Mr. Truman and the World
The peoples of the world, including the Americans, have had so much difficulty in deciding upon the exact significance of certain highly important passages in President Truman's inaugural address, that it looked at one time as if the President would have to give some supplementary information. It was natural to assume that Mr. Truman's four points—continued support for the United Nations, persistence with existing programmes for world economic recovery, military assistance for freedom-loving nations, and a new programme of assistance to under-developed areas—each had a precise place in the impressive scheme of American foreign policy which has been steadily unfolding since the spring of 1947. But it was par- ticularly difficult to assess the exact implications of the fourth point. It should be pointed out at once that a number of similar difficulties were felt after the first statement of the Marshall Plan in June, 1947. They were to a great extent removed by the clear reactions of American and world opinion. It is therefore important to notice what has happened this time. Senator Vandenberg, that pillar of the bi-partisan foreign policy, has singled out the President's remark that there are limits to American resources and commented simply: " I underscore that warning." Another respected American oracle, Mr. Walter Lippmann, has confined his comment to the single point that Mr. Truman's attack on Communism involved the diplomatic error of overstatement. In Britain Mr. Bevin has leapt to welcome the " fair deal " for backward countries, and the parallel with his welcome for the Marshall Plan for Europe has not gone unnoticed in America. In France comment is cool. Such a reception could be disappointing. Yet a return to the text of the President's address, and in particular to the emphatic passage on point four, shows unmistakably that he meant what he said. Mr. Dean Acheson, with a very able team of assistants, has already begun to give a practical content to his words.
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