Notes
THE KNOWLAND BLOCKADE
Senator Knowland, with his flair for saying the wrong thing at the wrong moment, chose the time of Mr. Hammarskjold's arrival in Pekin to renew his demand for a blockade of China if the American prisoners are not released. Admiral Radford also thought that a blockade 'would. be the best way to tackle the problem'—although only a few days ago he agreed that a blockade would be an act of war. In this he was merely echoing the words of President Eisenhower. Western diplo- macy, like other diplomacy, must rest on force, but such bellicosity by the 'Formosa Firsters' only helps China since it embarrasses President Eisenhower and encourages Allied suspicion, of the United States. After demanding a blockade. Senator Knowland deplored the prospect of President Eisen- hower's being 'drafted' to run .again in 1956 and said that any Republican could win in that year. In view of the election results in 1952 and 1954 that remark is so absurd that it raises the suspicion that the Senator's anxiety to blockade China does not spring solely from his .much-vaunted 'sincerity.'
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