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Aid to Greece Seen as Chance
To Implement US Objectives
Many American newspapers, commenting
on the urgent problem of aid to Greece, have
observed that the need for the United States
to formulate and carry out a policy in this
case constitutes both an opportunity and a
challenge to demonstrate US ability and
determination to implement announced ob-
jectives for securing world peace. A calm,
considered long-range aid policy, they say,
would be reflected in a more democratic and
prosperous Greece.
Some papers also expressed the hope that,
sooner or later, the Greek problem could be
presented to the United Nations for solution.
New York Herald Tribune said in part:
"What is unquestionably a direct, though
long-term, challenge to the bases of American
policy is being discussed as if it were a
question of bailing out' the British Empire,
of relieving the United Kingdom or even of
propping up the somewhat motheaten Mon-
archy of Greece. All such considerations are
equally beside the point. If there is any-
thing to be 'bailed out' here it is not the
British Empire; it is simply and solely the
foreign policy of the United States - in
which we already have an investment of
some 300,000 lives and 300 billion dollars
or so. If there is anything to be propped up,
it is in the first instance the security, the
influence, the adequacy of the American
system in the world of today . . .
"The real task - and it is an inspiring
task - which here presents itself . . . is the
task of making free-enterprise democracy
possible in Greece (without the need for
either kings or gendarmerie) by giving the
country a viable basis on which to stand and
from which to supply the human needs of its
people.
"In itself that would be a moving chal-
lenge, a challenge similar (in some ways, but
only in some) to that which this country met
nearly fifty years ago whe
confidence and energy, wi
of bringing the best our
to the people of the Philippine Islands.
"But this is a question neither of nine-
teenth century romantic imperialism nor of
a mere altruistic rescue expedition. Greece
is one of the decisive points at which the
future shape of the world will be determined.
It is a key position, not so much in military
as in political and moral strategy. The Soviet
Union has a great deal to offer to the peoples
of the world. But so has the American
Union.   Dire  poverty,  dislocation, un-
certainty will take what they can get; they
will take the Soviet order and systematiza-
tion if nothing else is available, but they will
take the democratic freedom and productive
power if those things are made real and ef-
fective in their lives.
"Whether or not we can find the con-
fidence and energy to export our freedoms,
our skills, our productive power (as Britain
once did) will largely determine the next
phase of world history and will certainly
determine the fate of our own system. The
Greek crisis is admittedly only a beginning;
a loan of $250 million there would not ap-
roach the end of the commitments the times
may challenge us to make. But if we lack
the courage or foresight even to make the
beginning; then the end, for ourselves, will
be easily predictable. Strength is given in
this world to be used; hoarded, it evapo-
rates."
Christian Science Monitor: "(World af-
fairs) are driving home to Americans the
pivotal political fact of this age. It is that
the United States must assume a vaster, a
more positive, purposeful, determined, and
indeed consecrated role in world affairs than
even the most enlightened of its leaders could
foresee at war's end.
"Much of the know-how for this role
has yet to be acquired. But even before
the need for know-how comes a need for
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