Dealing with Congress

Abstract

Vanished are the days when American foreign policy belonged exclusively to American diplomats. Today, diplomacy must be based solidly on the support, or at least the acquiescence, of the Congress, as well as public opinion. Capitol Hill is not "the enemy," as too many Foreign Service officers have tended to believe. Senators and representatives are busy men, "generalists" by necessity, who need information and assistance. Congress itself badly needs reform; but that cannot excuse the State Department from an intensified effort to explain what it is doing, and how its decisions are being reached. The Department must be persistent, sympathetic, and imaginative, bringing to bear the skills with which its officers analyze situations abroad. The Secretary of State should demand that all of his officers view policy-making through the eyes of the President. Senior men should not only keep in close touch with the key committee members in their own areas, but should obtain and consider legislative views as an indispensable part of their work. The Congressional Relations Bureau must be ably led and strongly staffed, though probably not enlarged to any great degree. These efforts will not lead to complete agreement all the time, of course; but American diplomacy is much too important to let slip the prospect of greater unity and in-depth support at home for what it is doing around the world.