THE IMAGE OF NATO AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC OPINION

Abstract

"Isolation" and "Isolationism" are two words which had shaped American Foreign policy until the beginning of the 19. century. American isolation such as it was, had died about the turn of the century, where as American isolationism has been in decliııe ever since. It has been in decline promoted by the strategic realities of the shrinking world in which Americans live. The system of alliances began simply as a means of formalizing the concept of solidarity of American States. This concept was developed during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1932-1945). But the means used for restating the policy of Western Hemisphere solidarity provided the framework for the new policy. Early in the Cold War and very shortly after the United States actively entered the European arena, the basic strategic ingredient in the European situation was the danger of Soviet aggression. Washington soon reached a correspondingly basic decission that the defence of the West was to be based on a 'forward strategy'. This meant the line NATO would defend against a Soviet assault would be in the zone of initial contact —along the Iron Curtain and the Elbe River— rather than along the Rhine after giving up almost ali central Europe to Soviet forces. This decision carried important and far-reaching implications for future doctrine and policy.(***)