THESE DAYS: ARE HARD-LINERS BEING HEARD NOW?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000700080024-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 16, 2004
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: March 17, 1964
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2005/01/05: CIA-R 7 -0 49000700080024-4
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MAR 1 7 1954
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By JOHN CHAMBERLAIN
COME, THING interesting is happening in Washing-
ton: The advocates of a hard line in relation to
Cuba and the Castroites' attempted Communist, sub-
version of Latin America no longer find their channels
of communication to the White House blocked, as they
did during the aftermath of the missile, crisis.
Meanwhile, in London, U.S. policy
planner Walt Whitman Rostow, the
old, symbol of "disengagement" in the
State Department, makes a speech
to British businessmen breathing
anything but a spirit of disengage-
nient vis-a-vis Castro.
Whether this really represents a
"new" Rostow is a point of conten-
tion among those who have kept close
watch on his career since he left the
field of international studies at the E y
.e,,, As the top coordinator, Mann, of course, listens to'
Massachusetts Institute of Technol. all sides. But his most sympathetic ear Is given to
,ogy to prepare position papers for the CIA11IBERLAW State Department employes who, prior to. last De-
State Department. comber, were not letting the world know they differed
Rostow is the author of, a book that attempts toi with the.official line toward Latin America.
give an underpinning in. abstract economic theory to : Their hnmuzzling may not lead to any satistactory'
British Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home's idea disposition of the Cuban menace tomorrow. Tor the,
that fat Communists are less menacing than lean ones. truth is that Castro is getting stronger all tho time.-
The "new" Rostow, asked to comment on Sir Alec's The news that filters in from Cuba that mention such:
remarks about fat Communists, said: "The sources of, details as, "Deliver oxygen to such-and-such a cave,",
aggression are far more complicated than that simpli- _ indicates that any slipshod new invasion would result
fication. We had a fat Germany that gave us a very , in a disaster that would make the Bay of Pigs look like:
.hard time."
Such a statement would lead one to believe that, a lost minor skirmish. Air cover for any anti-Castro Cuban invasion of
Rostow is beginning to wonder about the alleged vir-, the island world have to reckon with ground-to-air;
tues of "disengagement" anywhere. His friends say he missiles and a Soviet-trained Castroite air' force. But'
always made a distinction between neutralist postures' at the very least the unmuzzling of the hard liners'
in faraway theatres such as the Danube valley and. 'should muarantee that butter use will be lade of the,
n
Formosa Strait and disengagement In close-up areas'
such as the Caribbean Sea.
"Rostow," says one of these friends, "may have
been: for relaxing pressures against communism in.
Central Europe, where it would be difficult to use our,
power,, but he has supported engagement where it'
would be easier to employ our strength, such as In
Cuba."
THE SIGNIFICANCE of the Rostow London speech
is that the' so-called "hard liners" inside the govern-j
ment have been unmuzzled. They are being permitted'
to cohere more or less openly around the' figure of
Thomas Mann, U. S. coordinator, of-affairs for Lattn!
21
plentiful information about the Soviet military build
up in Cuba. The Information has always been there,
but the difficulty has been to get it properly collated
for use by CIA and State Department higher-ups.
Now that the hard liners are in a position to use,
their time constructively, the ' promise is that things
like this will not happen again.
Are all these straws in the wind an indication that
there is still hope for, the anti-Communist cause? Or;
are they merely a display designed to keep people
quiet until after the election? We shall see. Anyway,'
it will be Interesting, to keep tabs on the "new" Walt:
Rostow's speeches,
Approved For Release 2005/01/05 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000700080024-4