Advertisement

Wallace Hits Policy Shift

Demands Three Key Officials Relinquish Governmental Posts

Charging that the Marshall plan, as enunciated here by the Secretary of State at Commencement-time, has been abandoned by the Administration, Henry Wallace last night called on three government figures--among them Defense Secretary James Forrestal--to return to private life.

He told the nearly 7,000 people at the AVC sponsored forum in the Soldiers Field baseball diamond that "we cannot continue polices conceived by Wall Street and military men," naming Robert Lovett, Under Secretary of State, General Draper, Assistant Secretary of the Army, and Forrestal as those who should resign from their positions immediately.

Need About Face

Drawing increasingly intense responses from his audience, the former Vice-President declared that the Administration had done a complete about-face on American policy in Germany" and was now trying to revive the defeated Nazi state as a bulwark against soviet Russia.

He urged Congress to appropriate the eight billion dollars requested by the 16 European nations for 1948, but warned that it must not be on a basis of 'dictating the internal affairs of any of the nations, involved."

Advertisement

Speaking of the Marshall Plan as "those few constructive paragraphs spoken on a spring day here in Cambridge," Wallace said that "since that day the Administration has pursued policies in foreign at fairs which have undermined the hopes that Secretary Marshall built when he spoke here."

Grist for Red Mill

These policies, characterized by the rebuilding of Germany, will not only heighten friction between the united States and Russia, and move us further down the road to eventual war; it will also cost us the friendship of the peoples of Europe, who will be given every reason to believe the Soviet charges against us," he said.

The Comunist menace in this country, Wallace declared, is a "smokescreen" obscuring "policies and actions which will bring depression, war, and an American brand of fascism."

Centered chiefly on foreign policy, the address lasted more than three quarters of an hour and was lengthened considerably by extemporaneous remarks interspersed with the text.

Harvard Razzberry

Appearing tired from the long countrywide series of speeches he has been making, Wallace drew frequent laughs and outbreaks of applause from his crowd. A few eatcalls and boos, which Wallace laughingly referred to as "the Harvard raspberry," were heard from the audience.

At one point, during the latter stages of the speech, a figure, clad in what appeared to be a raccoon-skin coat and a bear's head mask crept up behind the speaker, almost reaching the edge of the infield before Yard police set out in pursuit. The intruder, bearing a hammer and sickle, retreated over the board fence surrounding the secret football practice field and was not caught by the rapidly advancing forces of the law.

Third Party Damper

A remark made about the possibility of a third party following the prepared speech got Wallace his greatest single response of the evening. He mentioned briefly that a third party was not out of the question in 1948, but added that the difficulty of whipping together such an organization "should not be underestimated."

Wallace was introduced by AVC chapter Chairman Stanley G. Karson '48. Edrie A. Weld, Jr. '46, Student Council President, and Provost Buck welcomed the speaker for the student body and faculty, respectively. The Rev. Frederick B. Kellogg chaplain to Episcopal students, gave the invocation

Advertisement