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In short, Europe needs Germany and is afraid of Germany. Russia fears a Germany allied with the West; the West fears a German alliance with Russia. Neither side will consistently and wholeheartedly commit itself to either a strong or a weak Germany. In the midst of this conflict, the Germans toss about, driven by their poverty, their fears of another war, and their national ambitions. A U.S. expert on Germany said the other day: "Whenever you think you have the answer to a German problem, you have to box the compass to see how it checks with all the major forces. You usually wind up finding that you've boxed yourself—and have to start over."
No one can say whether McCloy will find a way out of the German box. The mission suits his lawyer's talents better than the World Bank job did, but it is far more complex and important than anything he has tackled.
In Washington last week, McCloy was anxiously briefing himself on Germany. "He always worries over a new job," explained Ellen McCloy.
But he was not exactly despondent about it. Ellen stood in the midst of rolled-up rugs and crated books, telling the moving men how to get to the Zinsser home in Hastings. "Are you sure we can get down that narrow road?" asked the driver. Said Ellen McCloy: "You've been moving the Douglases and the McCloys in & out of that house for a dozen years. If you can't make it, this will be the first time."
Her husband, in a seersucker suit, bounced down the steps. "It looks like I'll have a pretty free afternoon," he said. "Don't touch that fishing stuff until I get back."
* Brother-in-law Lew Douglas, in Paris last week, and still under treatment for an eye injured by a fishhook, says: "Jack McCloy is a fine fisherman. He ought to be; I taught him myself."