TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM I HAD WHAT STRUCK ME AS A BRILLIANT IDEA--A REACTION NOT UNCOMMON WHEN I REGARD MYSELF OBJECTIVELY: WHY NOT TRACE THE CHANGING PERSPECTIVES OF AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY THROUGH THE UTTERANCES OF THE NINE PRESIDENTS WHO HAVE GUIDED OUR NATION SINCE 1933?

ALAS REALITY DEFEATED MY EXPECTATION OF IT. IN READING THE SPEECHES OF OUR PRESIDENTS I WAS MOVED NOT BY THEIR DISCONTINUITY BUT BY THE MASSIVE RECURRENCE OF ELEMENTAL THEMES. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT BEGAN HIS TERM BY CALLING

NEWSWEEK DINNER

NEWSWEEK, NEVER DISCOURAGED IN ITS DOOMED EFFORT TO TEACH ME A SENSE OF PROPORTION ABOUT MYSELF, HAS ASKED ME TO COVER FIFTY YEARS OF FOREIGN POLICY IN SEVEN MINUTES-- A DAUNTING TASK FOR ANYONE AND IMPOSSIBLE WHEN EIGHT OF THESE YEARS INCLUDE MY PRACTICE OF INFALLIBILITY IN THE SERVICE OF OUR COUNTRY. ON THE OTHER HAND, HOW COULD I REFUSE A JOURNAL THAT HAD ME ON ITS COVER IN A SUPERMAN SUIT?

FEB.14 '83 10:21 KISSINGER ASSOCIATES, WASH. DC

P.03

2

FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL OFFENSIVE ARMS AND PRESIDENT REAGAN BEGAN HIS BY URGING A LARGE REDUCTION OF STRATEGIC NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND THE TOTAL ELIMINATION OF OTHERS. ALL PRESIDENTS HAVE AFFIRMED THAT AMERICA HAS NO TERRITORIAL ASPIRATIONS. EACH HAS BEEN RELUCTANT TO STRESS PURELY AMERICAN SECURITY CONCERNS. ALL SPOKE OF PEACE AS A FINAL GOAL, A KIND OF TERMINAL CONDITION AFTER WHICH THE WORLD WOULD LIVE WITH THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF RECONCILIATION. ROOSEVELT SAID THAT PEACE DEPENDED ON "FRIENDLY HUMAN RELATIONS, ON ACQUAINTANCE, ON TOLERANCE, ON UNASSAILABLE SINCERITY".

EISENHOWER SPOKE OF MAN'S LONG PILGRIMAGE FROM DARKNESS TOWARD LIGHT--A DAY OF FREEDOM AND PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND. PRESIDENT NIXON INVOKED THE PEACE THAT COMES "WITH HEALING IN ITS WINGS"; PRESIDENT CARTER PRAYED FOR A PEACE NOT BASED ON WEAPONS OF WAR BUT ON OUR MOST PRECIOUS VALUES. THEY DIFFERED--OFTEN VIOLENTLY--ON TACTICS. BUT THE BASIC THEME OF AN AMERICA ULTIMATELY ROOTED IN MORAL VALUES, OF A PEOPLE

FEB.14 '83 10:22 KISSINGER ASSOCIATES, WASH. DC

P.04

3

WHOSE EXPERIENCE IS RELEVANT TO ALL MANKIND IS PERVASIVE.

AND YET WE CANNOT END OUR REFLECTIONS HERE--MUCH AS
THE DIRECTOR OF THIS PROGRAM MIGHT WISH IT. CONTINUITY
OF PHILOSOPHY HAS NOT ACHIEVED CONTINUITY OF POLICY. AGREEMENT
ON VALUES HAS NOT ENSURED AGREEMENT ON HOW TO IMPLEMENT
THEM. THE LAST THREE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS HAVE HAD A
BITTER CONTEST OVER FOREIGN POLICY AS THEIR CENTRAL CORE.
THE LAST TWO PRESIDENTS HAVE STARTED THEIR TERM ANNOUNCING
A FUNDAMENTAL REASSESSMENT OF WHAT HAD GONE BEFORE.

IN THE LIFE OF EVERY PERSON A POINT IS REACHED WHERE
THE LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES OF YOUTH NARROW TO A FEW CHOICES.
THE QUESTION OBTRUDES ITSELF: "IS THIS ALL I SHALL EVER BE?"
THE ANSWER DETERMINES WHETHER THERE WILL BE A NEW SPIRIT
OF CREATIVITY, A RESIGNED STAGNATION OR PERHAPS SELF HATRED.
SINCE A DECADE THAT QUESTION HAS BECOME UNAVOIDABLE FOR
AMERICA AND THE ANSWER WE GIVE WILL DETERMINE THE COURSE
OF FREEDOM. WALTER LIPPMAN SUMMED UP THE ISSUE IN NEWSWEEK

FEB.14 '83 10:23 KISSINGER ASSOCIATES, WASH. DC

P.05

4

IN 1966 WITH CHARACTERISTIC FORESIGHT: "THE CURRENT STRUGGLE IN AMERICA IS IN FACT WITHIN EVERY AMERICAN MIND. IT IS A STRUGGLE ABOUT YIELDING TO OR OVERCOMING THE STEREOTYPES OF YESTERDAY."

THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE ALWAYS INVOLVES A DIFFICULT JOURNEY AND STEREOTYPES BECOME SUCH BECAUSE THEY REFLECT DEEP CONVICTIONS. IN THE THIRTIES THE FREE PEOPLES CAME UP AGAINST PERHAPS THE INEXTRICABLE DILEMMA OF FOREIGN POLICY: WHEN THE SCOPE OF ACTION IS GREATEST THE KNOWLEDGE ON WHICH TO BASE SUCH ACTION IS AT A MINIMUM. WHEN THE KNOWLEDGE IS GREATEST THE SCOPE FOR CREATIVE ACTION HAS DISAPPEARED.

WE KNOW TODAY THAT HITLER'S REOCCUPATION OF THE RHINELAND IN 1936 WAS THE STRATEGIC WATERSHED AND ALSO THAT ONE FRENCH DIVISION COULD HAVE FORCED A RETREAT. BUT HAD THAT HAPPENED PHD THESESES WOULD STILL BE WRITTEN WHETHER HITLER WAS A MISUNDERSTOOD NATIONALIST OR A MANIAC BENT ON WORLD DOMINATION. FIVE YEARS LATER EVERYBODY KNEW THAT HITLER WAS A MANIAC BENT

FEB.14 '83 10:24 KISSINGER ASSOCIATES, WASH. DC

P.06

5

ON WORLD DOMINATION. THE QUEST FOR CERTAINTY COST TWENTY
MILLION LIVES.

STILL IN THE THIRTIES OTHER NATIONS HAD THE RESPONSIBILITY
FOR THE BALANCE OF POWER. RAYMOND MORLEY COULD WRITE PLAUSIBLY
IN NEWSWEEK THAT "WE MUST BE ON OUR GUARD AGAINST SENTIMENTAL
TALK ABOUT SAVING THE WORLD FOR DEMOCRACY. WE MUST SAVE
OURSELVES FOR DEMOCRACY." THE SECOND WORLD WAR ENDED THIS
COMFORTABLE ISOLATIONISM BUT NOT OUR RELUCTANCE TO RELATE
ABSOLUTE VALUES TO CONTINGENT CIRCUMSTANCE WHICH IS THE
ESSENCE OF FOREIGN POLICY FOR OTHER NATIONS. RARELY, IF
EVER, HAD THE MORAL ISSUES OF A WAR BEEN SO UNAMBIGUOUS
REINFORCING OUR CONVICTION THAT PEACE WAS SOME KIND OF NATURAL
AND PERMANENT CONDITION, THAT WARS RESULTED EXCLUSIVELY
FROM THE ABERRATION OF EVIL MEN. WE PROPOSED TO BASE THE
POST-WAR WORLD IN ROOSEVELT'S WORDS ON THE COOPERATION IN
WAGING PEACE OF THE FOUR NATIONS ALLIED IN WAR.

IT COULD NOT BE. OUR ENEMIES IN WAR WERE NOT THE SOLE

FEB.14 '83 10:25 KISSINGER ASSOCIATES, WASH. DC

P.07

6

CAUSE OF INTERNATIONAL TENSIONS. THEIR COLLAPSE CRATED
A VACUUM INVITING A NEW BALANCE OF POWER AND IT CONFRONTED
US WITH A NEW TOTALITARIAN IDEOLOGY. ITS CHALLENGE TURNED
OUT TO BE NOT THE CROSSING OF RECOGNIZED FRONTIERS BY ORGANIZED
MILITARY UNITS--AT LEAST NOT IN EUROPE. RATHER IT CONSISTED
OF A SERIES OF AMBIGUITIES FOR WHICH OUR STEREOTYPES OF
WAR AND PEACE AS SUCCESSIVE PHASES OF POLICY WERE NO LONGER
ADEQUATE. WE STILL SPOKE OF SOME FINAL DIPLOMATIC SHOWDOWN
BASED ON POSITIONS OF STRENGTH, YET WE HAD DIFFICULTY DEFINING
EITHER THE CONTENT OF THAT STRENGTH OR THE AGENDA OF THE
NEGOTIATIONS.

AND ALL THE TIME WE HAD TO COPE WITH TWO OTHER REVOLUTIONS:
THE MARSHALL PLAN, POINT FOUR AND THE GREEK-TURKISH AID PROGRAM
APPLIED THE AMERICAN PREMISE THAT ECONOMIC PROGRESS WOULD
BRING ABOUT POLITICAL STABILITY. IT WORKED IN EUROPE AND
JAPAN WHERE POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS HAD EVOLVED FOR CENTURIES.
A GLOBAL NEW DEAL WAS LESS MEANINGFUL IN THE DEVELOPING
WORLD WHERE POLITICAL LEGITIMACY WAS THE PRINCIPAL ISSUE.

FEB.14 '83 10:26 KISSINGER ASSOCIATES, WASH. DC

P.08

7

AND THEN THERE WAS THE REVOLUTIONARY NEW TECHNOLOGY.
IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY PROMETHEUS STOLE THE FIRE FROM THE GODS
AND WAS PUNISHED FOR HIS PRESUMPTION BY BEING CHAINED TO
A ROCK. OUR GENERATION HAS REPEATED THE PROMETHEAN FEAT,
AND IT MUST NOW MASTER THE HORROR OF ITS PRESUMPTION.

THE SIXTIES BEGAN WITH THE CLARION CALL OF A NEW PRESIDENT
IN THE UNIVERSALIST, OPTIMISTIC TRADITION THAT "WE SHALL
PAY ANY PRICE, BEAR ANY BURDEN, MEET ANY HARDSHIP, SUPPORT
ANY FRIEND, OPPOSE ANY FOE TO ASSURE THE SURVIVAL AND
SUCCESS OF LIBERTY."

SOON AFTER REALITY IMPOSED ITS LIMITS. SINCE THEN--
THROUGHOUT THE SEVENTIES--WE SEARCHED FOR A DEFINITION OF
OUR ROLE IN A WORLD OF MANY CENTERS OF POWER, OF INSTANTANEOUS
COMMUNICATION, SHADOWED BY THE SPECTER OF NUCLEAR WAR, TORN
BY SIMULTANEOUS REVOLUTIONS--A PERIOD WHICH POSTERITY MAY
MARK AS ONE OF NEARLY RELIGIOUS TRANSFORMATION. AND OUR
DISILLUSIONMENT WAS THE REVERSE OF OUR PREVIOUS UTOPIANISM.

FEB.14 '83 10:27 KISSINGER ASSOCIATES, WASH. DC

P.09

8

WHERE WE EXAGGERATED OUR POSSIBILITIES AT THE BEGINNING
OF THE DECADE, WE EXAGGERATED OUR LIMITS AT THE END.

WHERE THE OLD ISOLATIONISM THOUGHT US TOO GOOD FOR
THE WORLD, THE NEW ISOLATIONISM URGES US TO WITHDRAW BECAUSE
WE ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

THAT IS NOT OUR CHOICE HOWEVER.

WE ARE NO LONGER INNOCENT BUT WE ARE MORE NEEDED THAN
EVER.

WE ARE NOT PERFECT BUT WITHOUT US THERE IS NOT HOPE
FOR FREE PEOPLES.

OUR IDEALS MAY HAVE BEEN TOO SIMPLE BUT THEY HAVE PRODUCED
AN ASPIRATION TO DECENCY AND HUMAN DIGNITY ALL THE MORE
NOBLE FOR NOT BEING FULFILLABLE IN A SINGLE LIFETIME.

OUR LEADERS ARE ENGAGED NOT IN A SPRINT BUT A MARATHON
RELAY RACE. THEY MUST PASS ON THE BATON; THEY CANNOT START
OVER AGAIN EVERY FOUR YEARS AS IF WE ALONE OF ALL THE PEOPLES
THAT HAVE EVER LIVED CAN REINVENT HISTORY AT QUADRIANNUAL
INTERVALS.

FEB.14 '83 10:28 KISSINGER ASSOCIATES, WASH. DC

9

IMPERFECTION IS THE HUMAN CONDITION; GREAT GOALS CAN BE ACHIEVED ONLY IN STAGES; DEBUNKING IS A VIRTUE SO LONG AS WE ALL UNDERSTAND THAT CYNICS HAVE NEVER BUILT CATHEDRALS.

NONE OF US HERE WILL LIVE TO SEE THE END OF OUR NATIONAL JOURNEY--IN ESSENCE BIPARTISAN--TO DISCIPLINE THE ATOM, TO DEFEND AND ENNOBLE FREEDOM; TO STRIVE FOR BOTH PEACE AND JUSTICE; TO GIVE HOPE TO THE DOWNTRODDEN. INDEED IT HAS NO END. BUT IN THE PROCESS WE WILL LIVE THE WORDS OF THE POET:

WE SHALL NOT CEASE FROM OUR EXPLORATION
AND THE END OF ALL OUR EXPLORING
WILL BE TO ARRIVE WHERE WE STARTED
AND KNOW THE PLACE FOR THE FIRST TIME.

[Y]

NEWSWEEK DINNER

SUIT?

Starting me on the road to what Ed Williams called: He was became a legend in his own mind.

while in C. B. Wom's words made me a legend in my own mind.

2

FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL OFFENSIVE ARMS AND PRESIDENT
REAGAN BEGAN HIS BY URGING A LARGE REDUCTION OF STRATEGIC
ADAPTIVE AND ALL THE PRESIDENTS IN BETWEEN WERE CAPED
NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND THE TOTAL ELIMINATION OF OTHERS. ALL
PRESIDENTS HAVE AFFIRMED THAT AMERICA HAS NO TERRITORIAL
ASPIRATIONS. EACH HAS BEEN RELUCTANT TO STRESS PURELY AMERICAN
SECURITY CONCERNS. ALL SPOKE OF PEACE AS A FINAL GOAL,
A KIND OF TERMINAL CONDITION AFTER WHICH THE WORLD WOULD
LIVE WITH THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF RECONCILIATION. [ROOSEVELT
SAID THAT PEACE DEPENDED ON "FRIENDLY HUMAN RELATIONS, ON
ACQUAINTANCE, ON TOLERANCE, ON UNASSAILABLE SINCERITY".
EISENHOWER SPOKE OF MAN'S LONG PILGRIMAGE FROM DARKNESS
TOWARD LIGHT--A DAY OF FREEDOM AND PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND.
PRESIDENT NIXON INVOKED THE PEACE THAT COMES "WITH HEALING
IN ITS WINGS"; PRESIDENT CARTER PRAYED FOR A PEACE NOT BASED
ON WEAPONS OF WAR BUT ON OUR MOST PRECIOUS VALUES. [THEY
DIFFERED--OFTEN VIOLENTLY--ON TACTICS. BUT THE BASIC THEME
OF AN AMERICA ULTIMATELY ROOTED IN MORAL VALUES, OF A PEOPLE
WIOBE SHIVIN' IS RELEVANT TO ALL MANKIND
WE HAVE TRIED TO LIVE UP TO THESE
IMPOSSIBLE STANDARDS IN A SHIVIN' BILLY
WAY WE CAN'T SUCCEED

AND YET [WE CANNOT END OUR REFLECTIONS HERE--MUCH AS THE DIRECTOR OF THIS PROGRAM MIGHT WISH IT.] CONTINUITY OF PHILOSOPHY HAS NOT ACHIEVED CONTINUITY OF POLICY. [AGREEMENT ON VALUES HAS NOT ENSURED AGREEMENT ON HOW TO IMPLEMENT THEM.] THE LAST THREE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS HAVE HAD A BITTER CONTEST OVER FOREIGN POLICY AS THEIR CENTRAL CORE.

IN THE LIFE OF EVERY PERSON A POINT IS REACHED WHERE THE LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES OF YOUTH NARROW TO A FEW CHOICES. THE QUESTION OBTRUDES ITSELF: "IS THIS ALL I SHALL EVER BE?" THE ANSWER DETERMINES WHETHER THERE WILL BE A NEW SPIRIT OF CREATIVITY, A RESIGNED STAGNATION OR PERHAPS SELF HATRED. SINCE A DECADE THAT QUESTION HAS BECOME UNAVOIDABLE FOR AMERICA AND THE ANSWER WE GIVE WILL DETERMINE THE COURSE OF FREEDOM. WALTER LIPPMAN SUMMED UP THE ISSUE IN NEWSWEEK in 1966 with characteristic forepax: "In a recent stirrple in America is in fact within every American mind, 1% is a stirrple about overcoming fieldwork or approaching the stereotypes of yesterday.

4

THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE ALWAYS INVOLVES A DIFFICULT JOURNEY. SEXY
AND STEREOTYPES BECOME SUCH BECAUSE THEY REFLECT DEEP
CONVICTIONS. IN THE THIRTIES THE FREE PEOPLES CAME UP AGAINST
PERHAPS THE INEXTRICABLE DILEMMA OF FOREIGN POLICY: WHEN
THE SCOPE OF ACTION IS GREATEST THE KNOWLEDGE ON WHICH TO
BASE SUCH ACTION IS AT A MINIMUM. WHEN THE KNOWLEDGE IS
GREATEST THE SCOPE FOR CREATIVE ACTION HAS DISAPPEARED.

Angela

WE KNOW TODAY THAT HITLER'S REOCCUPATION OF THE RHINELAND
IN 1936 WAS THE STRATEGIC WATERSHED AND ALSO THAT ONE FRENCH
DIVISION COULD HAVE FORCED A RETREAT. BUT HAD THAT HAPPENED
PHD THESES WOULD STILL BE WRITTEN WHETHER HITLER WAS A MISUNDERSTOOD
NATIONALIST OR A MANIAC BENT ON WORLD DOMINATION. FIVE
YEARS LATER EVERYBODY KNEW THAT HITLER WAS A MANIAC BENT

5

STILL IN THE THIRTIES OTHER NATIONS HAD THE RESPONSIBILITY
FOR THE BALANCE OF POWER. RAYMOND MORLEY COULD WRITE PLAUSIBLY
[IN NEWSWEEK] THAT "WE MUST BE ON OUR GUARD AGAINST SENTIMENTAL
TALK ABOUT SAVING THE WORLD FOR DEMOCRACY. WE MUST SAVE
OURSELVES FOR DEMOCRACY." THE SECOND WORLD WAR ENDED THIS
COMFORTABLE ISOLATIONISM BUT NOT OUR RELUCTANCE TO RELATE
ABSOLUTE VALUES TO CONTINGENT CIRCUMSTANCE WHICH IS THE
ESSENCE OF FOREIGN POLICY FOR OTHER NATIONS. RARELY, IF
EVER, HAD THE MORAL ISSUES OF A WAR BEEN SO UNAMBIGUOUS
REINFORCING OUR CONVICTION THAT PEACE WAS SOME KIND OF NATURAL
AND PERMANENT CONDITION, THAT WARS RESULTED EXCLUSIVELY
FROM THE ABERRATION OF EVIL MEN. WE PROPOSED TO BASE THE
POST-WAR WORLD IN ROOSEVELT'S WORDS ON THE COOPERATION IN
WAGING PEACE OF THE FOUR NATIONS ALLIED IN WAR.

7

IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY PROMETHEUS STOLE THE FIRE FROM THE GODS AND WAS PUNISHED FOR HIS PRESUMPTION BY BEING CHAINED TO A ROCK. OUR GENERATION HAS REPEATED THE PROMETHEAN FEAT; AND IT MUST NOW MASTER THE HORROR OF ITS PRESUMPTION.

9

IN FACT NATO'S MANPOWER IS GREATER THAN THAT OF THE EAST. ALL THESE REFLECTIONS ARE NOW ACADEMIC. FOR THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE, THE WEST IS LOCKED INTO THE DECISIONS OF A GENERATION; WHATEVER CONCLUSIONS WE DRAW FROM THE CURRENT REALITIES AND THE CONCERNS THEY GENERATE, FOR AT LEAST A TRANSITIONAL PERIOD IT WILL BE NUCLEAR WEAPONS WHICH INHIBIT AGGRESSION IN EUROPE. THE EVASIONS OF THREE DECADES CANNOT BE REMEDIED BY PROCLAMATIONS BUT ONLY BY HARD AND DEDICATED EFFORT.

THE PRINCIPAL EVASION WAS THE REFUSAL TO FACE THE FACT THAT STRATEGIC NUCLEAR WEAPONS COULD CONTINUE TO COUNTERBALANCE conventional LOCAL SOVIET ADVANTAGES ONLY IF THE US STRATEGIC ARSENAL WAS CLEARLY SUPERIOR TO THAT OF THE SOVIET UNION--SUPERIORITY BEING DEFINED AS THE ABILITY TO DESTROY THE OPPOSING NUCLEAR CAPABILITY AT ACCEPTABLE COST. THAT CONDITION BEGAN TO DISAPPEAR IN THE SIXTIES. TECHNOLOGY TENDED TOWARDS EQUALITY, AND TO LEVELS BEYOND WHICH ADDITIONAL INCREMENTS OF DESTRUCTIVENESS

10

LOSE ALL RELATIONSHIP TO THE OBJECTIVES LIKELY TO BE IN DISPUTE. UNDER CURRENT CONDITIONS SUPERIORITY TO BE MEANINGFUL WOULD REQUIRE AN EDGE SO LARGE THAT NO OPPONENT WOULD TOLERATE IT AND CALCULATIONS SO ESOTERIC THAT FEW LEADERS WILL UNDERSTAND THEM OR STAKE SURVIVAL ON THEM. ARMS CONTROL THEORY AND PRACTICE, WITH THEIR FORMAL EMPHASIS ON EQUALITY, ONLY ACCELERATED AND LEGITIMIZED THIS TREND. WHILE ALL THESE CHANGES WERE TAKING PLACE, WESTERN GOVERNMENTS AND SOCIETIES PREFERRED TO IGNORE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR OWN DECISIONS.

LOGICALLY, ONCE THE SOVIET UNION ACQUIRED THE CAPACITY TO THREATEN THE UNITED STATES WITH DIRECT NUCLEAR RETALIATION, THE AMERICAN PLEDGE TO LAUNCH AN ALL-OUT NUCLEAR WAR ON BEHALF OF EUROPE WAS BOUND INCREASINGLY TO LOSE ITS CREDIBILITY AND PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE, IF NOT ITS SENSE--AND SO WOULD THE ALLIANCE'S DEFENSE STRATEGY. FOR THE STRATEGY NOW RESTED ON THE THREAT TO INITIATE MUTUAL SUICIDE. BUT GOVERNMENTS CONTINUED THE EXISTING STRATEGY, SEEKING TO COMPENSATE BY

11

EMPHATIC REITERATIONS OF ALL-OUT NUCLEAR DEFENSE FOR THE
IMPLAUSIBILITY OF THEIR PROFESSIONS.

I MADE THESE POINTS IN A SPEECH IN BRUSSELS IN THE FALL OF 1979; I WAS ROUNDLY CRITICIZED FOR ALLEGEDLY UNDERMINING THE CREDIBILITY OF NATO STRATEGY. UNFORTUNATELY, WHAT I SAID WAS TRUE AND HAS NOW COME TO PASS. FOR MORE THAN TWO DECADES IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT US-SOVIET NUCLEAR PARITY WOULD LEAD US-SOONER OR LATER-TO THIS POINT. AND FOR MORE THAN TWO DECADES, THE WEST HAS HID ITS HEAD IN THE SAND AND IGNORED THE INEVITABLE.

THERE WAS AN OCCASIONAL FLIRTATION WITH A DOCTRINE OF LIMITED NUCLEAR WAR TO RESTORE SOME RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POLICY AND MILITARY POWER. IN MY EARLY WRITINGS ON THE SUBJECT IN THE 1950s, I, TOO, WAS BRIEFLY TEMPTED BY THAT THEORY. THE EFFORT NEVER GOT VERY FAR. PART OF THE REASON WAS THAT FROM THE EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE, THE DISTINCTION