Time to Talk?

As chairman of the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, good grey Walter George had given a great deal of thought to a possible top-level meeting between the heads of the U.S., Britain, Russia and France. The father of a Navy pilot who died in World War II, Senator George was deeply worried that Red China might capriciously light the fuse of World War III. Without any foreknowledge of what might result, he decided that a Big Four conference might--just might --head off a conflict.

"I Know the Danger." Early last week George of Georgia stated his position. "I think the great nations who are vitally interested in world peace and the stability of governments ought to be brought together as soon as it is practical." Then he added: "I know the danger of [high-level conferences], and I know how frequently they are futile and useless, but at the same time, I think we have reached a point where we could try." The Senator's remarks set off a whirl in Washington. California's Republican Senator William Knowland, always suspicious of any overtures to the Communists, promptly asked President Eisenhower his views. Afterward, on the front steps of the White House, he announced that the George suggestion is "not the viewpoint of the Government at the present time." While reporters were absorbing Know-land's statement, a State Department spokesman said that George's proposal was "in harmony with the position taken by the Department of State." Meanwhile, a White House Secretary asserted that there was "no inconsistency" in the views of Knowland, the State Department, the White House and George. But Washington newsmen, constantly interested in the seeds of political conflict, bore down heavily on what seemed to be inconsistencies.

Finally, President Eisenhower undertook to clarify matters. At his press conference Ike flatly stated that he was for a Big Four conference if it had any chance of succeeding. "I have said time and again there is no place on this earth to which I would not travel, there is no chore I would not undertake, if I had any faintest hope that, by so doing, I would promote the general cause of world peace.''

He had three preconditions to a top-level conference: 1) it must follow ratification of the Paris pacts, 2) it must be clear at the outset that the conference would not become a niggling debating session or a propaganda springboard, and 3) the conferences should not include Western Germany or Communist China.

Vodka & Caviar. Neither Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, Senator George nor Senator Knowland had any basic quarrel with the President's views. All agreed that the possibility of a four-power conference should be carefully--most carefully--explored. In a conversation with a friend, Dulles once put his finger on the Administration's wariness of top-level meetings with vague agenda.

"You don't get anywhere drinking toasts in vodka, eating caviar, and sitting around getting your picture taken," he said. "You just raise false hopes in the minds of people who are looking for an end of tension." By week's end the new interest in a Big Four conference had spread around the world. One of President Eisenhower's preconference conditions was met when the French Parliament completed ratification of the Paris agreements (see FOREIGN NEWS). In Moscow Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin turned on his propaganda machinery and granted an interview to a Tass reporter. Said Bulganin: "The Soviet government takes a positive attitude to the idea of a great-power conference as expressed by the President of the United States, if [such] a conference would contribute to the lessening of tension in international relations." In Washington Bulganin's announcement was greeted with the cool caution that it deserved.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.