Kennedy Foreign Affairs Team Well Integrated

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29388, 15 December 1960, Page 25

Kennedy Foreign Affairs Team Well Integrated

(Specially written for the N.Z.P.A. by FRANK OLIVERI WASHINGTON, December 14. If the rest of the world is wondering what sort of a man is Dean Rusk, what sort of a Secretary of State he will make, then so are most Americans. Students of foreign affairs know of him but for most Americans he is the unknown man. Not one in a thousand would have recognised his photograph before today.

He is being painted as a compromise candidate for his high post, which may or may not be true. The well-informed spoke of him as a dark horse in the political race some time ago but scarcely expected him to outstrip such favourites as Adlai Stevenson and Chester Bowles.

The first thing that becomes apparent in this appointment is that Mr Kennedy, like many Presidents before him, intends to be his own Secretary of State. But to say that does not denigrate Mr Rusk. He will neither be a yes-man nor simply a figurehead at the top of the department.

What Mr Kennedy has done is to select a man extremely well informed on foreign affairs but who is not on public record with staunch views on all foreign problems as are, for instance, Messrs Stevenson, Fulbright and Bowles. Mr Kennedy respects all three of these but he undoubtedly has his own firm views about world problems, views that may differ from

views held by them. It is well known that Mr Kennedy is striving to put together a Cabinet that will stay with him through the entire Administration, a team of policy-makers who will stick and help him work out all the plans he is making for the next four years, probably eight years. It seems clear that he has found in Mr Rusk an able, intelligent, hard-working, solid man whose views on foreign problems coincide well with his own. Moreover, he is a man with whom Messrs Stevenson and Bowles can work with cordiality. Indeed, the trio seems to be a remarkably efficient and able team. Mr Stevenson is undoubtedly the best informed living American on foreign affairs and he knows well most countries of the world. Urbanity And Humour To his duties he will bring urbanity, imaginativeness and sense of humour all sadly lacking in his predecessor. In addition he ranks as perhaps the best living American speaker and will undoubtedly work in closer touch with representatives of America’s allies than did Mr Lodge. Mr Lodge’s tendency was to keep possession of the ball and make the Security Council meetings appear as a long-drawn Russian-American duel. Often Allied representatives wished to share the battle and make it apparent to the world that there was a well-informed Western alliance against the Sovietcontrolled world but they were never given the chance. Mr Lodge’s tactics created endless opportunities for rebuttals from the Russians, which so often delayed and frustrated Security Council proceedings. World Affairs Knowledge It is fully expected that Mr Stevenson will be a better strategist and tactician and will work as a formidable ally with other Western representatives. In this his really profound knowledge of world affairs will stand him in excellent stead. His millions of friends deeply regret he will not be the Secretary of State but they are confident he will bring something new, forceful, and resourceful to the Ambassadorship.

Mr Rusk is generally well informed on world matters, but his specialty is the Far East, an area wherein he has travelled widely and which was his concern as Assistant Secretary of State under President Truman. Add to this the fact that Mr Bowles served

as ambassador to India and is as well informed on Africa as is Mr Stevenson and the inevitable impression is that Mr Kennedy realises the Far East and Africa are going to bulk large in foreign affairs in this decade. Good Organiser Mr Bowles also has a considerable reputation as an organiser, gained in the days when he was in price administration under President Roosevelt. Much of the organising and running of the State Department falls on the shoulders of the Under Secretary To sum up, it is widely agreed no better man could be sent to the United Nations and that Mr Rusk will be a solid, reliable Secretary of State, ably seconded by Mr Bowles. There are many who think Kennedy could have done a great deal worse than this trio and could scarcely have done better. Senator Fulbright will, of course, remain where he was before the election—in the chairmanship of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he can and undoubtedly will give the President and his State Department team powerful support in the policies they formulate. Perhaps it is a mistake to refer to the State Department trio. Rather the foreign affairs of the United States will be in the capable hands of a quintet, probably the best qualified, best integrated team the country has had in a long time.