Book Review: The United States and the United Nations
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206201700216 |
| Date | 01 June 1962 |
| Published date | 01 June 1962 |
| Author | G. R. Davy |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEws
171
and
plans, and
how
men
in
it
would
act
in
certain
hypothetical
situa-
tions?
No
one
really
knows-perhaps
not
even
the
Russian
leaders
themselves.
While policy
and
analysis
must
be
based
on
some
assump-
tions-everyone
would
concede
this-it
makes
all the
difference
what
assumptions
we
start
from.
Mr.
Kissingers'
may
be
right,
but
they
would
carry
more
conviction
if
they
were
less
dogmatically
held.
A
second
criticism
is
that
the
author
at
times
(notably
in
Chapter
1)
has
a
"preachy"
air,
with
his
calls
for
dedication, sense
of
direction,
and
the
like.
What
does
it
mean
to
ask
for
"a
philosophy
adequate
for
our
time",
to
"show
the
way
to
a
new
international
order",
to
say
that
we
must
help
establish
a
"Germany
strong
enough
to
defend
itself
but
not
strong
enough
to
attack",
to
"demonstrate"
what
keeps
Germany
divided?
This
sort
of
thing
is
I
am
afraid
a
mixture
of
high-flown
oratory
with
earnest
American
soul-searching.
It
is
all quite
expendable,
and
only
mars
an
otherwise excellent
book.
University
of
Western
Ontario
H.
B.
MAYo
THE
UNITED
STATES
AND
THE
UNrr=
NATioNs.
Edited
by
Francis
0.
Wilcox
and
H.
Field
Haviland,
Jr.
1961.
(Baltimore:
John
Hopkins
Press.
x,
188pp.
$4.50.)
During
the
early
days
of
the
Kennedy
Administration
an
extensive
re-evaluation
of
American
foreign
policy
took
place
at
official,
semi-
official
and
unofficial
levels.
As
a contribution
to
this
re-evaluation,
The
Johns
Hopkins
University
School
of
Advanced
International
Studies
and
the
Brookings
Institution
sponsored
a
small
high-level
conference
in
Washington during
May
of
1961
to
provide
an
opportunity
for
"a
frank,
off-the-record
exchange
of
views
on
current
and
future
United
States
policy
regarding
the
United
Nations."
Six
major
topics
were
discussed
at
the
conference,
and
the papers
upon which
the
discussions
were
based,
together
with
a
further
paper
prepared
by
Francis
0.
Wilcox,
former
Assistant
Secretary
of
State
for
International
Organization
Affairs,
are
contained in
this
book.
The
book
deserves
careful
reading,
because
in
addition
to
the
paper
by
Mr.
Wilcox,
three
of
the
six
original
papers were
prepared
by
individuals
who
were
at
the
time,
or
who
had
been,
official
participants
in
the
making
of
American foreign
policy,
including
the
new
Assistant
Secretary
of
State
for
International
Organization
Affairs,
Mr.
Harlan
Cleveland.
It
is
possible
to
discern
several
common
threads
running
through
the
seven
papers.
First,
there
appears
to
be
an
almost
undue
concern
with
the
role
of
the
new
members
of
the
United
Nations
from
Asia
and
Africa.
The
papers
by
Joseph
E.
Johnson,
President
of
the
Carnegie
Endowment
for
International
Peace,
Paul
G.
Hoffman,
Managing
Director
of
the
United
Nations
Special
Fund, and
Lincoln
P.
Bloomfield,
Director
of
the
United
Nations
Project
at
the
Massachusetts
Institute
of
Technology,
give
this
reviewer
the
uneasy
feeling
that
American
policy
in
the
United
Nations
is in
danger
of
proceeding
from
the
patently
false
assumption
that
"all nations
are
created
equal."
Too
great
a
concern
with
the
arithmetic
of
votes
in
the
General
Assembly
could
lead
to
a
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