STYLE SECTION
NATO's 50th Marked With Muted Fanfare

Nancy and Lee Hamilton talk with Sen. Joe Biden at Thursday's formal but subdued Atlantic Council gala marking NATO's 50th anniversary. (By Tracy A. Woodward – Washington Post) Related Links Celebration Out; Solemnity In Map of Street, Office Closings Summit Q & A

By Roxanne Roberts
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 23, 1999; Page C01

All things considered, it wasn't a bad party.

"I think we should flat-out celebrate," said Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), referring to the most visible subject in Washington this weekend: NATO's 50th anniversary. "I don't think we need fireworks, but I do think we should not step back at all from celebrating this incredible alliance."

Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) was a bit more restrained. "You can't wake up in the morning and read about bombings and have your heartstrings tugged, and then forget about it," he said. "It's appropriate to celebrate, but in proportion."

The senators were among 600 guests in the marble splendor of the National Building Museum last night for an anniversary party hosted by the Atlantic Council of the United States. There were drinks, music, laughter and, yes, even tuxedos.

That's unremarkable as Washington dinners go. But all the other gatherings during this historic weekend have been downgraded to "business attire" – a sartorial sobriety that comes from the notion that politicians in black tie might look frivolous when Kosovo refugees are living in makeshift tents. Several people were concerned enough to ask council president David Acheson why he stuck with a formal affair.

"The reason is that I don't agree with the notion that black-tie connotes levity," he said. "To me, black tie connotes respect for the anniversary and for the guests."

It's an old-fashioned notion. But this is an old-fashioned organization. The Atlantic Council is a private, bipartisan foreign policy group. One of its missions is to educate the public on international matters, but it has been accused of being elitist because most of its influence is on foreign policy experts and politicians rather than public opinion.

Last night's event could hardly be considered a populist affair. The guest list included a distinguished list of international policy specialists – Defense Secretary William Cohen, former congressman Lee Hamilton, former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, former secretary of state Alexander Haig, council chairman and former ambassador to Britain Henry Catto, and a number of fans from Capitol Hill.

The sponsor list was just as impressive: the Army and Air Force, General Dynamics, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, the Kimsey Foundation and Vietnam Veterans of America, among others.

All are committed to marking NATO's anniversary. The question was how.

"The Atlantic Council has worked for years for NATO," said Haig. "While we have something in the past to celebrate, we have a great deal in the present to be concerned about."

And so there was music but not dancing. Quiet laughter but not guffaws. Conversation but very little small talk.

"Personally, I'm interested in a focused discussion about the future of the alliance, starting with the Balkans," said Sen. Charles Robb (D-Va.). "As far as I'm concerned, NATO doesn't have a future if we don't succeed over there."

The evening was conceived many months ago, Catto told the audience, but Kosovo has cast a shadow over what would have been a joyous occasion. "So tonight we will not dance and [will] keep our celebration circumspect," he said, and then proposed a simple toast: "To NATO."

Rather than a rollicking reunion, the evening became a reaffirmation instead: a commitment to the work of NATO, to the concept of international cooperation, to staying the course now that NATO is fighting its first war.

"I don't think Kosovo has shattered anything," Biden told the crowd. "I think it has united us."

Secretary Cohen, perhaps, best caught the spirit of the night. A published poet, he brought his special brand of eloquence to the evening by weaving historical and literary references throughout his brief remarks. This was old-fashioned oratory designed to stir the spirit.

"When the honor of nations is in the balance, when freedom is ripped from others, when mechanized forces of evil and the tactics of the brutal are not to be moved, there can be no surrender to fear, no flagging of spirit, no failure to uphold the ideals written and defended by our forebears," he said.

Cohen then assured the audience that NATO would emerge victorious in the current conflict.

But regardless of the present or future, it was a night to remember what the North Atlantic Treaty Organization set out to become and achieved over the past 50 years.

"I think it should be 'Auld Lang Syne,' " said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) of the weekend's theme. "Old acquaintances ne'er forgetting each other."