Principles and Heresies

An American Tragedy

What I have found most depressing during the past few weeks is neither the situation in Hungary nor that in the Middle East, but the American reaction to both. The Hungarian tragedy was relieved by a display of heroism such as the twentieth century has rarely seen; in the Middle East, England and France showed, at least for a moment, that determination and the will to fight have not completely died out in the West. But American opinion, American policy, and American action have presented an almost unrelieved panorama of dimmed understanding, febrilely feeble will, and fundamental lack of courage. To the cosmic eye the posturings of a Dulles, an Eisenhower, a Stevenson, during these weeks, must have seemed ludicrous to the point of bathos. But to the American patriot, bound up in the fate of his country (a country, moreover, which is the last bulwark of Western civilization), it is not bathos, but tragedy.

FS

About the Author

Frank S. Meyer

Frank S. Meyer was a senior editor of National Review.

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An American Tragedy

What I have found most depressing during the past few weeks is neither the situation in Hungary nor that in the Middle East, but the American reaction to both. The Hungarian tragedy was relieved by a display of heroism such as the twentieth century has rarely seen; in the Middle East, England and France showed, at least for a moment, that determination and the will to fight have not completely died out in the West. But American opinion, American policy, and American action have presented an almost unrelieved panorama of dimmed understanding, febrilely feeble will, and fundamental lack of courage. To the cosmic eye the posturings of a Dulles, an Eisenhower, a Stevenson, during these weeks, must have seemed ludicrous to the point of bathos. But to the American patriot, bound up in the fate of his country (a country, moreover, which is the last bulwark of Western civilization), it is not bathos, but tragedy.