• U.S.

THE PRESIDENCY: Feet on the Ground

2 minute read
TIME

President Eisenhower last week tried, as he has done before, to explain himself to 1) those who fear the U.S. is not resolute enough in meeting the threat of world communism, and 2) those who fear it is too provocative.

A reporter at the President’s weekly news conference asked: Did Ike think there were any grounds for Senate Majority Leader William Knowland’s statement that peaceful coexistence was a Trojan horse that would lull the U.S. into false security, to be followed by disaster? The President had a blunt rebuke for Knowland. Under the Constitution, Ike said, he and the Secretary of State were responsible for the conduct of foreign affairs. And neither of them, Ike added, had any tendency to take dangerous situations for granted.

Then came a more difficult question from white-haired scholarly looking Lawrence Fernsworth of the Christian Cen tury, who quoted from a set of objectives adopted by the World Council of Churches at its meeting in Evanston last summer. Among the objectives Ferns-worth ticked off were 1) “Reconciliation in a Christian spirit with potential enemy countries,” 2) “An end to a suicidal competition in arms,” and 3) “Elimination and prohibition of atomic and hydrogen bombs and other weapons of mass destruction.”

“The Christian Century” said Ferns-worth, “feels that the Christian world is anxious to know the President’s views on these questions.” Ike said he was reminded of college commencement addresses and the phrase that almost always pops up in them: “Keep your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground.” The President said he knew of no better advice in this day and time. Christian ideals, he said, had to animate the policy of a Christian civilization. But, he added, we must not forget that man’s nature was dual: part of it selfish, greedy and ignoble. If anyone thought the U.S. could be in a better position in the pursuit of peace by being weak, he had to disagree with them 100%. Ike said the U.S. had to be strong, but when it did become secure and safe, there would be no nation more ready to meet its enemies in good will for the purpose of devoting the sweat and toil of peaceful folk to their advancement, and not to their destruction.

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