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In 1954 the Randall Commission is expected to lay out a clear program to help them do so by the reduction in U.S. tariffs and freer trade among Western nations. For such a program, 1954 will be the year of opportunity; it may also be a last chance. Last year the embargo on East-West trade squeezed the Russians and their satellites so tightly that at year's end the Soviet bosses could not sell enough goods abroad to buy consumer goods for their empty-handed people; they had to sell gold, and in December alone sold an estimated $85 million. But if the U.S. does not lower tariffs so that its friends can sell it more goods, they may well turn to the eager Russians—and the opportunity may be gone to let freer trade shore up the political freedom of the West, as well as help the long-range economic health of the U.S.
Imagination & Courage
At year's end, the same uncertainty hung in the air as at the beginning. Because of this, the businessmen in Washington were arming against a possible letdown. They have a housing program designed to keep building above the 1,000,000 units-a-year level, plans to boost the minimum wage and to provide increased unemployment insurance benefits, along with a $15 billion public-works program ready to go.
But they know, as does everyone else, that the job ahead is more than merely economic—and bigger than any one man or group of men can handle alone. As Henry Ford II said: "The world of free nations is looking to us—not just to our Government, but to us, the American people—for something more than our economic and military power. They are hoping to find in the American people the imagination, the courage and the moral and spiritual leadership which the world so desperately seeks. If the private leaders of American industry, labor and agriculture are able to work together well enough to do the tough but not impossible job which is staked out for us ... the whole free world will be immensely heartened."