Page:The Minority of One 1961-10.pdf/16

Of What I Am Ashamed: OF FEDERAL JUDGE WALTER E. HOFF- MAN for ruling, in spite of State Depart ment urgings, that the attachment of the Cuban freighter Bahia de Nipe would be legal. OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS for opposing leg- islation intended to curb mislabeling practices by furniture manufacturers. OF THE SENATE INTERNAL SECURITY SUBCOMMITTEE for giving official pub licity to the vicious rantings of a certain Edward Hunter who claims that press stories on the John Birch Society and other fascist extremists are a part of subversive propaganda linked to Moscow. OF HAROLD COX, U.S. District Judge in Jackson, Miss. for ruling that five Freedom Riders arrived in Jackson for "provocative" purposes and therefore should be "judged" by a County Court In Mississippi. OF THE U.S. DELEGATION TO THE SPECIAL U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND ITS SUPERIORS for abstaining from vot ing on a motion urging immediate nago- tiations on the withdrawal of the French Invasion troops from Tunisia. OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT for working for the rehabilitation of the Dominican Republic's dictatorship within the Organization of American States. OF THE ATOMIC ENERGY COMMIS SION for tightening its regulations for the export of isotopes, used for medical diagnosis and treatment, to Cuba. OF SENATOR GEORGE SMATHERS for recommending that a Cuban govern- ment in exile be formed and recognized by the United States. OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY for refusing to review the problem of the Kinzua Dom, whose Implementation dispossesses the Seneca Indians. OF THE FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA ZON ING ADMINISTRATION for attempting to evict an interracial workshop of the Congress of Racial Equality held at the Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church. OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT for once more deferring the proposed Soviet American air-transportation agreement. OF CHARLES PFIZER & CO., INC. AND ITS PRESIDENT JOHN E. McKEEN, THE AMERICAN CYANAMID CO. AND ITS CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD WILBUR B. MALCOLM, and THE BRISTOL-MYERS CO. AND ITS PRESIDENT FREDERICK N SCHWARTZ top manufacturing drug companies and their chief officers indicted on charges of fixing prices and monop olizing the production of certain drugs. ➤ OF C. DOUGLAS DILLON, Secretary of the Treasury, for barring Cuba from the hemispheric economic alliance launched at the Inter-American Economic Conference at Punta del Este, Uruguay, OF SEARLS DEARINGTON, Circuit Court Judge in Norwich, Conn., for im- posing severe fines and jail sentences on eight members of the Committee for Nonviolent Action who participated in a pacifist demonstration during the launching of a nuclear submarine. OF SENATOR JAMES P. EASTLAND for knowingly lying to the effect that the Fair Play for Cuba Committee is financed from and dominated by Com munist sources.

Soviet Guilt vs. American "Innocence" (Continued from page 1)

that the Soviets are vitally interested in preserving peace, she would be much more cautious in her diplomacy. Our talk about Khrushchev's bellicosity was no more than propaganda; no one could trust Soviet peaceful intentions more than did the American policy molders. Their policies are predicated on this trust and the determination to capitalize fully on Soviet interest in peace. Khrushchev wanted to dispel some of this confidence and put American diplomats on notice that he is no longer willing to be the unilateral guardian of peace. He wished to, and did, dramatize to America's leadership that when they talk of war they may no longer count on the Soviets alone to prevent it. In this Khrushchev has succeeded spectacularly. He has shown that the Soviet Union can disregard humanity's most vital interests as much as the warmongers against whom he has been thundering. He has shown this simply by behaving like them, even though from entirely different motives.

August 31, 1961

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While the U. S. Government itself was perfectly willing to resume tests even at the price of enduring world indignation, the Soviet move has supplied an opportunity for the U.S. to picture herself as the reluctant respondent in a resumed nuclear race.

Gladwin Hill reports in the N. Y. Times of September 1st that "a billion-dollar network of atomic development facilities in the West, employing about 27,000 workers, is ready for the possible resumption of nuclear testing by the United States." This of course is not news. What is new however is the fact that "officials of the Atomic Energy Commission the agency in charge of all this activity, were adhering today to a federally ordered policy of extreme discretion in discussing the work, to avoid the implication of competitive 'saber rattling with the Russians." Hill further reports that "a television organization was denied camera access to certain PREVIOUSLY PHOTOGRAPHED facilities at the Atomic Energy Commission's Nevada Test Site..One official demurred. .. at REPEATING unrestricted information FREELY MENTIONED only a few weeks ago (Our emphasis-TMO)." All these preparations for American tests, which preceded and had nothing to do with the Soviet announcement of August 30th, were not less real and, internationally. not less causative because of the present propagandistic deemphasis.

Tom Wicker reports that "President Kennedy appealed to (the Congressional leaders) for help in exploiting the shock value of the Soviet decision President Kennedy asked in particular, that the legislators attempt to restrict speeches and other appeals for an immediate resumption of testing by the United States." What the President is asking for is help to camouflage America's independent determination to resume testing. He would not need to ask our Congressmen to keep silent were it not for their anxiety to resume tests, irrelevant of the Soviet move.

In view of this massive propaganda assault, it is important not to confuse responsibilities. The Soviet wrong does not nullify the American wrong. Nor may it be allowed to appear as if it absolved the American Government of its decisive share of guilt for preventing an international ban on nuclear tests. If world public opinion allows these responsibilities to be confused, NATO bellicostily will be further encouraged. That this is not mere speculation was demonstrated by Chancellor Adenauer's reaction to the Soviet announcement. Der Alte not only once more demanded that the West German army be given nuclear weapons, but went so far as to call those who would refuse them "murderers."

The U.S. Government has indisputably scored an impressive propagandistic victory. Yet, to believe that the Soviet crime will erase from people's memory the American preparations for that same crime would show an underestimation of the people's intelligence. The bad conscience of the U.S. Government with regard to a nuclear ban is so obvious that only those who are ready to back U.S. policies despite that guilt will attempt to absolve it. Yet, our leaders, if given wisdom and vision, can turn a mere propagandistic advantage into an advantage of moral and polítical substance. If they announced, that no matter what the Russians did, they would continue indefinitely their unilateral nuclear ban, they would make a true contribution to peace. Such a move would not only make people everywhere believe in our concern with peace, but would constitute its genuine manifestation. Then we would truly capture the sympathies of the uncommitted nations. Under such circumstances Khrushchev too might have no choice but to reverse his decision. Since President Kennedy stated that he "is entirely confident that the size of the United States nuclear weapons stockpile and the capabilities of the individual weapons and delivery systems are wholly adequate for the defense of the United States and the free world," there would be no security risk involved in the adoption of a policy whose true advantage is longer lasting than that of a mere propagandistic expediency.