Hats Off

It is difficult to say much more about the appointment of Christian Herter as Secretary of State than that it will be good to have a full-time, full-powered Secretary again. Much as one may sympathize with Mr. Dulles' personal misfortune, his decision to resign was a welcome one. For a foreign ministry--especially one so dependent on a single man as the State Department was under Dulles--cannot go on for long without a responsible leader. The lower echelons of State, whose policy-making role has been so limited in recent years, are unprepared to carry on with just an Under-Secretary at their head.

Because Herter did serve under Dulles and, even as second in command, was little more than a cipher where policy was concerned, his personal attitudes on policy are very much an unknown quantity. Whatever actions he may pursue, however, the lessons of the past several months should be quite clear to him: the State Department cannot survive "under the Secretary's hat," for the removal of either hat or Secretary results in a paralysis of policy. Herter must use all the resources of personnel available, not only in the execution, but in the formulation of policy.