The Bay of Plenty Times FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1947. THE CHANGE AT WASHINGTON

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXV, Issue 14262, 10 January 1947, Page 2

The Bay of Plenty Times FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1947. THE CHANGE AT WASHINGTON

The sudden change in the office of Secretary of State to the United States of America, a post which at present is second oitfy in importance to that of the presidency itself, is of outstanding moment, not only to the people of the great American republic, but also to the world as a whole. Everyone will regret that ill health has compelled Mr Byrnes to resign, particularly at * the present juncture, but the times call for a man phv sically fit and mentally alert to fill an office of such peculiar import. It was said of the late President Roosevelt that he towered so hig’h above his colleagues that he was virtually his own foreign minister. This was not quite fair to his two associates in foreign policy. Messrs Cordell Hull and Stettinius, and the criticism has not heard during the regime of the much less dynamic Mr Truman, for Mr Byrnes has been described by the New York Times as a master political tactician, a man of outstandingly judicial temperament, an assiduous student of whatever problem confronts, him. and a personal charmer of proved talent.” Probably his most remarkable characteristic, remembering the bitterness of the earlier days of the New Deal, was his incapacity for making enemies. Of General Marshall it has been said that he enjoys an extraordinarily high reputation among his countrymen. General Pershing once described him as the best soldier in the United States Army. But besides being a soldier General Marshall is a statesman of international repute. During the war period he attended all the international conferences as his country’s chief military spokesman, and in November, 1945, he succeeded General Hurley as United States Ambassador to China. Last March he was appointed by President Truman to the “council of elder statesmen to advise him in any emergency.” It has been said of him that, “One day America will wake up to find it has a great man on its hands.” Possibly that day has now arrived. Pears have been expressed that the change in the holder of this important office may involve a change in United States foreign policy. This is taking the superficial view. It is true that the swing over from Democrat to Republican in the Congress elected after the war of 1914-18 so that the Democrat President Woodrow Wilson was faced with a hostile Republican majority, led to major changes in foreign policy, more particularly the eschewing of Wilson’s League of Nations, with disastrous consequences to the whole world. But the American politicians and people have learnt by their experience that isolationism is dead in the great republic, and the same mistake of non-co-operation in a war-torn world will not be repeated. If proof were needed it can be found in the prompt action of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate which, under the chairmanship of a Republican, has unanimously approved the president’s selection of General Marshal. The chairman specially , asked for this approval so that “the world would know that there was to be no interruption in America’s foreign policy which was supported by both parties.” It is a great pity that Mr Byrnes has had to leave his work unfinished, but it would be hard to find a better man than General Marshall to carry it to a successful conclusion.