Robert A. Taft and The Case Against NATO
By David Beito • Monday October 13, 2008 5:05 PM PDT • 4 Comments
As McCain and Obama call for admitting Georgia and Ukraine to NATO, it is worth remembering that another candidate who opposed creation of that alliance in the first place, once came within a hair of winning the Republican presidential nomination. His critique still makes sense today.
In 1950, Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio firmly explained to dumbfounded interviewers on “Meet the Press” why he opposed sending more U.S. troops to Europe. He condemned the deployment as encirclement and warned that it needlessly provoked the Soviet Union. To hear the entire audio of the interview, go here.
Be patient, the audio might be slow in loading and you’ll have to listen a couple of vintage 1950 commercials but it is well worth the wait.
Kudos to Scott Horton at Stress for putting up the audio link.
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If only we had a Taft today. Indeed if only we had an Ike today.
Tim | Oct 15, 2008 | Reply
Tim, we do have a Robert Taft today. He is Ron Paul!
Shawn S. Smith | Oct 20, 2008 | Reply
NATO expansion beyond Poland is both absurd and dangerous. However, Taft was wrong. NATO was a necessary evil back in the days of Stalin.
Jon Harrison | Oct 20, 2008 | Reply