THE MYTH OF Non-Interference

...I reflected, however, that if I had been asked the same question two years earlier, I would have given the same answer...

...When the Greek government was reestablished in 1947, there had been no elections since 1934, and there was deep dissatisfaction in the provinces over habitual neglect of their problems by the government in Athens...

...The confidence of the army and the people in their leadership was restored, and the guerrilla war, which had dragged on for almost three years, was ended in six months...

...When Fulgencia Batista seized the power of the presidency illegally for the second time, we should have known from the record that disaster loomed ahead for the Cuban people...

...We believe in the right of self-determination...

...This was eleven years ago...

...Although Marshall outlined his now historic plan in June, 1947, it was not until April, 1948, that the European Recovery Plan was launched...

...When I first went there in July, 1948, Greece was moving into the third year of a Communist-inspired civil war...

...In adhering in Greece to a doctrine of non-interference, we had actually been interfering to keep a bad government in power...

...because of this, we tend to lose sight of the fact that in a dictatorship the determination of the government is not necessarily the determination of the people...

...At this point I discussed the seriousness of the situation with a Greek businessman who said to me: "You know what the matter is, don't you...

...Given a clear choice, the people of the Philippines chose wisely, and under Magsaysay honest government was restored...

...Under such circumstances fiscal and economic reforms were next to impossible, the administration of any kind of program was hopelessly confused, and progress at a standstill...

...To the question, are we not compromising our ideal of self-determination in abandoning the myth of noninterference, the answer is that quite the contrary is true...

...Ambassador Henry Grady refused even to discuss such a program, and his refusal was supported by the State Department in Washington...

...Yet in spite of this overwhelming superiority, the military situation of the Greek government deteriorated steadily until, by December, 1948, it was safe to travel without a military escort only within a twenty-mile radius of Athens...

...Such a policy does not require us to go around the world poking into other people's business...

...JOHN NUVEEN, an investment banker, has wide experience in the administration of American economic aid...

...It is essential, too, that we select men for particular overseas assignments because of their special capacity and not just because they are foreign service officers with tenure and unassigned, much less political contributors...

...We thus "interfered" to maintain him in power...

...The Greek economy, which was not self-sufficient before the war, had suffered almost complete paralysis during the conflict...

...Once the threat of a Communist-led guerrilla victory was removed, another obstacle arose to plaque the economic program...

...The Greek people are as deeply imbued with democratic principles as any nation—they gave us the word "democracy"—and would probably be among the last to embrace Communism as an ideology, but there was considerable secret sympathy and support for the Communist-led guerrillas because they were trying to overthrow the government in Athens...

...Recognizing this, we can try to see that whatever is done, whatever changes take place, will be for the benefit of all the people so far as possible and not just a few leaders of the government or their friends...

...Intelligence reports credited the guerrillas with only 25,000 men, while the Greek army and gendarmerie totaled 250,000...

...The ultimate answer will be attained only through trial and error of experience, but some suggestions can be made for a new approach...

...This technique was now being employed in Asia and elsewhere...

...The failure to face this situation squarely, no doubt largely because of the doctrine of non-interference, nearly resulted in tragic consequences...

...Congress then passed the aid to Greece and Turkey bill which provided economic aid for Greece and military aid for both nations...

...President Kennedy has made some excellent appointments at the top and a reorganization of the foreign aid function has been approved, but the main structure of the State Department needs serious attention...

...In other words, so long as we failed to interfere positively to support necessary political and social reforms, we would be interfering negatively to support the often infolerable status quo...

...Why not...

...The Greek political situation reverted to normal under a system that encouraged political machinations and instability...

...It is so convenient to disclaim responsibility and avoid the necessity of tough decisions by raising the banner of non-intervention that it is no surprise our State Department has clung to this policy...

...The reason is less important than the appointment of John J. Peurifoy as his successor...

...In the year following victory over the guerrillas, there were eight different cabinets...

...There remains only the question of our ability to carry out this policy...

...In the Philippines, however, we intervened to the extent of requiring fiscal reforms and bringing about a coalition of the two political parties that opposed Elpidio Quirino's corrupt regime...

...Why can't the United States do some of the things that the Russians are doing...

...He was chief of the Economic Cooperation Administration Mission to Greece, with rank of minister, and served in a similar capacity as chief of the.ECA Mission to Belgium and Luxemburg...

...When I arrived in Greece at the end of July, 1948, I inherited a staff that had been struggling with Greek problems for more than a year...

...Political administration had withered during the German occupation...

...T o intensify the problem, the depression of the early Thirties, which hit Greece severely, had brought about a dictatorship which discouraged the apprenticeship of young political leaders...

...Intervention requires political experience and toughness...

...It is disconcerting to have to face the fact that non-interference is fiction, to realize that we cannot help other nations without intervening in their affairs, and that once we have become as powerful as we now are, both politically and economically, even many of our domestic actions have an effect on other nations that amounts to interference...

...Nuveen was for several years special consultant on foreign investment to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Affairs...

...When knowledgeable men in the Greek government proposed a change in the election system, modifying the proportional representation system to discourage splinter parties, the American ambassador gave it his public endorsement...

...that many of the generals were political appointees who were not competent and did not have the respect of the army...

...A realization that not only Greece but all Western Europe was in danger from Communist penetration prompted General George C. Marshall, then Secretary of State, to propose extensive economic aid to Europe...

...Intelligent "interference" in the affairs of another nation by an ambassador who must carry it out requires a penetrating understanding of that nation-— its philosophy, mores, and political history, as well as intimate knowledge of its leading personalities...

...But during those two years, I had served as the first chief of the Marshall Plan in Greece and through bitter experience had learned some of the hard facts of international life...

...In such cases our ideal of "government by consent of the governed" demands that we should intervene affirmatively when we grant assistance, if we are to maintain our status as a nation of principle and purpose...

...We thus have in our experience in Greece a striking demonstration that not only is non-interference impossible in a country which we are attempting to help, but that failure to recognize the inevitability of interference can be disastrous...

...Most dictatorial governments maintain themselves in power by suppressing self-determination of the people...

...But the new election system was adopted—and the wisdom of the men who proposed it, and of the ambassador who endorsed it, has been amply demonstrated...

...Above all, it demands a delegation of authority comparable to that given a military commander...

...It will be necessary to draft new legislation to correct some of these disabilities, and this will require an educational campaign aimed at developing the support of public opinion...

...Unhappily, the organization and personnel of our present State Department do not inspire optimism...

...After he had served in Greece long enough to feel sure of his ground, he made it clear that something had to be done to stabilize the political situation...

...We can state publicly and clearly that it is up to other nations to choose their own leaders, that if these le ders seek aid in helping to raise the standard of living of all their people and are dedicated to the ultimate goal of achieving government by the consent of the governed, we shall be glad to help them...

...In February, 1947, Britain which had been assisting the Greek government in its struggle against, the Communist-supported guerrillas, announced that for economic reasons she could no longer continue her support and that if the Greeks were to be saved from being pulled behind the iron curtain, someone else would have to do it...

...Finally the situation became so desperate that the Parliament, under pressure from public opinion, decided to risk American displeasure and registered a vote of no-confidence in the government, which then resigned...

...Ambassador Peurifoy was a political realist and had an independence of action enjoyed by few ambassadors because of his friendships with and the respect of members of Congress acquired in his service as Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations...

...Greece is not the only country in which these facts have been illustrated...

...But the Russians were violating this precept...

...No lesson could be more obvious...

...In China we can see in retrospect that failure to use the leverage of our aid to force or assist Chiang Kai-shek to adopt land and other reforms that would benefit the people instead of the corrupt political generals in his cabinet forfeited any chance there may have been to defeat Mao Tsetung and the Communists...

...that everyone knew the government was no good and the people would have changed it long before (by the customary military coup, provisional government, and new elections) but Greece was dependent on American aid to keep from starving, and, since we apparently had confidence in the present government, the people did not want to risk our displeasure by changing it...

...Let us promptly discontinue repeating the unreal cliche of non-interference...

...T o draw him out I pleaded ignorance...

...Let us say clearly that we recognize that there is no way in which we can help a nation through aid, trade, or investment that will not to a greater or lesser degree result in interference in its internal affairs...

...But instead of "interfering" with the considerable influence we enjoyed, because of our substantial economic relations, to help restore legal and honest government, under the euphoria of non-interference we encouraged private investment, bestowed military aid, evidenced public displays of friendship through an insensitive, politically-appointed ambassador, and decorated the general responsible for the execution and torture of political enemies who threatened Batista's tyranny...

...A change in tariffs, a decision to stockpile or not to stockpile some commodity, can spell the difference between prosperity and depression for a oneproduct country and in turn produce a political crisis...

...Greece was the only country in which we had a mission administering an economic aid program prior to the Marshall Plan...

...I was a visiting observer at the meeting and did not feel that I could properly challenge the speaker...

...But this lesson was lost on our State Department, which still clung to the myth of non-interference...

...He replied that the government was no good...

...Building factories and providing tools, for example, may promote an industrial revolution which can produce struggles and changes comparable to a political revolution...

...Yet even though we had a promising four-year economic program, the success of which depended upon stable, popular government, we had no parallel political program...

...THE MYTH OF Non-Interference by JOHN NUVEEN AN Assistant Secretary of State, addressing a forum on foreign relations, had just finished his discussion of Russian successes and American failures in Asia when a young participant rose and asked...

...This seemed a satisfactory answer...

...We should make it clear in the articles of any such partnership that whenever in our opinion their leaders abandon their dedication to these goals and begin to seek special advantage for themselves, we reserve the right to discontinue our partnership...

...We should abandon the foolish practice of rotating embassy personnel every few years, a practice which only insures that we never have a staff in any country with sufficient knowledge of local conditions or respect of local leaders to help effectively in the complicated task of evolving a modern nation...

...It was obvious that the need for political rehabilitation in Greece was even greater than the urgent necessity of economic reconstruction...

...Soon after, President Harry S. Truman announced the doctrine, which has since carried his name, that the United States would help protect smaller nations from larger aggressors...

...It is not our policy to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries...

...Happily, President Kennedy has in effect told our Latin American neighbors, in connection with his Alliance for Progress program, that they must match our material aid with land and other necessary reforms...

...If non-intervention is neither wise nor possible, what instead should be our policy...

...One cannot overestimate the responsibilities of leadership in world affairs nor the skills required to discharge these responsibilities...

...It was only after several critical weeks that it was possible to become disentangled from the old regime, secure a new cabinet of younger, dedicated men, and, probably most important, arrange the appointment of General Papagos, the great general who was credited with defeating the Italians, as commander-in-chief of the army under his own condition that there would be no political interference with his command...

...Greece has since been governed by one prime minister and one party for as long as six years in contrast to eight coalition cabinets in one year preceding the election reforms, and economic progress during this period of stable government has been remarkable...

...Ambassador Grady was recalled in 1950, either by the routine of rotation or because he became persona non grata with the Greek government...

...Missions were promptly recruited, and the United States was launched on its first peacetime experiment . in world leadership...

...Immediately there were screaming editorials in the Chicago Tribune and the Wall Street Journal denouncing our interference in the internal affairs of another country...

...nowhere else has the pursuit of its illusions been more disastrous...

...At the first briefing I received fronr the division heads, testimony was unanimous that Greece's political problems were more troublesome than her economic needs...

...Within weeks the Huk rebellion against Quirino's misrule, a movement the Communists were using to ride into power, subsided, and another defeat in Asia was averted...

...By infiltration, intrigue, and subversion, they had succeeded in capturing control of the governmental machinery of the countries in Eastern Europe, imposing Communist rule and denying self-determination...

...It was not consonant with our principles for us to do the same thing...

...It became clear that once we decided to help a nation, whether by economic aid, a favorable trade treaty, or even through private investment, we were unavoidably interfering to support the government in power, which always interpreted any outside assistance as an endorsement of its regime...

...In no part of the world has the State Department followed non-intervention more resolutely than in Latin America, where non-intervention has been written into the articles of the Organization of American States, and in no area has the fiction of non-intervention been demonstrated more vividly...

...The answer was prompt and precise...

...In the United States self-determination of the government and self-determination of the people are the same thing...