We cannot garrison the world. The socialism of the African countries has little to do with Marx or international Communism, and a lot to do with Fabianism and Etatisme, the sort of social democratic consensus among intellectuals in the leading imperial powers, and the desire to find a magic bullet to raise the standard of living. Most of these countries were neutralist, accepting aid from both the Soviets and America. We are not in a position to eliminate their corrupt socialism through military power, unless we intend to make the African states our dependencies, somewhat like Puerto Rico, and no one is up for that.
I have already stated why I think the cases for use are dissimilar, and one succeeds, one fails, so I will not belabor that.
Truman has a lot to his credit, as well. He resisted the Communists in Greece and Korea, let the CIA interfere in elections in Italy and elsewhere to exclude Communists, supported the Kuomintang in Taiwan, kept Berlin going during a confrontation with the Soviets through an airlift, and generally established the basic premises of containment. McArthur was probably right, but he deserved to be fired for insubordination. China was not Truman's to lose: the Communists had the upper hand, and no one was prepared for a new, extensive war. That Hiss should have been a spy was difficult for many people to believe, Truman may be forgiven, I think....... |
