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.It is more than alittle suspicious that knowledge of the negotiations with Russia,initiated by Dean Acheson in February 1949, was withheld fromboth the Germans and the American public until April 25 whenTass reported it.Now that negotiations with Soviet Russia are once again in 300 THE HIGH COST OF VENGEANCEprospect, the veto power which the Western powers have reservedto themselves under the Occupation Statute, must preclude anyagreement which does not permit Russia, as well as France, tosabotage all American plans for the recovery of Germany or Europe.We shall in all probability be faced with the choice of withdrawingall troops from Germany and granting the Germans full liberty atthe risk of leaving them defenseless before the armed might ofSoviet Russia and her German hirelings, or dishonoring our ownpromise to give the Western Germans a limited right to self-gov-ernment.For obviously no Four Power agreement is possible unless Rus-sia obtains the same veto powers as America, France, and Britain;and no one can doubt that a German administration subject in allits acts to a Russian veto would be unable to govern unless it fol-lowed the Communist Party line.It is impossible to say whether Dean Acheson, in jeopardizingall Europe and weakening America by the concessions he has madeto France, was activated by the belief that the military support ofFrance is worth the price, or by his former affiliation with thegroup once known as Frankfurter s Hot Dogs, which includedAlgernon Hiss.Acheson s friendship with Felix Frankfurter is nosecret, nor is there any doubt that Judge Frankfurter was one ofthe most influential sponsors of the fateful unconditional sur-render formula and the Morgenthau Plan.Thus it seems probablethat the 1949 retrogression in American policy is at least to someextent inspired by those who have no such aversion for Stalin sdictatorship as they had for Hitler s, and are still more concernedwith punishing the Germans than stopping the Communists.Dean Acheson is also supposed to have a British orientation, butthe British, although as short-sighted as the French with regard todismantlement, have thrown their weight on the side of the Ger-man Social Democrats who insist that if a Western German gov-ernment is to be formed it must be allowed sufficient power togovern.So once again it would appear to be French influence,which is impelling the United States to give right of way to theCommunists.As after the first World War, so again today, France is stiflingGerman democracy.Once again she is preventing the implementa-tion of a policy which could win the mass of the German peopleto our side.Once again she is strengthening the totalitarian forces THE FRENCH RIDE HIGH 301which nearly destroyed her in the last war and are certain to defeather next time.As Carlo Schmidt is reported to have said in April 1949:Whether any of us likes it or not one thing is true in Europe today its future depends on the workers of Germany.Russia cannot winthem yet but the West can lose them.If they should ever desertthe West and slide into Bolshevism, then you need no longer worryabout what France s workers will do.Then you can have all theAtlantic Pacts you can write.Stalin will need no Molotov or Vishinsky,no Cominform, not a single tank.Bolshevism will be everywhere.*At the war s end France had an opportunity that is never likelyto recur, to assume the lead in Europe, not by conquest, but byacting according to the great principles of the French Revolution.But instead of uniting Europe on the basis of liberty, equality, andfraternity, France has displayed only a mean desire to appease thestrong, bully the vanquished, and beg from the rich.Were she thegreat and intelligent nation which many Americans believe her tobe, she would have been magnanimous in the hour of Germany stotal defeat, and thus have ended the long and tragic epic of ag-gression and counteraggression by bringing victor and vanquishedalike into a free federated Europe.Instead, she has taken the leadin perpetuating old feuds, dividing Europe, and preparing the wayfor Communist conquest.So long as France influences Americanpolicy, there can be little hope for peace, security, or prosperity inEurope, or an end to the subsidies which Americans are supplyingto the Old World.* Time, April 4, 1949 11ConclusionTHE REPORTING OF NEWS FROM GERMANY HAS BEEN INADEQUATEever since her surrender.It is so colored by anti-German prejudiceand ignorance that the American public, even today, is uninformedabout the facts and unaware of the consequences of our Germanpolicy.So in appealing for justice and compassion for the van-quished and endeavoring to show the American people the moraland material price they are paying for revenge, I know that I amnot only laying myself open to the charge of being pro-German.Iam also likely to be told that the picture is no longer so dark asthe one I have painted.For the American press as a whole hasconcentrated during the past year on reporting only the high lightsof economic recovery and has ignored the basic problems whichpalliatives such as currency reform and Marshall aid cannot solve.To those who accuse me of being pro-German I cannot do betterthan cite the words of Tom Paine, who said: Where liberty is not,there is my country
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