ON THE BRINK OF DISASTER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000200940198-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 21, 1999
• Sequence Number: 198
• Publication Date: August 6, 1958
• Content Type: OPEN

AUG 61958 STATINTL
1,19so Approved For ReICft'*GHW10Gii .:1IA RDW
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CHARTER
`ACT
The Senate resumed the consideration
of the bill (S. 1846) to provide for the
District of Columbia an appointed Gov-
ernor and Lieutenant Governor, and an
elected Legislative Assembly and non-
votinK Delegate to the House of Repro-
sef}tatives.
to be and of what specific kind of world with almost hysterical approval in Latin
we think would best serve our long-term America. The Present Vice President
Interests. It is no answer to say we want was spat upon and stoned. This, too,
to live at peace in a free, peaceful, and was a measure of how far we had fallen.
secure world. That is a hope which we This, too, gave us cause to think. What
all share, but it is only a hope: it is not a had we done? After all, this outburst of
policy. resentment and fury was directed at
My fear, Mr. President, is that, If we something besides Mr. NixoN as a per-
continue as we have been and are, we son. Once again, for a brief time, we
w Ill lose so much ground diplomatically
t
rned
tt
ti
,
u
our a
en
on to the serious busi-
ON THE BR OF DISASTER
politically, and economically that the nose of what had gone wrong. Once'
Mr. MANSFIELD. Mr. President. In question of a shooting war will really be- again, the soul-searening began and once
accordance with the unanimous-consent come irrelevant. agalA it did not last long. We found an
agreement previously entered into, I Before our remaining toeholds go, it is easy ressaasnoe In the smug belief that
believe this is an appropriate Ume for the time that we stop to look at where we only a relatiys handful of Latin Ameri-
clerk to read the speech prepared for de- are. Even more important, it is time to cane nartelnated In the rinfA on.t ts.et
from Arkansas [Mr. FULBRrour]. this Predicament. Only the blindeat of fist sympathisers, Ono. agsin~~ fie
clerk will read the speech prepared by tuulal pvs1won as a secure one. The fact
the Senator from Arkansas. is that ;jve' are;;, in trouble, very deep
The legislative clerk read Mr. FuL- trouble 4egsrdleae,of what happens next
sitlalir'S speech, as follows: in the Middle East.. The exposed position
Mr. President, at this moment no one we now occupy In that area is only one
knows whether the United States mili- reflection of that trouble.
tary forces in Lebanon will be plunged A year ago we had another reflection
deeper into the Middle East or whether of it. when the Soviet Union launched the
an opportunity will arise In the near first of the sputniks. That event told us
future to withdraw them.. Certainly, what many already knew, but what this
it is the expressed hope of the execu- Government chose to Ignore. It told us
tive branch, and I am sure the unspoken that there had grown up elsewhere in
hope of most Americana, that these the world a capacity for scientific, intel.
forces will be able to leave the area lectual, and technical achievements,
promptly. While they are still there, which if It had not already done so
they deserve our support. The decision would soon surpass our own. This had
which put them into the Middle East happened In a country and under a sys.
was not theirs to make, though they tem which was hostile to our own and to
will bear the brunt of any' drastic con- the freedom which we cherish. It upset
sequences which may stem from it. the basic assumption upon which our de-
The safety of the men in the Middle tense had rested since World War 11.
East is our primary concern at the the assumption of our ability to maintain
moment; but if we limit our concern a substantial -scientific apd- technical
to considerations of the moment, we Supremacy in this country. ' The launch-
will not really solve anything. We must . 1ng; of.. the first,"sputnik shocked us, Mr.
look at the basic causes of our troops President, Into a momentary oonfronta-
being In Lebanon. When we do that, tion with reality. Some of us recognized
we find that our present trouble in The that for years this .Elation had wallowed
Middle East is merely symptomatic of in a kind of fool's paradise in'Jolly and
a much more serious maladr. supercilious complacency while else-
The truth is, Mr. President, that our where others of more serious bent of
foreign policy is inadequate, outmoded, mind had worked. There was a realize-
and misdirected. It Is based in part on Lion that we had seriously neglected edu-
a false conception of our real, long-term cation. There was a realization that
national interests and in part on an others had labored while we had loafed.
erroneous appraisal of the state of the The 'reformation was momentary. The
world in which we live. Worse, it re- smug and apathetic tendencies of our
.1ects a dangerous apathy and a quite leadership soon spread to the rest of:the
incomprehensibe unwillingness to look Nation. On the one hand, there was a
facts in the face. disposition to live with the fact that our
We should put off no longer a com- scientific leadership was eithergone -or
plete reconsideration and reorientation going fast; on the other hand, there was
of our foreign policy. We have already the delusion that perhaps the sni trtlk
a VL Time Time and again we have put things reeve somebody called it. After all, we which. Presumably, everything we hav
off. Time and again we have drifted still had the Strategic Air Command and done in the past 10 years has bee
until circumstances reached an intoler- intercontinental missiles and perhaps designed to prevent. At best, we shall
able state, and then we have rushed to even a shot at the moon on the way. So be up agslnst the disaster of an iso-
the brink. This time we have even put we went back to business as usual and lation of this country from reasonable
one foot over the brink. There we pleasure as usual. . and essential Intercourse with great
dangle. waiting and wondering what Then a few weeks ago. events occurred areas of the world. We may well be,
will come next. We are now looking In Latin America to remind us of the pro- as we already are In China ' and in
squarely into the abyss of war, a war cariousness of our position in the world. the Soviet sphere, persona non grata
which we do not. seek and which can There, in an area with which we 1I d In vast Areas of Asia and Africa and
only have 'the most camstrophic con- once enjoyed a most cordial, friendly, and Latin America, and even perhaps In
sequences for all humanity. intimate association; in this area re- Europe.
But the issue of pence or war is only garded as safe, above all others, a 21here Is an Irony In this, Mr. Presl-
one of our problems. Equally trouble. symbolic explosion occurred, no leis dent. Pbr decades, we sought to isolate
some-and a rood deal more compli- startling in Its impact on the Nation than ourselves- from the rest of the world.
cated-are the questions of what our the, first sputnik. A few years back, a We have abandoned that course, only
er.
Government to the people. Onceagain,
Latin America receded from the front
pages of the press to the last pages.
Mow. it has happened again. We
awaken one morning and' find strange
hands In control of what we believed
to be the most reliable of the Middle
Easterp natlons,.so reliable that we had
encouraged It to join in a friendly mili-
tary pact. Its King, whom we had been
given to understand was a good and pro-
greasive Chan. Is no more. We are face
to face with new rulers of Iraq, who
despite the hundreds of millions we have
spent an' Intelligence groups, are un-
known
factors to us. We scarcely knew
whether to take them to our bosom or
Seed, them to the same mental oblivion !
to which we have consigned the'Chinese
Communists, in the naive belief that if
we felled to acknowledge their existence,
they woulll somehow. go away. Next
morning, we find that our marines have
landed In Lebanon. It has taken thisi
shock.. W. President, to bring our errant
attention once again to the highly dan-
gerous conditions extant in the world
In which we ' live. How long will our
fleeting awareness last this time. Mr.:
Presideat;'befor'e it disappears? Per-'
haps It would be well to ask ourselves,
Where will the shock come next? One!
thing Is certain, if we go on as we are
more .shocks await us In the not tooo
distant future and in many parts of th
world. If we go on as we are, awn
in the fadtiiod of the cat on the hot t
roof we ahAa be skipping from on
crisis , to another all over the globe, un
able to get our footing anywhere. W
shall-not'even have time for anothe
Spell of apathy before we are face Al
t
ce 'With' unspeakable disast
Approved For Release 1999/09/17 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000200940198-2