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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