Dear Editor
DEAR EDITOR Critique of Ike's Foreign Policy Provokes Anger and Enthusiasm I want to take exception to Eugene V. Rostow's article, "Ike's Foreign Policy" [THE NEW LEADER, November 22]. Mr. Rostow...
...You should have no trouble finding an Eisenhower liberal among your readers, perhaps even another Yale professor...
...In hundreds of editorials and signed articles, it attacked this policy for its appeasement, for its lack of understanding of Stalin's intentions and actions, for its retreats, failures, withdrawals and concessions to the Soviet and Communist side...
...The other two, Soviet popularity in the U.S...
...One need only read carefully the review of John Leighton Stuart's autobiography in THE NEW LEADER of November 15 to recognize one of these mistaken notions...
...Dallin will continue the discussion in his future articles...
...our military strength at the end of the war was at its peak, and Churchill was prepared to cooperate even to the extent of rearming some German divisions...
...Rostow thinks the defeat was inevitable...
...Bohn is a sensitive and wise reporter...
...It carefully delineates the accomplishments of the Truman Administration in the international field, and shows how Eisenhower and Dulles--under the pressure of Republican isolationists--are retreating from those victories...
...It does not understand even "elementary history and arithmetic...
...Further criticism, we may hope, will lead the President to shed the influence of the Brickers and the Knowlands and reassert the fine internationalism of which he is capable...
...THE NEW LEADER believes, and has believed for many years, that the interest of world democracy calls for the most vigorous criticism of all policies enacted by Democrats or Republicans...
...Henceforth, we will dictate terms to other nations if and when they come to us for blood and treasure...
...go it alone is not appeasement or isolation...
...Eugene V. Rostow's article reads more like politician's campaign speech...
...This failure enabled Stalin's agents to gain key positions in "educating" our people...
...General Marshall was thoroughly miscast in his role as mediator...
...In neither case does THE NEW LEADER regard notable shortcomings as total failure...
...I hope you will correct this oversight...
...Actually, as Rostow shows, we have lost considerable ground through big talk and little action...
...Rostow puts the blame for the Second World War on the "pro-German Anglo-American foreign policy carried through in the Twenties and early Thirties...
...And to trace the decline of the Good Neighbor Policy, initiated by Hoover and carried on enthusiastically if sometimes 511-advisedly under Roosevelt up to the time when Secretary Acheson, almost at the end of his term of service, suddenly rediscovered Brazil, is saddening...
...It is not my intention to dispute the belated eulogy of the Democratic Administration and this 100-per-cent condemnation of President Eisenhower's policy...
...Rostow's ideas on American foreign policy fit into THE NEW LEADER...
...I am writing to pose this question: How do Mr...
...Except in the Soviet and Communist press, I have nowhere seen this anti-Western thesis...
...policy, we have presented many widely divergent views, none of which we necessarily endorse...
...Some of us still remember Roosevelt's "I know how to get along with Stalin'' and Truman's "Uncle Joe...
...See Michael Karpovich's article on page 6 this week.] In this effort to publicly air the major issues of U.S...
...Even his one-paragraph grudging admission that mistakes were made prior to 1953 seems to stress minor matters and ignore major errors...
...Finally, I am sure that future historians will recognize that Eisenhower and Dulles have been introducing a profound and overdue change in our foreign policy...
...But the most unprofessorial stab of all is to brand Eisenhower and Dulles as appeasers and isolationists...
...He assumes, however, that his readers will forget that these effective bipartisan measures to stem Stalin's aggression in Europe were made necessary by the action and inaction of Eisenhower's predecessors...
...Intelligent criticism of the "peripheral strategy" has already led the Administration to consider new programs in Asia...
...THE NEW LEADER maintained, in accord with all objective Western analysts, that the United States had lost much of its prestige and many of its political positions...
...As Dr...
...Hamilton, N. Y. LEO L. ROCKWELL Eugene V. Rostow's article was one of the best you have published in years...
...Rostow's views worthy of presentation and discussion...
...Joseph Davies's Mission to Moscow reveals how ill-equipped that gentle man was for his important post...
...Berkeley, Calif...
...He calls this "errors derived primarily from three intractable factors.'' The first of these factors, superior Soviet strength, simply did not exist...
...Against this background, the present administration has a black record of failures and defeats...
...He goes on to enumerate its alleged successes: the Marshall Plan, the Berlin airlift, Iran and Greece, even two resolutions of Congress and paper treaties...
...Their refusal to let the U.S...
...as far as the removal of our troops from Korea in 1949 is concerned, he overlooks this outstanding act of bad, unintelligent policy just as he does a number of other policies...
...New York City DAVID J. DALLIN THE NEW LEADER welcomes readers' comment, regardless of point of view...
...foreign policy, re-examination which was launched with our series "Alternatives to the H-Bomb" and which will be continued for weeks to come...
...we hailed the London and Paris agreements even as we hailed the North Atlantic Treaty, bemoaned the loss of Indo-China as we bemoaned the loss of China...
...He was one of the foremost Chekhov scholars in the Soviet Union...
...Rostow maintains that, up to the end of the Truman Presidency in 1953, American foreign policy "moved forward from success to success...
...Since THE NEW LEADER with equal insight pinpointed Truman's failures, you deserve great credit for continuing to hold the ideal of an effective democratic foreign policy high above momentary gains or partisan politics...
...This is the real "new look," and it is this, I believe, which gave Eden the "strength" to "save" us so that Europe and England would not be enslaved before we are threatened...
...For space reasons, however, we prefer letters under 300 words...
...Washington Crossing, Pa...
...It is this new effective policy which will persuade other allies who want our aid to first protect themselves against subversion at home and prepare for an active defense against aggression from abroad...
...HUBERT RICE...
...Lake Charles, La...
...You allowed this attack without defense and without even a notice that you would have one in future issue...
...I especially enjoyed his account of the Bryant Bowles mass meeting [THE NEW LEADER, November 1...
...The real factors were blindness and political arrogance, extending from the time of Soviet recognition to the "red herring'' days...
...Washington, D. C. E. F. HELMS Although presented as an objective analysis...
...Cleveland GEORGE POHOLSKY Soviet Scholar Not Responsible For Cuts in Chekhov's Letters To forestall possible misunderstanding in connection with my article, "Chekhov and Soviet Doublethink" [THE NEW LEADER, November 221, I would like to make it clear that S. D. Balukhaty, though one of the original editors of The Complete Works and Letters of Chekhov, died in 1945 before any of the volumes of letters made their appearance...
...At the end of this compilation of accomplishments, the author becomes so enthusiastic that the record of the Truman-Marshall-Acheson era appears to him "little short of dazzling...
...The best interpretation that can be placed on that policy is that we have held our own in the world during the last two years...
...It is possible that he would have had to lend his name to the cuts that were made in the Chekhov letters, but no responsibility attaches to him for their publication in this "Zhdanovized" form...
...Professor Rostow justly claims that the previous administration deserves credit for the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine...
...Is this THE NEW LEADER's "new course...
...There is growing evidence of the naive misconceptions which led to serious consequences under the leadership of Hull, Byrnes and Acheson...
...THE EDITORS Your November 22 issue was excellent--especially the Rostow piece on Administration foreign policy...
...He also forgets that Eisenhower inherited a lost China and, consequently, all the tragic problems in the Far East...
...Ike inherited a situation which scarcely justifies application of the adjective "dazzling" to the previous policy...
...Now what was black three or five years ago is painted while and sky-blue today...
...GLEB STRUVE Appreciates Bohn's Coverage Of School Crisis in Delaware William E. Bohn's sympathetic series of articles on the problems of integration in Delaware are most instructive...
...and the need to exhaust "peaceful alternatives,'' are merely the bad fruit of Roosevelt's and Truman's failure to tell the American people the truth about the Kremlin dictatorship--the truth that, while it was common sense to help Stalin against stronger gangster, he never could be trusted...
...Rostow's critique was presented as part of our continuing re-examination of U.S...
...It will do us no good to crow about our gains and ignore our very palpable losses, and the only way to repair those losses is to discuss them frankly...
...it is responsible even for the defeat of EDC in the French Assembly, the failure of France in Indo-China, and a number of other things...
...SOL FEINSTONE Eugene V. Rostow's review of President Eisenhower's foreign policy seems to me so wrong-headed that I cannot refrain from objecting to his black-and-white comparison with the policies of the preceding administration...
...We considered Dr...
...We trust that Dr...
...For seven years after the war, from 1945 to 1952, THE NEW LEADER severely criticized the Truman Administration's course in foreign affairs...
...As far as China is concerned, Mr...
...Dallin recalls, our criticisms of Truman a few years ago were as searching as our criticisms of Eisenhower today...
...both are propaganda rather than scholarly analysis...
...Professor Rostow rightly gives Truman credit for standing up in Korea, but he forgets that Truman's failure to declare our determination to defend South Korea invited aggression...
...And we would have lost more if Eden and Mendes-France hadn't bailed Dulles out at London and Paris...
...He forgets these facts and much more...
Vol. 37 • December 1954 • No. 49
