Judgments & Prophecies, Aug. 1, 1955

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IKE'S PROPOSAL: WHAT THE WORLD THINKS

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: PRESIDENT Eisenhower uncorked Jone of the most sensational proposals ever made anywhere at any time. Said Ike, in effect: Let's you Commies and us Americans toss all our armament cards on the table, to examine at our leisure.

The Eisenhower double bombshell was cheered by Britain's Eden and France's Faure; but Premier Bulganin of Russia was silent. Our guess is that Bulgy was dumbfounded. The West unquestionably grabbed the initiative at Geneva. The man who did that was our own President Eisenhower. It is hard to imagine how he could have done it more dramatically, or in a way better calculated to put the Kremlin on one of the hottest spots it has ever yet occupied. Our feeling about it all: Hurray for Ike.

The New York Times's WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF JAMES RESTON PRESIDENT Eisenhower joined the propaganda parade with a vengeance. He produced the only new dramatic proposal of the week, the surprise of the conference for a variety of reasons. In the first place, it was generally regarded as unrealistic. Second, it is illegal under U.S. laws. Third, it seemed to other Western delegates to be a proposal which had no chance of being accepted. Fourth —and this was the greatest surprise of all—the idea apparently was not explored in any detail, if at all, with Congressional leaders, who make the laws.

EDITOR RALPH MCGILL, in the ATLANTA CONSTITUTION : PRESIDENT Dwight D. Eisenhower may not know too much about the fine arts of diplomacy. But as an excellent bridge player, he well understands the technique of leading through strength to weakness. In one grand-slam move the President took from the Russians the "peace" initiative they have so long held. The world has but to stretch forth its hand to have peace and prosperity such as we have not dared to dream.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE:

EISENHOWER'S offer is said to be a smart move. It surely wasn't a smart move if Mr. Eisenhower had any expectation that it would be accepted. [It] would give the soviet war planners precisely the information they most need if they are to knock us out with a surprise attack. This plan was put forward not to be accepted but to be rejected. By this means we are to prove to the world the insincerity of Russian pretensions and thus gain a great propaganda advantage. That is, we are to prove Russian insincerity by demonstrating our own insincerity. The Geneva Conference did give us a wonderful opportunity to prove our own good intentions and to expose soviet duplicity, but this opportunity was missed.

LONDON DAILY MAIL:

THERE is something Churchillian about President Eisenhower's sweeping plan for peace—and we could pay him no greater compliment than to say that. It is startlingly simple, but many great ideas are simple in their essentials. Its acceptance would mean more to the world than the complicated tangles of all the non-aggression pacts and guarantees that have been proposed.

LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH: