456 : The Atlantic 



velopment of a great variety of air services in time of peace. It could 

 equally be interpreted as an argument for improved port services on 

 both sides of the Atlantic. 



The essential idea is that the Atlantic and its associated nations 

 form a natural strategic area. It is so essential to the preservation of 

 a desirable world that in its defense every arm of national service and 

 every effective weapon now existing must be available for use and 

 research must continually be developing new defensive and offensive 

 weapons. Apart from the possibility of a sudden sneak air atomic at- 

 tack from behind the Iron Curtain, there are certain dangers that 

 threaten the integrity of the Atlantic circle of nations even though 

 they remain nominally at peace. One of them would be the further 

 encroachment or aggression by which Soviet Russia or its satellites 

 would acquire the use and control of further Atlantic ports. For ex- 

 ample, by combined use of pressures and threats and force such as 

 she has already employed in other cases, Russia might push her way 

 through Finland and Norway to reach the northern part of the Nor- 

 wegian coast and then edge southward, or extend her control from 

 East Germany westward. Such acts would at least involve the threat 

 of open and general warfare. 



Two other types of danger lie within the area of aggression or pen- 

 etration in time of "peace." One type is represented by the attempt 

 to take over a territory like British Guiana or the seizure of Guate- 

 mala by a band of political adventurers who claim they are establish- 

 ing a form of communism and who are at least potential allies of 

 Soviet communism. 



The other kind of threat is the disruption of Adantic services and 

 Atlantic ports by communist controlled unions or by unionists that 

 are unwittingly serving communist purposes. 



Discussion of the threats to our ports and to our sea services is not 

 hostile to the liberties or economic interests of the honest working 

 man. This is just the reverse of the truth. There is always the claim 

 that a strike, slow-down or a disruption of service is made in the in- 

 terest of the working man and is made to secure better hours or 

 working conditions. There is always the hope that this old-fashioned 

 claim will be believed by the press and the public. Many strikes and 

 stoppages are actually only phases of a war for power waged between 

 rival unions or rival labor leaders. In them the workers have little to 

 gain and much to lose no matter who wins the battle. In fact all citi- 

 zens are losers. When such conflicts persist for long periods of time 



