The Liberal Line

July 1956 was Let’s-Remind-Our-selves-of-Latin-America month for the Liberal propaganda machine. The machine did not, to be sure, work at it very hard. But besides keeping up routine operations on the Galindez case, and calling attention to the fine Liberal sentiments expressed by the Presidents of the American Republics, it made space available in the Reporter and in the New York Times Magazine for two articles on why we have got to do something about Latin America, something Liberal and expensive of course, or else pass the rest of our lives being sorry we didn’t. And it got the articles written by a Real Expert on Latin America—Adolf Berle, Jr., who was once Ambassador, no less, to Brazil. To him, therefore, we must turn for the nearest we have to a Liberal line on what he calls the “Continent of Problems.” The chances are, of course, that the machine will promptly restore Latin America, except for the Galindez case, to its normal oblivion, so that Mr. Berle’s line will not be effective. Meanwhile, no harm will be done by our having a look at it, and learning from it what we can.

The Western Hemisphere is the “core of the free world.” Soviet foreign affairs officers fully understand this, are determined to smash its “historic unity,” and might, unless we supply the Latin Americans the “leadership” they require, succeed in doing so. It behooves us, therefore, to get the main facts about Latin America, including the kind of leadership it requires, clearly in mind.

WK

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Willmoore Kendall

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July 1956 was Let’s-Remind-Our-selves-of-Latin-America month for the Liberal propaganda machine. The machine did not, to be sure, work at it very hard. But besides keeping up routine operations on the Galindez case, and calling attention to the fine Liberal sentiments expressed by the Presidents of the American Republics, it made space available in the Reporter and in the New York Times Magazine for two articles on why we have got to do something about Latin America, something Liberal and expensive of course, or else pass the rest of our lives being sorry we didn’t. And it got the articles written by a Real Expert on Latin America—Adolf Berle, Jr., who was once Ambassador, no less, to Brazil. To him, therefore, we must turn for the nearest we have to a Liberal line on what he calls the “Continent of Problems.” The chances are, of course, that the machine will promptly restore Latin America, except for the Galindez case, to its normal oblivion, so that Mr. Berle’s line will not be effective. Meanwhile, no harm will be done by our having a look at it, and learning from it what we can.

The Western Hemisphere is the “core of the free world.” Soviet foreign affairs officers fully understand this, are determined to smash its “historic unity,” and might, unless we supply the Latin Americans the “leadership” they require, succeed in doing so. It behooves us, therefore, to get the main facts about Latin America, including the kind of leadership it requires, clearly in mind.