The Narrow Line [1951]

In 1943 it seemed evident to the Western powers that their interests and those of Russia were, in the main, in harmony. Sulphur, for example, instead of being employed in making fertilizers that produce food, has to be employed in explosives that, it is hoped will produce dead Russians-a crop upon which, not being cannibals, the people cannot subsist. But it is difficult to induce populations to accept sacrifices involved in this rearmament except by emphasizing the danger of war and the malevolence of those against whom the people are rearming. Most French people, having survived the last war by submission, hope to survive the next war by the same policy. On the other hand there are liberals who are so impressed with what they consider to be regrettable in America that they are quite unjust to their own country, and fail to realize what it can give to the world.