ABSTRACT
New Republic editors looked to the United Nations as “The Greatest of All Our Hopes.” If only the rivalry between Britain and Russia did not destroy the UN it might still save the world. The New Republic worried about America’s growing hostility to Russia, as also sometimes the Soviet actions that fed it. At critical moments the New Republic‘s instinct still was to side with Russia. In 1946, under heavy pressure from the United States, Russia withdrew its troops from northern Iran. The New Republic continued to print little fables about the wonder of Polish socialism. Max Lerner answered for New Republic. He felt the Alsops were really asking progressives to abandon Henry Wallace and support the “Truman-Byrnes, Dulles-Connally-Vanden-berg policies,” which involved backing reactionary governments and programs. The Nation went on believing that however deplorable Soviet foreign policy might be, America’s was worse. Frederick Schuman believed the Soviets had accomplished two things that excused all the blundering and brutality.
