Doctrine's First Fruits

The Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa is an unlikely place to find a man who retired to a South Carolina farm this year to spend the rest of his life "fishing and hunting, and lying in the sun, and watching my cows eat grass." But to Addis Ababa last week journeyed James Prioleau ("Dick") Richards of Heath Springs, S.C. A longtime (1933-56) Congressman, Democrat Richards, 62, had dutifully postponed his fishing and cow watching to undertake, at President Eisenhower's request, a mission as vital to the success of U.S. foreign policy as any since the Korean war.

Richards' task was to explain the Eisenhower Doctrine to Middle East governments, win their approval of its firm stand against Communist expansion into the area, and decide on specific military and economic-aid projects adding up to a possible $200 million. His qualifications: prestige on Capitol Hill, five years of experience as chairman of the House Foreign

Affairs Committee, straight-backed bearing, robust energy, fine Southern manners, and a longstanding reputation for cool, shrewd good sense.

Cordiality in Kabul. Setting out in mid-March with six Washington-appointed aides and two secretaries, Richards started off with pro-Western countries: Lebanon, Libya, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan. With apparent success he earnestly tried to clear away any suspicions that the Eisenhower Doctrine harbored hidden motives or involved any infringement of sovereignty. From Pakistan Richards flew to Afghanistan, which had declared itself neutral in the cold war and welcomed aid and technicians from neighboring Russia. At the end of three days in the chilly capital city of Kabul, Richards and Prime Minister Sardar Mohammed Daoud Khan issued a cordial joint communique that, to the State Department's pleased surprise, included Afghan approval of the U.S.'s Middle East objectives: economic growth and national independence.

In friendly Iraq Richards signed a $12.5 million program of regional highway, railroad and telecommunication projects linking and strengthening the Baghdad Pact's four Middle East members: Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey. In Saudi Arabia he got along with King Saud; their joint communique at visit's end affirmed opposition to "Communist activities" more forthrightly than Washington had expected, considering Saud's formal adherence to Egyptian Dictator Gamal-Abdel Nasser's policy of "positive neutrality." Last week Dick Richards convinced Emperor Haile Selassie that the Eisenhower Doctrine did not mean interference in Ethiopian affairs—and impressed the Emperor's countrymen, who soon dubbed Richards "the spry one."

Dents in the Mountains. At week's end, as Richards moved on to the Sudan, it was still undecided whether he would go to troubled Jordan, troublemaking Egypt or fanatic-ridden Syria. A policy had been laid down in advance that he would visit only countries that invited him, and the rulers of Egypt and Syria were still wavering between two unpleasant alternatives: to swallow pride and invite Richards, or pass up the big chance to get a badly needed slice of that $200 million.