SENATOR MCCARTHY'S FOREIGN POLICY

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Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP75-00149R000100060024-2
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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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PDF icon CIA-RDP75-00149R000100060024-2.pdf123.37 KB
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0 D GLG,.EJ'1 L lv~ST ?~.- 23Q-,103 ?5-~37,0~'6 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