The Wilmington Morning Star (August 20, 1944)
Dulles requests problem division
Proposes that policing Axis and peace maintenance be separated
Albany, New York (AP) – (Aug. 19)
John Foster Dulles, deputized by Governor Thomas E. Dewey for foreign policy consultations with Secretary of State Hull, proposed today that the problems of policing defeated Axis countries and maintaining lasting peace be separated.
Meeting reporters in the Governor’s study of the Executive Mansion with the Republican presidential nominee sitting nearby, Dulles said he believed difficulties of forming an international security organization ought not to be complicated by the immediate problem of disarming Germany and Japan and making them unable to undertake new aggressions.
The 56-year-old New York lawyer said that Dewey’s statement of this week in connection with the four-power diplomatic conference in Washington should be interpreted as delineating the king of military controls which should be exercised over Germany and Japan.
With Dewey at times nodding agreement, Dulles proposed that the United States, Great Britain and Russia, with “substantial contributions” from nearby liberated countries police Germany and hold her in check. He said the United States, Great Britain and China should undertake the policing of Japan.
With these duties undertaken by the four powers, Dulles said it would be possible to form an international organization in which the small nations would have a voice in the future determination of lasting peace plans without being subjected to four-power domination, which Dewey has opposed.
Asked if a conference he will hold Wednesday with Hull might indicate the possibility of eliminating foreign policy as a political campaign issue. Dulles replied:
I don’t think it is healthy or desirable to eliminate from the campaign the discussion of internal problems. The only way a democracy makes up its mind is by having issues debated and discussed.