Kissinger Hits Foreign Policy

"We are well on our way to suffering a major defeat in Europe," Henry A. Kissinger '50, associate director of the Center for International Affairs, warned last night in a speech at Jordan Hall.

Emphasizing that "we are not in our present position by accident," Kissinger proceeded to examine the characteristics of American foreign policy. He insisted that the United States places its hopes in diplomats who can "invent clever solutions to solve crises."

Kissinger then asserted that America fails to solve crises because it does not realize that real military and political strength and a clear policy are necessary for successes in the cold war. According to Kissinger, this failure has occurred because "we are oblivious to the fact that the Soviet Union is revolutionary in its foreign policy, that it demands as a final goal absolute security at the expense of absolute insecurity for us."

Pointing to Western lack of diversified military strength, Kissinger claimed this to be one of the causes of the Berlin crisis. "Our complete reliance on nuclear weapons causes a paralysis of will when we are confronted with the possibility of going to war over Berlin, he explained.

He also attacked "the American feeling that we must propose compromises in any negotiations." He pointed out, "we are always mystified when the Soviets react haughtily to our proposals; we do not understand that they are not satisfied with normalcy and that they often see our proposals as signs of weakness."