Nation: The Case for Realism

Administration critics charge that the Government's Asian policy casts the U.S. in the role of policeman to the world. This objection was seldom voiced during the height of the cold war, since these critics tend to believe that Europe is a legitimate sphere of influence for America. Last week, as he signed a bill authorizing U.S. participation in the $1 billion Asian Development Bank, the President rebutted the Europe-first approach as an "argument of isolationism." Said Johnson: "Asia must no longer sit at the second table of the 20th century's concern.

"It is not possible and it is not right," he" declared,...