"With Renewed Confidence"

Dwight Eisenhower returned from Korea this week with a statement that put a new face on the U.S. attitude toward the Korean war. Whatever happens, the period of mindless drifting from peace talk to peace talk is clearly due to end.

In an informal statement after landing at La Guardia Field, he said: "Because one side wants peace doesn't make peace. We must go ahead and do things that induce the others to want peace also."

In a prepared statement, he elaborated this simple--and forgotten--theme. Said Ike:

"We face an enemy whom we cannot hope to impress by words, however eloquent, but only by deeds--executed under circumstances of our own choosing."

This sentence may be the key to a new U.S. policy in the. struggle with world Communism. In that struggle the Communists have been, are and will continue to be the aggressors. But it does not follow that in all parts and phases of that struggle the U.S. and its allies should accept a merely passive, defensive role. Not all of the fight need be under circumstances chosen by the enemy. The policeman need not cede to the criminal all decision as to the pace and place and nature of the struggle.

Eisenhower did not specify his plans. He said:

"What I can publicly report is naturally limited. Until I assume the office of the presidency, it would be wrong for me to pretend to speak with the authority attaching to that office. Moreover, as we all know, certain aspects of battle problems cannot ever be discussed publicly ..."

However, he did give a few hints about the future:

"First: the training of R.O.K. forces can and should be expanded and speeded. This is my opinion and the unanimous opinion of the commanders on the scene.

"Second: in the strictly military sphere, certain problems of supply have reached farther serious proportions and require early correction.

"Finally, we must all recognize--in all our thinking and our planning--that the Korean war is but the most dramatic ind most painful phase, for us at this moment, of our worldwide struggle against Communist aggression.

"This journey marks not the end but he beginning of a new effort to conclude honorably this phase of the global struggle . . .

"All of us have long realized that there can be no simple formula for bringing a swift, victorious end to this war. But at the very least, that knowledge prepares us for whatever tough tasks lie ahead. Such spiritual preparedness in our embattled world is as necessary as physical armament. A free citizenry expecting its soldiers honorably to face the enemy must itself honestly face reality.

"I return, however, with renewed confidence that a satisfactory solution in Korea can be speeded. I know that it will demand common sense and care, much foresight and much patience. But no more in Korea than anywhere else in the world is honorable peace beyond the power of free men to achieve when they pursue it energetically and intelligently."

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