BALDWIN, HANSON W. Power and Politics. The Price of Security in the Atomic Age. Pp. xv, 117. Claremont, Calif.: Claremont and Associated Colleges, 1950. $2.75

AuthorJohannes Mattern
DOI10.1177/000271625127400134
Published date01 March 1951
Date01 March 1951
Subject MatterArticles
211
gained,
in
terms
of
national
advantage,
through
compromise
than
through
fighting.
The
present
immense
military
superiority
of
Russia
gives
little
reason
for
hope
that
such
a
significant
shift
of
attitude
can
be
brought
about
through
mere
negotiation.
Moreover,
the
terms
of
agreement
em-
bodied
in
this
plan
would
give
all
the
major
advantages
to
the
Western
powers.
Under
them
the
status
quo
would
be
guaranteed
and
safeguarded
for
years
to
come.
Thus
the
communist
world
revolutionary
move-
ment
would
be
stopped
in
its
tracks.
Other
obvious
barriers,
such
as
differences
in
cultures,
standards
of
living,
fears
of
member
nations
that
the
world
organization
would
encroach
upon
their
domestic
affairs,
and
probable
squabbles
over
the
apportion-
ment
of
delegates
to
the
assembly,
might
delay
or
defeat
the
proposed
plan
from
the
start.
Mr.
Clark’s
Plan
for
Peace
is.
probably
not
realizable
under
existing
circumstances.
Nevertheless
it
opens
the
way
for
further
constructive
thinking
along
lines
leading
to
a
possible
ultimate
solution
to
this
knotty
problem.
FLOYD
A.
CAVE
San
Francisco
State
College
BALDWIN,
HANSON
W.
Power
and
Politics.
The
Price
of
Security in
the
Atomic
Age.
Pp.
xv,
117.
Claremont,
Calif.:
Clare-
mont
and
Associated
Colleges,
1950.
$2.75.
This
book
consists
of
three
lectures
de-
livered
shortly
before
the
Korean
interlude.
In
the
first
the
author
quotes
as
the
initial
guiding
postulate
the
words
of
James
V.
Forrestal,
late
Secretary
of
Defense:
&dquo;There
is
no
power
without
politics
and
no
politics
without
power.&dquo;
According
to
the
second
postulate
power
is
not
itself
evil
-but
can
be
a
great
force
for
good.
Its
quality
of
good
or
evil
depends
on
the
purpose
for
which
power
is
employed
and
the
manner
in
which
it
is
exercised.
The
criterion
of
judgment
at
the
present
time
is
the
degree
of
security
or
lack
of
security
of
the
western
world
threatened
by
the
ideological
and
political
expansionist
aims
of
the Soviet
Union.
The
author
enumerates
some
of
the
fac-
tors
contributory
to
the
growth
and
inten-
sification
of
power
during
the
last
century
and
a
half:
Napoleon’s
levee
en
masse
as
the
beginning
of
total
war;
the
decline
of
Christianity
and
moral
restraints;
accept-
ance
by
Bolshevism
and
large
parts
of
the
masses
of
the
doctrine
that
&dquo;the
end
jus-
tifies
any
means&dquo;;
the
rise
of
the
super-
states ;
and
finally
the
industrial,
scientific,
and
technological
revolutions
with
their
products,
the
atom
bomb
and
the
hydrogen
bomb
to
come.
On
this
background
he
un-
folds
the
sinister
implications
of
the
&dquo;polit-
ical
problems&dquo;
to
be
faced.
In
the
second
lecture
the
author
shows
how
the
atom
bomb
duplicates
on
earth
the
tongues
of
flame
licking
from
the
sun
and
their
effect
upon
man,
beast,
soil,
vegetation,
and
atmosphere.
He
cites
other
weapons
such
as
biological
agents,
gas,
guided
missiles,
the
schnorkel
submarine,
and
other
instrumentalities
for
potential
mass
killing
of
civilians
and
soldiers
alike.
&dquo;The
Hard
Road-The
Middle
Way&dquo;
is
the
title
of
the
last
lecture.
The
author
cautions
that
there
never
was
and
there
is
not
now
absolute
security.
The
best
to
be
hoped
for
is
relative
security.
An
at-
tempt
to
gain
the
impossible
would
lead
to
the
garrison
or
bankrupt
state
or
both.
He
rejects
preventive
war
and
the
extremes
of
isolationism
and
world
government.
The
only
chance
for
relative
security
is
found
in
the
balance
of
power:
that
is,
&dquo;in
the
instinctive
tendency
of
free
nations
to
combine
against
that
one
or
group ...
that
seems
to
be
expanding
so
aggressively
and
exerting
such
domination
as
to
en-
danger
the
liberties
of
all.&dquo;
May
this
meager
review
serve
to
stim-
ulate
the
reading
of
this
little
but
com-
manding
book.
JOHANNES
MATTERN
The
Johns
Hopkins
University
NEVINS,
ALLAN.
The
United
States
in
a
Chaotic
World.
A
Chronicle
of
Inter-
national
Affairs,
1918-1933.
Volume
55
in
"The
Chronicles
of
America
Series."
Pp.
ix,
252.
New
Haven:
The
Yale
University
Press,
1950.
Subscription
edition
$6.00.
NEVINS,
ALLAN.
The
New
Deal
and
World
Affairs.
A
Chronicle
of
International
Affairs,
1933-1945.
Volume
56
in
&dquo;The

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