Foreword by the Author
I HAVE WRITTEN this book to emphasize the fact
that the freedom of the people of the United States is in serious
danger from the foreign policy of the present Administration.
I have frequently written of the danger to liberty at home from
the constant increase in the activity, the spending, and the
power of the Federal Government, but today the threat from
foreign policy is even greater. We have wandered far from its
true purpose to preserve the peace and liberty of the people of
the United States. Even when the purpose has been correctly
understood, mistakes of judgment have led us into dangerous
paths. We are embarked on a voyage at this moment in which
a continued failure of understanding and judgment may wreck
the greatest adventure in freedom the human race has ever
known.
Our forefathers came to a continent of forests, wide plains,
and savages. They lived by the work of their own hands. Those
who did not wish to work for another man opened new land
for themselves. There was no trace in their hard, free life of a
caste system or a feudal system or an inherited aristocracy.
More than a century before Marx was born a frontier equality
in social relations gave us—and still gives us—an unequaled
social democracy in the true sense of those Communist-per-
verted words. The pioneers, who carried with them one book,
the Bible, also laid up for us a moral capital which has not yet 6 Foreword by the Author
Out of this society of free men great leaders have sprung at
every crisis in our history. They have resembled each other
singularly. In basic qualities of profound morality, courage,
common sense, and foresight Lincoln was one with Wash-
ington.
Today we face threats to our liberty and moral foundation
from abroad and from our foreign and domestic programs.
Distance has been so diminished by the airplane, and weapons
have become so destructive, that this threat must be met on a
world scale. If we are foolish in our use of our strength, we
shall not survive; and with our freedom will disappear the
little that remains of freedom in the rest of the world.
Po^vexj^ithput foresight leads to disaster.-Our international
relations have been conducted with so little foresight since
1941 that six years after vast military victories in Europe and
Asia we face a more dangerous threat than any that has
menaced us before. Our soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen
have not failed us. Our political leaders have. By 1941 anyone
who was not bamboozled by Soviet psychological warfare
knew that the Soviet Government was a predatory totalitarian
tyranny intent on establishing Communist dictatorship through-
out the world. But our leaders failed to foresee that the Soviet
Union would turn against us after the defeat of Germany and
Japan. They made no attempt to insure our future against that
eventuality. They brought forth no positive policy for the crea-
tion of a free and united Europe or for the preservation of the
independence of China. They preferred wishful thinking to
facts, and convinced themselves that Stalin would co-operate
with them to create a free world of permanent peace. So at
Teheran, Yalta, and Potsdam they handed Stalin the freedom
of eastern Europe and Manchuria, and prepared our present
peril.
Their foresight was such that in face of all the facts, as late
as May 4, 1950, according to the New York Times, President
Truman "asserted repeatedly that he saw no possibility that Foreword by the Author 7
the 'cold war' wojulddevelop into a shooting war and even
promised to reduce the defense budget next year."
On June 25, 1950, the Korean war began. The deaths and
wounds that Americans have suffered there have at least
served to educate our national Administration—after the
event. It has been the most expensive education that the peo-
ple of the United States have ever paid for.
What is the record?
In 1945, when Mr. Truman became President, the Soviet
Union was exhausted. Much of its industry was destroyed. It
had no atomic bomb, no long-range bombing planes, no seri-
ous navy. Its hold on eastern Europe was shaky. China was
our ally and the Chinese Communists were hemmed into a
small area.
President Truman held such power as no man had ever held
before. Our air force was incomparably superior to any other.
Our navy was more powerful than the combined navies of the
rest of the world. Our army was a superb fighting force at the
peak of efficiency. Our industrial plant, by far the greatest in
the world, was intact. We alone had the atomic bomb which
guaranteed the speedy destruction of any nation that might
dare to risk war with us. We could have seized and held the
initiative for the creation of a free and peaceful world. Our
leaders did not know how or where to lead.
Today Stalin has atomic bombs and long-range bombers
capable of delivering them on the United States. He has 175
Soviet divisions, and 60 satellite divisions in Europe, and a
Chinese Communist army of about 3,000,000 in Asia. He has
some 50,000 tanks and more than 15,000 tactical aircraft. His
Indo-Chinese accomplices are draining the strength of the
French Army. His guerrillas are withstanding the British Army
in Malaya. He has riveted an iron control on eastern Europe.
China is his ally. To face Stalin's 225 divisions the Western
democracies and ourselves are scheduled to have thirty divi-
sions in Europe—perhaps—by the end of 1951. Moreover,
Soviet psychological warfare has been so successful in Western 8 Foreword by the Author
Europe that one fourth of the French and one third of the
Italians vote Communist.
In 1941 Stalin ruled 180 million subjects and was not sure
that he or his empire would survive. In 1951 Stalin directs 800
million people. Unless our foreign policy is conducted more
competently than it has been during the past ten years, our
very survival is in doubt. There may be infinite arguments as
to the wisdom of many steps in our foreign policy since 1943.
But there can be little argument as to its results.
There is an old saying that the road to hell is paved with
good intentions. Our national administration has had good
intentions.
We do not need to seek further than the Sermon on the
Mount to know the first step we must take if freedom under
God is to survive in our country and in the rest of the world:
"A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a
corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
"Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down,
and cast into the fire.
"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
