The Pittsburgh Press (June 14, 1947)
GOP demands voice in plans to aid Europe
Vandenberg proposes bipartisan council
WASHINGTON (UP) – Secretary of State George C. Marshall today faced a Republican demand for a larger voice in American foreign policy.
Specifically the Republicans wanted a hand in planning the projected multi-billion-dollar U.S. program for rehabilitating Europe.
The demand was made by Senate President Arthur H. Vandenberg, R-Michigan. He asked immediate creation of a special partisan advisory council “at the highest attainable level” to help create a “total balance sheet” of how much a war-sick world needs and how much the United States can afford to pay.
Reaction mixed
Reaction of other members of Congress to Mr. Vandenberg’s proposal was mixed. Some Republican senators said privately they were dubious about any further U.S. spending abroad. Sen. Robert A. Taft of Ohio, chairman of the GOP Policy Committee, revealed he would have a statement of his own soon on the subject of foreign spending.
Mr. Vandenberg said “intelligent American self-interest immediately requires a sound, overall inventory of our own resources to determine the attitudes within which we may consider these foreign needs.”
He emphasized current discussions of U.S. aid in the rebuilding of Europe should not be misunderstood.
“They should not be taken as evidence that our foreign friends can depend upon us as a substitute for depending on themselves,” he said.
This echoed the view of Gen. Marshall that the initiative for reconstruction must come forth from the European nations.
Mr. Vandenberg did not explain his proposal in detail. He merely suggested that the “many distinguished American citizens” with experience be called on to help government agencies in formulating the program.
May propose Dulles
For more than a year Mr. Vandenberg has been dissatisfied with the way the so-called bipartisan foreign policy operates in practice. He has felt that too often the Republicans are called upon to support a phase of American foreign policy which they have had no voice in developing.
Mr. Vandenberg gave no indication who he had in mind for such a council. But it was almost certain his No. 1 choice would be John Foster Dulles, who was a Republican adviser to Gen. Marshall at the Big Four conference in Moscow.
Former President Herbert Hoover also is deeply interested in the question of European rehabilitation. He is preparing a report, to be released Monday, on how much he believes this country can spend to help other nations and what policies should be followed.