THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WAS THE CULMINATION OF OVER NINETY YEAR'S WORK TO INTEGRATE THE CONTINENT. INITIALLY INSPIRED BY PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON'S "FOURTEEN POINTS" FOLLOWING THE FIRST WORLD WAR,THE MOVEMENT SHOWED PROMISE IN THE 1920'S BEFORE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DISCORD LED TO THE SECOND WORLD WAR. THE GROUNDBREAKING FORMATION OF THE EUROPEAN COAL AND STEEL COMMUNITY AND THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY (EEC) IN THE 1950'S PROVIDED THE BLUEPRINT FOR UNIFICATION EFFORTS TO FOLLOW. ATTEMPTS TO EXPAND THE EEC IN THE 1960'S WERE REBUFFED BY FRENCH PRESIDENT CHARLES DE GAULLE, WHILE THE OIL CRISIS OF THE 1970'S FED SEVERE ECONOMIC INSTABILITY ACROSS EUROPE. THE ECONOMIC BOOM OF THE MID-1980'S, FOLLOWED BY THE FALL OF THE SOVIET UNION AND THE END OF THE COLD WAR, PROVIDED THE ENVIRONMENT FOR INCREASED ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL COOPERATION ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WHICH RESULTED IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION IN THE 1990'S. DURING THIS PROCESS, THE UNITED STATES ABANDONED ITS ISOLATIONIST TENDENCIES AND PROVIDED STRONG SUPPORT FOR THE INTEGRATION MOVEMENT. WHETHER THE EU BECOMES A "UNITED STATES OF EUROPE" OR A "UNITED EUROPE OF STATES," THE FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EUROPE AND AMERICA REMAINS A STRONG AND CRUCIAL ATLANTIC ALLIANCE.