ABSTRACT
EUROPEANS looking at America from across the Atlantic are frequently puzzled and disoriented by American mechanisms of decision. They wonder, for example, whether there is such a th ing as an American foreign policy and whether the Secretary of State's word is a b inding expression of such policies-if such policy exists. They ask what is the difference between one American poli t ical party and another and hope to understand the enigma by equating American parties w i t h the Right and Left of the European polit ical scene. A n d when, for the moment, they feel satisfied that such an understanding is possible, they are again thrown back into confusion by the blurred quali ty of American poli t ical utterance. From where they sit, i t looks as though American officials lacked not only clarity but also forthrightness. D u r i n g the war, Europeans longed-albeit unrealistically-to hear President Roosevelt speak l ike Churchi l l . But had he so spoken, they would have wondered: w i l l his words be later negated by Congress as, historically, happened to Woodrow Wilson?
