European-American Relations: The Enduring Crisis .
The relationship between the United States and Europe after the détente, a relaxing or easing of tensions between rivals, was suppose to be of ease and affiliation. But why were the Americans the "outcast" during the whole détente? Many of the countries in Europe were afraid of one country, the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had held a certain power that could not be dominated and was feared by many. It was stated by Joffe that "for three decades of the defense relationship, societies on either side of the ocean were indeed tied together by the conviction that the Soviet Union, by virtue of its power and ideology, represented the prime threat to the independence of Western democracies." So it is understandable why many countries were afraid of the Soviet Union. .
What was hard to understand in this reading was the part involving the Cuban missile crisis. Why was it that Chancellor Adenauer and General de Gaulle threatened and disliked the United States, but when the crisis was over they fell into line behind President Kennedy to help the global balance between East and West? The only thing that comes to mind is that Bonn and France needed the United States help if there was to be a problem with the Soviet Union, but were not willing to help them out during the missile crisis. When President Harry Truman was elected into office after Roosevelt, he did not have a lot of knowledge about the Soviet Union problems. But not long after being in office, Truman took a stand toward the Soviets with rearmament, rapid deployment forces, embargoes, and boycotts. So why did not the détente work for the United States? Why were the Soviets armaments growing all of the sudden? It can be said that since the United States was not part of Europe, and not to mention it had a ocean separating each other, that could be one of the main reasons why the détente was not working for them.
