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In form and background, Nixon's journey will be in sharp contrast to other postwar European visits by U.S. Presidents. Harry Truman went to Potsdam in 1945, deeply concerned about rebuilding a continent shattered by six years of war. In five trips, Dwight Eisenhower was greeted everywhere with heartfelt gratitude as the liberator of Western Europe from fascism. John Kennedy and his beautiful, elegant wife toured like movie stars in ceremonial splendor. Lyndon Johnson visited Europe only twice as President. He went to Bonn in 1967 for the funeral of Konrad Adenauer, and—almost as an afterthought as he flew back to Washington later that year from Southeast Asia—descended on Rome to plead for Pope
Paul's understanding of the U.S. cause in Viet Nam.
To prepare for his trip, which will take him to Brussels, London, Bonn, Berlin, Rome and Paris, President Nixon spent much of the past fortnight immersed in briefings and discussions of each of the countries he will visit, asking pointed questions of State Department experts. In style, his travels will differ greatly from Lyndon Johnson's. He is leaving his bubble-top limousine at home (he will use Charles de Gaulle's 22-ft.-long Citroen in Paris). There are no standing orders at each stop for a rubdown table, a shaving mirror at a precise height lit by a 150-watt bulb, an extra-length bed or stocks of Dr. Pepper. There will be no grand galas or public spectacles; most of Nixon's time will be spent behind closed doors, more in the manner of a business executive than a head of state.
While the President is prepared to review shared difficulties with Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger, Premier Mariano Rumor and President Charles de Gaulle, he goes not to bargain but to explore. There is a lengthy agenda of mutual problems to discuss. The invasion of Czechoslovakia has deferred hopes of detente with the Soviet Union and raised serious questions about the efficacy and future role of NATO—which will be 20 years old in April. There is no visible end to the West's recurring monetary cri ses, which have challenged now the dollar, now the pound, now the franc. Ratification of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty has proceeded slowly, partly as a consequence of European resentment that the U.S. did not thoroughly consult its allies before agreeing on the text with the Soviet Union. Protectionist sentiment is mounting on both sides of the Atlantic, and there is the possibility of a "Nixon round" of negotiations on nontariff barriers to international trade.
The Importance of Confidence
The talks will also range outside Europe to cover new initiatives in aid to underdeveloped countries and touch on the problems of Latin America, Africa and Asia. Arab-Israeli skirmishes threaten once again to erupt into full-scale war. Moscow's foreign policy is increasingly obscurantist, and the President is anxious to sound out European sentiment before making any overtures toward summitry with the Soviets. Nixon is eager to have a summit meeting, but he wants to meet the Russians not simply as the head of a superpower but as the leader of a newly vigorous alliance.