"Present at the creation." That was how Dean Acheson, Harry Truman's Secretary of State, described the crucial role of American officials in the birth of postwar Europe. Conceiving the Marshall Plan and midwifing NATO, U.S. officials went on to deploy America's power at its zenith to shape the framework of European security for two generations.
So what is the role of George Bush and Secretary of State James Baker in creating the emerging post-postwar European order? Until now the U.S. Administration has seemed like a father pacing in a waiting room: proud that things have come so far, intensely interested in...