McCloy Urges U.S. Be Partner, Not Leader

A Community of free nations in which this country assumes the role of a partner rather than a leader telling others what to do is the only path to world peace, said John J. McCloy, former High Commissioner of Germany, in the first of his three Godkin lectures last night. The other two lectures in the series will be given tonight and tomorrow night.

McCloy was introduced by President Conant, who received a minute and a half standing ovation from the near capacity crowd which packed New Lecture Hall.

Paying tribute to Conant, who will assume his former position, McCloy said, "To think that I am lecturing to the president of Harvard and telling him what to do in his next job is appalling to me."

He then went on to say that the most important aspect of the Soviet threat is the attempt to divide "the community of the free world." He warned that the difficulties of meeting the Communist challenge are intensified by this "divisive attack which could destroy first our allies and then ourselves."

U.S. Power Risky

McCloy warned particularly that U.S. power can be a factor in creating division among free nations. This is true, he said, because "power brings with it leadership and other governments are not comfortable about the leadership of a new strong power."

He pointed out that our program of foreign aid "has not uniformly endeared us to our allies." He explained that they don't like to hear once a year when aid appropriations are discussed in Congress that they are "beggars, don't work hard enough, and are ungrateful." We must convince them, McCloy said, that the U.S. is seriously interested in raising their living standards.

McCLoy also said that the European attitude toward this country is conditioned by its attitude toward war. "Exhausted and weary, Europe cannot accept the idea of war and believes that the United States does," he explained.

The Godkin Lectures, named for the great 19th century editor Edwin L. Godkin, are given annually.