“The Marshall Plan,” New York Times correspondent William White wrote, “appears to draw its greatest strength not from any special feeling that other peoples should be helped for their own sake, but only as a demonstration against the spread of communism.”67 Communist “overlords,” South Dakota Republican Karl Mundt said, were disrupting economic activity “so as to produce chaos and put an end to freedom.” We must, he said, “turn the Red tide.” Herter himself cited the danger posed by Communist-controlled labor unions in western Europe. With a totalitarian Europe which would have no regard for individual freedom, our spiritual loss would be incalculable.” The sacrifices would not be simply material. The maintenance of a much larger military establishment would undoubtedly be required.

The change in the power relationships involved would force us to adopt drastic domestic measures and would inevitably require great and burdensome sacrifices on the part of our citizens. In the event of a totalitarian Europe, our foreign policy would have to be completely re-oriented and a great part of what we have fought for and accomplished in the past would be lost. This would mean communist totalitarianism almost everywhere on the continent with the iron curtain moving to the Atlantic. If the virus of totalitarianism spreads much farther, it will be almost impossible to prevent its engulfing all western Europe. “From the viewpoint of the vital interests of the United States, the principal issue in Europe today is whether or not it will be totalitarian.

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