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PARTISAN REVIEW
its present situation to push immediately for a world war. For the
first time in history possession of the Eurasian heartland becomes as
formidable as the geographer MacKinder prophesied. From this
central fortress Russia can push East, West, or South into Iran, thus
distributing American strength thinly all over the globe in battles
against satellite troops, while !:he Red Army itself is held back for the
eventual main assault. In the meantime America is becoming half
mobilized for war, and the momentum will probably continue until
the whole nation is on a war footing-but without a full-scale war
on its hands.
If
the world conflict does not pass for some years into
the world war, the U.S. will thus find itself in a situation new in its
history: full mobilization without being fully at war; or, if you
simplify a little: full mobilization in peace-time. Such mobilization
will place a considerable strain on an economy already suffering from
inflation. Probably the economy can absorb the strain, but the
human burdens may be such as to drive the American people back
to some mood of compromise. But there will be more serious dangers
than the deprivation of consumer goods: the weight of regimented
and centralized authority over such a protracted period, without the
presence of a real war, may change the whole quality of American
political life, and it will require energy and vigilance to see that there
is no loss of basic liberties.
When the world conflict becomes the world war, our fates will
rest pretty largely in the hands of the military. Until then some
political discussion is still relevant, though its area has already been
considerably narrowed by military events. In this intervening period
the chief problem of politics becomes the diplomatic and propaganda
war (they are now, in fact, inseparable). At last the authorities seem
to be waking up to realize how badly the U.S. has been beaten so
far in the battle of ideas. "We haven't told our story well enough,"
General Smith put it mildly to a congressional hearing, and Eisen–
hower insisted to the same hearing that America's most potent weapon
was not its A-bomb but its T-bomb (T for truth). We have also
been hearing lately about a new organization, Radio Free Europe,
organized by American businessmen to broadcast to the European
countries under Russian domination. Here if anywhere is a chance for
private initiative to prove its superiority : unlike the official "Voice
of America" the new organization need not restrict itself to the
