ABSTRACT
In the case of the Gaullist challenge to the alliance, the Bilderberg meetings played an important role in the Gaullist-Atlanticist struggle and helped to maintain the internationalist approach behind the Atlantic alliance and the European Communities. For the majority of Bilderberg members, however, the meetings underscored the importance of the global mindset: the willingness to look past national loyalties and to devise new ways of international cooperation. The 1976 Bilderberg meeting was scheduled to take place in the United States and Arthur Dean warned of serious consequences if nothing was done. The Bilderberg Group has long been a favorite target of conspiracy theorists, stirred by Bilderberg's secretive nature and the quality of its participants. The benefits of the Bilderberg Group are difficult to calculate, but at least for those who favor close transatlantic cooperation, the meetings seem to have served a useful purpose.
