Jean Monnet and Nelson A. Rockefeller

Jean Monnet

Jean Monnet and Atlantic Union, Freedom & Union, July-August, 1961.

(...) What is necessary is to move towards a true Atlantic Community in which common institutions will be increasingly developed to meet common problems.

(...) It is evident that we must soon go a good deal further towards an Atlantic Community.

(...) Just as the United States in their own days found it necessary to unite, just as Europe is now in the process of uniting, so the West must move towards some kind of union.

(...) The conditions will at last exist for turning so-called peaceful coexistence into genuine peace. At that time, real disarmament will become possible.

I believe that the crucial step is to make clear that the West is determined not only to complete the unification process, but also to build firmly the institutional foundation of that unity. As this determination appears clearly then the world will react to the trend. We must therefore take the first steps quickly.

(...) The chain reaction has only begun. We are starting a process of continuous reform which can alter tomorrow's world more lastingly than the principles of revolution so widespread outside the West.

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Nelson A. Rockefeller

Rockefeller Proposes Immediate Convention to Declare NATO Goal is Federal Union, (25th Anniversary Year Convocation) Freedom & Union, December 1964

(...) For far too long, we have been jerry-building the house of freedom. Our conceptions have been too limited, our goals too temporary, our methods too timid.

(...)Our forefathers pioneered a political framework within which this nation conquered a continental wilderness.

(...)Our generation is called on for no less a pioneering act of political creativity and economic construction on an intercontinental scale.

(...) In my opinion, this challenge could find its greatest expression in forging a Union of the Free. The practical first step would be to form a federal political structure for the North Atlantic area that would be open to other free nations to join.

(...) With this perspective, we begin to get some glimpse of what a Union of the Free, starting with a federal political structure for the North Atlantic and open to other free nations to join.

(...)Before this vision can be turned into reality, certain decisions must be made: first, agreement on the goal; second, agreement on a time schedule, third, agreement on the means for achieving the goal.
The time has come for us and our Atlantic allies to take the leadership by appointing a preparatory conven­tion of delegates to work out answers to these basic questions. Let us realize that, in so doing, we will be taking the first practical step toward the ultimate union of all the free.

(...) As to the second question—the matter of a timetable—the objective should be immediate, the effort should be intense. Time is of the essence.

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