September 6, 1979

Can Monroe Doctrine Stop Russians

The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!

As a conference of 95 so-called non-aligned nations got underway in Cuba, the U.S. State Department “re-evaluated intelligence” and determined the Soviets have a brigade of 3,000 combat soldiers stationed secretly in that communist-ruled nation.

Senator Richard Stone, of Florida, asserts this is a violation of the Monroe Doctrine and demands removal of the troops before debate on the SALT II treaty.

Spokesman for the State Department, Hodding Carter, says the administration has “expressed concern” to the Soviets and asked for details of the military mission.

The U.S. - Soviet agreement following the 1962 missile crisis in Cuba prohibits “offensive weapons” there but says nothing about ground forces.

Now we are confronted with at least one, perhaps two questions.

Is the Russian presence 90 miles from our shore a violation of our Monroe Doctrine?

And, if so, what should we do about it?

It is an interesting dilemma for President Jimmy Carter because we have come full circle with the Monroe Doctrine-cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy for a century and a half.

We proclaimed the policy so long ago that most Americans have forgotten it originally was aimed at Russia.

* * *

Back in 1821, Russia had settled Alaska and planted a colony in California, then weakly controlled by Spain. To protect its whale, seal and otter hunting, Russia promulgated a “ukase” closing the northwest coast of America to commerce. Ships of other nations were forbidden from approaching within 100 Italian miles of the shore.

This decree was contested by the young United States.

In the course of negotiations to re-open the area to trade, John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, declared:

“The American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.”

This phrase was taken over by President James Monroe and incorporated in his annual message of December 2, 1823.

Monroe took bold action when it appeared that Czar Alexander I and other European kings would hold a “congress” to discuss and act upon the revolt of Spanish colonies in the New World.

Fearing armed intervention in California, Mexico and the Caribbean, the President elaborated upon Adams’ declaration to Russia to include the former Spanish colonies:

“We could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power, in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States.”

* * *

It was a gigantic bluff. The U.S. had little military might to back it up. But it worked.

Under the doctrine’s protective umbrella the U.S. recognized the new nations of the Americas; acquired Texas, California and Alaska; managed briefly the affairs of the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Nicaragua; helped drive the French out of Mexico and the Spanish out of Puerto Rico; and built the Panama Canal.

The Monroe Doctrine did not rule out intervention in the Western Hemisphere - only that if it had to be done, the United States alone would do it.

Now, that unilateral prerogative is challenged.

President Monroe’s ancient bluff is called.

His doctrine has served all the Americas well-even though our neighbors south of the border have come to resent the paternalism. Imperial powers have been kept away, and Uncle Sam kicks in with help and cash when the going gets rough.

* * *

Today there is a new form of colonization not foreseen by Adams and Monroe. Old regimes are toppled from within and new ones established along socialist lines. Soldiers in these modern invasions wear no uniforms, carry no recognized flag. It is held to be difficult to point with conviction to an outside power responsible for domestic overthrow.

Significantly, however, Soviet arms and Russian-speaking advisors are always discovered in the vanguard.

In Cuba for the first time the unseen enemy has put on his colors and parades at our doorstep. For the first time an identifiable foreign power deploys military weapons on U.S. “turf.”

What is the mission?

To intimidate and control Cuba, turn it into another Soviet satellite?

Or is it to intimidate the United States and keep it immobilized while communism takes over the rest of Central and South America?

Are there still nuclear missiles aimed northward hidden in Cuban barns? How many Russian submarines operate out of the naval base there?

These are questions the non-aligned nations, as well as ourselves, should be asking while Dictator Castro spouts anti-American propaganda.

When the Russians come, freedom goes.

By Lindsey Wilger Williams, retired newspaper publisher and syndicated columnist