He is surely correct in pointing up the inextricable connection between our domestic performance and our impact abroad. His discussion of the Suez fiasco is a powerful study of the bane of shortsightedness coupled with self-righteousness.
If the book falls short of ultimate stature it is because of a certain mechanical approach to the problem of foreign policy. There is a tendency to assume that the analysis of a problem also supplies the solution that the exposition of a fallacious way of thinking itself indicates the remedy. Mr. Acheson is undoubtedly right in asserting that the problem of the free world is to establish a secure non-Communist world system, but it is doubtful whether this statement by itself is adequate to give a sense of direction to the aspirations of a world in turmoil, where old standards are disintegrating and millions are looking for a new orientation. Mr. Acheson correctly emphasizes the importance of a coalition of free states. It is less clear that allied unity can be worked at directly. In fact, one of the bases of free world diplomacy has been the tendency to escape into a formal unity as a substitute for common action on current issues. In this connection the absence of a further discussion of our dealings with the Soviet bloc and the uncommitted, which may determine the nature and efficacy of allied unity, is particularly striking.