The Rivals: How America Looks at Europe

<em>TIME,</em> March 12,1973

This set of articles explores mutual transatlantic perceptions in 1973, dubbed the “Year of Europe” by Henry Kissinger. While Americans paid renewed attention to Europe’s growing strength and prosperity, Europeans were still grappling to come to terms with American cultural and political influences.

 

The Rivals (I): How America Looks at Europe, TIME, 3/12/1973

“For years Americans were accurately known as better Europeans than the Europeans themselves. Whatever happened, they now ask, to that great dream of helping to build a strong, unified and prosperous Europe, which has guided U.S. foreign policy since World War II? Essentially, the dream remains unchanged; in fact, it is being realized…. Ilus (“Ike”) Davis, former mayor of Kansas City [says]: ‘Europeans in some ways have made a better adjustment to living together in cities than we have. They have found a compromise between respect for and use of the craftsmen and the need for mass-produced goods.’… Europe has crept back into the headlines and into America’s consciousness.”

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“THE RIVALS (I): How America Looks at Europe.”TIME Magazine, Mar. 12, 1973.

 

The Rivals (II): How Europe Looks at America, TIME, 3/12/1973

“The range of European attitudes and opinions of the U.S. is as broad and varied as Europe itself. …Europeans must cope with ever-increasing inroads of Americanization on their own more traditional and stratified societies. Europe has simply not produced a competing ideology to defend itself against the impact of American emphasis on mobility, expansion, informality and disregard of class barriers and inherited privilege.”

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“THE RIVALS (II): How Europe Looks at America.”TIME Magazine, Mar. 12, 1973.

Citation Information

The following information is provided for citations.

  • Article Title The Rivals: How America Looks at Europe
  • Author
  • Website Name Transatlantic Perspectives
  • URL
  • Access Date May 31, 2023
  • Publisher German Historical Institute
  • Original Published Date
  • Date of Last Update August 4, 2018