Page 4
THE BATTALION
Tuesday, March 27, 1951
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How Can We Be So Stupid? (Continued From Page 3)
the ^Chinese to find oiit, or Mr.
Tito to find out.”
Our policy was based on one as
sumption, that the Soviet Union
wants a good world, with better
homes and better housing and
greater democracy and freedom,
and the end of all vices of the
world. That’s the sales talk. How
dumb can we be and how long, I
pray ?
There was another assumption
that led to our trouble, and that
was that Communism in Asia was
just an agrarian reform; it was
not in the least connected with
the _ subversive interests of the
Soviet Union. Let me run through
a few things that show how smart
people, enlightened people, educat
ed people, emancipated people like
Americans, in the United States—in
the churches and everywhere—the
idealistic people can be taken in by
people who have no scruples and
who play upon the desires of your
heart.
Look at the myths that were
spread about the Chinese Commun
ists, to make us forget our own in
terests as we did. First of all, it
was said they were doing most of
their fighting against Japan—“We
must arm them.” Stilwell fell for
that.
Then we heard that is was just
a spontaneous, indigenous reform
movement against landlordism,
feudalism and militarism in China.
Never until the President gave his
“State of the Union” speech had the
government ever admitted that war
in China was ever anything but a
complete civil war. In his address
he discovered—if he understood
what he read—that this was solely
a Soviet-directed conspiracy to
overthrow the Chinese government.
That’s encouraging. He has joined
us at last. I hope he’ll stay put,
because maybe we can go some
where if he wakes up to that fact,
which the Chinese discovered long,
long ago.
Then they came along with an
other one. They said, “Well, the
people are better off under Com
munism.” You’ve heard that one.
It was said that the people had
more calories, and were better off
under Communism. Well, that was
perfectly time in the country re
gions, because in starting out to de
stroy the government of China,
the Communists wouldn’t let the
farmers ship their grain into the
cities. The city people, of course,
cut off from their food supplies,
grew restless and started crying,
“Down with the government! We
want food.” The Communists forced
the farmers to keep their own
grain, and so they had more to
eat than they ever had before.
The casual traveler going through
the country would exclaim, “Look
how well fed the people look! The
Communist government must be
good.”
There were some who said that
about Hitler, too, you know. The
German people were better off un
der Hitler for a time; that’s a hard
fact. They had higher calories, bet
ter medical care, they had the
streets policed and cleaned up, and
there were no beggars in the
streets, and the trains were on
time. Everything was orderly. They
were busy people, efficient people.
They fixed up the rest rooms in the
factories so that they were nice
and clean, sanitary and attractive.
They gave pregnant mothers ma
ternity benefits. They fixed up the
spas and gave everybody a vaca
tion at public expense. Wasn’t that
good? Weren’t the people better
off? No, indeed. They were not
free. And yet a lot of people fell
for that, too.
Our Gullibility
How many times have we fallen
for that business—we who say we
don’t believe in materialism, but
actually are materialists, and judge
things by material comforts? Je
sus wrestled with that for foity
days and foi'ty nights. He felt
so intensely about the physical and
material well-being of the. people
that He wanted to use His super
natural powers to give them bread.
But He didn’t. In the end He let
them go hungry rather than deny
them the necessity of providing
for themselves. Of course, there
were certain occasions, certain
emergencies dpring famine, flood,
disaster, war, where some people
got too far from their homes, when
He fed them, but on a long term
program—no, indeed. That wasn’t
good; it was bad, although it look
ed so good.
And then there was another be
lief: “Well, don’t worry about these
people. They haven’t turned out the
way we thought they would, but
still they’re just country people.”
One of the smartest men I know,
sent over with the EGA to survey
the situation, came back and said,
“Don’t worry about those fellows.
They won’t take the cities; they
won’t have the run of the country.”
I said, “What makes you think
that?” he said, “They’re country
people.” Well, why would they go
to the third base and then forget
to go home? Well, they took the
cities, and that myth was gone,
but it had done its damage for six
months or so.
They had another one—“They’re
northerners; they won’t take South
China. Let the Communists have
North China, and the rest of the
Chinese can have South China.”
Well, they took North China, ami
they took South China, too, to the
Indo-China border.
That wouldn’t work, so we got
another one: “They can’t convert
the Chinese to Communists.” I
don’t know whether they can or not.
I don’t think they can. That does
n’t make any difference though
because they haven’t converted any
people to Cotnmunism, beginning
with Russia. They don’t claim to
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have more than 3 per cent of the
Russians, 6 per cent of the Poles,
8 per cent of the Czechs.
They don’t want 51 per cent of
the people in their “democracy.”
If they did, they’d have as much
trouble as we Republicans and
Democrats do, fighting among our
selves all the time. They want the
3 per cent; if they get more than
that, they purge them. They main
tain the little iron core, you see.
What difference does it make
whether people believe it or not.
They said, “You can’t make
good soldiers out of the Chinese,
you know.” Go ask the boys in
Korea about that.
Then there was one that said,
“Well, after all, they won’t be
able to solve the economic prob
lems of China.” The answer is
that, of course, they wouldn’t be
able to do it anywhere else; they
haven’t been able to solve the
economic problems in any country,
beginning with Russa. Does that
suggest that they don’t have con
trol of them and can’t use them to
make trouble for us?
There was another one that said,
“Oh, they’ll be overcome. They’ll
be absorbed, just like all of the
previous conquerors of China.”
One answer to that is that just
because they overcame their pre
vious conquerors doesn’t mean that
they will absorb the Russians, any
more than it follows that because
a man overcame his previous dis
ease, he’ll get over his present ill
ness. He may have had scarlet
fever, diphtheria, pneumonia and
influenza, and overcome them, it
doesn’t mean that he can overcome
cancer. A lot of people die every
day who never died before. This is
a different disease—that’s the
point. The fact that bronchitis and
tuberculosis of the lung look alike
—they both have fever, both show
an inflamatory condition and both
have a cough—doesn’t mean that
you’ll get over tuberculosis because
you get over bronchitis. This is a
different disease, I’m telling you
But we insist on nursing to our
breast these illusions; wishful
thinking, I fear, is our national
vice.
The Morass Theory
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Secondly, they say the argument
is this: Suppose the Chinese do
eventually wear them out and over
come them, absorb them. How long
will that be ? It’s irrelevant as far
as my country is concerned. We’re
talking about the security of the
United States. It took them 67
years to overcome the Manchu con
querors. What if they do over
come the Communists in the next
three or four hundred years?
Where will we be?
I have no doubt Jesus believed
in the ultimate triumph of right
eousness. He certainly had no
qualms, about believing that good
ness and truth and righteousness
and freedom would ultimately tri
umph, but that didn’t keep Him
from weeping bitter tears about
the impending loss of His capital
city. He knew that whatever God
might do, ultimately Jerusalem
was a goner, because she would
not pay attention to the condi
tions of her peace.
Then there was another one who
said, “Well, China will prove a
morass for the Soviet Union.” I
was on a radio program just two
years ago with Owen Lattimore,
and that was his thesis—“Stalin
is dumb, but he is not dumb enough
to get bogged down in this morass.”
That was the morass theory. Sta
lin doesn’t seem to be very bogged
down; he seems to be doing right
well.
They never try to persuade us
to adopt Communism. They just
get us to ignore our own interests
and not help the people who are
fighting Communism, which means
turning evei’ything over to Com
munism without appearing to do
so.
Then there was another one that
said, “Well, never mind, they’ll
probably become members of the
Communist Party, but if we’ll just
help them, give them Formosa, for
instance, and show them we’re
good fellows, if we’ll help them
succeed, that, somehow, will make
them fail.” If you have difficulty
with that one, the State Depart
ment will explain it to you.
I’m sick and tired of the people
who are going to keep our country
secure by weakening ourselves and
“divvying up” to the other side.
Some people have asked me,
“Why did Chiang’s government
lose out in China?” I said it had
fought eight years of war and an
invasion. How many governments
in history have gone through that
and pulled through ? Chiang could
n’t pull through without vigorous
assistance and moral support, any
more than all those other countries
could.
China has nothing to be asham
ed of. The scars of the Chinese
are honorable. They saved tens of
thousands of American lives by
holding the line as they did, until
we could build ourselves a navy
and bring our superior power to
bear upon Japan. We denounce
them for weaknesses which are
really the result of decisions we
have made. I’d rather take our
chances in history with them than
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with some of our statesmen, I’m
sorry to say.
Defeatist Attitude
This is my quarrel with Mr.
Acheson in the State Department.
I have nothing against him pei*-
sonally. I think the men in the
State Department are high-minded
men, but they always have a cer
tain negativism about them, a de
featism. They tell you that you
can’t do this, you can’t do that.
On the Chinese question during
the War, three Generals—Stilwell,
Marshall and Barr—said we could
n’t do anything for them, but
against them were scores of Gen
erals, equally great men, and Ad
mirals, who said it could be done.
MacArthur and Chennault said it
can and must be done. Wedemeyer
went out and made a study of
China and turned in a report which
was a model of sobriety, urging
that we help the Chinese, but that
was pigeonholed. We had seven Ad
mirals—Hart, Yarnell, Barbey,
Leahy, Cooke, Kincaid, followed by
Badger and then Radford—who
said it can and must be done.
Now, this is why I say these
men who say nothing can be done,
should be removed from office or
take themselves out of this pre
dicament where they have to strug
gle with something they can’t suc
ceed in doing. As long as there are
people in charge to say it can’t be
done, of course it can’t be done.
Do you want a doctor who will
tell you, before the operation, that
you can never get well ? I wish that
the President would promote those
people, or send them to England
or anywhere, but get them out of
the situation, in any event, so that
something can be done.
Then they come along and say
this government is so bad it doesn’t
deserve our help—as if that had
anything to do with it. No foreign
country out of my own pocket, I’m
entitled to do that, but I have no
right to levy taxes to take money
out of your pocket to take care of
my charity. A government is not
a humanitarian institution.
Another Delusion
It isn’t a question of whether
the people deserve the help; it’s a
question of whether your boy de
serves to live or not. In order to
live, he ought to have as many
people on his side against the ene
my as possible. Are we just going
to reserve for Americans the right
to die in these hellholes out there ?
If this is an enemy dangerous
enough to us that we fight and die
against it, then we know that if
we want to win, we want others
fighting with us.
We go over to Europe to
try to bribe them to fight, and in
Asia we won’t let them fight
against the Commies; only your
boys can be taken out of the Uni
ted States, out of their homes,
away from their families, and sent
over there. It’s incredible.
Now, one more. A lot of peo
ple are still thinking that maybe
we can buy them off by giving
them what they say they want.
That’s what we did at Tehran—we
gave them what they wanted. At
Potsdam is was the same; we gave
them more of what they said they
wanted.
What they say they want is not
what they want. The purpose Is
conquest. There is no mystery, no
enigma no conundrum as to the ob
jectives of the Communist move
ment—they have never changed by
a hair’s breadth; their objective
is world conquest; its strategy has
never changed.
Russian World Conquest
Of course, their tactics change.
They are differing in every coun
try, depending upon the situations
found in the various countries.
Their purpose is to confuse and to
weaken, to divide, inflame, and con
quer. They wouldn’t have anything
to shout about if they had them
corrected. They want to divide us
and make us lose faith in oursel
ves. When will we learn the nature
of the thing we’re dealing with ?
Well, what can we do about this?
The first thing we have to do is
to recognize that the Soviet Union
and its world conspiracy is at war
with us. We are the target. We’re
all that stands between them and
world conquest. China was first
base. Then they would go to South
east Asia, which is second base,
to Europe, which is third base, and
we are home base. If we would rec
ognize that, then certain things
would follow.
Ten years ago we had Pearl
Harbor. We had some losses and
some benefits. One benefit was to
make us see that Japan was at war
with us; it ended our delusion that
we could make peace with them.
Therefore, it gave us the unity and
will to do the things necessary to
pull through. Now we have some
thing worse than Pearl Harbor,
but we haven’t had brains enough
to recognize it; we still think it’s
a war with somebody else, and not
with us, or we are still nurturing
the delusion that if we give them
space in Europe, if they get space
in Asia, they can be satisfied.
They could take 200 Russian divi
sions and 150 Chinese divisions
and you couldn’t possibly stand up
to them in Europe then, or in Asia.
You have to win in both Europe
and in Asia. It isn’t because we
want to scatter our shots or divert
attention from Europe, it’s the only
way in which we can save the
patient; gangrene in any part of
the body’s members will destroy it.
Somebody says, “Well, we ought
to avoid war.” Gentlemen, it isn’t
a case of avoiding war, it’s how
you will win the war, it’s how to
stnke lirst. It’s too late to talk of
avoiding a war; they have struck.
1 he question is how, when, and
where we will strike hack, if we
could survive.
Somebody says, “You musn’t
start a preventive war.” Well, it’s
too late for that; the war has
been started. If we win the one
we re in, I don’t think we’ll have
any division of our people, but
it we don’t, then we will.
What To Do
Now, what are the things that
follow ? First, we decide to use
our forces where they can be used
to the greatest advantage, and
not to the advantage of the others,
that certainly doesn’t mean that
you’re going to have American
ground troops in Asia, because
we’re fighting then where they are
strongest and we are weakest. I
tought against sending ground
troops into Koi’ea. However, I
think you ought to hold on there,
short of a massacre. I don’t think
you have had too great a cost. We
ought to hold on there for three
reasons. One, for the morale ef-
iect. If you abandon Korea to the
Russians, Asia will be like a house
of cards; you can kiss it goodbye.
Secondly, here were twenty mil
lion Koreans who stood on our
side. If the “Voice of America”
had the slightest bit of imagina
tion, it could just do wonders in
Asia with this: Where did the
people of Asia go when they had
a chance. From South to North?
Did the Koreans go from South to
North? No, they moved by the mil
lions from North to South. Where
did the common people go? They
fled to the South.
Tell Nehru that; he’ll discover it.
Tell these other people that. They
call us imperialists. Suppose we ask
what the common people—who had
their noses rubbed in it—what they
think about it. Don’t toss that card
away.
Thirdly, if you can hold a beach
head in Korea, you tie down the
best Communist forces where they
have typhus and various other
things, and thereby, perhaps, you
can save Indo-China, and I’m sure
there is no other way to save it.
If they liquidate in Korea, they’ll
go on to Indo-China. If you send
white boys in there in physical
combat, driving bayonets through
Asiatics, the political losses will
outweigh any military advantages
you gain, even if you win.
Moral Support
Now, once you have decided
when and how we’re going to use
our resources to the greatest ad
vantage—we are strongest in the
air and one set, now with land
forces—then we have to build up
and support the areas in Asia still
free, Japan, Formosa and the Phil
ippines, particularly. It would be
criminal if they take these Japan
ese who put their faith in us and
disarm them and do not give them
a chance to defend themselves and
then throw them to the wolves.
They’ll defend themselves if you
give them a chance. You have to
either defend them with your boys
or desert them and nobody will
tioist you again, or you have to help
them get on their feet to that ex
tent.
In Formosa they don’t need more
aid but the proper aid, the kind
we gave Greece—moral support.
Secondly, we should send them ad
visers, smart fellows who can^go
in and help them with the prob
lem, and not American combat
soldiers. You can’t liberate them,
but you can help them so they can
liberate themselves; at least there
is some hope thei’e.
The third thing is that you have
to work with the resistance move
ments on the mainland. Somebody
says you can’t do anything about
China; you must recognize that
fact. China is friendly, but she is
not mighty. If Europe is important
because of industral capacity, then
you can’t say China is strong be
cause she hasn’t industrial capacity.
You can’t have it both ways. They
aren’t mighty. Mainland China is
the weakest spot in the whole world
conspiracy of the Soviet Union.
There is where we could deal the
most deadly blow with the least
cost of ourselves.
Why not turn loose—not in mass-
invasion style, such as we had at
Normandy — selected groups to
smuggle in and set up a “Depart
ment of Dirty Tricks,” if you wish,
behind the Communist line ? If you
can prevent their consolidating Chi
na, if you can make them fail in
their great promises, you can break
the Communist movement in the
Orient and if you do, Stalin is go
ing to think a long, long time be
fore starting trouble in Europe.
We must try, at least. We can’t
guarantee that you will succeed,
but you won’t succeed if you don’t
try.
Selling Freedom To The World
Therefore, we have to get our
policies into the hands of men who
are positive. Then, in addition, wo
have to have something to sell.
The Communists go to the people
and say they haVe the answers.
Well, if they don’t have anybody
competing for their hearts, thoy’il
do as they are told. It might be a
fraud, but why don’t we go to the
people and tell them we have the
answers to their problems? Let’s
tell them we want them to become
free and want to help them build
their government from the bottom
up. Let’s tell them, “We’ll work *
with you. We’ll not do it for, but
will help you to do this.”
Why don’t we believe in our
selves? 1 can’t figure it out. What
are we ashamed of? Jesus didn’t
say, “The truth shall make ye
free.” He said, “Ye shall know it.”
But you do have to tell the truth.
There are only two things I’m
afraid of. One is that we will con
tinue to day-dream and underesti
mate or fail to understand the
thing that is against us. 1 don’t
think we’re going to do that. I
am less anxious now about that
than I have been at any time since
I talked to you before. We’re wak
ing up, I believe. I hope it’s not
too late.The other thing I’m afraid
of is that we will fail to understand
our own system, that we will un-
derstimate its strength, its appeal,
its attraction to the oppressed peo
ples of the World. It has widespread
strength, even behind the Iron
Curtain, and if we don’t under- 4
stand it and contagiously believe
in and spread our own system, the
world will go by default.
We’re living in tough times; sure.
The world is sick. It has to have
hard-headed doctors, but there is
no teason to despair, if you have
what Lincoln prayed for—“Under
God a new birth of freedom, a new*
understanding, a new dedication.”
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