BEYOND CONTAINMENT: The New U.S. Policy Towards Russia

by Willian Henry Chamberlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 12, 1953

To readers familiar with Chamberlin's able reporting for years in the Christian Science Monitor, with successive books, and most recently his European Cockpit (1947) and America's Second Crusade (1950), some of the substance and viewpoint of this new book will be familiar. An informed journalist, long cognizant of the dangers inherent in the Soviet threat, deserves thoughtful attention. He sees the world in two camps- the huge Soviet empire; the non-communist world with the United States in the unenviable position of leader. We are the heirs to the bitter fruits of victory which inherits the betrayals of Yalta and the period of appeasement of Russia, stemming, he feels, from President Roosevelt's personal attitude. Too late the climate of opinion changed.- Byrnes, Vandenberg, Torrestaol, Truman all did what could be done to shift to resistance. Too late the possibility of avoiding World War II is considered. Perhaps, he feels, we could have let Hitler and Stalin fight it out. The Cold War is part of the heritage- and must be carried to the end. He stresses the responsibility of familiarity with the Communist design, methods, history- and devoted a large portion of his text to appraising it- and our shifting policies in relation to it, in Europe, in Asia. He judges uncompromisingly the ""mistakes"" of the past and charges the responsibility of men like Acheson, Marshall, Harriman, Jessup- and the ""pro-Soviet triumvirate"", Lattimore, Carter and Field. He charts the balance sheets of the Marshall Plan and ECA; expands the fallacies current about Communism; views the Asiatic threat from varied angles (""Europe could be lost in Asia""). And- after summing up the presumptions of what is happening in Moscow today, he urges certain attitudes and policies for the new administration of foreign policy. There is much that needs to be said here (how new depends on one's reading background); much that is controversial, much that is challenging. He does not paint a hopeful picture, nor yet does he feel that war is inevitable. Worth reading.

Pub Date: Oct. 12, 1953

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Regnery

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1953

Categories: NONFICTION