Some European Perceptions of the US World Position after Vietnam

The study reflects observations made during a nine-day trip to Europe in June 1975. It involved attendance at a conference on contemporary elite attitudes toward the Atlantic Alliance and conversations with knowledgeable Americans and Europeans in London, Bonn, Brussels, and SHAPE. The major concern is the presumed impact of events in Southeast Asia on the US world position, detente, the American national poise, Middle East affairs, US interests and policies in Europe, confidence in the United States as an ally, nuclear proliferation, and particular reactions in France and Germany. Included is a consideration of the European response to the Mayaguez affair. Attitudes have changed profoundly since the original shock of the US expulsion from Vietnam has worn off. Though the effect is still reckoned to be serious, the return of perspective is shown by the greater anxiety over the American economic situation and, especially, the weakening of NATO's southern flanks, notably through the negative shift in American relations with Turkey.