On the evening after the liberation of Paris, Aug. 26, 1944, General De Gaulle summoned me to his office in the Rue St. Dominique. When I entered the room, he got up and said, "Look at this map." He pointed to the center of Europe and said, "One day soon, the avant-gardes of the Russians and Americans will meet at this spot. Either they will fight, or they will divide the world into two zones of influence. In both cases, Europe will disappear if we don't achieve our own reconciliation."

De Gaulle's vision was a Europe of states; he did not believe in the idea of supranationality. He had the conviction that there could only be a Europe by mutual agreement of its members and at the initiative of one state.

He had supposed the leader would be England, but since England did not play that role, it was France. Churchill thought the role of the United Kingdom was to be an intermediary between the U.S. and Europe. He saw Britain as insular and separate from Europe. When the Treaty of Rome was concluded, I was at a meeting with Churchill. He applauded the Treaty but never spoke of England's joining it.