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Information bulletin
(June 1951)
Reber, Samuel
US policy in Europe, pp. [15]-19
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Page [15]
US Policy I By SAMUEL Director, Office of Politi A BOUT A HALF CENTURY ago A Theodore Roosevelt remarked that there was no longer any question that the United States must assume the role and responsibility of a world power. What he meant was not Welt- machl (world power) as understood by some in those days but cooperation on a world-wide basis of equal part- nership. Today the world situation is an in- teresting commentary on Roosevelt's statement. The United States finds itself deeply in- volved in world affairs, in the problems and doings of many peoples at many points on the globe. This involvement, often undertaken reluctantly, has nothing in common with colonial or imperialist aspiration. It has come about because our nation, in its own interests, has found that these interests have become inextricably inter- woven with those of other peoples. There has developed a realization of the solidarity, the identity of interest of all peoples who aspire to peace, to security and to freedom. It is this identification of American destiny with the fate of other peoples that gives meaning to our foreign policy and its objectives today. Let me be more specific. The United States has taken a foremost position in the endeavors of the United Nations to establish the institutions of an international life based on law and order. It is fighting in Korea against an un- provoked act of aggression which threatens the existence of all free peoples. It has taken the initiative in setting up an organization for the common security of the North Atlantic nations. It is involved in a vast program of eco- nomic assistance to needy nations and undeveloped areas. IN THESE DAYS it is difficult to look back to the time when Mr. Roosevelt made his statement and when the world seemed quiet and secure. Peace in those days, as we now realize, was maintained only by a precarious equilibrium among the six or seven major European powers or by their occasional cooperation in the concert of Europe. The United States lived its own life apart from the turmoils of European politics. Since 1914, however, the world situation has undergone a profound change. Today, in consequence of two global wars, in the place of the former concert of European powers, are two groups confronting each other over an exhausted Europe and a confused Asia, one the associated free nations of the West and the other the Soviet Union and its satellites. These two dominate the world picture. It is true there exists today a world ie text of an organization which was not present States Policy in in 1914 and which tempers to some La Reference to extent the strains and tensions be- or of theOffice tween these two blocs. But the very HICOG, before survival of the United Nations mayI uer Auslands- yet depend upon the relaxation of the Study of these tensions before a breaking point n the great hall is reached. Ministry in The experiences of two world wars 1951. and the rapid advance of technology have resulted in a revolution in the methods of warfare unmatched even by the intro- duction of gunpowder in the 15th century. The enormous complexity and cost of modern armaments have made it almost prohibitive for small nations to rely on their own resources for defense. Only great industrial powers work- ing in concert can shoulder the burden of national defense without courting bankruptcy. This fact has required a pooling of national resources on the part of states seeking even the minimum of security against aggression. The advance of science has reduced war as an instrument of national policy to a sheer absurdity. In this new world the United States found its old luxury of isolationism completely outmoded. No longer could it hold the world at arm's length, resting secure in its aloofness. Distances have shrunk or been obliterated. Oceans are no longer barriers or Maginot Lines of defense. Germany needs Europe just as Europe needs Germany, warned Mr. Reber in his Munich address on US policy in Europe. Germany can not remain aloof, under any cir- cumstances, he added, saying failure to integrate Ger- many with Europe would only mean its eventual absorp- tion into the Soviet orbit and its subservience to the dictates of a foreign oppressor. (Photo by Jacoby, PRD HICOG) JUNE 1951 This article Is tI address on "United ! Europe, with Specia Germany" which 1 Samuel Reber, direct of Political Affairs, the Gesellschaft f kunde (Society for Foreign Countries) Ii of the Economics Munich on May 7, 1
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