Exactly six months ago, the U.S. and its principal allies at Lisbon initialed the master blueprint for European defense. By the end of 1952, they would mobilize the 50 combat divisions that Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower considered the rock-bottom minimum needed to contain a Soviet attack. During 1953-54, if all went well, NATO's armies would be doubled, its air force would reach near-parity with the Red air force. All did not go well.
Last week the whole painfully reconstructed system of U.S. military alliances, paid for in the main by higher U.S. taxes and devoted in the main to...
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