by Lord Longford
?E TIME OF POWER: A rempraisal of John Foster Julies, by Richard GooIdWants (Weidenfeld & Nicolon, 30s.).
iFIN FOSTER DULLES,
U.S.A. Secretary of State, 3/1959 was unquestionably, S Mr. GooId-Adams, in this iortant and convincing bitesehy, "cast in a big mould". had "a sharper intellect. eter energy and stronger con.ions than ordinary men." le are left in no doubt about .Dulles'e effectiveness in resistCommunism, and his physical moral courage. And yet Mr. les has never (except during period of his last illness) had ffi of "a Press" in England. is relationship with Sir liony Eden was always had latterly disastrous. He cerly showed little overt affection or understanding of this counBut was that the sole explana ow came it that by the time Suez a public-spirited British riernan like Sir Anthony Eden ight Dulles "a liar" and a Jut Piesbyterian like Dulles ight Sir Anthony "an arrogant
ever produced by the New York bar". In the result, this virtuous man aroused an extraordinary amount of mistrust.
Tragic
TRULY, it seems, that the way of the Christian in politics is hard. Catholic statesmen have been accused before now by Protestants of practising an undue economy of truth. Mr. Gladstone the most religious leader that Britain has ever had-was regarded as a humbug by many of his opponents. So Mr. Dulles is in goodish company! And yet there does seem something rather tragic and inexplicable about the clumsiness of his relationship with his Allies, including Britain. Much of it Mr. Goold-Adams attributes to "his extremely suspicious nature". This "made it very difficult for him to trust even members of his own staff, let alone his Allies". It is tempting to go further and put the ultimate blame on his special blend of Calvinism. on his conviction-not very attractive to most of us-that "he was one of those appointed to show the way". But his ideals were lofty and his purpose admittedly firm. Without his overwhelming faith in God's selection and protection of himself and his causes. would he have possessed the phenomenal strength and nerve to face the Communists in the gravest extremities in a period when it would still have been possible to seek a softer option and postpone the deadliest issues for a while?