Fraternity-Testvériség, 1962 (40. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1962-02-01 / 2. szám
FRATERNITY 3 EISENHOWER ON HUNGARY Ever since the Russians crushed the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, Hungarian 'political exiles have raised the question: “Why didn't the United States intervene?” Senator Thomas Dodd, in his article, “Hungary — The Last Opportunity”, published in the HUNGARIAN QUARTERLY'S January 1961 issue, said that Washington should have done more, if not by direct action, at least in the UN — an opinion shared by many other Americans. The Editor of the QUARTERLY asked Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, who was the U. S. Delegate to the UN during that period, for any comments he might have on Senator Dodd's article. In his reply, which was printed in the April 1961 issue, Ambassador Lodge stated that his motivations during the de bate were “instructions from Washington”. The Editor then approached Mr. Herbert Hoover, Jr., Acting Secretary of State during those fateful days, for an explanation of the “instructions”. His secretary acknowledged receipt of the inquiry, but the QUARTERLY has thus far failed to receive any reply from Mr. Hoover himself. However, an extraordinary television program bridged the gap: the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), in its program of November 23, 1961, “Eisenhower on the Presidency, Part II”, presented, among other topics, the former President's views on the Hungarian question. The follomng dialogue took place between Gen. Eisenhower and Walter Cronkite, the CBS reporter Cronkite: There’s one other point when we talk about the natural aspirations for freedom of men, and this is Hungary. What were the limitations that kept us from moving into Hungary? Eisenhower: Well, the only way that the United States could have ever moved would have been one as of coalition, because you couldn’t have jumped over Germany, Austria or France, or any other direction and gone in there, because it would not have been allowed. You were dealing with sovereign countries. There was no European country, and indeed, I don’t believe ours, ready to say that we should have gone into this thing at once and tried to liberate Hungary from the Communist influence. I don’t believe, at this time, that we had the support of the United Nations to go in and make this a full-out war. The thing started
