Adlai Stevenson charged today that Administration policy in the Middle East had brought the United States to the brink of war. He urged that this nation assist Israel with arms to prevent aggression.
Mr. Stevenson said in a prepared speech that the Eisenhower Administration’s statement of policy “to oppose aggression in the Middle East within ‘Constitutional means” was “very disappointing.” The Administration pledge issued earlier this week said the United States would support and assist any nation attacked there.
“The reaction of the Administration to the latest crisis in the Middle East is very disappointing,” Mr. Stevenson said in his talk to the Veterans Business Men’s Club of Daytona Beach, a civic organization composed of veterans. “It is not enough to pledge support to Israel if subjected to aggression. We should make it emphatically clear that we will not tolerate aggression. And we should assist Israel with arms to prevent aggression.
“The Administration’s inaction in the Middle East has brought us to the brink of war. But they have at last awakened to the fact that the desperate problems of the Middle East are not likely to vanish like a nightmare,” Mr. Stevenson continued. He said that Administration ” is apparently still unwilling to assist Israel with arms in order to prevent aggression.”
(Sen. Estes Kefauver, Democratic Presidential hopeful, expressed support yesterday of President Eisenhower’s recent moves aimed at halting aggression in the Middle East, but added that the measures were “long overdue” and might be too late. Sen Kefauver made his statement in Jersey City, N. J., in connection with his campaign in the Democratic primary.)
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
