Armed with Aspirations

In the White House rose garden, under the hot Washington sun, stood 69 fresh-faced students from 17 nations. Before them, in the view finders of their cameras, stood the President of the U.S., as fresh-faced as they. "Well, youngsters," said Dwight Eisenhower, "it seems a bit of fortunate coincidence that I should have an opportunity to see you just as I am about to depart for Geneva." He was going to Europe to talk peace, he said, in the hope that he could bring about a more tranquil life for their generation than his generation has had. But, in a word of advice to the youngsters, he expressed the basic philosophy that he was taking across the Atlantic: "Never sacrifice the basic principle that the human being is the important thing on this planet."

All week long the President worked hard at setting that tone for his fateful meeting with the leaders of the Soviet Union, Great Britain and France: he would seek peace, but he would not sacrifice principle. He briefed congressional leaders on how he proposed to employ that philosophy at Geneva, and he promised them "frequent progress reports" through cables to Vice President Richard Nixon. Late into one night he sat with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in the second-floor study of the White House, where Abraham Lincoln used to read the Bible every morning before breakfast, and finished battening down the U.S. position.

"A Mighty Force." Only an hour before he took off for Geneva, the President turned to the people to discuss his philosophy. Referring only occasionally to his notes, and hesitating now and then over his words, he talked frankly on television and radio for 15 minutes about his aims and hopes for Geneva. The President knew that the world, as well as the U.S., was listening.

Throughout, his tone was conciliatory; he did not excoriate Communism or Communists. But he lost no time in bringing up two subjects that the Communists were bitterly opposed to discussing at Geneva: 1) "The problem of the captive states," and 2) "The problem of international interference in the internal affairs of free governments."

Given firmness and understanding, said the President, there was hope for Geneva. "The people of all the world desire peace . . . [They] do not want to go to the battlefield; they want to live in peace-not a peace that is a mere stilling of the guns but a peace in which they can live happily in tranquillity, in confidence that they can raise their children in a world of which they will be proud. This common desire for peace is ... a terrific force in this world ... to which I believe all political leaders in the world are beginning to respond. They must recognize it."

Then the President turned to another power: "The free world believes under one of its religions or another in a divine power . . . Suppose on the next Sabbath day observed by each of our religions, Americans~165 million people of us--went to our accustomed places of worship and asked for help, and by so doing demonstrated to all the world the sincerity and depth of our aspirations for peace. This would be a mighty force."

A Different Mission. Having suggested a way in which the people could help, the President summed up: "We shall be conciliatory because our country seeks no conquests, no property of others . . . We shall be firm in the consciousness of your spiritual and material strength and your defense of the right. But we shall extend the hand of friendship to all who will grasp it honestly."

Then the President strode out of the studio to his car, and was driven out past the Potomac to Washington's National Airport with Mrs. Eisenhower and their son, Major John, who was going to Geneva as his father's aide. From the roadside by the silver river, as the President's car sped by, there came a flurry of applause and cheers.

By the time Dwight Eisenhower stepped off the Columbine in Geneva, 18 hours later, the people of the U.S. were already beginning to say special prayers for the success of his mission. As Switzerland's President Max Petitpierre welcomed him to the glistening city of the Parley at the Summit (see FOREIGN NEWS), Ike recalled an earlier and different mission to Europe. "Some eleven years ago," he said, "I came to Europe with an army, a navy, an air force, with a single purpose: to destroy Naziism . . . This time I come armed with something far more powerful: the good will of America --the great hopes of America--the aspirations of America for peace."

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