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∙THE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE: "The most constructive American foreign policy since the end of World War II has been the development of Atlantic relationships," he wrote in The Troubled Partnership (1965). Arguing that the Allies want leadership—not hegemony—from the U.S., he strongly defended De Gaulle for his efforts "to teach his people and perhaps his Continent attitudes of independence and self-reliance." He also paid tribute to the French President as a man who, like himself, recognizes that peace is not a natural condition but the result of a carefully maintained balance of power.
∙VIET NAM: Kissinger dates the beginning of U.S. error to 1961, when the number of American advisers was expanded twentyfold. He argues that a U.S.-style political structure cannot be superimposed on Viet- Nam. He also maintains that doing battle with the North has only complicated matters. Thus, he privately called for a bombing halt over the North in early 1967. In mid-1968, he was instrumental in preparing a peace proposal offered by Nelson Rockefeller. It called for a phased troop pullback, the end of guerrilla warfare by the Viet Cong, internationally supervised elections, and finally Saigon-Hanoi negotiations on reunification.