Another Look

As stormclouds thickened over the Middle East, the Congress took a sudden new interest in the weather reports. Expert W. Averell Harriman, just back from serving as U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, was called in by two Congressional committees. His reported forecast: Russia was not prepared industrially or psychologically for another war--but would try to get all she could without war.

The House Military Affairs Committee called in a whole array of experts: State Secretary Byrnes, War Secretary Patterson, Chief of Staff Eisenhower, Chief of Naval Operations Nimitz, the Air Forces' General Spaatz. Many a Congressman not on the committee tried to crash the closed hearing without success.

From what newsmen could pick up afterward, Jimmy Byrnes saw no danger of an immediate war with Russia. But he was afraid Russia's policies might touch off an "incident" that would get out of hand, or might create such animosities that war would eventually be inevitable. He had tried to persuade the Russians that they needed friendly peoples--rather than friendly governments--in their neighbor countries.

More important was the experts' emphatic agreement that Joseph Stalin was contemptuous of weakness, respectful of force. Congressmen moodily recalled the story of Stalin's reaction to a discussion of the moral influence of the Pope: "How many divisions has he got?" At week's end, after Congress had digested the headlines and the advice, it appeared likely that members would change their minds and continue the draft (see ARMY & NAVY), would take a long and sober second look at the universal military training bill (which had once seemed likely to die without debate), would consider the proposed $3,750,000,000 loan to Britain "'much more sympathetically than heretofore.

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