Davies, John Paton. Foreign and Other Affairs New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1964. Portions of the chapter entitled "The Other Cold War" appeared in The Reporter Magazine for August 15, 1963. (LC: 63-9879).

 

 
FOREIGN
AND
OTHER
AFFAIRS
A View From The Radical Center
 

A clear-eyed reappraisal of
American aid and ideology
by a former diplomat

by John Paton Davies, Jr.
FOREIGN AND
OTHER AFFAIRS
A View From the Radical Center
By JOHN PATON DAVIES, Jr.

In a deep and troubled sleep, wrapped in exalted yet fearful dreams, American foreign policy stumbled into the 1960s. The world of actuality lay outside, scarcely perceived. What was immediate, urgent and absorbing to the sleepwalker were his desperate exertions to save himself and distant strangers from an interminable succession of crises.

This is John Paton Davies' dark view of the United States' relations to the world around it. His angle of vision lies between the radical right and the radical left, holding as best it can to the radical center.

As Davies sees it, most of the major themes of American diplomacy are dangerously akin to dreams. The Grand Design for a vaguely united Europe in partnership with the United States is one. The de-Latinization of Latin America through the Alliance for Progress is another. These and other fantasies emerge out of emotional disturbance--a pervasive anxiety and a sense of mission.

Calling for a realistic, clear-eyed approach to the world, Davies presents a new view of aid and ideology. The coming to terms with reality will be, be warns, a slow and unwelcome process. We must begin at home where our first obligation is to ourselves and we must learn to be more modest in claims of what our life, achievement and hopes can do for others.

Jacket design by Larry Lurin
 
ATLANTIC CRISIS
American Diplomacy Confronts a
Resurgent Europe
By ROBERT KLEIMAN

What went wrong early in 1963 with the "Grand Design" for the Western world devised by the Kennedy Administra- tion? This extraordinary inside account by a member of the Editorial Board of The New York Times gives the answers.

"A superlative specimen of the art of the foreign correspondent ... the best narrative yet written of the swift turning of history which the Atlantic Basin has known in the past two years ...

--THEODORE H. WHITE,
Book Week

"A skilled reporter ... a highly readable book ... a timely con- tribution."

- DEAN ACHESON,
N. Y. Times Book Review

"Fascinating . . . Kleiman's focus is on Paris and Brussels rather than on Washington and London - and on the French and the Common Market view of the U. S. and Britain. The book goes high on my required reading list."

RICHARD NEUSTADT,
Columbia University

"A sharp, sophisticated and objective discussion that will dispel many current clichés and misconceptions."

- STANLEY HOFFMANN,
Harvard University

I found this book one of the most illuminating I have yet read about the current situation in Europe - and Washington."

-JOHN FISHER,
Editor of Harper's Magazine

 The Author Foto Jeanette, Lima

JOHN PATON DAVIES, Jr., was born on April 6, 1908, in China, of American missionary parents. He graduated with a B.S. from Columbia University in 1931.

That same year he entered the U. S. Foreign Service. He served at Windsor, Ontario; Kunming, China; Peking; Mukden, Manchuria (during the Japanese Occupation); Hankow (during the Japanese siege, bombing, and capture of the city); he was with the Department of State (Far Eastern Division); and from 1942-44 he served as Political Adviser to the Commanding General, China-Burma-India Theater, and he won the Medal of Freedom following a parachute jump into the Burmese jungle. From 1945-47 Mr. Davies was First Secretary in charge of the Political Section at the U. S. Embassy in Moscow. From 1947-51 he was a Member of the Policy -Planning Staff of the Department of State. He then served with the U. S. High Commission for Germany, and was Director of Political Affairs from 1951-53 at the U. S. Embassy. In 1953-54 be was Counselor and Chargé d'affaires in Lima, Peru.

Following a State Department memorandum in which he expressed doubts as to Chiang Kai-shek's potential for victory over the Communists on the Chinese Mainland, Mr. Davies stood an interdepartmental trial. Although he was cleared for loyalty, he was nevertheless fired by John Foster Dulles for the "lack of judgment" expressed in the memorandum. Since 1955 Mr. Davies has been a businessman, engaged in furniture manufacture and design, for which he has received award's from the American Institute of Interior Designers. He and his wife live in Lima, Peru. They have seven children.