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Since Mr. Dulles had Life snap a picture of him standing on the “brink,” enough time has elapsed to say that the Secretary of State has accomplished at least one of his purposes in having himself caught in that particular pose. Mr. Dulles (or better, the Administration) had two objectives in authorizing the Life article—one of them strictly political, the other strategic. The political design was to head off the mounting Liberal assault against Mr. Dulles’ person by launching a sweeping Republican counter-offensive. Dulles invoked “massive retaliation” against his political foes, and it looks as though his party may have achieved a major breakthrough.

During November and December, national review took pains to point out that Mr. Dulles, incredibly, had been selected to bear the blame for the failure of the U.S. Geneva policy. According to Liberal commentators, Mr. Dulles’ “clumsiness” and “blustering” rather than, say, Mr. Eisenhower’s naivete, had caused the rapid deterioration of our international position. A fight was developing that had Dulles on one side and Eisenhower over on the other. The Administration, wanting to stop it quickly, decided to start another—a fight that predictably, and more appropriately, would find Republicans on one side and Democrats over on the other. Moreover, the new fight—if it could be successfully picked —would be on an issue over which plenty of Democratic blood had been spilled in the past.

LB

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L. Brent Bozell Jr.

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Since Mr. Dulles had Life snap a picture of him standing on the “brink,” enough time has elapsed to say that the Secretary of State has accomplished at least one of his purposes in having himself caught in that particular pose. Mr. Dulles (or better, the Administration) had two objectives in authorizing the Life article—one of them strictly political, the other strategic. The political design was to head off the mounting Liberal assault against Mr. Dulles’ person by launching a sweeping Republican counter-offensive. Dulles invoked “massive retaliation” against his political foes, and it looks as though his party may have achieved a major breakthrough.

During November and December, national review took pains to point out that Mr. Dulles, incredibly, had been selected to bear the blame for the failure of the U.S. Geneva policy. According to Liberal commentators, Mr. Dulles’ “clumsiness” and “blustering” rather than, say, Mr. Eisenhower’s naivete, had caused the rapid deterioration of our international position. A fight was developing that had Dulles on one side and Eisenhower over on the other. The Administration, wanting to stop it quickly, decided to start another—a fight that predictably, and more appropriately, would find Republicans on one side and Democrats over on the other. Moreover, the new fight—if it could be successfully picked —would be on an issue over which plenty of Democratic blood had been spilled in the past.