Anchor for the Pacific

JOURNEY TO THE FAR PACIFIC (335 pp.)--Thomas E. Dewey--Doubleday ($4).

In the summer of 1951, Governor Thomas E. Dewey put aside his chores at Albany and flew off on a rugged (41,000 miles, 17 countries), educative tour of the Far Pacific. His book about the trip, Journey to the Far Pacific, a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, is published this week.

For a U.S. politician, it is a unique effort, a lively narrative that is also diligently informative and discerning. As a student of foreign policy, Dewey has enriched his understanding with some impressive firsthand knowledge of a fateful region; he has become one of the best-briefed Republicans on world affairs.

With regional and global background always in mind, Dewey outlines the particular situation of each country visited. He faithfully records his talks with and impressions of Emperors, Presidents, Prime Ministers, U.S. ambassadors, and military commanders. But he has, at the same time, a surprising eye for telling quirks of Oriental life, for street scenes and countryside panoramas, for the odd, chatty stuff that might find a place in an intelligent tourist's letters home.

Samples from the governor's notebook:

Japan, he says, after a survey of the nation's progress in democracy and struggle for trade, is a question mark. "The Japanese . . . have the will to be free; whether they will have the economic strength to survive in freedom depends in large measure upon the wisdom of American policy . . . and to an even greater extent upon the future of Southeast Asia."

Dewey might have learned this (though not so forcefully) at home. But only in Tokyo could he have found out about the Japanese attitude toward electric meters.

U.S. engineers were amazed to discover that there were no meters in Tokyo. The system was for householders to pay a standard sum for a stipulated amount of current. Many householders, as everybody knew, let neighbors tap in, for a profitable though illegal fee. At first, the Americans insisted on meters to stop the malpractice. Japanese officials patiently explained that they could not afford the outlay for meters and meter inspectors. Anyway, they said, inspectors would only make deals with householders and falsify reports, while householders would install meter jumpers and keep on subselling current. "Why go through with all this," they asked, "when we have a perfectly satisfactory way of doing business now?" The Americans gave up.

Dewey's comment: "The American engineers . . . had learned Lesson Number One in foreign affairs: that it is difficult and unwise to try to make the rest of the world over in our image."

Korea, in Dewey's itinerary, is certainly not set down as a "Truman war," the gibing phrase of isolationist Republicans, although the governor feels that weak U.S. Asiatic policy encouraged the Communist attack. By grasshopper plane, he hopped across the ridge-backed front, talking with U.S. officers and men. He is "deeply convinced" of the Tightness of the Korean war: it is the safeguard of all free Asia.

Formosa, in Dewey's opinion, must be held against the Reds. "Whatever its defects, the army on Formosa is the largest in the Pacific on the side of freedom . . . Its potential is important for the future and for possible guerrilla action sooner; meanwhile, it holds this invaluable island fortress in our defense structure."

Hong Kong stirs Dewey to some of his most vivid description and some of his sharpest argument. Below the terraced mansions and not far from the solid business buildings of the beautiful British colonial island are the driftwood shacks of incredibly crowded Chinese refugees. "Other Chinese live on sampans, acres of sampans . . . The mixed odors of swarming, insanitary human life hang like a miasma over the whole waterfront and extend deep into the city itself . . ." With British officials, the touring American had a strong difference of opinion: they justified British recognition of Red China as a recognition of the facts of life, however unpleasant. Dewey held stubbornly against shortsighted diplomacy favoring bloody conquerors.

The Philippines, observes Dewey, "is our great example of colonialism in reverse. We can tell [i.e., by effective propaganda] what we did there in every country in the world . . . It struck me very hard that . . . we should set about doing a much better job of selling ourselves and our cause . . ."

Indo-China and Malaya are the points of crisis on Dewey's map of the Far Pacific. The late great Marshal de Lattre de Tassigny, who saved Indo-China from imminent engulfment by the Communists, impressed the governor with his global outlook. Dewey also found the Emperor Bao Dai "a very much brighter man than he is generally considered." The touring American hit it off best of all with Britain's Malcolm MacDonald, Commissioner General for Southeast Asia ("calm, philosophical . . . completely informal and friendly . . . a nature which makes him like people . . ."). In this strife-torn region, Dewey had a close-up look at guerrilla warfare, many talks with native nationalists.

Indonesia, reports Dewey, "exists today as a race between development of the techniques of government on the one hand and the forces of rebellion and disorder on the other. I am betting on the government . . ." President Sukarno and U.S. Ambassador Merle Cochran rate high marks in Dewey's book; both played a wise role in setting the young republic on its unsteady feet.

A Total Treaty. In a few closing paragraphs, Dewey offers a policy to anchor the free world's security in the Pacific: "Within the structure of the United Nations, a total Pacific treaty of mutual defense . . . Wherever we have undertaken treaties assuring collective action in advance, there is no war . . . In the Pacific, we have done only patchwork jobs and that area is racked by . . . wars . . . For the sake of our own freedom, we should take action in the Pacific similar to that which we have taken in the Americas and in Western Europe. There will be many difficulties . . . but peace was never won by timidity or inertia . . ."

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