In April 1954 Adenauer made his first visit to the USA meeting Nixon, Eisenhower and Dulles. Ratification of EDC was delaying but the US representatives made it clear to Adenauer that EDC would have to become a part of NATO.[25]
Memories of the Nazi occupation were still strong, and the rearmament of Germany was feared by France too.[26] On 30 August 1954 French Parliament rejected the EDC, thus ensuring its failure[27] and blocking a major objective of US policy towards Europe: to associate Germany militarily with the West.[28] The US Department of State started to elaborate alternatives: Germany would be invited to join NATO or, in the case of French obstructionism, strategies to circumvent a French veto would be implemented in order to obtain a German rearmament outside NATO.