(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The campaign slogan is now well over. What about the program that John F. Kennedy and his party went to for election? If one is to believe the Republican magazine Time, then it is almost over, too; the magazine writes in its usual nonsignant style about "the eloquent thousand and one reality-removing promises in the Democratic election program", and underlines that such game fakes should not be taken very seriously afterwards.
But a must not without reason believe Time, who with his easy-going cynicism very often makes American politics worse than it is. At least one should wait a bit to see what Kennedy is doing and not rule out the possibility that he will try to bet on the liberal program he was chosen for. There is not much he can accomplish before he takes over as president of the 20. January – Kennedy has wisely refrained from making political statements in the meantime – but in one important area he is in full swing, namely appointing people to many of the country's most important executive positions, including ministerial positions. Whatever Kennedy's intentions may be, the practical results will greatly depend on the men who will seek to put them to life.
One impression one immediately gets is that Kennedy has personal aspirations in the areas of foreign policy. Apparently, for partisan reasons, he has not been able to get away from Adlai Stevenson, who becomes US ambassador to the United States with the right to attend government meetings, and Chester Bowles, who becomes Deputy Foreign Minister; both are experienced and liberal people with far greater qualifications as political leaders than Kennedy himself, I would think.
To more easily assert its own line, Kennedy has appointed Dean Rusk as Secretary of State; Rusk, who is 51 years old, should be a skilled administrator who can hold more significant people than himself in his ears. We just have to hope that Rusk himself does not have strong aspirations as innovators of America's foreign policy, for what is little known about his former views as a Foreign Office official under Dean Acheson is apt to scare the Allies of the Union states as well as the opponents. After working for a time as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs "in charge of policy coordination", Rusk became head of the Foreign Ministry's China branch; and here he was a good supporter of Chiang Kai-Shek's admirers, and willingly repeated the usual cliches that the Communists in China were not Chinese, but Soviet-Russian friends. And according to a Foreign Office official quoted in the New York Times, Rusk is supposed to be "a man who always has ideas". They are not all good, but very many are. During the Berlin blockade, he raised this question: "Why not send an armored car through and see what happens?" Perhaps this was one of his least good ideas.
But one should not immediately believe Time, which with its easy-going cynicism very often makes American politics worse than it is.
With greater responsibility often follows greater responsibility; and for all we know, Rusk can still be a good foreign minister. Apart from the influence of Stevenson and Bowles, there is also hope for Kennedy to become a strong president who will seek new avenues for peace; he has previously had sensible things to say about both the Algerian conflict and the developing countries' demands for priority in the aid program. Former Michigan governor Mennen Williams is looking after relations with Africa is a good sign in this context.
Otherwise, the Ministerial List is not overly encouraging from their point of view, which still has to be hoped that the electoral program will be implemented; That the current Republican Deputy Secretary of State, Clarence D. Dillon, is now becoming Finance Minister is far better suited to reassure the financial circles that there will be moderation and conservatism to safeguard the value of the dollars. Really good people have come in at least three ministerial positions, I think: Arthur Goldberg, former legal adviser to the AFL-CIO, as Labor Secretary, Orville L. Freeman, former Minnesota Governor, as Agriculture Minister; and little brother Robert F. Kennedy as Minister of Justice. Naturally, the last appointment is widely criticized, but here it may well be that the right man has come into the right place. The Justice Minister gets a large part of the federal state's responsibility for the Negro's well-being in the Southern States and he should be a young and ongoing man with the president safely in his back.
The appointment of McNamara may indicate that Kennedy will fight hard against the military extremists; in that case, there is still reason for hope for peace in the world.
Second to the Foreign Minister The defense minister is probably the most important of the president's advisers, at least from a foreign perspective. The election of the Ford Group's new President Robert S. McNamara, a liberal Republican with no personal interests in the giant air force and nuclear weapons industry, I think should be welcomed with pleasure and relief. After all, Kennedy backed the election campaign on air defense generals and their powerful allies in an industry that was greedy for even more trillion orders than the Eisenhower regime was willing to place. The appointment of McNamara may indicate that Kennedy will fight hard against the military extremists; if so, there is still reason for hope for peace in the world.
The extent of it the political influence of the US armor industry in both parties is rarely fully understood in Europe; Particularly ongoing and dangerous to peace are General Dynamics and other companies that specialize in the latest weapons technology developments with its huge profit opportunities. As the Liberal radical Weekly Nation recently said in a leader: "These interests are so strong that if the Soviet Union were to announce unilateral disarmament there would be a lot of pressure in Washington to force the former enemy to receive military aid and become a threat again. "
The column from the time of Ny Tids Orientering (1953-1975) edited by
Line Fausko. line@nytid.no
