the "sovereignty" of a series of international institutions as well aa tbe old problem of managing the sovereignty of tbe nation states...
...The present trend of discussion shows a marked inclination towards separate international agencies weeriing commodity agreemento on the one hand, «?* cartels, on the other...
...Many et the raw materials of which the supply has been enormously expanded by war needs—such as, say, rubier, oil, aluminum and magnesium—present urgent problems which can be most satisfactorily "adminis-***·*'' by an international agency which would have u opportunity to establish international codes of good ***·» practice which might compare with the national feeeions .of our Federal Trade Commission and its "k*** practice submittal...
...Our activities will be directed towards rallying tha full moral support of American public opinion in behalf of the democratic aspirations and aims of the Spanish people...
...A genuine Spanish republic can be of inestimable help in fostering unbreakable friendship between the Latin American peoples and tbe United States...
...The language of tb* provisions of the Dumbarton Oaks proposals for an Economic and Social Council may have the same germinal importance as the origins) commerce clause of our own Federal Constitution...
...of tbe economic approach to problems which in their There can be no mor* secure safeguard for teh success very nature are undeniable whole* than a closely integrated over-all economic agency which will not permit sharp jurisdictional separation of the administrativ responsibility for small and artificially isolated part* of the total problem...
...Police power" is mere rhetoric if the national control over armed force remains unmodified even in principle...
...a "labor* itWhetary and investment policy 255' to a "central bankers* or a "governments" LfcyT There are conflicts enough between "monetary" J5*ftil...
...If we are to avoid a proliferation of international economic agencies—each with its own charter, program, staff, and budget—the San Francisco Conference may present the last opportunity for sound basic constitutional planning...
...aathority which will insure that w« du nut 25...
...After hi* famous Chicago address in 1937 —the "quarantine the aggressors" speech—there was a considerable negative reaction in public discussion, •nd it was followed by a period of tacking with the wind which made our pronouncement* during the Munich crisis read like Wilson's messages during the early years of the first World War—eloquently "moral" in language but basically detached as far as commitments to actio* wer* concerned...
...Tbt current experience with tha disc nasi on of Bretten Woods and of th* reciprocal trade agreements illustrate* the difficulty in advance of the San Francisco Confer, enc...
...It waa reflected in the appointments of Senator Vanden-berg and Governor Sussen to the U. S. delegation to the San Francisco Conference, but it had systematically developed in the spiral of interdependent declarations and resolutions which...
...Tb* same warning is valid njgarding the "functional" approach to international organisation...
...In either ease, the data clearly underlines the wed for integration and coordination in policy making...
...in discharging the tasks entrusted to it the International Labor Organization, having considered all relevant economic and financial factors, may include in its decisions and recommendations any provisions which it considers appropriate...
...In foreign policy, his dominant drive bad been toward the achievement of th* objective for which Woodrow Wilson had failed to secure the support of th* U. & Senate...
...Realizing the important Influence of the Spanish people and their culture in th* Old and New World*, we are especially eager to help their bona fide democratic forces replace the Falangist Franco dictatorship with an independent republic which will guarantee complete freedom of conscience and of worship, freedom of press and assembly and free and universal suffrage...
...Integration of international economic .administration cannot be achieved with a proliferation of autonomous economic agenci...
...Later—aa events developed aad a* hia speech** helped to awaken aa awareness ef our own inevitable involvement by action or by inaction—he took advantage of every step to intensify our moral and materiel preparedness for th...
...To be sure: politics is the science of possibilities, and statesmanship at any given moment consists of securing the maximum from the existing willingness to contribute to shared sovereignty, and as things stand, the international chain can never be stronger than the national link that is willing to contribute th* moat modest concessions...
...At home and abroad, FDR's principal concern was the development of consensus...
...With Italy rid of its Fascist dictator and democratic France reviving, there is now a great opportunity to transform the pivotal Mediterranean nations into a vigorous force for lasting peace...
...For instance, lobbyists ?·» existing producers' interests prefer separate Henries governing commodity agreements of Mfrienltnral type because auch institutional ar-l**f**ente present maximised opportunity for typical pressure group behavior—and it is templ-?* t* denounce industrial cartels for their mo-*vMbule wickedness while agricultural commodity •tenement* are praised at the same time as an "?Mrnxtent of "orderly marketing...
...His Anal words to the American people— In his projected Jefferson dinner speech—suggest that he would have been the last to summon us to a stubborn defense of the compromises of yesterday: "Th* only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today...
...Statesmanship will also, however, avojd creating aa illusion of adequacy when th* facta plainly indicate that the «nazi...
...Franklin...
...There is hardly an international economic problem which doea not present aspects that are likely to cut across tha jurisdictional area* of many of tbt agencies now in the planning stages...
...The statesmanlike decision to place Republican* like Stimson and Knox in charge of the War and Navy Department« helped to protect the war effort itself againat the uaual accusation* of political jobbery, and there was singularly little criticism of tbe choices that were made for the key posts of military and naval command...
...If tbe provisions for integration and coordination are not specific and mandatory, we may find an International Labor Organization with conferences on cartels and studies in the monetary field, an international educational agency under the Economic and Social Council provided in the Dumbarton Oaks proposals aa well as •n autonomous Institute of intellectual Cooperation in Paris, a world cartel* agency praising for competitive controls while an International comxaodity agreements agency covers the world with ft network of restrictive agricultural policies, and so forth...
...In aviation the creation at Chicago of the Provisional International Civil Aviation Conference is merely the first step...
...In 1919 everything in the peace settlement from tb* Covenant of the League of Nations to the Charter of the International Labor Organisation had been ncluded in our document, and a deliberate cultivation of all the varioua minorities that might resent specific details, made it possible to keep a little more than one-third of the Senate in line against the...
...That is Ihs heritage which he left tut to pretirve and to extend...
...FDR had to pay a high price to secure th* measure of support that is now in evidence...
...It will be no service to the memory of Roosevelt to blnr this picture...
...Throughout the chain of declarations and statements tbe idea of national sovereignty was re-emphasized—and the leadership which the President might have given to a movement in world and national opinion that might have recognized sovereignty as a legal myth that was responsible for recurrent war, was muffled in order to insure representative commitment* to nn opaque formula of collaboration...
...The principle of "we want to fly everywhere" is clearly susceptible to an interpretation that might lead to blatant international anarchy fraught with the peril of future war...
...When the facto are all in, and after we have achieved more sober perspective on tome of tb* discussion of "national unity" that colore tb* Truman honeymoon, we may also recognise that the confidence which Roosevelt's domestic record bad established in labor circle* helped him to secure support for price and wage controls which were essential to the economic success of the war effort, and which might have been impossible to secure if the consistency of the earlier record had not been so im press ire...
...Thar* can be little doubt that th* political objective of th* Dumbarton Oaka proposals cap only be achieved if a solid framework of economic expansion ia provided...
...Aviation and shipping are closely related to other communication and transportation probl?ma, however, and the international agencies In this field should have the closest relation to the institutions that operate in the larger field of international trade...
...Faith calls for a vigorous and realistic attack on the weaknesses which essential compromise forced on a loader who remembered tb* lesson of , 1919...
...The political side of the war was managed with unusual courage and inventiveness, and Wendell Willkie't cooperation helped to win major political and military victories auch a* the aid to Britain in the '•over-age destroyer*" and the early lend-lease policy which helped to offset the damage done by our so-called "neutrality legislation...
...Politically...
...In the Dumbarton Oaka proposals · general responsibility for the coordination of economic and social agencies was assigned to the Social and Economic Council...
...Let us move forward with strong and active faith...
...employment" policies of the several sovereign aatfwat, and it ia hardly necessary to complicate the i?gh~ further with an array of conflicting plans by J tenet of autonomous international agencies, espe-(jajjy since there seems u> be real danger that we may t?at?t to join one agency, and to reject inother, ?ja, the separation of "Fund" and "Bank' in the sjattos Woods proposals is not without danger, espe-0k if w« *llow ior * Pe«od of *°me years of mmtomt* institutional development, peculiar personal fatten and all the other historic forces that play a atjt ia the development of a corporate tradition and au?mh A brief glance back to the experience of the ???g?,—- period suffices to reveal the wide variety of factors that played a part in the failure of both the phi standard and tha "managed" currencies that took Its place...
...Experience with Article XXIV of the Covenant of the League of Nations indicates that vague and permissive language will not suffice...
...TOWARD SPANISH DEMOCRACY Sfofemenf of the American Committee tor O Free Spanith Republic THE war is approaching its end...
...mam of current!* available will to poet sovereignty «, joint action, t* not enough to insure the type of cohesion that can prevent mayor tear...
...The price of the process was high, however...
...There had been a greater purity in logic and in consistency of purpose in the Calvinist college president— there was also let* political flexibility, and a righteous tone of "holier-than-thou" in hi* treatment of opposition...
...Both producers' and consumers' interest call for international administration, and supervision in the teld of commodity agreements and international cartels, and these areas are obviously closely related to the monetary aspects of balances of international payment" and to tariff agreements...
...Both aviation and shipping have the closest possible relation •s, national security, and an international regulation of military resources under a future political security organization could not afford to overlook that the security which was formerly baaed on geographical isolation protected by sea power, haa been utterly destroyed by aviation and robot bomb...
...In the field of international economic relations then considerations may have a more crucial importance than anywhere else in th* field of international organisation...
...Even th* International Labor Organization, which was organised simultaneously with the League and linked with it through the budgetary process, presented administrative and jurisdictional problems which careful planning could have avoided...
...The ratification of lend-lease by « majority of on* vote in the Senate the other day ia another example, • · · In the light of our political experience in 1919 the present "functional approach" may be quite understandable but it has real hazards...
...Ptepotal* to restrict the production of wheat in order " »ecur* higher prices per bushel arc as clearly anti-"•W ·« proposals to limit a bricklayer's daily number of bricks in order to increase a mason's wages, or proposals to restrict the aluminum output in order to increase stockholders' dividends...
...It will clearly be of the greatest importance to place the International Labor Organisation in its new incarwfjlw the Bret tun Woodt agencie* under ?JL^i...
...Bat it will merely invito tragedy and deep disillusionment if we do not foe u ? clearly on the fact that an agency which keepa major power sovereignty unqualified does not hold out great promise of dealing with the major cause of modern war...
...Now that the International Institute of Agriculture in Rome is to be replaced by a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (Hot Springs) and the International Labor Organization is to be fitted into the new Dumbarton Oaks machinery, we tkould not mite the historio opportunity to recast the over-all machinery into a imoothly coordinated whole* In terms of American "Departments," we should minimize the possibility of having "Agriculture" spawn a set of "agricultural cartels" while "State" pursues a competitive economy in its tariff and cartels policy...
...Th* price also included a "functional" separation of tbe over-all political machinery from tbe economic, financial, social and other international agencies which were in tbe planning stages...
...challenge which he foresaw and tagetold...
...I*d from th* famous b2h2 resolution in the Senate to tb* Republican Mackinac Island Declaration on September 7,1943, to the Moscow declaration of October 30, 1943, to th* adoption of th* Kullright resolution by the House on September 21, 1943, by a vote of 360-29, and to th* adoption of the Connelly resolution by the Senate on November 3, 1943, by a vote of 85-5...
...Among the sponsors of the American Committee for a Free Spanish Republic are Samuel Guy Inman, Temporary Chairman...
...Only a truly democratic Spain can aid the establishment of a sound world security order...
...There was an early flirtation with the movement of opinion tha...
...Negotiations are at present in preparation regarding tbt liquidation of lend-lease balances and presumably an international agreement will result with suitable machinery to administer problems of tariffs and trade barriers...
...If smooth and continuous coordination is not Insured by the over-sll administrative organisation, jurisdictional disputes are likely to lead to general impatience with the sterility of all international effort The practical importance of the issues involved is well illustrated by a comparison of the functions to be assigned to the agencies projected at Bretten Woods with the expansive language of the Philadelphia Declaration of the International Labor Organization (May 10, 1944) which affirms it to be "responsibility of the International Labor Organization to examine and consider all international economic and financial policies and measures in the light of ita fundamental objective...
...San Francisco will probably not g* beyond the Dumbarton Oaka blueprint*, bttt economically the political structure could be vitiated from the beginning if tb* provisions for economic expansion and social welfare are net built firmly into th* basic charter in accordance with the general design of Roosevelt's leadership and in agreement with tbe original pr»vi*>—at for growth and integration which were tb* ear* of the social and economic provisions that war* ssade at Dumbarton Oaka...
...The need for integration in international monetary polisy, is merely an illustration of a general category, TaraYS and trade harriers, aviation and shipping, com-roeaity agreements and international cartels—in a dif-feient tatting and with an abundance of specific detail, each of these could be chosen to elucidate the same pratwpJt of international administration in the eco-saane field...
...The proposed international organization for trade and industry (trade barriers, cartels and commodity agreements) should be designed with explicit provisions for its integration with the monetary and financial agencies on the one hand, and with the labor and agricultural organizations on (he other hand...
...San Francisco and FDR's "Unfinished Tasks" Political and Economic Objectives Should Be Integrated By Harry D. Gideonse WHEN the new Woodrow Wilaon House wm >ruugurated ia Naw York City by tbe Woodrow Wilswn Foundation five days after Boaarreit'a death, a large bouquet of red roses ia the central lobby testified to Eleanor Roosevelt's interest- The gesture was symbolic...
...Furthermore, the rebirth of Spanish democracy on a sounder and firmer basis than aver before ia eaaential to the maintenance and growth of democratic institutions in Latin America...
...There ia also growing evidence that th* President played a constructive part in tb* formulation of th* actual strategy of the war iseif...
...The world organization for trade and industry should be so designed that , restrictive schemes of all types should clear through a central agency with ultimate jurisdiction in the entire area...
...The fact that the explicit provisions of Article XXIV of the Covenant for administrative integration did.not suffice to insure integration in fact, should be sufficient warning to the Founding Fathers of our post-World War II institutions to avoid easy abttract formulations and to provide for ? definite organic interrelation from birth...
...Unilateral national polities affecting raw material prices may completely undei mine international measures designed to expand world markets and to relax trade barriers, and both eonjrnodity agreements and cartels in general may lose •onja of their most harmful restrictive potentialities if public and consumers' representatives insist on provisions designed to eliminate high cost producers, and to stimulate demand rather than restrict supply...
...He paid a high price for the goal because the "irreconcllables" of IMS— also at home and abroad—insisted on stiff terms for their support...
...The younger man sometimes seemed to believe that "Pari* was worth a mass," and although he always returned to the central purpose, the tacking with tbe wind that made him more successful in the final outcome, sometimes led hia supporters to doubt whether th* captain on the bridge did not take a greater delight in the maneuver* for their own sake than he did in the successful attainment of the goal itself...
...We must not fall into the eamp of th* "perfectibiliats" of 1945 but it would be an error on the other extrem* of the scale of values to compromise the very soul of the enterprise for th* sake of securing the support of so-called "realists" who merely seek to protect the status quo of unlimited national sovereignty which has brought ua where we are...
...In spite of tbe over-all provisions of Article XXIV of the Covenant of the League of Nations—which called for integration of all international organizations through the League—existing international agencies such as the pre-war Postal and Telegraphic Unions, th* International Air Commission in Paris, the International Institute of Agriculture in Rome, the Pan-American Union in , Washington, and the Bank for International Settlement* in Basle, maintained a jealous autonomy and with varying degrees of intensity sought to prevent the Geneva machinery from entering these specialised areas...
...The American Committee for a Fret Spanish Republic is non-partisan and non-sectarian in its efforts and activities...
...What next for the long-suffering Spanish people t For the sake of world peace and democracy, all forward-looking Americans should do everything in their power to aid the emergence of a truly free and virile Spanish Republic, Towards the achievement of this end, the American Committee for a Free Spanish Republic will acquaint the American people with the facts of what has been happening in Spain under the totalitarian regime of General Franco...
...Th* result will be complete frustration and a moral atmosphere of bleak disillusionment...
...Throughout hia campaign for tb* preparation of the peace, eeeeSell Hull and the President ¦ought to commit tbe potential Opposition to th* cardinal principles of the peace settlement before the administration itself undertook specific obligation...
...Domestically, his "New Deal" had been a vigorous extension of Woodrow WHson* "New Freedom...
...Under the impact and triumph of th* democratic powers, profound changes are inevitable in Spain...
...Therefore, th* American people have a vital interest in strengthening that* forces loyal to democracy and opposed to all brands of totalitarian nil* in Spain...
...The systematic strengthening of the Navy in the early New Deal years —against considerable opposition among his warmest supporters—made a major contribution to the successful acceleration of our war effort against Japan in later years...
...The State Department questionnaire on tb* Dumbarton Oaks proposal* waa more explicit in enumerating the varioua international organizations and in stipulating that the Social and Economic Council should also promote "respect for human righta and fundamental freedom...
...That was the lesson of Woodrow Wilson's failure—and Roosevelt was an apt pupil...
...From a detached academic—or editorial—standpoint, It ia easy to point to detail* that were inconsistent with the main drift of hi* policy...
...He never forgot that Wilson had not committed him seif until Taft ami l»dge had given hostages to tli* league to Enforce Pent* nad that the** personal commitments had been mtuflkient to insure support in the Senate...
...We want some form of international organization—even the moat rudimentary agency to develop habits of consultation and of joint action ia preferable to an unorganised jungle of competitive sovereignties...
...If there was striking similarity in purpose, there were also significant differences in political method...
...Roosevelt never lost sight of his purpose to be right and to remain in command of the ¦hip a* well...
...David Dubinsky, Robert Mac I ? er, Georg* ?. Shutter, Matthew Woli...
...In foreign affairs he succeeded in a few short years to make himself th* symbol of democratic leadership to a Europe of which the Chamberlain* and Daladier* were still th* official spokesmen, while he did not move too fast to offer a promising target to the ? yes, Lindberghs, Hoovers and America Firsters...
...This time a "functional" approach prepared one stag* after another— Hot Springs, Atlantic City, Bretten Woods, Chicago, and.Dumbarton Oaks...
...treaty as a whole...
...V ·' ¦ · - The vice-presidential candidate of 1920— who had been a junior member of the Woodrow Wilson administration—had learned his lesson—and the country was deeply and intimately interwoven with the initial commitments to the idea of an "international authority with power to prevent aggression and to preserve the peace of the world...
...It welcomes the support of all truly democratic forces in our country end will seek to uphold all Spanish parties and individuals who are striving for a free republic of Spain dedicated to world pence and democracy...
...Since the lend-lease and tariff negotiations are a preserve of the State Department under our Washington dispensation while the American drafts leading to the Brettpn Woods proposals were prepared m the Treasury Department, we are again in danger ef excessive sharpness in the line of separation between these agencies which are essentially concerned with different aspects of the same problem...
...ultimately led to our ill-fated neutrality legislation, and there were occasional speeches that were susceptible of an isolationist Interpretation...
...Franklin Delano Koosevelt waa probably tbe greatest war president in American history...
...D*Jaa* Koosevelt had been the trat president of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation ia the early twenties...
...President Roosevelt undoubtedly planned for ultimate integration through the Economic and Social Council which was projected in the Dumbarton daks proposals, but it is already clear that a large block of opinion thinks itself free to reject Bretten Woods or to refuse to renew the Reciprocal Agreements policy, while it nominally supports the over all political machinery...
Vol. 28 • April 1945 • No. 17
