The US was a dominant actor in the European integration game in the 1950s, although not normally a formal participant at the negotiation table. The Americans promoted integration based on Franco-German reconciliation and sought to prevent the emergence of nationally controlled nuclear weapons in Germany and France and developments toward an independent European ?Third Force ?. Based on material from American, British, French and German archives the book covers the negotiations about the European Defence Community, the Western European Union and Euratom/the Common Market.