STEMWINDER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000200920063-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 5, 1999
• Sequence Number: 63
• Publication Date: September 16, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

WASHINGTON POST-
AND TIMES HERALD
Sanitized - Approved For Rg jes: fe-RDP
Ste117,wviftder
Those who admire the analytical powers of Sen. ator Fulbright have come to expect penetrating
truths from the chairman 'of the Senate. Foreign.
'Relations Committee that cut through the-Veneers.,
1 of cant and illusion. He has done it again with
his incisive speech about the American military-
intervention in the Dominican Republic. What he
says about initial over-timidity, later over-reaction
and lack of candor throughout is sure to lacerate a
lot of feelings. But essentially his point is that
with the information available to him President
Johnson could have taken no other course. ti
The pertinent question, of course, is why the
advice to the President was so bad. Beyond this
'the Senator asks several ancillary questions: Why,
for example, did the United States veer so far
from its general support for Juan Bosch, the
elected president ousted by a military coup in 1963,
as to oppose his return? Was this part of a more
ominous shift against reform movements in Latin
'America out of fear that the Communists would
dominate them? Do 1 we lack confidence in our
own ability to influence the course of revolution?
For social revolution, Mr. Fulbright contends, is
the course of the future in Latin America, and.;
by seeming to oppose it blindly we only drive those
who are 'dissatisfied with the oligarchical status
quo into the arms of the Communists. His char-
acterization of this country's role is acid:
We are not, as. we like to claim in Fourth of
'of July sppechcs, the most truly revolutionary .''
Nation on earth; we are, on the contrary, much
closer to being the most unrevolutionary Nation
on earth. We are sober and satisfied and com-
fortable and rich .. .
In another reproach, Mr. Fulbright contends that
the Administration broke ` internationgl law and
damaged its own repiitat.ion in not'seeking a col
lective decision by the Organization of American 1
States before its own unilateral action. His point
is well taken, but he might well have addressed
himself further to the fundamental need for im-
proved machinery in view of the utter inability of
the OAS to reach a decision quickly in emergency.
Happily, the situation in the Dominican Republic
now seems to be turning out better than might.;
have been expected from the sorry beginning, and
for this /recovery the Administration deserves a
share of credit. In any effort to derive lessons'.
from the experience, however, Mr. Fulbright's ques?
tions deserve some frank answers, not merely
anguished screams from wounded policymakers.
STATINTL
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00149R000200920063-3