ABSTRACT
The European free trade area, which also included Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland, was up and running by the time of the Burgenstock meeting. President John F. Kennedy's election in November 1960 drew much attention in Bilderberg circles. The 1961 Bilderberg conference in St. Castin, Canada provided an important opportunity for the Kennedy Administration to present itself to the informal alliance. Kennedy believed that the Europeans would be unable to come up with a feasible proposal for control of a multilateral force and would eventually decide to leave the strategic deterrent in the hands of the United States. For the Bilderberg Group, President de Gaulle's authoritarian nationalism meant a serious challenge to the internationalist, global mindset of most of its participants. De Gaulle was perceived to be the only statesman possessing the prestige and toughness necessary to bring the Algerian war to an end.
