Book Reviews: The Irony of American History. By REINHOLD NIEBUHR. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1952. Pp. ix, 174. $2.50.)

• Date: 01 December 1952
• Author: Ludwig Freund
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295200500415
• Published date: 01 December 1952
• Subject Matter: Articles

667

make

it

possible

for

the

formal

groups

and

structure

of

the

United

Nations

to

survive

and

accomplish

some

of

their

purposes

in

the

face

of

almost

insurmountable

obstacles.

His

treatment

of

the

reactions

of

the

two

great

powers

to

the

Secretary,

General’s

attempt

to

pursue

an

&dquo;international

policy,&dquo;

which

has

placed

Mr.

Lie

in

the

position

of

sometimes

seeming

to

favor

the

Soviet

Union

and

at

other

times

appearing

a

&dquo;lackey

of

Western

imperialism,&dquo;

is

an

excellent

demonstration

of

the

defects

of

&dquo;two-valued

logic,&dquo;

so

&dquo;hated&dquo;

by

semanticists.

The

&dquo;unreasonable&dquo;

attitude

of

both

the

Soviet

Union

and

the

United

States

seems

to

have

been

&dquo;if

you

ain’t

fur

me,

yu’re

agin

me.&dquo;

After

surveying

Mr.

Lie’s

powers

under

Articles

99, 98, 97,

101,

and

7

of

the

Charter

and

his

relations

with

the

General

Assembly,

the

Security

Council,

the

&dquo;nonpolitical&dquo;

organs,

governments,

and

world

public

opinion,

Schwebel

recommends

that

the

Secretary-General’s

role

should

be

some-

thing

more

than

a

&dquo;secretary&dquo;

and

less

than

a

&dquo;general,&dquo;

a

pattern

which

Mr.

Lie

seems

to

fit

admirably.

As

the

Secretary-General

has

written

concerning

his

own

position,

&dquo;I’ve

chosen

the

middle

road,

myself....

The

Secretary-General

must

be

a

diplomat,

a

...

politically

minded

man,

and

he

must

understand

his

duty

to

keep

the

Organization

together....

He

must

be

ready

to

com-

promise,

and

at

the

same

time

he

must

never

lose

sight

of

the

Charter’s

ideas....

It

is

not

an

easy

job.&dquo;

No

one

can

read

Schwebel’s

book

without

concluding

that

the

office

of

the

Secretary-General

is

most

important

and

that

the

man

who

holds

the

job

will

make

a

vital

contribution

to

peace

or

war,

depending

upon

his

ability

to

analyze

correctly

the

causes

of

international

tension

and

to

initiate

policies

which

will

serve

to

alleviate

them.

ROBERT

E.

ELDER.

Colgate

University.

The

Irony

of

American

History.

By

REINHOLD

NIEBUHR.

(New

York:

Charles

Scribner’s

Sons.

1952.

Pp.

ix,

174.

$2.50.)

The

extraordinary

stature

of

Reinhold

Niebuhr

is

exemplified

by

the

fact

that

his

ideas

defy

ordinary

classification.

Some

writers,

for

instance,

have

tried

to

place

him

close

to

the

&dquo;power&dquo;

school

of

political

thought.

But

Niebuhr

himself

would

probably

shrug

off

this

misunder-

standing

with

the

typically

Niebuhrian

remark

that

thinkers

whose

wisdom

exhausts

itself

in

clich6s

of

power

and

the

national

self-interest

have

degraded

realism

to

the

level

of

moral

cynicism,

which

would

be

another

way

of

saying

that

he

shares

no

common

ground

with

them.