Pig 4A EUGENE REGISTER-GUARD, Sunday. Jan. 21. 1962
In Spite of Fiascos and Criticism From Allies
U.S. World Prestige Apparently Rising Once More
By JULES LOH
.T Of Uia AtsocUttd Preii
. Dunng Istanbul's annual Re
public Day ceremonies last May,
a holiday crowd of Turks
watched with silent curiosity as
delegations of foreign diplomats
' arrived at the reviewing stand,
: flags fluttering from the fend
ers of each gleaming sedan.
When the car bearing the
.t, American flag drove up, the
' crowd spontaneously waved and
cheered.
A small thing, perhaps. But
like other seemingly insignifi
cant manifestations of friendli
ness a photograph of Presi
dent Kennedy above a Venezu
elan official's desk, the silenc
ing of a group of anti-U.S. row
dies at an Argentine labor rally
they enter, on the positive
side, into the picture of cur
rent attitudes abroad toward the
United States.
The balance sheet, as brought
out in an Associated Press sur
vey of key world capitals, in
cludes debits as well as credits.
Virtually Unanimous Criticism
America's racial difficulties
are distressing to many foreign-
ers.
A number of Frenchmen and
Britons feel America somehow
fails to stand by her old allies.
The conception of Americans
as money bags is still wide
spread abroad to the point
where some Brazilians, for ex
ample, can't understand why
touring U. S. school teachers
are so tight with a buck.
The Cuban invasion met with
virtually unanimous foreign
criticism, though in Italy it
seemed directed less at the
a
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Bett
Pictu
WW
(AP Newsfeatures photo)
Causes of ups and downs of United States prestige around the world
during the past year are suggested here: Clockwise, starting at upper
left: The Peace corps; united Nations forces in the Congo, with an
American plane as a symbol of U. S. aid; the Cuban invasion; the Negro
Droblem: President Kennedy receiving a friendly welcome. Reactions
vphave included criticism, applause, and a mixture of both; for instance,
uriuuisiu iui uie isuuaii juva&iuii, applause xur jjersuiiauy jjupuiar rrew
dent Kennedy. But the general feeling abroad is that United States
prestige seems higher than it was a year ago.
er
launching of the attack than at
the fact of its failure.
How people feel toward the
nation is part of its prestige
abroad, a term impossible to
measure with scientific preci
sion. At any rate, the survey
on popular feelings and moods
today shows many credits on
the ledger often attributed to
the personal appeal of Presi
dent Kennedy.
Flags Still Flew
"An Egyptian," reports AP's
Cairo correspondent George Mc-
Artnur, "could feel safe in
shouting 'Down with the United
States' and following with 'Long
live Kennedy'. Privately, Egyp
tians are friendly toward Amer
icans, tourist are avidly courted,
and an American passport as
sures you of favorable consideration."
The United States plainly
benefited from the President's
trips to France and Venezuela.
Three weeks after the Ken
nedys left," reports Caracas cor
respondent Richard Massock,
some of the U.S. flags dis
played for the occasion still
fluttered from lampposts. Not
even the Communists bothered
to tear them down."
The spirit of friendliness
President and Mrs. Kennedy
generated in France likewise has
long outlasted their visit.
Left Little Bitterness
"The French public appears to
like Kennedy's style," says cor
respondent Joseph E. Dynan,
who has observed opinion trends
in France since World War II.
"The feeling is that America
has a strong hand at the wheel."
Even in India, New Delhi cor
respondent Henry Bradsher re
ports, "the stiff criticism by
Adlai Stevenson in the U.N. Se
curity Council of India's action
in Goa has left little bitterness
after Prime Minister Nehru
went out of his way to praise
America's efforts to find a
peaceful solution to the dis
pute." Bradsher says Stevenson's
speech did cause a "brief flurry
of great hostility." The press de
nounced him "as a hypocrite for
having condemned the Goan ac
tion."
Elsewhere in Asia popular at
titudes are on somewhat of a
see-saw.
African Popularity Helped
For example, Pakistan s re
gard for the United States has
increased because of military
and economic aid and because
of the cordial reception given in
Washington latf July to Presi
dent Mohammad Ayub Khan.
In Afghanistan, on the other
hand, esteem of the United
States has declined because the
Afghans arc at odds with the
Pakistanis and think the Amer
icans should have pressured
Pakistan into taking their side.
The average Afghan, according
to Bradsher, feels America
doesn't care much about him.
Strong U.S. support of United
Nations efforts to unify the Con
go has helped American popu
larity in independent Africa, ac
cording to AP correspondent
R. N. Lindsay at Lagos, Nigeria.
"If President Kennedy came
to Nigeria now he would get as
cordial a welcome as he s had
anywhere in the world," Lind
say said.
Still 'the Greatest'
The incident involving the
widely publicized postcard by a
Peace Corps girl who spoke of
primitive conditions in Nigeria
was quickly forgotten, Lindsay
reports.
Not so easily forgotten, he
notes, are accounts of discrimi
nation against Negroes in Amer
ica, especially when they in
volve an African diplomat,
"Such episodes are splashed in
the press and radio, the cor
respondent says, "and the pub
lic always reacts angrily.
In the Philippines, corres.
pondent Henry Hartzenbusch
reports America still is regard
ed as the worlds greatest de
mocracy "always ready to help
out whenever the Philippines
are in a jam."
Hartzenbusch says U. S. pres
tige reached its low point after
the Cuban affair but "has risen
since then, especially with Ken
nedy's stand on Berlin."
The bad effects of the Cuban
disaster likewise have been
counterbalanced in Latin Amer
ica by subsequent events, espe
cially the administration's Alli
ance for Progress program.
Gradually Climbing Back
In Mexico where Castro
trained his revolutionary army
there were a number of anti
American demonstrations fol
lowing the Cuban invasion
in Morelia, Puebla. Guadalajara
and other places. Nothing of the
sort has happeneed in months,
and the last disturbance by uni
versity students ended wilh
Castro being burned in effigy.
"America's popular prestige
in Mexico," reports the AP's
Jack Rutledge, "soared with the
election of President Kennedy
and is gradually climbing back
to about what it was in early
1961."
Correspondents in Venezuela
and Argentina also report an in
crease in public favor for the
United States. Dr. Cesar Eduar
do Vares, Argentine chairman
of a private organization work
ing toward a sort of Latin Amer
ican common market the In-
teramerican Institute for Eco
nomic Unity says he believes
this holds true for the hemis
phere.
America 'Swerves' Sometimes
In Brazil, however, AP corre
spondent Tom Masterson notes
Brazilians tend to blame Amer
ica for their internal troubles
inflation, devaluation of cur
rency, even a drop in world
coffee prices.
But "if Brazilians were asked
to choose between playing on
the U.S. team or any other
team," Masterson adds, "90 per
cent would choose the United
States."
What about Western Europe?
London's Eddy Gilmore re
calls that Bismarck once said,
"The supreme fact of the 19th
century was that Britain and
the United States spoke the
same language," to which Win
ston Churchill added, "Let us
make sure that the supreme fact
of the 20th century is that they
tread the same path.
Some Britons, however feel
that America sometimes
swerves from the straight path
in dealing with old friends.
In a letter to the Daily Tele
graph recently, Brigadier J. 0.
Thurburn wrote that "America
constantly confounds her allies,
notably Britain and France at
Suez, Belgium in the Congo,
Portugal in Angola"
Immeasurably Improved'
Other Britons, says Gilmore,
"are firmly convinced the Unit
ed States is still suffering from
a conviction that Britain is to
day a colonial Power."
The British, as others, looked
upon the Cuban invasion "as
one of the worst American dis
asters for a long time. How
ever," Gilmore reports, "they've
forgotten it, or forgiven.
Also changing is the long-held
British notion that every Ameri
can is a millionaire. More and
more middle and lower income
Americans are visiting the coun
try and "have immeasurably im
proved in their personal con
duct.
Italy Favorably Impressed
In Rome, a source high in the
Italian government commented
"The Kennedy administration
which started off like a rocket.
seems to be orbiting erratical
ly." Other Italians complain of
what they call America s "politi
cal immaturity," and the Peace
Corps is sometimes cited as an
example. It has been the butt of
scores of newspaper cartoons.
The same government official,
however, said Italians were fa.
vorably impressed by America's
defense of the United Nations,
its policy toward underdevel
oped countries and its general
efforts for peace.
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