U.S. Army Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower listens to soldiers participating in Operation Jupiter, a three-day war game led by France near Koblenz, Germany, in 1951. Every Supreme Allied Commander Europe, starting with Eisenhower, has been an American. (Stars and Stripes)

STUTTGART, Germany — Seventy-five years after Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed NATO’s top military commander, the desk he used still sits in the office of a U.S. Army four-star general doing the same job.

In between Eisenhower and the current boss, Gen. Christopher Cavoli, it’s always been an American at the desk, holding the lofty title of Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

With Cavoli’s three-year tour expected to end this summer, one question up for debate is whether the time has come for a European general to step into the role.

The decision will largely depend on the outlook of President Donald Trump, who has demanded that Europeans shoulder a larger share of the security burden on the Continent.

A move to Europeanize the top NATO command post could be one way for Trump to signal he wants the United States to play a smaller role.

The long-standing tradition of an American SACEUR isn’t a NATO mandate but more of a “gentlemen’s agreement” that also entails the alliance’s civilian leader be a European, according to Jorge Benitez, a NATO historian with the Atlantic Council think tank.

The original reason for an American SACEUR is that it was seen as the more important role at the time, he said.

“The military commander of the alliance had more authority and was seen (as) more necessary because of the imminent Soviet threat at the heart of Europe,” Benitez said Wednesday.

Having an American in command also was intended as an inducement to “break our historic isolationism,” he said.

Practical reasons for having an American in charge remain. Chief among them, the U.S. nuclear arsenal serves as the ultimate deterrent for the alliance.

U.S. Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, the supreme NATO commander and also leader of U.S. European Command, rides in an M5 Stuart during the Tanks in Town celebration in Mons, Belgium, Sept. 1, 2024. Every Supreme Allied Commander Europe has been an American, beginning with Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. (Phillip Walter Wellman/Stars and Stripes)

But in recent weeks, tensions between the U.S. and Europe have escalated. Germany’s expected next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has called for major defense spending increases, a return of the draft and European “independence from” the United States.

Merz also has suggested that the United Kingdom and France assume a leadership role in Europe when it comes to providing nuclear weapons protection.

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ready to begin discussions with his European counterparts about providing a nuclear deterrent for Europe.

If such moves are a prelude to a European SACEUR, the alliance would suffer, some security analysts say.

“I think turning this over to Europeans would seriously damage NATO deterrence and weaken the alliance,” said a NATO scholar, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his job. “One of America’s major strengths, which no European country can replicate, is our ability to herd the cats that are the various defense establishments across the Continent.”

While a European country could fill the slot, it would lack the credibility and authority that an American four-star officer brings to the table, he said.

“Putting a European into the role would also signal yet another step by America away from NATO,” the scholar said. “This would weaken European security — and by extension, American security — while rewarding and strengthening (Russian President Vladimir) Putin in exchange for nothing.”

Still, some in the global security establishment have advocated for a change over the decades. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, during the height of the Cold War in 1984, voiced support for a European SACEUR.

“Everyone has been afraid to take the initiative in changing the present arrangement, lest doing so unravel the whole enterprise,” Kissinger wrote then in a Time magazine essay. “But since drift will surely lead to unraveling — if more imperceptibly — statesmanship impels a new approach.”

Kelly Grieco, an expert on U.S. alliances, echoed Kissinger’s view in a 2022 essay for the Atlantic Council think tank, saying that China’s rise requires a reassessment of the division of military labor in Europe.

“In a new transatlantic bargain, European states should assume greater responsibility for their own security and defense, but the United States must also become more willing to share leadership, starting with the appointment of a European Supreme Allied Commander Europe,” Grieco wrote.

But if a change in NATO military leadership comes, it’s more likely to be at the insistence of Trump.

From a European perspective, an American SACEUR is about ensuring a robust U.S. military commitment to the Continent, Benitez said.

“Now more than ever, this is a powerful reason to keep an American SACEUR,” Benitez said.