Search for a Foreign Policy
Ever since Henry Wallace got sacked as head of BEW (TIME, July 26), he has been exceedingly vocal. Ever since Cordell Hull got involved in his State Department's civil war, he has kept extremely mum. Last week talkative Henry Wallace went on talking, tight-lipped Cordell Hull made a speech on U.S. foreign relations for the first time since July 1942. Their joint theme: American foreign policy. Their joint desire: to find one. Their joint conclusions: none.
Vice President. When Henry Wallace stepped up to the microphone in the Chicago stadium, great white-hot spotlights burned down on him before 20,000 people, gathered to hear him. The 20,000 heard Henry Wallace:
> Urge "Democracy First" as the slogan of World War II. "We must fight not merely to make the world safe for democracy but to give democracy first place in the world."
> Add a litany of seven auxiliary freedoms to Franklin Roosevelt's "Freedom from Want." The seven: Freedom "from worry about a job"; "from worry about a dependent and poverty-pinched old age"; "from unnecessary worry about sickness and hunger"; "from strife between workers and businessmen, between farmers and businessmen, between workers and farmers"; "from strife between races and creeds"; "from fear of bankruptcy caused by overproduction of necessary materials"; "for venture capital and for inventors of new ideas to expand production of needed goods without fear of repressive cartels, excessive taxation, or excessive government regulation."
> State three "rules for the Century of the Common Man." Rule 1: "The full use of all natural resources on a sustained basis." Rule 2: "Full use of all technologies." Rule 3: "To use these resources and technologies so that everyone working in hope can come home every night to a peaceful rest in the expectation of another day of hopeful work tomorrow."
That Henry Wallace was voicing the utmost hopes of an untrammeled utopianism was not to be questioned. But not even his stanchest admirer could pretend that his search for a brave new world constituted an outline of U.S. foreign policy. Nowhere did he say how his seven freedoms, or three rules, were to be translated into reality: at no time did he present a program of possible action except to urge passage of the B2H2 Resolution, which proposes that the U.S. lead in forming a postwar organization of nations.
Secretary of State. Next night, to expound his ideas of U.S. foreign policy, up to an NBC microphone stepped Cordell Hull, the ranking Cabinet officer--47th in the great line that includes Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, James Madison, Daniel Webster, John Hay, Elihu Root. In defense of himself and his Department, after a period when both have been under intense fire, the Secretary made a dignified and restrained statement. But U.S. citizens were not so much interested in the defense; they wanted to hear Mr. Hull's positive ideas.
His address was divided into three parts: 1) the full-dress defense of the Department's recent record, including the deal with Vichy; 2) a tribute to the other members of the United Nations, including Russia; 3) an ever-so-cautious advocacy of an international "system" to maintain peace. The Secretary was so cautious in his approach to this idea, which might mean another League of Nations or might mean nothing, that he barely permitted himself to use the words "organized system." Said he:
"Our task and that of our associates is to. . . create an effective system of international cooperation. . . . If our nation and like-minded nations fail in this task, the way will be open for a new rise of international anarchy, for new and even more destructive wars. . . . A system of organized international cooperation for the maintenance of peace must be based upon the willingness of the cooperating nations to use force, if necessary, to keep the peace. . . . Readiness to use force, if necessary, for the maintenance of peace is indispensable."
Cordell Hull's speech was not the clear delineation of foreign policy that had been hoped for. No doubt, in the speeches he promised to make within the next few months, the Secretary planned to be more explicit.
As another of Mr. Hull's many pleas for international law and international morality, the speech was honest and sincere. But it made many men wonder: Exactly what are the Administration's ideas on foreign policy? The citizenry has lived long enough with Henry Wallace and Cordell Hull to know that they do not share the same ideas. These speeches made them wonder whether they shared the same world. For Mr. Hull's cautious appeal for international law seemed irrelevant to Mr. Wallace's huge Utopian dreams. The President, as the main foreign policy maker, would have to spread himself to join these disparate views in one Democratic Party program for foreign policy.
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