The Dulles Dilemma
DALLIN, DAVID J.
The Dulles Dilemma Neither patient containment of Communism nor aggressive words and proposals are effective without real power By David J. Dallin The fundamental dilemma facing United States...
...Dulles that appeared in the French Combat, which declares: "We sometimes have the impression, Mr...
...The analogy with the events of a half century ago does not mean, of course, that large-scale war is inevitable...
...Pravda devotes a great deal of space to the speech of Senator Edwin Johnson (D.-Colo...
...Two years later, it left Yugoslavia alone despite the loss of face which Tito had inflicted...
...In 1946, the Kremlin retreated from Iran, abandoning the embryo "people's republic...
...Petersburg refused to withdraw its troops from Manchuria...
...The Russo-Japanese War ended in the Tsar's defeat...
...And, of course, Le Monde of Paris is abundantly quoted to "disprove" Dulles's accurate statement that Red China is supplying arms and advisers to Ho Chi Minh...
...There seems to be a considerable gap between Mr...
...And the Republican Administration has maintained a vigorous interest in the war for Indo-China...
...Roosevelt replied: "I personally agree entirely with you [but] have you followed some of my experiences in endeavoring to get treaties through the Senate...
...I might just as well strive for the moon...
...There is little reason to believe that a Pacific alliance of ten (mostly small) nations can contribute much to the solution of the Communist problem in Asia...
...It terminated the civil war in Greece...
...Some authorities believe EDC is dead already, but that the State Department cannot formulate a worthy alternative...
...Or we move forward, trying to push the Kremlin's agents back no matter how our associates feel, declining to compromise with the foe even at the risk of being abandoned by some of our allies...
...in certain cases, thousands of lives had been sacrificed...
...The first course dominated the thinking of the Democratic Administration...
...If the fighting is eventually resumed, huge Chinese armies with Soviet arms can intervene to make victory a costly prospect to the West...
...For six years, we watched the Democratic doctrine in operation: We saw General George Marshall trying to create a Nationalist-Communist coalition in China...
...Governments in our time anticipate victories and defeats a long time in advance...
...While his remarkable activity is devoted to many fields, certain fundamental goals seem almost neglected under his stewardship...
...Britain was primarily a naval power, relatively helpless in a continental affair...
...Petersburg: "There is the policy of stopping Russian designs by a combination of powers, but I confess I don't know the powers that will take action with us...
...Although today's situation is very different, this chapter of history is very instructive...
...Which nations today live close to the gates and feel directly menaced...
...It is a tragic fact that, under present world conditions, neither course is capable of attaining the goals set for it...
...In 1902...
...Russian troops which had entered Manchuria to take part in quelling the Boxer Rebellion stayed on after that movement was suppressed...
...It seemed that, within a few years, the Tsar's empire would reach the Yangtse...
...Under President Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles, there has been no lack of energetic words and actions...
...policy...
...The seemingly unsolvable Asian problem was resolved by the emergence of a new power, a close neighbor of Russia which acted in self-interest but also served as an advance outpost of the Anglo-American alliance in the Far East...
...Because of this situation, the rearmament of Germany and Japan is an issue of paramount importance for U.S...
...public opinion in the United States was equally anxious...
...Dulles considers primary, secondary and tertiary...
...Secretary, that an abyss has opened between our nations and that it widens daily to the detriment of both of us...
...America now tries to avoid wars...
...and this greatly weakens his policies and prestige...
...the other powers were even less willing than Britain to force the issue...
...America has a tendency to exaggerate the significance of collective-security pacts, as if a formal combination of nations somehow yielded a greater force than the sum of the individual nations...
...London's vacillations abruptly ended when a new power stepped forward: Japan...
...So long as this situation lasts, the Kremlin will take chances and there will be no end to Communist encroachments...
...policy...
...Others expect EDC to emerge, but still-born under French command...
...In the answer to that question, I believe, lies the solution of our problem...
...The crux of the situation today is that one-and-a-half great power-must oppose the offensive mounted by the Soviet Union (plus its formidable Chinese satellite...
...Frustrated and disappointed, the American people elected a President whose stand on international affairs seemed to promise a different approach...
...In particular, European rearmament, the formation of the European Defense Community, has made little progress...
...So far as Indo-China is concerned, the current debates at Geneva will contribute little toward solving the problem...
...the Anglo-Japanese Treaty was concluded, and...
...The world press is full of anti-Dulles jokes these days, but the Soviet press, quite naturally, exceeds all the others...
...when St...
...There seem few alternatives to the historically tested solution to the fundamental problem of U.S...
...A feeling of impotence reigned in London...
...There is the alternative policy of accepting Russian assurances for as much as they are worth...
...Nor would it halt aggression in Asia if a Pacific Pact materialized on paper only...
...On the other hand, it did not make the slightest move toward withdrawal when the North Atlantic Treaty was signed, or when the European Defense Community was announced...
...For that reason, a more consistent effort toward this solution is to be preferred to the present course, a simultaneous offensive on many fronts with inadequate forces...
...Today, if we decided to destroy Ho Chi Minh's army and "government" at any price, we could do so...
...For there is a world of difference between a band of gangsters at the gates of your city and an armed gangster at the door of your home...
...But this new course has thus far brought no real success...
...but, like Britain then, the United States is deeply involved in European and Asian affairs...
...All of these things were done belatedly...
...Soviet policy under Stalin was intelligently cautious as well as aggressive...
...The first course, relatively static, was generally labeled the policy of containment...
...Dulles promised instant "massive retaliation" against an aggressor, and has staunchly refused to recognize Communist China, despite British wishes...
...When he reaches out for a vigorous blow to Communism, his force proves insufficient...
...In 1949, by relieving the blockade, it acquiesced in a democratic Berlin as a lasting splinter in the body of the "German Democratic Republic...
...France, Germany...
...At the risk of offending India, the United States embraced Pakistan as an ally...
...Wrote the British Ambassador in St...
...the second, more dynamic, the policy of liberation...
...The Dulles Dilemma Neither patient containment of Communism nor aggressive words and proposals are effective without real power By David J. Dallin The fundamental dilemma facing United States policy since World War II has been difficult: Either we accommodate our pace to that of our weaker allies, move slowly, retreat on occasion, compromise now and then with the foe, and, on the whole, strive to maintain the status quo...
...And he wondered whether it would not be wise to join in with the Tsar's move and "secure a share...
...Austria-Hungary, Italy, Russia and Japan...
...their general staffs wage wars on paper almost daily...
...Aroused and indignant as they were, they saw no way to "contain" Russia...
...Seven of these were still powers when the Second World War erupted...
...We dread the ultimate consequences of enlarged all-out war...
...So long as this situation lasts, we will be glad to "contain" Communist power, to take limited action, achieving limited successes and—in some cases—suffering reversals...
...Dulles's aims and the means he can bring to attain them...
...The solution will come through American association with new or recreated forces vitally concerned with the Soviet force, that is, with the leading neighbors of the Soviet bloc in Europe and Asia...
...In many ways, the attitude of the Western powers then was similar to their attitude toward Indo-China today...
...The new Secretary of State bluntly told France that our patience was limited, and that the European Defense Community treaty, originated by the French Government, must be ratified...
...But still the Kremlin retreated...
...It is hard to tell now which foreign-policy tasks Mr...
...NATO, the abundantly financed and greatly publicized combination of fourteen nations, is still, in fact, a magnificent front with inadequate content...
...But we do not want to risk everything on any single card, so long as we can avoid global war...
...Manchuria was evacuated, and Japan annexed half of Sakhalin Island...
...we read his tragic phrase about waiting "till the dust settles" in Asia...
...President Theodore Roosevelt called the Tsar a "preposterous little creature," and accused his regime of "betraying a brutality and ignorance, an arrogance and shortsightedness which are not often combined...
...attacking Dulles and reporting that his Pacific Pact has been rejected not only by Britain and France, but by India, Japan and the Philippines...
...Like Britain then...
...the present levels of military science and espionage make sudden risky adventures highly unlikely...
...we noted President Truman's reluctance to proceed, in the face of British objections, toward all-out war in Korea...
...as often as not, divergences among the governments involved in a supra-national effort weaken the united front...
...had perfected superior nuclear weapons...
...there were eight great powers: America...
...Japan went to war—with a British commitment to join the fighting if necessary, and the open sympathy of America as well...
...the second is the official concept of the Republicans...
...In general, there are no inevitable wars...
...we heard Dean Acheson announcing the withdrawal of American soldiers from Korea...
...we could have done so...
...When he seeks compromise, his opponents at home and abroad scoff, "This is how your predecessor used to operate...
...Now America, rather than Britain, leads the Western powers...
...Triumphantly, too, the Soviet press reprints the "open letter" to Mr...
...Dulles, useful though they may be, cannot exert a decisive influence...
...Britain, the greatest of the Far Eastern powers at the time, was deeply disturbed...
...If we had wanted to throw back the Communist armies and unite Korea at any price...
...At the start of the First World War...
...it also helped bring about the Russian Revolution of 1905...
...Russian newspaper readers must certainly have a general impression of the profound isolation of the United States...
...The Pacific Pact and the "united action" urged by Mr...
...Nor, finally, would it retreat simply because the U.S...
...Old George Kennan, author of Siberia and the Exile System and great-uncle of the contemporary statesman, urged Roosevelt to conclude an outright alliance with the Japanese...
...Britain...
...Today, only three continue as real independent powers: the two giants and a greatly weakened Britain...
...The Tsar's Government seemed to be aiming at the annexation of all of North China...
...Under both Democratic and Republican administrations, the United States shuns global war, and prefers to delay a showdown rather than send a few million of its sons to a bloody conflict overseas...
...Was not Stalin right," they must ask themselves, "when he predicted three years ago that bitter feuds would end the Western alliance...
...At this point, one can profit a great deal from an examination of Far Eastern developments in which the United States and Britain were involved half a century ago...
...The Korean War ended with the status quo, i.e., partition of the country...
...He notified the Western powers that, if necessary, he would "promptly side with Japan and proceed to whatever length was necessary on her behalf...
Vol. 37 • May 1954 • No. 21
