One World or No World: The Vision of Wendell Willkie

Transcription

1 One World or No World: The Vision of Wendell Willkie EDITORIAL ya _a G? N I 895, when H. G. Wells' Time Machine appeared, he told an interviewer that its purpose was to emphasize J T g that "Unless humanity hangs together, unless all strive gi 1 j for the species as a whole, we shall end in disaster" (i). Th at we are moving to the brink of that disaster-the Kev-? final epidemic-is evident in a report of an address by the Secretary of Education in the Reagan Administration, Mr. William Bennett, in which he said that "American schools should be teaching high school students more about the evils of communism and less about the consequences of nuclear war" (z). It takes only a modicum of thought to recognize the frightening implications of this statement. That fear of a nuclear war is an urgent worldwide concern is illustrated by the results of a study by Dr. Ruben Ardila, Professor of Psychology at the National University of Colombia, which are reported elsewhere in this issue. He concludes that There is great concern about the possibility of nuclear war among Colombian children and adolescents, and this influences their way of looking toward the future. They think about nuclear war, make their life plans in light of preoccupation with the possibility of the destruction of humanity, and in many cases believe they do not have a future. Dr Ardila notes that Colombia is a developing country with difficult socioeconomic problems, no atomic weapons, and limited influence on the world scene. His findings indicate that In reality, the possibility of a nuclear holocaust is a planetary concern, not a problem of the Soviet Union, the United States, and Western Europe; it is a problem for all people, one that goes beyond the geographic and culturalimits of the people directly involved in I43 Palgrave Macmillan is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Journal of Public Health Policy

2 I44 JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY * SUMMER I987 creating nuclear war capability, and has an important influence on everyone. This fear of the destruction of humanity was expressed in a recent speech to the United Nations by Soviet Foreign Minister Shevardnadze: We see the glimmer of light in the fact that at the time crucial for mankind the peoples and an increasing number of governments are becoming aware of the need to adopt a new way of thinking in line with the realities of the nuclear and space age. The time is coming when considerations of groups, blocs or ideologies are beginning to give way to the understanding that peace is a supreme value. Only if peace is translated from declarations into practical action is there a chance for survival. (3) WENDELL WILLKIE: ONE WORLD This call for a new way of thinking, which the present Administration and the Congress have yet to achieve, was first brought to world attention by an outstanding Republican statesman more than 40 years ago. Wendell Willkie was a native of Elwood, Indiana, who became a successful Wall Street corporation lawyer and the president of Commonwealth and Southern Corporation, a huge utilities holding company. A Democrat in the early 30s, Willkie turned Republican because of what he felt to be unwise government restraints on business enterprise. As a Republican presidential candidate in I940, opposing President Franklin D. Roosevelt's bid for a third term, Willkie received a popular vote of more than zz million, the largest ever received by a Republican up to that time (4). In I94z, Wendell Willkie circled the globe in a U.S. Army plane, accompanied by the publisher Gardner Cowles, Jr., the journalist Joseph Barnes, and representatives of the U.S. Army and Navy. He had an opportunity to see and talk to hundreds of people in more than a dozen nations, and to talk intimately with many of the world's leaders. A year later, Willkie published One World, a fascinating account of his experiences and condusions (5). This is a remarkable book, forthright, informative, and, considering the fact it was written before the crisis of the nuclear age, extraordinarily perceptive and statesmanlike. It is eminently worth reading, from cover to cover; we shall quote, for reasons of space, only his major conclusions:

3 EDITORIAL * THE VISION OF WENDELL WILLKIE I45 On the Middle East This problem, as it seems to me, of bringing the peoples of the Middle East into the twentieth century in technical and industrial terms is, in turn, intimately linked with the question of political self-government. Many Westerners whom I met and talked with in these countries told me the several reasons, valid in their minds, for the extremely primitive backwardness in which most Arabs live. These reasons ranged from the charge that Arabs actually prefer to die young to the statementhat their religion prevents them from accumulating the capital with which to make the improvements they need in their way of life. To my mind, these reasons were mostly nonsense. Give any Arabs I saw a chance to feel that they were running their own show, and they would change the world they live in. (p. I 4) On China We must not expect Chinese ideals of personal liberty and democratic government to be exactly the same as ours. Some of their ideas may seem to us too radical, others may seem ridiculously archaic. We should remember that in their eyes some of our customs appear ridiculous and even distasteful. We must keep our minds fixed upon the essential fact that the Chinese want to be free-free in their own way to govern their lives for the benefit and happiness of their own people. (p. 45) On Russia There's still another thing I know: geographically, from a trade standpoint, in their similarity of approach to many problems, the Russians and the Americans should get along together. The industrialization of Russia will require a limitless amount of American products, and Russia has unlimited natural resources that we need. The Russians, like us, are a hardy, direct people and have great admiration for everything in America, except the capitalistic system. And, frankly, there are many things in Russia that we can admireits vigor, its vast dreams, its energy, its tenacity of purpose. No one could be more opposed to the Communist doctrine than I am, for I am completely opposed to any system that leads to absolutism. But I have never understood why it should be assumed that in any

4 146 JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY SUMMER I987 possible contact between Communism and democracy, democracy should go down. So let me say once more: I believe it is possible for Russia and America, perhaps the most powerful countries in the world, to work together for the economic welfare and the peace of the world. At least, knowing that there can be no enduring peace, no economic stability, unless the two work together, there is nothing I ever wanted more to believe. And so deep is my faith in the fundamental rightness of our free economic and political institutions that I am convinced they will survive any such working together. (p. 4z) On America's Choices America must choose one of three courses after this war: narrow nationalism, which inevitably means the ultimate loss of our own liberty; international imperialism, which means sacrifice of some other nation's liberty; or the creation of a world in which there shall be an equality of opportunity for every race and every nation. I am convinced the American people will choose, by overwhelming majority, the last of these courses. To make this choice effective, we must win not only the war, but also the peace, and we must start winning it now. (p. 84) Wendell Willkie, unfortunately, did not speak for the Republican Party, nor, for that matter, for the Democratic Party, both of which have followed postwar policies comprised of varying proportions of the first two choices: "narrow nationalism, which inevitably means the ultimate loss of our own liberty," and "international imperialism, which means the sacrifice of some other nation's liberty." There has been no peace; our nation has been engaged in extraordinarily destructive wars in Korea and Vietnam, and conducts military actions -directly or through proxies - in Central America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The Reagan Administration, with the support of both Democrats and Republicans in the Congress, is escalating the arms race to unbelievable levels. Wendell Willkie's third choice, "the creation of a world in which there shall be an equality of opportunity for every race and every nation," has yet to be taken. Perhaps it is too late; if so, the final epidemic will be unleashed and humanity destroyed. Perhaps we can move back from the brink; but this will require that the American people -Republicans, Democrats, and Independents of all classes, creeds and ideologies -rec-

5 EDITORIAL * THE VISION OF WENDELL WILLKIE I47 ognize the danger and demand a policy of peace. The survival of this fragile planet depends above all on the willingness of our nation to implementhe vision of a great American statesman, Wendell Willkie. The choice for us all is One World or none. REFERENCES i. Stanley Weintraub. Review of H. G. Wells, Desperately Mortal: A Biography by David C. Smith. New York Times, October i9, I986, Book Review Section, p. 34. z. Jill Lawrence, The Associated Press, Burlington (Vt.) Free Press, December 6, I986, p. 3A. 3. New York Times, September z4, I986, p. AiO. 4. Encyclopedia Britannica, Micropaedia Volume X, p Wendell T. Willkie. One World. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1943 (paperback edition).