The United States and the German Question: Building a New European Order

"Here we made the choices and took the stands that shaped today's world," ¹ Secretary of State James Baker said in his landmark speech at the Berlin Press Club on December 12, 1989. Reacting to the spectacular revolutions witnessed in Central and Eastern Europe only recently, Mr. Baker's introductory remarks presented more than a sentimental statement of an American foreign policymaker to the revolutionary events in Europe. Nor were they merely intended to introduce an American declaration on the principles of a new Europe and a "new Atlanticism." Rather, Mr. Baker above all alluded to the influential role the United States played in the creation of the postwar European order.