The View from Europe

...Even the West Germans themselves appear not to dispute this sequence...

...Far from demanding nuclear weapons for themselves, the German people were said to be either disinterested or opposed...

...In light of these considerations, many West Germans now seem to be thinking more about what practical action can be taken to improve the lot of their East German brothers...

...2. It is crucial that effective communication be restored between the French and American governments...

...In the East, Western Europeans see a less militant Soviet Union and its neighbor Communist countries evolving, some more rapidly than others, in the direction of a more independent relationship with Russia...

...As of now, France and China are not likely to adhere...

...For these reasons, among all the countries concerned, a consultative solution to the nuclear sharing problem, along the lines of the McNamara committee, appears to have by far the widest measure of popular and official support and to afford the most promising compromise on the problem of German desires for nuclear weapons...

...Since the headquarters exists for the defense of Europe, I would suggest, among the specific steps that should be taken to Europeanize NATO: a) Appointing a European general to serve as SACEUR, under a command arrangement which would leave control of our nuclear weapons in the hands of the President of the United States, b) Moving the Military Committee of NATO out of the Pentagon and relocating it in Europe in close proximity to SHAPE and the North Atlantic Council, c) Establishing a hot line communications system, linking together the heads of the NATO governments, to enable immediate consultation in case of emergency...

...As between vindicating our position in favor of an uncompromised NATO command, and jeopardizing either the underlying Western alliance or the prospects for strengthening and enlarging the Common Market, the course of prudence should be clear...

...We must avoid over-reacting to French initiatives, even though we may regard them as undesirable...

...For if we are regarded as the sentinel of the status quo in Europe, then President de Gaulle of France is looked upon as its challenger...

...They sense that now may be an opportune time for a gradual relaxation of tensions between the two halves of Europe-a necessary precondition for an eventual settlement which could bring an end to the present partition...

...As a consequence, they regard the continued deployment of U.S...

...Although reasonably satisfied with the present and sanguine about the future, there is still a feeling of uneasiness when our allies in Europe look either to the East or to the West...

...This article is adapted from his report to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee...

...troops in Europe as vital to the credibility of the American nuclear deterrent...

...But Europeans see the importance of a nonproliferation agreement as less military than political...

...This has given rise to some suspicion in Geneva that we are not really serious about consummating a nonproliferation agreement at this time...

...However, the chances for immediate entry, specifically within the next year or so, appear slim...

...Moreover, the conflict is apparent between striving for greater German access to nuclear weapons, on the one hand, and seeking the reunification of Germany on the other...

...The threat of a Soviet armed attack appears to be subsiding, making the prospect of a new war there increasingly unlikely...

...We shall be reduced,' a renowned economist lamented to me, "to the same subordination to the United States as ancient Greece bore toward imperial Rome...

...6. Respecting a comprehensive test ban, I urge that immediate attention be given to the "threshold" approach...

...Germany lies in the middle of Europe, not only geographically but economically and politically as well...

...A decision should be delayed no longer on the issue of nuclear sharing within NATO...

...His defiance of what is sometimes described as the American hegemony over Western Europe has engendered admiration, as well as apprehension...

...Looking westward, many Europeans suspect that the United States is unattuned to the changing sentiment in Europe-that we remain wedded to concepts which reflect the old status quo...

...An early overture might deal with the alliance...

...7. Finally, a prime objective both in the revision of NATO and in our relations with Europe in general should be to make the alliance and our policies outward lookingconcerned not only with the negative aspects of military defense but also with the positive aspects of the quest for peace...

...in sum, that reunification will follow detente and not vice versa...

...In attempting to cope with these somewhat ambivalent sentiments, the interests of American policy would seem to call for less dogmatism, less insistence on American solutions which meet with strong European resistance, and a certain relaxation of pressure-an approach which could be best described by that idiom of the American West, "riding a little looser in the saddle...

...4. With regard to European integration, the Common Market appears to be weathering its way to success...

...But there are grave misgivings that if the 18 Nation Disarmament Conference produces no tangible results by this fall, after three years' running, further negotiations there may be broken off, with the United Nations assigning disarmament problems to a much less satisfactory forum...

...Frank Church, Democratic Senator from Idaho, recently visited Europe to ascertain current opinion there toward the U.S...

...They believe that such a treaty could contribute significantly toward improving the climate of confidence in which detente can grow...

...Europeans have yet devised no substitute for the American nuclear shield-and they do not see any in the offing...

...that a process of reconciliation between Western and Eastern Europe is a necessary precondition to any possible reunification of Germany...

...If a consultative arrangement, along the lines contemplated by the McNamara committee, is settled upon with West Germany, then the way may yet be open to reach agreement with the Soviet Union on a nonproliferation treaty...

...5. As for Geneva, I recommend that immediate attention be given to pumping life back into these moribund negotiations...

...On the basis of my own observations, I would recommend the following: 1. In the conduct of our relations with France, our manner should be firm but correct...

...As for closer ties with the United States, Europeans are apprehensive about being smothered in our embrace...

...Most of the countries represented at Geneva seem to feel that such a setback would imperil whatever chance there may be for agreement on two treaties of far-reaching importance: a nonproliferation agreement, and a comprehensive test-ban treaty...

...If a useful dialogue is to commence again, humility must somehow prevail over pride...

...In no case should we disparage the greatness of France, our oldest ally or engage in any sort of political guerrilla war against the French government...

...Here, it is de Gaulle who has seized the initiative in Europe...

...such tactics should be reserved for our enemies...

...At the same time, I found little resistance expressed against giving West Germany a direct voice in nuclear defense planning and strategy...

...Clearly, SHAPE should be moved to a new site in the Benelux countries and streamlined, its bulk trimmed back in adjustment to the diminished danger...

...We must make up our minds whether to give priority to binding West Germany more tightly into the remnants of the NATO organizational structure, or whether to seek further agreements with the Soviet Union in the field of nuclear arms control...

...Meanwhile, at Geneva, negotiations proceed which may ultimately affect all the other European issues...

...Additionally, it seems to be accepted that a final resolution of the German problem will have to result from negotiations in which the United States and the Soviet Union will be the principal parties...

...Moreover, it can be argued that none of the nuclear states intends to help non-nuclear states develop these lethal weapons anyhow...

...There appears to be little enthusiasm for a "hardware solution" to this problem, outside of a certain circle of officials in Bonn, and, I gather, in Washington...

...As cause for alarm, they point to the "brain drain," the disparity between research and development funds in the United States and Europe, and the widening American technological superiority in such growth industries as electronics, aircraft and space...

...The United States retains considerable latitude for action and influence...

...Indeed, I was told repeatedly that the United States had been ill-advised in pushing the MLF proposal so aggressively...

...Certainly, there is no evident disposition to move until it is certain that there will not be another French veto...

...I found little evidence that Europeans either want such a force or think it now feasible to create one...

...Consequently, Western Europeans long for a thaw in the cold war...

...For all who perceived the positive psychological effect in the United States of the limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the question of political consequences is a very important one...

...This is all the more regrettable because, to many at Geneva, a comprehensive test-ban agreement is considered to be the most effective nonproliferation measure, for nations are apparently unable, at present, to develop nuclear weapons without testing them...

...Unless the trend can somehow be reversed, we are destined to become a continent of hotel keepers, store clerks, salesmen, and tourist guides...

...Above all, we should resist the temptation of interjecting our voice into the internal politics of France...

...And there appears to be virtually unanimous recognition among Western Europeans that, should war threaten again, their protection still rests on American nuclear power...

...But, on the other hand, a feeling of vulnerability remains...

...Overtures will have to come, so it would seem, from the highest levels...

...In the first place, there is pronounced support for "Europeanizing" the alliance, for giving a larger role to the European countries...

...no other single event has done more to ease Soviet-American tensions than this first-step agreement...

...Outside France, and to some extent even within it, de Gaulle's preemptory treatment of the alliance in general, and of the United States in particular, is deeply resented...

...At the same time, Western Europeans see no evidence of any present disposition on the part of the Soviets to release their hold on East Germany to permit a reunification that would end the uneasy, potentially explosive, military confrontation in the heart of the Continent...

...It is possible this may prove a feasible area for enlargement of the present treaty to correspond with the advances that have been made in detection techniques...

...If a summit meeting between the two Presidents is not now feasible, then consideration should be given to the appointment of a special American emissary, who would endeavor to act between President Johnson and General de Gaulle, as Harry Hopkins acted between President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill...

...Looking into the future, it is likely, then, that Britain and some, if not all, of her Free Trade Area partners, will enter the Common Market within the next five years...

...Finally, candor requires the admission that an antipathy toward Germany still pervades Europe...

...Against these American advantages, even the Common Market is a meager and insufficient answer...

...At the other frontier of Europe, the British appear to have decided tentatively to enter the Common Market when the time is right, but this decision, like the West German decision to make overtures to the East, betrays definite elements of equivocation...

...President Johnson has spoken of the need for "building bridges" to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union...

...Nevertheless, there seems to be a certain grudging awe of de Gaulle among many, although certainly not all, Europeans-an inkling that he may be in tune with the trend of the times and that we are not...

...In particular, Europeans would welcome our placing less emphasis upon NATO's role as a fort and more upon its use as a forum for reaching agreement on Western initiatives directed toward the normalization of relations with Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union...

...Given present rigidities on both sides, any speculation as to the specific form of such an arrangement, or what Germany's status within it might be, is obviously premature...

...3. If the NATO structure is to be salvaged without France, the old architects must come up with new plans or new architects must be engaged...

...More than once, from among the most highly placed, I was told: "If West Germany ever acquires nuclear weapons, there will never be a solution to the German problem...

...The impasse blocking agreement on a nonproliferation treaty results from Soviet unwillingness to accept the so-called European clause in the American draft which would allow for the creation, sometime in the future, of a European nuclear force, to which West Germany could belong...

...Accordingly, in lining up 14-1 against France in the current dispute over the command structure of NATO, we should strive to avoid any rupture between France and her European neighbors so bitter as to propel the French toward neutralism or vengeance...

...Communication between the two governments appears to have dangerously broken down...

...As one perceptive political observer remarked to me: "France has the objective but not the means, while the United States has the means but not the objective...

...This is, by all odds, the most significant achievement in the direction of European unity since the War...

...But while there is widespread support for these stated objectives, there is anguish over the separatist course de Gaulle has chosen for pursuing them...

...The practical effect of a nonproliferation Treaty is open to legitimate question...

...Support for such small steps, however, appears to be stronger within the opposition in West Germany than within the governing coalition...

...Secondly, there is a strong desire to see the North Atlantic Council used for the forging of united Western initiatives toward Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union...

...There is misgiving that, even though he has declared his intention to remain in the Western alliance, de Gaulle's withdrawal of France from NATO'S integrated command will stiffen, rather than lessen, Soviet intransigence...

...Thus, so long as Europe lies broken between two hostile camps, Germany, it would seem, will also stay divided...

...It is possible that the key non-nuclear states, wishing to retain the option of developing nuclear weapons, will refuse to sign...

...To the degree that he has plumbed the European desire to reach eastward-and to the extent that he has appealed to the dignity, pride, and independent spirit of Europeans, he is not isolated either in France or in Europe...

...I strongly recommend this course as best suited to our highest national interests...

...Yet, it remains the United States, not France, which possesses the size and power to engage in meaningful negotiations in the field of East-West relations...

...Moreover, his goal of rapprochement with Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, together with his hopes for overcoming the present partition of Europe, represent objectives to which all of Western Europe and the United States can and do subscribe...

...Central to both objectives is the question of how the members of the alliance should share in NATO's nuclear defense system...

...Thus, while a Soviet military thrust into Western Europe is regarded as highly improbable, it is not dismissed as impossible...

...Still, there is an underlying realization, both in Britain and on the Continent, that admission of the United Kingdom (which would also entail the entry, either as members or associates, of most of the other European Free Trade Association countries) would have highly desirable consequences: It would furnish a healthy counterbalance to West Germany's economic weight, the Common Market itself would be strengthened and enlarged, and the cause of European unity would be advanced...

...The debate continues on collateral questions: the need first to strengthen sterling by overcoming Britain's adverse balance of payments, the resistance to the supranational character of the Common Market, the uneasiness about the Common Market's agricultural policies, the concern that Britain's close ties with the United States might be attenuated, and the feeling that Common Market membership will inhibit Britain's role in the world at large...

...Western Europeans seem to have reached a consensus that the solution to the German problem will come only after an "improvement in the general climate of confidence" is realized...

...The European role in SHAPE should be sharply upgraded...

...One final observation about our relations with France: I left Paris with the impression that a diplomatic glacier now separates France and the United States...

...There is also considerable skepticism that France, lacking the needed size and strength in the great power equation, can possibly act as a catalyst in engaging the Soviet Union in meaningful negotiations on European security questions...

...But time is fast running out at Geneva...

...There seems to be growing sentiment for doing everything possible to broaden contact and communication across the Wall so that East and West Germans will continue to think of themselves as one people...

...As for a comprehensive test-ban treaty, it seemed obvious to me that Europeans are not sufficiently aware of the political problems that would arise in the United States if the Senate were asked to ratify a comprehensive test-ban treaty which did not include the right to on-site inspection...

...otherwise, some contend, we would not be mortgaging present prospects for the sake of a highly problematical development which, at best, lies way off in an uncertain future...

...Opinions vary, however, as to the number of troops we need to keep in the Federal Republic of Germany...

...A new all-European security arrangement, guaranteed by the two great nuclears powers, will be required...

...President de Gaulle's initiative makes it more urgent that we assume our natural position of leadership in this vital endeavor...

...Consequently, our reluctance to drop our insistence on inspection-that is, our refusal, as they see it, to accept a small risk for large political gains-is considered, in some quarters, to be an indication of the dominance of military influence over U.S...

...Any American appeal directed over, under, or around the French President would surely backfire...

...Western Europe has fully regained its vitality, with living standards far above prewar levels...

...His purpose would be to reopen and develop a dialogue to the point where a summit meeting between the two Presidents would seem likely to bear fruit...

...Bonn is skeptical as to what these small steps can accomplish and remains adamantly opposed to recognizing the OderNeisse line or modifying the Hallstein Doctrine, preferring to retain such concessions for future bargaining in connection with a final settlement...

...On the one hand, therefore, there is much evidence in Western Europe today of a satisfaction derived from recovery, of a pride associated with the present prosperity, of a desire for the reassertion of European prerogatives, of a wish for reconciliation with the East and, above all, of a general belief that the danger of war in Europe is diminishing...

...policy...

...It would limit the ban on underground tests to explosions above an agreed size which could be detected by seismic devices without need for on-site inspections...

...The economic cement binding the six members of the Common Market together is the best guarantee against any reversion in Western Europe to the rampant nationalism of the prewar period...

...In this sense, it seems likely that much of what is called Gaullism will outlive de Gaulle...

...I found abundant sentiment in Western Europe that reform of NATO is overdue...

...Germany is also the frontier in Europe today, for the fine which divides it at the same time separates Communist from non-Communist Europe...

...They are uneasy about the magnetic attraction of a voracious American economy...