Clandestine organisation. US Foreign Policy towards European Integration in late 1950s

The core principle of the US post-war foreign strategy was based on the concept ofglobal vision and the desire to build the world order based on the principles of liberal economy, along the lines of American capitalism.European integration was the key element in post-war American foreign policy and during its initial stage US influence on its developmentwas considerable. Their aim was to implement the federalist American model in Europe, as they believed that a strong integratedEurope would be more efficient and rational and would help contain the Soviet Union and tie Germany into the federal Europeanstructures and future problems with this country would be prevented. In the 1950s issues of mutual security and strive to decrease spendingon American troops dislocated in Europe were of higher importance for Eisenhowers administration. Eisenhower encouraged economicintegration, considering it an instrument for strengthening political and military cooperation between Western European statesand bolstering their independence in defence issues. On the whole, the 1950s were characterised by Americas strong support for theEuropean integration process. However, the political situation and the factors, which defined US foreign policy, were different at thebeginning of the 1950s when the ECSC was created and in the mid 1950s when the EEC and Euratom were established, as was the qualityof the support. At the same time, by the end of the 1950s the actual participating countries began changing their attitude towardsEuropean integration. After the creation of the ECSC, the nature of the integration process became more independent; the EEC andEuratom were presented as autonomous European projects, serving, first and foremost, the interests of Western Europe. In these conditionsduring the mid 1950s the main work on promoting European integration was undertaken unofficially behind the scenes throughcovert operations of the Central Intelligence Agency and American foundations such as Ford and Rockefeller foundations. The fundingof the European Movement was one of the most interesting US covert operations in post-war Europe. The conduit for American assistancewas the American Committee on United Europe (ACUE), directed by senior figures from the American intelligence community.Many Americans working for ACUE either were themselves determined federalists with an interest in the United Nations or else viewedAmerican federalism as an ideal political model, which could be deployed elsewhere. As for the foundations, their position was determinedby their leaders strong belief that they should set aside resources in Europe for the cultural war against the Soviet Union. In themid 1950s the foundations began to spend a great deal of money on bringing American and European intellectuals together to discusssolutions to European problems.

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