74. Memorandum From Attorney General Kennedy to President Kennedy1
As I traveled from country to country around the world2 I found that the Berlin Wall is the most effective argument against the communist system. People in every part of the world recognize the Wall as an admission of defeat by the communists.
This was made clear to me in Indonesia where I met, shortly before leaving, with a group of 25 young people. One of their spokesmen had [Page 192] ready justification for Red China’s action in Tibet, or Russian action in Hungary. But he had no ready answer to the Wall.
“We don’t want to discuss these details,” was his response.
Not one of his colleagues questioned him, and looking at their faces I could not discern even a trace of opposition to the colonialism of the Soviet Union or of Communist China. This new modern form of colonialism clearly was not something to be discussed.
Yet, after the meeting, four or five of the young people came to my room. Their attitude was completely different. They admitted quite frankly that they had not spoken up at the meeting because these subjects just never were discussed in public. Quite clearly, they were completely intimidated by the communists.
This was a most significant admission. Their reluctance to state their views before their friends touches the core of our problem with students and intellectuals abroad.
There is vocal opposition to the United States and to our way of life in those foreign countries. Invariably, it is well organized. The communists have their well-disciplined cadres. They have a party line which they follow rigidly. They know exactly what they think. They know exactly what they are for and what they are against. Usually, their leaders are energetic, courageous, unyielding and articulate.
Very often they represent the minority of a student body or of a particular organization. But they have fixed objectives. They know what they want. They know where they are going. And they are willing to use any tools, any devices, any means to obtain their ends.
Against this, as was the case at my meeting in Indonesia, there is usually no one to raise questions against their party line. There is no organization, no cadres, no disciplined calculated effort to give another side.
And so it is that under circumstances such as these, a small, able, well-trained unit can take over a meeting or an organization ten times its size in numbers. As we have seen over the course of history, such a minority can even seize control of a government or a country.
It is apparent—in Indonesia, in Japan and elsewhere—that the communists have created the impression, not only in Asia but across the world, that the young intellectual is for communism and against our form of democratic society.
The majority in fact is neither communist nor pro-communist. True enough, they are not pro-United States. They have serious questions about our country and our way of life. They frequently don’t understand us. But with all of that, there is a tremendous reservoir of good will toward America and the American people.
This is a reservoir which has not been tapped. To do so in the future, I respectfully submit the following suggestions:
[Page 193]1. To all of these nations, we should send groups of men and women to lecture—not just about the United States and our form of government, or even about democracy generally—but to talk also about history and philosophy and literature and even other more practical matters. Also most importantly, these individuals should go to learn, to listen and ultimately to report to the American people on the aims, aspirations, objectives and problems of the people with whom they meet. These individuals should make tours of as many universities as possible, as well as having conferences with labor leaders, farm and cooperative leaders and government officials. The people who would be sent would have to know the history of the United States, the philosophy of our government and understand the American people.
There are many people who could be sent: Frank Church, Hubert Humphrey, Paul Douglas in the Senate, to mention a few; Cabinet members such as Stewart Udall, Orville Freeman—many members of the House of Representatives, of our state governments, such as Governor Edmondson of Oklahoma or Governor Sanford of North Carolina. I would like to see some of our university professors; some of our authors, playwrights, and poets travel for this purpose. I would like to see a man such as Walter Lippmann go through the countries of the Far East for a month and speak on a number of subjects and answer the questions of students and intellectuals. I believe such an organized program would bring untold dividends.
2. Our government information agencies and services should do more to explain the fundamentals of the United States. I would have them get across what steps in social progress are being made in this country, what people are doing for one another, what contributions charitable organizations are making to the American way of life; what role the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation play. I would have them speak quite frankly and openly about the problems and difficulties we have within our country and also the efforts being made by the government and the American people to deal with them.
3. Other free countries of the world should be encouraged to set up their own “peace corps” with the understanding that our organization would cooperate closely with them. There is much, for instance, that young Japanese could do in Southeast Asia. I am convinced that they would be willing to do it. Many of the young people in Germany, France and Holland are as anxious as young Americans to help their fellowman in countries less fortunate economically. I found among all the students with whom I talked an idealism and a thirst to make the world a better place in which to live. This is a tremendous potential and it must be harnessed and utilized.
We have many things going for us. Above all, we have truth on our side. As in the case of the Wall, there can be no effective propagandized [Page 194] answer to the truth—if it is known. This is just an outline—I would be glad to discuss these matters in greater detail.
- Source: National Archives, RG 306, Director’s Subject Files, 1962–1963, Entry UD WW 173, Box 9, FIELD—Europe—Berlin 1962. No classification marking. Copies were sent to Rusk and Murrow. A typewritten note at the top of the first page of the memorandum reads: “Copy for E.R. Murrow.” Both Murrow and Reed Harris initialed the top right-hand corner of the memorandum. Harris wrote “4/2” next to his initials.↩
- On February 1, the Attorney General departed Washington on a goodwill trip to Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Netherlands. For information, see Anthony Lewis, “Robert Kennedy Begins One-Month Goodwill Trip Around the World,” The New York Times, February 2, 1962, pp. 1, 4 and William H. Stringer, “Robert Kennedy Unpacks Ideas,” The Christian Science Monitor, March 1, 1962, p. 1. Excerpts from Kennedy’s addresses at the University of Gadja Mada, Nihon University, the University of Indonesia, Free University of Berlin, and Beethoven Hall in Bonn, are printed in Department of State Bulletin, May 7, 1962, pp. 761–763.↩