Diplomats at Work

After less than two months at work, the Administration's new policymakers are ready to admit that in foreign policy no rule is rigid, no solution is easy, no plan is foolproof, and no worthwhile policy is entirely devoid of risk. With the last point especially in mind, President Kennedy last week sent Nikita Khrushchev a straight-from-the-shoulder message through Ambassador Llewellyn Thompson Jr. The U.S.. said the President, views Laos as a test case of Soviet intentions (see FOREIGN NEWS), is willing to work toward a genuine settlement, or just as willing to throw its power into Southeast Asia to safeguard its vital interests.

Without waiting for an answer, the U.S. moved out on several other important diplomatic fronts:

BERLIN. Stopping off in the beleaguered city on his European get-reacquainted tour, Ambassador-at-large Averell Harriman assured the Germans that the President "will do everything in the power of the United States to support this city and its people in freedom." He added the somewhat cryptic thought that "President Kennedy does not feel committed to any discussions undertaken by the previous Administration on the Berlin question. All discussions on Berlin will have to begin from the start." Back home, it took two successive whacks at "clarification" before the Harriman statement was really made clear. At his press conference, Secretary of State Rusk reiterated the U.S.'s longstanding commitment on West Berlin, but pussyfooted around questions on the point of whether Harriman's statement meant that John Kennedy no longer felt obliged to stand behind Dwight Eisenhower's 1959 compromise offer to the Russians--an offer to freeze the size of the Western garrisons in Berlin and to participate in Big Four espionage and propaganda control there in return for Soviet guarantees of free access to Berlin for the Western powers.

Next day the State Department laid out the Rusk line in more certain terms: 1) the U.S. "unequivocally" declares its intention not to reduce the West Berlin garrison; 2) "The Soviets having rejected the [Western] proposals, we have taken the position that we are no longer bound by these proposals." CHINA. Noting his disappointment that the Chinese Communists had turned down a U.S. offer to exchange news correspondents, President Kennedy said that they "have been extremely belligerent toward us, and they've been unfailing in their attacks upon the U.S. . . . We're not prepared to surrender [U.S. commitments in the Far East] in order to get a relaxation of tension." On the question of U.N. admission of Red China, Secretary Rusk noted cautiously that any attempt to force Nationalist China from the U.N. and hand its seat to Peking would create "a very serious problem." The Communist Chinese themselves oppose a "two-China" membership, he said, so this makes a debate on a two-China policy academic.

AFRICA. President Kennedy made it a point to give the red-carpet treatment to Ghana's visiting President Kwame Nkrumah, who, only last fall, was given short shrift by Former Secretary of State Christian Herter (who said that Nkrumah was "very definitely leaning toward the Soviet bloc"). Kennedy, Rusk & Co. chose to put the best possible light on Nkrumah's speech last week to the United Nations lending qualified support to the U.N.'s peace-seeking attempts in the Congo. Kennedy met Nkrumah at the airport, exchanged warm greetings, took him to the White House for "fruitful" private talks. The President later praised Nkrumah's leadership and his efforts to bring order to the Congo and Africa.

Asked by a newsman if he is proCommunist, Nkrumah replied: "Why do they say I'm proCommunist? That's what I don't understand. Be careful. Don't equate Communism or being Communist with African nationalism. It is unfair." Could Nkrumah see any difference between the attitudes of the Kennedy and Eisenhower Administrations? Answer: "That I can see quite clearly. The general outlook portends something good and hopeful for both sides."

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