SENATOR MCCARTHY'S FOREIGN POLICY
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP75-00149R000100060024-2
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
1
Document Creation Date:
November 17, 2016
Document Release Date:
July 17, 2000
Sequence Number:
24
Case Number:
Publication Date:
November 25, 1967
Content Type:
NSPR
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For Relea 8/03: CIA-RDP75-00149
THE .. OF POWER, by Eu-
gene J. Car hy. Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, L.. X5.95.
Senator Eugene S. McCarthy
of Minnesota is no fool; nor is he
a reckless pol,.t.ician.
That such nan, regarded by
his Se:~ -_ ? Leagues as ambi-
tious .- npled, but deeply
cautio,..,, i t+b begun to challenge
the 'resilient says something
about he protest movement --
-but a ?.,reat deal more about the
CvoluL ?,n of intrinsi, ally conser-
vative ieelin,_; in tlx:; American
elector.
We reached the stage
where ooi_ `ians who think of
the longer berm future recognize
it is not only feasible to oppose
the war, but that they must do
so if they are to be responsive to
the stirrings of both the young
and the great center group of
the uncommitted.
This is not to demean McCar-
thy, who is a principled man, as
political men go, although he
waited long time after Senators
Morse, Gruening and Fulbright
had broken the, ice). In fact,
most great empires - and
America is surely one - which
do not destroy themselves in the
vain..pursu?t of the impossible
reach such stage in their. politi-
cal historic
America. ...,spire is not a se-
ries of cc.): es but a global.
array of n )ns dominated, in-
formally inexorably, . ,by
overwhelming American eco-
nomic, military or CT "....power, It
is based at least in' theory on the
liberal ideals of "free world"
open trade and democracy.
McCarthy's new book --- the
kind of book a Senator writes
when he is thinking about being
Secretary of State, not President
-- does not use the word empire,
but it argues that, like the other .
mature empires, we must also
begin to limit commitments.
Vietnam, the most pressing _ ' He suggests that in Asia we
case, is only an example of the recognize China has made a
general problem: American . great deal of noise but is not
power is not total, costs must be practice much of a threw- to he_
.weighed against gains, we must neighbors or to the Uniteu
make a careful reckoning of how States.
to cut losses and re-establish In both Britain and France,
priorities in foreign policy, enlightened . conservative at-
This is- the stance of the en- tempts to draw back from the
lightened conservative; and folly of over-commitment split
McCarth's plea is "prudence," the political base of the ;govern-
the plea of the true conserva- ' in-r party. Whether McCarthy's
tive. efforts will open the way for a
This was the plea of De Gaulle Reagan or a Nixon, or whether
when France confronted her sec- they will simply build the Sena-
ond Vietnam in Algeria. And it tors image in general, or pave
was the plea of British Prime the way for himself or Robert
Ministers who since Suez have Kennedy in the Presidency, with
recognized the "winds of McCarthy then possibly Secre-
change," as Macmillan did in tary of State, are immediate
South Africa, ' . questions, but they are not the
McCarthy thus is best under- ? fundamental ones.
stood as part of the leadership More crucial is whether the
enlightened view sufficiently re-
Establishment of our informal
empire -- but a part which, en-
.lightened, sees much to lose' in
our current course.
And middl
cl
ic
A
e
ass
m
r
a ap-
e
or Africa may perhaps be pre-
pears, like France ten years ago, vented.
as a deeply conservative nation And there are the basic ques-
struggling against her own pow- tons, which McCarthy does not
erful tendency to radical mili- address but which we will ulti-
tary policies - policies which mately have to face: why does
attempt dangerously to extend,
t , ~~ America, under both Democratic
v e , terd
not
a
ve
position.
Instead of pursuing hopeless
objectives, McCarthy urges less
direct U.S. involvement; we
should work more with interna-
tional or multi-national agen-
cies. And we should be less
willing to use military influence
through the distribution and
sale of arms, and less willing to
follow the interventionist advice
of the Central IntelUgence
Agency.
In Europe, he advocates, mod-
eration and detente, coming
close, in fact, to De Gaulle'?s own
approach.
fleets America's underlying con-
servatism so that it can become
the longer term policy of both
political parties. If so, future
Vietnams in Asia, Latin America
and Republican administrations,
so regularly find itself making
commitments in support of reac-
tion around the world - and
how can we end the polici,%-,
which lead to such commitments
instead of merely ' limiting the
cost of the commitment, once
made.
GAR ALPER -)VITZ
(Afr. Alperovitz is a fellow of the
Kennedy Institute of Politic, at Har?
vard University.)
Approved For Release 2000/08/03 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000100060024-2