Abshire reminisces about his service as U.S. ambassador to NATO, discusses NATO, and pleads for a grand strategic outlook. Unfortunately, his personal reminiscences have only minor interest and his review of NATO issues is routine. But the third of these efforts, the presentation of Abshire's ideas about grand strategy—the full deployment of a state's resources and vulnerabilities—does work.
Though his proposals for such a strategy contain few surprises, being small in scope and bureaucratic in nature, they are thoughtful and viable. The author would have Washington beef up deterrence by paying more attention to conventional forces. He calls for greater coordination with allies on such matters as negotiations with the USSR, competition for scarce resources, trade policy, and exploitation of technology. Finally, he proposes the creation of a new White House position, a cabinet-level counselor to the president "responsible for overall strategy," one individual who would coordinate security and economic planning.
Abshire makes a compelling case that America needs an overall conception of its role in the world, a "long-range, integrated strategy." Here lies the real value of Preventing World War III—not so much in the specifics of a strategy as in the repeated call for a different (indeed, a more Soviet) way of thinking. Abshire's untiring campaign to get Americans to think on a larger canvas and with a longer vision will probably remain his lasting legacy.
