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0-49 (Rev. 30-28-57) cae Cam 8 . gob i Mr. ‘Paul Robeson, wh whose great gift as @ singer is matched by a talent for bitter criticism of his country, is off for a European concert tour after waiting eight years for a passport. Fe a ie aie att od eaeg Hep nt the Supreme Court decided recently that the State Department didn’t have i. the right to deny a man a passport just because the Government didn’t like a man’s views about this country or ape & about Communism. . We thought the Supreme Court right * then, and we think the President is $—~ -~wrong’ now to ask Congress to pass a law returning that power to the State_ Department. Such a law, we think, would be wrong for several reasons. For one , we Can see no reason why a man free to travel in any of the 48 states should be barred from traveling over: seas. If a man is a danger to the country, then the man should be tried and if convicted he should be put in _ jail. A great many have. But if a man . ‘is not a er within the country..we ant see how he can sudden) nT . _danger unery once outside its. ae bordera - Paul Wobeson i is a man with whose epinions about this country we come - pletely disagree. But can a radical i baritone’s voice drown out Mr. Dulles? Can his views threaten N.A.T.O., or . nullify all the billions of dollars we've * spent on foreign aid to make friends i and influence other nations? If so, we ae have built a foreign policy that j is inse- tr maha et erp reer ‘ - HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED DATE_J-26-%! BY i outd airs 4 The baritone is on his way because AL INFORMATION CONTAINED ~ _ Joo- 0 ENCLOSURE ~REVIEW-and OUTLOOK | ay Yr. Robeson Takes : a Trip: cure indeed; ‘and we might be the bet- ter off for knowing about it. The fact is that Paul Robeson can't possibly do those things. He will be acclaimed in London, perhaps, for his artistry and acclaimed in Moscow for his political views. But-what off-key remarks: can Robeson make overseas that he hasn’t said right here at home? And what has he said here that hasn’ t got overseas? - - Our Government and private ngen- ‘eles have spent millions wpon millions of doliars to strengthen the image of America as the land of the free. But will other people in other places not_ think of ws as the land of the fearfu if we deny the right to travel to own critics? Surely, this is an un coming posture for the nation, at best And at worst, it could become dangerous procedure. If the Govern- ment is empowered to deny Paul Robe- gon and others like him a passport be- cause they are disgruntled or critical of our system, what is to stop the Gov-. ernment from broadening that power | : to include those who disapprove not of 7 the whole system but only of part of it? { Is. the next step to label critics of, say, foreign aid as too “dangerous’’ to let ‘abroad and . to deny them passports alsot So far as Robeson, the individual, is concerned, it wouldn't matter very much to us if he found life elsewhere © 80 enchanting he decided never to come back here. But so far as all of us are Concerned, it should matier very muct that even "Robeson and his kind shal} have the right to go. uw 4 [DEE Po ~ Tolson Boardman Belmont Mohr Messe Pareons Rosen Tamm Trotter Clayton Tele. Room —. Holloman Gandy Wash. Post and Times Herald Wash, News Wash. Star N.Y. Herald Tribune N. ¥. Journale_____ American N. Y. Mirror N, Y.. Daily News _ N. Y¥. Times Dally Worker The Worker