| This dissertation examines the American role in and perceptions of the development and implementation of the European Communities between 1955–1960, particularly the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Commission. The political and economic unification of Europe was a major foreign policy goal of the Eisenhower Administration, as a Europe infused with supranational institutions, many in Washington believed, promised the solutions to two long-term foreign policy headaches—a means to reconcile prance and Germany once and for all, and an instrument to cement West Germany's ties to the West.; At its core, this thesis is a study of American foreign policy focusing on a major issue over a relatively brief period of time. It looks at the events taking place in Europe from an American perspective—what American policy makers were seeing, the American frame of reference, and the primary issues of concern and debate in Washington and the American embassies overseas. The integration process in Europe provides the focal point for American policy makers and adds to the story its own colorful personalities of the day who in turn frustrated, complicated and advanced American objectives.; Following the defeat of the European Defense Community in August 1954, the Eisenhower Administration altered their diplomatic approach toward European integration. While the United States never strayed from a public policy of sympathy and support for the unity movement, there was, in April 1955, an unwavering commitment adopted by American policy makers to staking out a backseat, hands-off role in the negotiation process. Stemming from an ever-changing mix of being able to, to being asked to, to simply wanting to, the choice by the Eisenhower Administration of a non-interventionist diplomacy meant that European integration was to be made in Europe, not America. This behind-the-scenes diplomacy continued from the initial integration meetings in June 1955 through to the signing and ratification of the Treaties of Rome in March 1957 which established the European Economic Community and EURATOM. Following this, a subtle change in American diplomacy is evident—while always keeping one eye firmly on the look-out for potential problems, the United States began to take tentative steps towards a more familiar interventionist role as the actual implementation of the Common Market and EURATOM treaties began to affect, positively and negatively, specific American economic, political and strategic considerations.; Using material from the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas, as well as the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, this study traces a changing American policy from its hands-off approach to European integration to a more interventionist activism. Cold War alliance politics, domestic supports and constraints on foreign policy, the technical, economic and political implications of atomic diplomacy, and intra-governmental personality conflicts all appear as major themes in this thesis. |
