Text of a broadcast
by HENRY A. WALLACE

HIS is the radio speech the daily press
for the most part ignored or dismissed
in a few sentences, at the same time
as it played up President Truman’s message
to Congress under screaming headlines. The
Pacific Tribune publishes it in conformity
With its policy of bringing its readers the

ik

ears

news the daily press dare not or will not

print.

i

Nene March 12, 1947, marked

a turnin
Fellow

point in American history.
mericans, it is not a Greek

crisis that we face, it is an American crisis.

It is a crisis in the American spirit, That
which I feared when I wrote President
Truman last July has come upon us. Only
the American people fully aroused and
promptly acting can prevent disaster, Yev-
terday President Truman, in the name of
democracy and humanitarianism proposed a
military lend-lease program. He proposed
a loan of $400,000,000 to Greece and Turkey

as'a down payment on an unlimited expen-
diture aimed at opposing Communist ex-
pansion. He proposed, in effect, that Amer- —
ica police Russia’s every border, There is
no regime too reactionary for us provided

it stands

in Russia’s expansionist

path.

There is no country too remote to serve as
the scene of a contest which may widen

until it becomes a world war.
President Truman calls for ac-
tion to combat a crisis. What
is this crisis that necessitates
Truman going to Capitol Hill
as though a Pearl Harbor had
Suddenly hit us?

How many more of these
Pearl Harbors will there be?
How can they be foreseen?
What will they cost? :

President Truman says tha
the people of Greece are home-
less, hungry and ravaged by the
losses of war. We all know this.
It is not only the Greek people
who are suffering from the war.
It is the peoples of all Europe,
of Russia, of China and of many
lands.

Americans agree with Presi-
dent Truman that we must aid
the people beside whom we
fought. Americans ask: If aid
to the people of the world is
Our objective, why did the pres-
ident and Congress allow the
United Nations Relief and Re-
habilitation Administration to
‘die? y

Why are we doing nothing to
help the million displaced per-
Sons without homes in Europe?

Why are we speaking of only
$400,000,000 when the need is
far greater? Why is $150,000,000
Of that $400,000,000 to be given
_to Turkey which was no ally
Of ours and which is in no ur-
Sent need of food and supplies?

FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 1947

All Americans agree with
President Truman that freedom
is the most cherished of human
goals, and should be helped to
grow in all countries. These
same Americans ask: How does
support given to the undemo-
cratic governments of Greece
and Turkey aid the cause of
fréedom?

‘

RKEY is a nation which

fought against us in the first
World War and which in this
war refused to help the ‘United
Nations. Turkey fattened her-
self off the Germans and the
Allies by offering her vital sup-
plies of chrome to the highest
bidder. Out of these sales she
built up a gold reserve of a
quarter of a billion dollars.

Turkish neutrality lengthened
the war by months. Turkey was
a haven for Nazi leaders at the
war’s end. It is utter nonsense
to assert today that the Turk-
ish government is representa-
tive or democratic.

Turkish sources state that
the $150,000,000 that President
Truman proposes to give Turkey
is to be used to maintain her
army of a million men—equiva-
lent to seven million men in

-terms of the United States.

In what sense is this an army
of freedom? Many allied divi-
sions were immobilized through-

‘President Truman cannot

prevent change in the world
any more than he can pre-
vent the tide from coming

in or the sun from setting’

out the war because we never
knew on whose side this same
Turkish army was preparing to
fight.

i e

VERYONE admires. the

Greek people who fought on
our side. They urgently need ec-
onomic aid. I would be strong-
ly for economic aid to Greece.
As secretary of commerce I was
for a Greek loan for such pur-
poses when most of the ad-
ministration was against it.

But President Truman has
made it clear that very little
of the $250,000,000 loan’ to

Greece is for economic recon-
struction. It is a military sub-
sidy to the Greek government
to continue its efforts to stamp
out all opposition.

It is utter nonsense to sug-
gest that the present Greek
government is a democratic one.
Three weeks ago our Secretary
of State, General Marshall, con-.
demneqd many aspects of that
government.

He called for a political am-
nesty, substantial unity and
many reforms in the govern-
ment as the conditions of Am-
erican aid to Greece. Why did
President Truman abandon the
conditions set. by his own sec-
retary of state?

The president asks only that
American civilian and military
personnel supervise the use

made of American supplies.
What. do the activities of Am-
erican Army officers in Greece
have to do with peaceful re-
construction? :

One year ago at Fulton, Mis-
souri, Winsten Churchill called
for a diplomatic offensive
against Soviet Russia. By sanc-
tioning that. speech Truman
committed us to a policy of com-
bating Russia with British re-
sources. That policy proved to
be so bankrupt that Britain can
no longer maintain it.

Now President Truman pro-
poses we take over Britain’s
hopeless task. Today Americans
are asked to support the gov-
ernments of Greece and Tur-
key. Tomorrow we shall be ask-
ed to support the governments
of China and Argentina.

I say that this policy is ut-
terly futile. No people can be

bought. — \

America cannot afford to
spend billions and billions - of
dollars for unproductive pur-

poses. The world is hungry and
insecure, and the people of all
lands demand change. American

loans for military purposes
won't stop them.
-@

ESIDENT TRUMAN cannot

prevent change in the world
any more than hé can prevent
the tide from coming in or the
sun from setting. But once Am-
erica stands. for opposition to
change we are lost. America
will become the most hated
nation in the world.

Russia may be poor and un-
prepared for war but. she
knows very well how to: reply
to Truman’s declaration of eco-
nomic and financial pressure.

All over the world Russia and
her ally, poverty, will increase
the pressure against us.

Who among us is. ready to
predict that in this struggle
American dollars will outlast the
grievances that lead* to com-
munism?

I certainly don’t want to see
communism spread. I _ predict
that Truman’s policy will spread
communism in Europe and Asia.
You can’t fight something. with
nothing.

When Truman offers uncon-
ditional aid to King George of
Greece, he is
best salesman communism ever
had. :

In proposing this reckless ad-
venture Truman is betraying the
great tradition of America and
the leadership of the great Am-
erican who preceded him.

Coming two days after the
opening of the Moscow Confer-
ence, President Truman’s speech
has undermined General Mar-
shall’s assignment of cooperat-
ing with Great Britain, France
and Russia in writing the peace.

The United Nations, our
great hope for peace, rests on
the continued cooperation of
these nations and will be grave-
ly weakened if America follows
the course that Truman recom-
mends.

The United Nations Commis-
sion is now in Greece investi-
gating the threat to Greek se-
curity. If Greece is in danger
let the United Nations tell us
the facts and recommend ac-
tion. America will do what the
United Nations recommends.
Why should President Truman
undercut its action? :

e

OW can we wage a war of
Nerves against Russia and
expect her to take in good
faith our proposals to the Unit-
ed Nations on atomic energy?
When PreSident Truman pro-
claims the worldwide conflict
between East and West, he is
telling the Soviet leaders that
we are preparing for eventual

war.

They will reply by measures
to strengthen their position in
the event of war. Then the
task of keeping the world at
peace will pass beyond the pow-
er of the common people every-
where who want peace. Certain-

acting as the,

ly it will not be freedom that
will be victorious in this strug-
gle.

Psychological and _ spiritual
preparation for war wi! fol-
low financial preparatiomg civil
liberties will be restricted; stan-
dards of living will be forced
downward; families will be di-
vided against each other; none
of the values that we hold
worth fighting for will be se-
cure. *

Most Americans fear that the
actions proposed by President
Truman will lead to disaster.
That is why congressional lead-
ers were prepared in advance
for the president’s message. ~

That is why the program was
presented piece by piece, and
not as an overall program that
Americans could look at and
judge as a whole.

No hypocritical appeal to the
generosity and decency of the
American people should be per-
mitted to draw us into a com-
mitment for which there is no
end in sight.

Americans are for democracy
and for economic reconstruc-
tion. As one American citizen
I say: No loan to undemocratic
and well-fed Turkey; no loan to
Greece until a representative
Greek government is formed
and can assure America that
our funds will be used for the
welfare of the Greek people.
To authorize the loans pro-
posed by President Truman will
bring the world nearer to war.
To defeat these loans will not
bring peace.

I recognize that there is grave
danger of eventual war in our
present policy of drift. All na-
tions are responsible for this
drift to war; all nations must
work together for peace.

6

O one wants war. If war
comes one day, it will be be-
cause we have failed to think
on the scale required for peace.
Roosevelt thought on that
scale. He foresaw generations

of peace and plenty. .

Two years later President
Truman asks us to look for-
ward to generations of war. —
President Truman has summon-
ed in a Century of Fear. I say
this can be the century of the _
fulfillment of the American ©
dream.

This is the time for an all-
out worldwide reconstruction
program for peace. This is Am-
erica’s opportunity. The peoples
of all lands say to America:
Send us plows for our fields
instead of tanks and guns to >
be used against us. The United
Nations is waiting, ready to
do the job.

We should start with an eco-
nomic plan for the Near East |
financed by the International
Bank and backed by the United
Nations. The dollars that are
spent will be spent for the pro-
duction of goods and will come
back to us in a thousand dif-
ferent ways. _

Our program will be based
on service instead of the out-
worn ideas of imperialism and
power politics.

It is a fundamental law of
life that a strong idea is mere--
ly strengthened by persecution.

The way to handle communism

is by what William James
called ‘the replacing power of
the higher affection.”

In other words, we must give
the common man all over the
world ‘something better than >
communism. I believe we have
something better than commun-
ism in America. :

But President Truman has not
spoken for the American ideal.
It is now the turn of the Am-
erican people to speak.

Common sense is required of
us in realizing that helping mili-
tarism never’ brings peace.
Courage is required of all of
us in carrying out a program
that can bring peace. Courage
and common sense are the qual-
ities that made America great.
Let’s keep those qualities now.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 11