Ties That Bind

"I say without hesitation and without excuse that this is a turning point in history," Britain's Prime Minister Harold Macmillan told the House of Commons. "Never has the-threat of Soviet Communism been so great, or the need for countries to organize-themselves against it."

Nobody was reaching for the door. Instead, the British and the other allies seized the opportunity provided by the new U.S. recognition of interdependence to bind the U.S. more firmly to Europe and to pull themselves closer together. "The American people are no longer confident that even their great country can do everything for itself, without allies, to secure its own survival and still less to secure the survival of the ideals for which they stand," said Macmillan.

The relationship of the U.S. to Europe has long been shadowed by the unspoken feeling that at bottom the U.S. never wholly believed it needed allies and the allies themselves never wholly believed they were needed. Europe was glad to feel needed. West German officials happily concluded that all fears of a U.S. withdrawal from Europe could be dismissed for at least five years, since it would take the U.S. that long to overcome the Russian lead in long-range missiles, and until then the U.S. would have to rely more than ever on its forward bases. Everywhere there was talk of sharing work, skills and secrets, of new sacrifices of sovereignty in the cause of greater united strength. All were heading toward the big day next month when NATO's 15 chiefs of state will meet in Paris to make solid what was now just a wish.

The U.S. now knew what it was to feel exposed, and with that recognition came a surer sense of shared feelings. Said Macmillan: "There can be absolute confidence in an alliance only where all the partners are more or less at equal risk."

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