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Through Brussels, London, Bonn, Berlin, Rome and Paris, several themes recurred in Nixon's private dialogues at the top. There was his emphasis on the U.S. commitment to the defense of Europe through the NATO alliance, his pledge to consult the Europeans faithfully on questions of common concern, and his insistence that the West must reach a new understanding with the Soviet Union in many areas beyond the immediate topic of arms control. Despite these weighty issues of state, Nixon managed at each stop to depart from his minutely organized routine to plunge into crowds and press the flesh in characteristic American political style.
There was only one major gaffe in an otherwise flawlessly executed tour. The White House released the text of an effusive arrival statement of praise for Charles de Gaulle, which was bannered in advance by the French press. In the event, however, Nixon delivered only a watered-down edition of the speech. The overblown first version seemed to negate Nixon's carefully cultivated neutrality in intra-European affairs; by awkwardly retracting it, he ran the opposite risk of offending De Gaulle and the French. He saved the situation somewhat by praising De Gaulle warmly in a subsequent toast.
Late to Bed. The dispute between France and Britain over the future of NATO and the Common Market clouded all the President's efforts to renew communications with Europe. The war in Viet Nam also was very much on his mind. Even as he took off from Washington's Andrews Air Force Base, he was being informed of fresh Communist attacks and U.S. uncertainty over how the new offensive would affect the still desultory Paris peace talks (see THE WORLD).
The first leg of the 10,500-mile journey ended at Brussels International Airport, where Nixon became the first U.S. President to visit Belgium since Woodrow Wilson arrived triumphantly in 1919 after negotiating the Treaty of Versailles. The President was met by Belgium's young King Baudouin, who led him down a 200-yd. red carpet to review a guard of honor. Nixon greeted NATO Secretary-General Manlio Brosio among the potted palms and pink azaleas of the royal tent, and then, with the King at his side, drove to the Palais Royale de Bruxelles.
But Mr. President... The President calls NATO "the blue chip in our foreign policy," and the hastily built new headquarters of the alliance on the edge of Brussels was his first stop next morning. Close behind him were Secretary of State William Rogers and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger. Though protocol places Kissinger (TIME cover, Feb. 14) well down the ladder, he was virtually inseparable from the President. Kissinger has long been disturbed by U.S. inattention to Europe, and he was Nixon's key consultant throughout the tour. To the 15 ambassadors from NATO's member nations, Nixon proposed that after 20 years the alliance "must replace the unity of a common fear with the community of a shared purpose." He noted that the U.S. has already begun preliminary planning for a Soviet Summit. "In due course and with proper preparation," he said, "the U.S. shall enter into negotiations with the Soviet Union on a wide range of issues."