ABSTRACT
The President of the United States is encountering domestic and international opposition to an unpopular war. He faces an upcoming election campaign. In successive months, leaders from Germany, France and fi nally Great Britain go to Washington for talks. After the President has been re-elected, his closest foreign policy adviser, now his Secretary of State, recalls the visits and refl ects that at the time:
European public opinion, at least as represented by the media, opposed the war. But European leaders registered no objection. During the entire period of the war I recall no criticism by a European leader in even the most private conversation. They seemed paralysed by the same dilemma we faced. They wanted the war ended quickly … But they also wanted American credibility unimpaired.1
