An Airplane Named Cathay

At an airfield outside London last week a British Overseas Airways Stratocruiser stood waiting, bathed in floodlights. Prime Minister Clement Attlee, wearing a sprig of white heather in his lapel, told newsmen that he was "soberly optimistic" about the prospects of his forthcoming meeting with President Truman. Then the airplane, which bore the name Cathay, took off for Washington, carrying Attlee toward a conference which he hoped would prevent a war with Communist China. With him, the plane carried the hopes & fears of most of western Europe.

Within hours after President Truman's first statement on possible use of the atom bomb (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS), the press, public and politicians of all Europe suddenly awoke to the possibility that World War III might be upon them. In Britain the reaction was especially strong.

In the years 1939-41 many an American had accused the British of trying to drag the U.S. into war. Now, naturally enough, some Britons had the same feeling about the U.S. It was not accurate to call the British reaction "hysterical," although that was a favorite (and inaccurate) British word for Americans. Intelligent Britons feared that the U.S. would get bogged down in a war with Communist China and be unable to defend Europe.

This was the view of nearly all British leaders, Tory, Liberal or Socialist. It was the view that French Premier Rene Pleven and Foreign Minister Robert Schuman had urged upon Attlee shortly before Attlee left for Washington. And it was the view that Attlee was urging upon Harry Truman in Washington this week.

Responsible Britons, however, were also aware that the U.S. must decide the issue on a worldwide, not merely an Atlantic, basis. Few British leaders would deny that the final decision was up to the U.S. Said Winston Churchill last week: "When your friend and ally is bearing almost the whole weight, it is natural that he will have the control." Said Attlee on his arrival in Washington: "Trouble always brings us closer together."

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