THE COLD WAR AND THE WEST
71
sanguine even in principle, for the ideology and fanaticism of the
Chinese have not been dimmed by history or thawed by western
contact.
However that may be, lack of faith within America in the at–
tractiveness, political acumen, and economic viability of our society
in a situation of disarmament leads to the belief that in a disarmed
world Communism would win out. Such a view, while common
on both sides of the Iron Curtain, does not take account of the many
defeats Communism has suffered through its own arrogances and
stupidities, which run counter to the nationalism, pride, and desire
of many of the new countries, and the slow awakening of many
people everywhere to Communist belligerence, thought-cuntrol, and
imperialism. It is urgently important for us to show that the Ameri–
can economy is capable of disarmament while maintaining full em–
ployment, and it would seem in the interest of big business as well
as of the whole society to make very concrete studies as to the re–
allocation of resources and, where necessary, of whole industries. A
vigorous Western program of internal development, coupled with
aid to the new countries, might eventually drive home the
l~on
that
there is more than one route to industrialization and modernization,
and that new routes, scarcely dreamed of as yet, remain to be in–
vented. When many intellectuals in the underdeveloped countries
now turn to Communism, they do so in part because they feel it
is
the only way of overcoming vested interests and age-old corruptions;
some indeed are attracted precisely by the apparent purity of Chinese
Communism. Yet on the whole I believe that men turn to totalitarian
"solutions" out of desperation, when less oppressive alternatives seem
unavailable. Generosity, openness, spontaneity, and pluralism in the
American tradition have a greater appeal- sometimes to the very
same people who also are tempted by Communism and who are
in
doubt both as to what they seek and as to what they are. In a dis–
armed world, the United States would appear less threatening to
such countries as Japan, where not even conservatives have forgotten
Hiroshima, and perhaps the Peace Corps could eventually be seen
for what it is-a mission developed out of the best American tradi–
tions-and not as a cold war instrument. The military-industrial com–
plex about which President Eisenhower warned in his farewell address
would no longer weigh on the American economy and the American
