Ticklish Job

About the most that could be said for the new Polish Government was that in forming it Russia had paid lip service to the Yalta pledges, and given the U.S. and Britain a chance to save face. Last week the U.S. joined Britain in official recognition of the revamped Warsaw government (see FOREIGN NEWS). At the same time Harry Truman named Career Diplomat Arthur Bliss Lane, 51, as U.S. Ambassador to the Poles.

Arthur Lane had been ambassador to the London Poles since September, 1944, when he was named by Franklin Roosevelt in response to political clamor that something be done to pacify the Polish vote in the U.S.

Ambassador Lane had never taken up his duties in earnest; he had spent the ensuing six months at a State Department desk absorbing books and clippings about Poland. Now that his accreditation was merely shifted to the new Government, he was promptly off for bomb-pocked Warsaw.

No policymaker, he has been in ticklish spots before, has never distinguished himself but has kept out of trouble. He was in Belgrade when the Germans strode in. While he did not spot in advance the rise of Marshal Tito, he had the sagacity to back youthful King Peter in the uprising against the discredited regent, Prince Paul. Before and after Belgrade, he represented the U.S. in South America (Nicaragua, Costa Rica, etc.). He speaks Spanish and French, no Polish.

Presumably his chief task in Poland, other than aiding in economic rehabilitation, would be to press for the free election promised at Yalta. He would have his hands full.

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