Popularity v. Power

Of all the Kennedy-Nixon conflicts on issues, none have been sharper or been laid up in starker relief than their disagreement on national prestige. In the TV debates, Nixon declared that the U.S.'s prestige was "at an alltime high." Kennedy declared that "we have not maintained our position and our prestige," charged that "State Department polls on our prestige and influence around the world have shown such a sharp drop that up till now the State Department has been unwilling to release them." Nixon, in turn, accused Kennedy of "running down America."

The U.S. Way. An observer of the world could find a lot of evidence to make a case that U.S. prestige, if not at an "alltime high," is nevertheless high. The massive displays of popular approval that President Eisenhower encountered on his trip around the world in 1959 showed a vast reservoir of affection and good will toward the U.S., even in countries that count themselves neutral in the cold war. Western Europe, with its thriving economies, has unmistakably opted for the U.S. way rather than the Russian way of organizing society and producing goods. In most of the free world, the popular appeal of Communism as an alternative way of life has shrunk to nearly zero, and once-strong Communist parties have dwindled to shrill slivers. U.S. styles of living have spread around the world; even behind the Iron Curtain, teen-agers imitate their U.S. counterparts in dress and musical tastes.

Last week some results of the polls that poll-minded Jack Kennedy referred to in the TV debates leaked out to the press (the Eisenhower Administration refused to release them). If taken at face value, they confirmed Kennedy's contention that U.S. prestige has declined. Taken for the purpose of guiding U.S. Information Agency policies, the polls were designed to measure public opinion about the relative power of the U.S. and Russia. Prevailing opinion, as developed by the pollsters: Russia is ahead of the U.S. Polls taken shortly after the collapse of the summit meeting last May showed:

Britain France

U.S. ahead 12% 25% Russia ahead 55% 40% No difference (or no opinion) 33% 35%

A survey in ten countries in mid-June showed that in all except one a majority thought that Russia was ahead of the U.S. in military power, and would be farther ahead by 1970. A subsequent poll reported that lagging U.S. space programs had caused a rise in neutralism and "this be lief, nurtured by propaganda and fear of reprisals, has led to a growing concern about harboring U.S. military bases."

Well-Meaning Giant. Although the USIA leaks, if they were to be believed beyond other tests, documented Kennedy's case, they did not entirely refute Nixon's, if by "prestige" he meant esteem and popularity. The polls showed that the U.S. is still highly popular, as compared with Russia, even among people who think that Russia is more powerful.

The most sensible word of the week belonged to neither Kennedy nor Nixon but to one of the polled nations--as reflected in London's conservative Daily Telegraph. "Eisenhower has created the image of America as a blundering but well-meaning giant as against Khrushchev's successful promotion of Russia as an ill-meaning and nonblundering giant," editorialized the Telegraph. "It may well be in modern conditions that it is better for a great power to be trusted than feared, to do too little than too much.

"The truth is that prestige abroad is an absurd issue on which to fight the election at home. It is tantamount to giving foreigners the right to choose the next American President."

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