FINGER EXERCISES ON THEMES OF STATE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300360019-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 17, 2000
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: June 25, 1972
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

STATINTL
WASIITNGTON POST BOOK WORLD MAGAZINE
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-ROP 1160TR0003003
On Themes State
CRISES OF
'I1iIE REPUBLIC
By !Iunnali Arendt
Ilarcoicri Bruce Jovcnlovicfi,
240 pp., w O95
By EDWIN M. YO R Jr.
appetite for illusion prevailed: "It is as
though the normal process of self-
deceiv-ing were reversed: it N vas not as though
deception ended with ,elf-deception. The
deceivers started with self-deception .. .
they anticipated general belief and vic-
tory iii the battle for people's minds."
They nearly won it; but accurate press
coverage of the war, and harsh events,
kept-breaking through the veil.
Miss Arendt has, I think, put her fin-
ger on a solid truth that is no less diffi-
cult to grasp for all its solidity. Indeed
we recoil from it. "Defactualizat!on" is
more disturbing. less palatable, than the
devil theories. It is easier to deal with
falsehood than with illusion. None of its
is eager to believe that the errors of
Vietnam flowed from a deeper flaw in
the poticymaidng role that somehow
mysteriously inimuiiized it. acainst both
HANNAII AHENDT IS that rarity of our
time, a genuine political philosopher_,'
our best since Walter Lippmann went.
into retirement. This is a short collection
of four of her recent finger exercises on
great, themes of state.
The best and most stimulating is "Ly-
ing in Politics: Ycflectinns on t.im I'enta-
the lessons of history and the reports of 11(limuh Are?dr
the CIA. Deliberate liars may- be found asvav, and the justices of the Supreme
out and expelled: it is fat' less easy to Court behaved cycn
mote lilac philoso-
gon Papers a meditation on the I1antam decide what to tlo about a sy stein that pher-kinf's than t
,,? 1 't
c
c
.,
o, t is not. iore-
t
edition of the P apd.rs. Miss Arendt offers encoucancS "defactualization." ordained that they vroutcl offer the dip
its an interprctat on of their lessons that The other essay collected here are, neuters relief, and fairly certain that if
is both relicshint, and bleak. Insofar for various reasons, less interesting. Like they did so the elected policyn1 ii cis
as these lessons were not obscured by the essay on the Pentagon Papers, "On would pay little attention in extreme
the judicial flap over publication, they Vtol.ence" mercilessly' exposes a din- situations,
have been drawn variously by almost order-the monstrous growth in t.hc Miss Arentlt's writing is at times for-
everyortc with a special point of view to technology of weapons and force, binding, usually because it is rich and
advance. The war's apologists maintain coupled with a forfeiture of assent: by subtle beyond our uses, 'thought too often
that: the papers distort the policymaking legitimate political authority-for whi.cli because she had a certain fondness for.
process.. The war's critics maintain, as no easy solution can be suggested. the mere manipulation of ternms. But. it
vehemently, that they lay bare a cynical in I take. it, however, that the accompany- is ahyas~s rewarding. She is our most
imperialism, the plunder of an Asian b essay on Civil Disobedience" is pertinent and penetrating-arid accord-
Naboth's Vineyard, quite as calculating desifned to offer practical counsel for '1191y our most practical--political thin!~-
andl uiadmirable as ].9th-century coloni- the problems posed by the others. Miss Cr. 14e feel about her essay, as INC do
alism at its worst. Arendt argues here for a more tolerant, about the great. classics of political
That this road to disaster was paved less legalistic view of the systematic di s- thought, that while it is pleasant to
With petty deceptions Miss Arendt Would sent from established law or policy that agree, agreement is not the immediate
not deny. As usual, she notices more sub- ss'e are accustomed to condemn (or goal. The true reward lies in her capac-
tle points. "The most momentous and praise) as "civil disobediente.t' It is, she _ity to stretch our minds-t:o call us from
best-guarded secret" disclosed by the argues, a form of legitimate opposition the easy banalities to the rigor' of first
Papers, she finds, is that military and and should enjoy institutional sanction, lht'inciples.
civilian policyinakers so often disre_ the more sous it embodies that action by r
garded the accurate forecasts of the in- vo untai v association that 'I'ocquevill-e 1`,Djt IIN M.
telligence gatherers. The Papers show, found at the heart of American political The Greensbi
,/for instance, that the CIA never sub- genius. It is, in- her interpretation, a kind
-scribed to the so-called "domino theory," of Calhounianism-With out-rice that be-
never endorsed the theory that the Viet comes unavoidable when large numbers
Cong were "externally directed or sup- of citizens cannot accept a policy, yet
ported" to a major degree by Hanoi, and are denied redress in the courts because
never. believed that massive strategic of the "political question" doctrine.
bombing of North Vietnam would shat- Here I'must quibble, It is true, `as she
ter the insurgency in the South. In each says, that the debate over civil disobedi-
case, however, official policy was postu- ence.has been too much dominated by
lated and sold to the American public lawyers and lasvverly modes of debate-
on precisely contrary assumptions. W hy? as great issues of state often are in this
Stupidity and cynicism cannot be ruled cotttttry. But it is not certain that nhas-
out, but Miss Arendt offers the alterna- sive civil disobedience can be success-
tive ttyy~,,,l , ~ lit ~u i ~> a2 /Q3t( oat iiALROP Oil604 R000300360019-3
lapse o f ~ i y o a )nor) and c ea Willi e te. n to rule o aw. And even if the
reality. Instead, she believes, an eager "political question" doctrine were Swept