Essentials of Peace
Thomas, Norman
Essentials of Peace Disarmament: The Challenge of the Nineteen Sixties, by James P. Warburg. Doubleday. 288 pp. $4.50. Reviewed by Norman Thomas If I were asked what practicable political policy...
...Reviewed by Norman Thomas If I were asked what practicable political policy the Kennedy Administration might follow to achieve the peace which all rational men must desire, I would recommend Mr...
...A lack of clear, consistent, and sincere acceptance of these imperatives has characterized and still characterizes American policy...
...For many years I have been stimulated and sustained in my own thinking by Warburg's writings and by his friendship...
...The fact is that the greatest threat to the United States and to all mankind is not posed by Communism but by a world in revolution and by the likelihood—the ever-increasing likelihood—of nuclear war...
...First: that the greatest danger to the security of the United States and the so-called free world has been and is aggressive expansionist Communism...
...United States policy has reversed this basic order of priorities...
...One of the values of Warburg's latest book is that he traces that policy from 1945 to 1960 and in his appendix gives the reader the text of seventeen documents, resolutions offered at the United Nations and the like, which are highly pertinent to this history...
...That the acceptance of universal disarmament as a goal of United States policy involves willingness THE REVIEWERS NORMAN THOMAS was the Socialist candidate for President in six campaigns...
...and that they see Communism, rather than nuclear war, as the most immediate threat to their security...
...The President's adviser on disarmament, John J. Mc-Cloy, commented to me with some amusement on the fascination some intellectuals have in playing games with soldiers—or missiles...
...The greatest present danger of nuclear war arises out of the every increasing likelihood of war by accident...
...This danger of war by accident or passion will of course be enormously increased as more nations acquire nuclear weapons...
...Throughout, Warburg is insistent on the importance of ending the anarchy of nations by strengthening the United Nations along lines so well developed by Messrs...
...That arms control, in whatever degree, is not enough...
...that arms-control measures are desirable only in so far as they arrest the momentum of the arms race and prepare the way for universal disarmament under adequately enforced world law...
...Third: the assumption that other peoples who do not like Communism share the American view as to the best means of meeting the Communist challenge...
...CHARLES W. ANDERSON, associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, specializes in Latin American history and politics...
...on the part of the United States to abide by the decisions of a supranational system of courts of equity and justice and their enforcement by supranational police power...
...I especially commend this treatment of the four fallacious assumptions underlying our policy...
...If these decisions are made, a major task will be the creation of a firm foundation in public opinion...
...Warburg's latest book and suggest to the President that its author would be the best man to help him carry it out as Secretary of State...
...It is more anti-Communist imperialism than pro-peace and anti-war...
...Communist imperialism does present a lethal threat to human freedom—a threat that must ultimately be met and defeated...
...Some reviewers have accused Warburg of dealing too summarily with the much-touted books of men like Henry Kissinger and Herman Kahn, who reject disarmament dogmatically and urge instead elaborate plans of arms control...
...Fourth: in recent years, United States policy has been primarily designed to prevent aggression by the one hostile power that possessed nuclear weapons and delivery systems: the Soviet Union...
...He writes: "The abatement of tensions, the achievement of disarmament, and a determined effort to improve conditions of life—these are the three imperatives of our time...
...It is true that the author might have written on arms control,in more detail, but his case is convincing and his conclusion cannot be too strongly emphasized: "It is to be hoped that the government of the United States will soon make two major decisions: "1...
...Three simultaneous parallel efforts are required...
...But nuclear war threatens the very survival of human civilization...
...There can be no freedom anywhere if civilization is extinguished...
...EDWARD H. 8UEHRIG, a professor of government at Indiana University, wrote "Woodrow Wilson and the Balance of Power...
...JOSEPH P. LASH covers the United Nations for the New York Post...
...Second: the assumption that the Communist challenge is essentially military and can, therefore, be met by military means...
...JACK MENDELSOHN, minister of the Arlington Street Church (Unitarian Universalist) in Boston, has traveled throughout Africa...
...He has emphasized in those years—as in this book—three essentials of a policy designed to avert the catastrophe of World War III...
...Clark and Sohn in their authoritative book, World Peace Through World Law...
...The greatest danger of nuclear war does not arise out of the possibility that Soviet leadership may, through miscalculation, launch a military adventure...
...There is no priority among them...
...The book has brief but valuable chapters dealing with the fundamental problems of abatement of tensions, the economics of disarmament, multilateral aid to disadvantaged peoples, and arms control versus disarmament...
Vol. 25 • July 1961 • No. 7
