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When the committee got Dulles back in its sights, it wanted to know more about Middle East policy. Could those tanks be used for Arab aggression against Israel? No, said the Secretary of State, he had the assurance of the military that there was no way of getting them to the Israel border. Was the sale of the tanks related to U.S. maintenance of an air base in Saudi Arabia? "Only in this sense, that if we refused to give the Saudi Arabian government its reasonable requirement in this area, it is probable, at least possible, that our air base agreement would not be renewed."
Soviet Dilemma. Before long Humphrey, Sparkman and Fulbright began to bear down on the new threat implicit in the changing Soviet policies. If they expected Dulles to be on the defensive, they were surprised.
There are indeed great problems and grave dangers, said Dulles in substance, but the U.S. and the free world have made substantial gains against a failing Soviet Union policy.
Fulbright: Do you think this last meeting which just ended . . . or that the speeches of Khrushchev and the other leaders in the Russian government would indicate a failure in their foreign policy?
Dulles: Absolutely, sir . . . For 30 years Soviet foreign policy and Soviet policy generally has been based upon two principles: namely, intolerance of any non-Communist system . . . and also upon the policy of using violence as a means of getting their results . . . Those policies have gradually ceased to produce any results . . . They have got to revamp their whole creed from A to Z. It is a tremendous process for them because they have got to undo the teaching of many years and get onto a new basis . . . The unity and firmness and resolution of the free nations during the past few years have caused the Soviet policy to fail, and today they are trying to figure out how they are going to get a better one.
Fulbright: Was the news . . . that they were weak internally . . . borne out by the facts, do you think?
Dulles: They are weak internally in certain vital respects . . . They have pushed their heavy industry quite effectively . . . In the process they have neglected their other forms, their consumer goods and their agricultural situation, which is quite critical . . . They are in a very bad way.
In the decade since the end of World War II, Dulles continued, the Soviet Union has come to the realization "that our method of doing things is better than theirs." They are past masters at violence and subversion, but now they say that they are going to try mutual security and economic assistance and friendliness. "That is what we have been doing for ten years, and if we can't beat them at that game, then we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. I think we can."
As Dulles left the hearing room after four hours of testimony, the Democratic liberals were ready with statements of shocked incredulity for the press. But the overflow crowd gave Dulles a hearty round of applause. In his first hours against the storm, the Secretary of State had indeed done well. He had eased as many of the apprehensions about U.S. foreign policy as a Cabinet officer could. But the problems and the dangers were still there, and so was the heat of a presidential election year.