Conversion at the Pentagon

All the fears of what might happen in Berlin fizzled out on the rainy, flag-draped Unter den Linden (see INTERNATIONAL). The West had shown again that courage, calmness and determination could save Berlin.

This was only a skirmish without blood in a cold war without fighting. Had it also been only an alarm? The West might never know; it had no choice but to take such threats seriously. But perhaps even more important last week than the safety of Berlin was a new attitude in Washington towards the safety of all Western Europe. An important conversion had taken place in the Pentagon, which had long taken a dismal view of Western Europe's defenses.

The Elbe Line. Only two years ago gloomy Pentagon strategists were convinced that nothing could stop the Red wave from rolling at will to the Channel. The U.S. had only a few ready troops of its own; the French had half a million men under arms, but did they have the will to fight? At a time when the U.S. was publicly assuring its allies of military aid and protection, some Pentagon brasshats were talking privately of a retreat to the Pyrenees. But by last week the Pentagon had placed a new estimate on Western endurance: the line of the Elbe could be held for at least six months; for every six months of peace the West could gain still another 30 days.

The Pentagon's revised estimate stemmed partly from the strengthening of Atlantic Treaty bonds (TIME, May 29). But strategists, being technicians, were apt to regard the bold decisions at London, and the talk of "balanced collective forces" as still only blueprints of the future. It would take up to ten years to convert these promising blueprints into armed power. The hopeful Pentagon estimate of June 1950 was also based on U.S. armed strength abuilding: new antitank and antiaircraft weapons, a better-knit tactical air force.

New Hope. No longer did the Pentagon talk--in terms that chilled Western Europe--of liberating an occupied Europe, instead of defending a free one. The change was bound to create new hope among the nations which would have to meet the first shock of any Russian attack. For almost the first time since the war, the Pentagon and the State Department" seemed to be speaking with one voice.

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