Ike's Trip (Part III)

General Dwight Eisenhower stepped down on West Point's Stewart Field last week with a wave of his hat and a happy, tired grin. He had reason to smile. His 21-day tour of the NATO countries had been one of the great diplomatic triumphs of the free nations.

Test of Ike's success was the desperate effort made by the Cominform to pace his tour with riots. Everywhere the Cominform failed. In a last stab at Ike, the Communists called for a monster rally in front of his Paris quarters in the Hotel Astoria. Fewer than 5,000 Communists turned up; half of them were arrested. In Metz, Toulouse, Rennes, Dijon and Lyon, the Reds planned demonstrations that did not come off. Red crowds in Marseille, Lille and Valenciennes tried to riot, were quickly broken up by the police.

The day after Ike left Paris, the overtolerant French government cracked down on Communists. It suspended the mayors of seven Paris industrial suburbs who had encouraged anti-Eisenhower demonstrations. It gave the headquarters of three worldwide Communist fronts, including the World Federation of Trade Unions, a month to shut up shop.

Flying homeward, Ike stopped off at the two remaining NATO countries on his schedule: soldierless but strategically important Iceland, and Canada, where he conferred with cabinet members. From Ottawa Ike called the Pentagon. Said he: "I'm sick and I'm tired. Don't let anybody bother me until I get some rest'." In 22 days he had covered nearly 20,000 miles, visited twelve countries.

At West Point's Thayer Hotel, Ike worked on his report, packaging it in five editions: 1) for the President and Cabinet; 2) for the Pentagon's NATO Standing Group; 3) for a joint session of Congress; 4) for the people--on major radio & TV networks, Fri., Feb. 2, 10:45 p.m. E.S.T.; 5) for the Senate and House foreign relations and armed services committees.

When the last Eisenhower page was turned, and the general lifted his soldierly head, the nation would know what to do about Europe, for it would know what Europe had promised to do for itself. That would be only the beginning: due back in Paris between Feb. 10 and Feb. 15, Ike would start on the job of organizing Europe's defense.

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