Herter's New Diplomacy:

...Hence, it is impossible for the West to conduct the long-term contest effectively without a correspondingly flexible mixture of negatively defensive with constructively reforming measures...

...and the democratic reform Government of President Romulo Betancourt in Venezuela, U.S...

...From the closing years of World War II to the Korean War, Stalin concentrated on territorial pressure, without ever entirely renouncing ideological competition...

...It was followed by active U.S...

...But the proposal most pregnant RICHARD LOWENTHAL often writes on Soviet affairs in these pages...

...This article is published by agreement with the London Observer, for which he is a roving correspondent...

...policy, in the closing years of Dean Acheson's term as Secretary of State and throughout the stewardship of John Foster Dulles, concentrated more and more on the military-defensive aspect of the contest, and continued doing so long after the Russians had shifted much of their emphasis to the competitive aspect...

...condemnation of the reactionary police regime of Dominican dictator, Trujillo, and the caution so far shown by the U.S...

...On the contrary, all the signs indicate Herter's awareness that this long-term contest will continue to constitute the main axis of world affairs...

...support for the United Nations Security Council move to remind South Africa of her obligations under the Charter of Human Rights...

...This does not mean that the State Department is now less concerned with the long-term, world-wide contest against Communist expansion than it was in John Foster Dulles' time...

...The recent signs of a new U.S...

...with important consequences was made by Herter in a speech before the Council of the Organization of American States, when he put his finger on land distribution to small farmers as the major internal need of many Latin American countries, and called for establishment of "adequate credit facilities" to make such reform possible on a solid basis...

...In 1947–48, when the Marshall Plan was conceived and the Berlin Blockade resisted, Western understanding of this problem was fairly clear and Western policy correspondingly successful...

...Seen in those terms, the Communist threat primarily requires a steady armament effort combined with building alliances and guarantees...

...policy that any government willing to join this effort and eschew neutralism is worth supporting, regardless of its internal regime or ideology...

...In recent years, his successors have vastly improved their skill in economic and ideological competition, without renouncing territorial pressure and blackmail at such critical points as Turkey, the Formosa Strait and, above all, Berlin...

...Which of the two views of the nature of the Communist danger is right...

...This last proposal must be read in conjunction with such symptoms as the steady improvement of relations between the U.S...

...But under the impact of the Korean War, U.S...

...They also show an awareness that such an image cannot be created by mere propaganda, but only by visible changes in actual policy...

...Seen in those terms, the contest requires a Western attitude that is both generous in economic aid and constructive, that concerns itself with the best method of solving the development problems of the newly independent countries in non-totalitarian ways...

...Together, all these moves amount to an increasingly systematic, if still patchy, effort to create a new image of the United States in the uncommitted world—the image of a force supporting orderly reform and freedom rather than backing any reactionary regime that pleads militant opposition to Communism...

...None is ostensibly concerned with the Communist danger and all are new in aiming to align the U.S...

...On the other hand, there is the quite different danger of the attraction exercised by Communism, often far beyond the frontiers of the Soviet bloc, by a combination of skillfully manipulated economic aid and exploitation of local social and national conflicts...

...The first of these moves which created a stir in world opinion was the State Department declaration, following the shootings at Sharpeville in South Africa, expressing not only sympathy with the victims, but the hope that "legitimate grievances" would be remedied by non-violent means...

...In this form, the contest appears above all as a race—a competition for influence on the uncommitted countries, most of whom are still new to national independence and economically underdeveloped...

...visibly with efforts at constructive reform and against reaction at the risk of being accused of "interfering in the internal affairs'' of foreign countries...

...The most dramatic and surprising step to date was the sharp and public American intervention in South Korea, calling in effect on President Syngman Rhee to end police terror, restore the freedom of constitutional opposition and repeal the recent Vice Presidential elections whose shameless rigging led to nation-wide riots...

...And it follows that any government that offers a prospect of democratic stability and constructive reform is worthy of support, no matter how neutralist its foreign policy...

...On one side, there is the danger of the territorial expansion of the Soviet bloc, backed by its military power—a danger that may manifest itself in the use of direct or indirect military force, or the threat of such force, in the use of diplomatic and economic blackmail, combined with the internal subversion of neighbors, etc...

...In this form the danger is seen as that of a spreading flood, and the defense against it is building and ever-new shoring up of dikes against it—a static, primarily military defense...

...Both are—at different times and places, for Communist expansion will use either means as opportunity affords...

...in reacting to the incessant attacks of Fidel Castro...

...HERTER'S NEW DIPLOMACY American foreign policy changes favoring constructive reform among our allies give non-violent support to legitimate grievances By Richard Lowenthal UNITED STATES foreign policy recently has embarked on a series of remarkable, if still tentative, new departures in Africa, Asia and Latin America...

...The difficulty is in applying the right mixture at the right time and place...

...But there always have been two ways of conceiving the nature of the Communist danger, and consequently two ways of dealing with it...

...And all these departures seem to be linked with the person and influence of Secretary of State Christian Herter...

...it follows for U.S...

...awareness of the need for competition by constructive reform may, therefore, be of major importance for the future—provided that the continuing need for adequate defensive toughness at points of territorial blackmail is not forgotten...