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The Origins of
NATO
THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION
End Notes
1 Text of a radio address by Secretary Marshall, April 28, 1947, printed in Department of State Bulletin, May 11, 1957, pp. 919-924.
2 See the summary of Europe's problems offered by Under Secretary of State Will Clayton in a May 27, 1947, memorandum, in Foreign Relations, 1947, Vol. III, pp. 230-232. A concise summary of the political and economic problems of reconstruction is in David Ellwood, Rebuilding Europe: Western Europe, America, and Postwar Reconstruction (London: Longman, 1992).
3 The political crosscurrents of 1947-1948 are outlined in Robert Donovan, Conflict and Crisis: The Presidency of Harry S. Truman, 1945-1948 (New York: Norton, 1977).
4 Gier Lundestad, Empire by Integration: The United States and European Integration, 1945-1997 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), outlines the rationale for U.S. support of European unity.
5 For text of Secretary Marshall's June 5 address, see A Decade of American Foreign Policy: Basic Documents, 1941-1949 (Washington, DC, 1985), pp. 806-807.
6 For text of the Soviet statement rejecting the Marshall Plan, July 2, 1947, see A Decade of American Foreign Policy: Basic Documents, 1941-1949, pp. 807-809. For a senior Communist official's recollections about the formation of the Comintern and Soviet treatment of West European parties, see Eugenio Reale, Nascita del Cominform (Milan, 1958).
7 Bevin's views are discussed in Don Cook, Forging the Alliance: NATO, 1945-1960 (New York: Morrow, 1989), pp. 88 ff. and Peter Weiler, Ernest Bevin (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1993) pp. 176-177.
8 Forrest C. Pogue, George C. Marshall: Statesman, 1945-1949 (New York: Viking, 1987), p. 285; Lawrence S. Kaplan, A Community of Interests: NATO and the Military Assistance Program, 1948-1951, (Washington, DC: Office of the Secretary of Defense, Historical Office, 1980), p. 17. For text of Bevin's note, see Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 3-6.
9 For texts of the July 1947 JCS directive on policy toward Germany, the March and June 1948 Western statements on German policy, and June 1948 directives on currency reform together with Soviet responses, see Documents on Germany, 1944-1985 (Washington, DC, 1985), pp. 91-99, 110-113, 124-135, 140-156.
10 The JCS 570 series, which was approved by President Roosevelt in November 1943, is summarized and quoted in James F. Schnabel, History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Vol. I, The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, 1945-1947, pp. 63-67.
11 Kaplan, A Community of Interests: NATO and the Military Assistance Program, 1948-1951, pp. 4-5.
12 For text of President Truman's March 12 address, see A Decade of American Foreign Policy: Basic Documents, 1941-1949, pp. 530-534. A participant's dramatic description of the events from the Greek crisis to the enunciation of the Marshall Plan is Joseph Jones, The Fifteen Weeks (New York: Viking, 1955).
13 See A Decade of American Foreign Policy: Basic Documents, 1941-1949, p. 531.
14 Record of a meeting among Acheson, Patterson, and Forrestal, March 19, 1947, summarized and quoted from in Foreign Relations, 1947, Vol. V, pp. 126-127.
15 Telegram 795 from Acting Secretary of State Acheson to Secretary of State Marshall in Moscow, April 3, 1947, Foreign Relations, 1947, Vol. V, p. 137, and Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas, The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made: Acheson, Bohlen, Harriman, Kennan, Lovett; and McCloy (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986), p. 400. For text of the Greek-Turkish Assist-ance Act, approved on May 22, 1947, P.L. 75, 80th Congress, see A Decade of American Foreign Policy: Basic Documents, 1941-1949, pp. 534-537.
16 For text of the Brussels Treaty, see the United Nations Treaty Series, 19 UNTS 51. Extracts are printed in American Foreign Policy, 1950-1955: Basic Documents, Vol. I (Washington, DC, 1957) pp. 968-971, and Department of State Bulletin, May 9, 1948, p. 600.
17 Regarding the President's strong feelings about the menace of aggressive communism, see Harry S. Truman, Memoirs (New York: Doubleday, 1965), Vol. I, p. 279. For full text of the President's March 17 speech, see Department of State Bulletin, March 28, 1948, pp. 418-420.
18 The March 11 British aide-memoire and Secretary Marshall's response are printed in Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 46-48. In recalling the quick response to Bevin's inquiry, President Truman assigned to Belgian Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak the largest responsibility for promoting the Brussels Pact. See Truman, Memoirs, Vol. II, p. 243.
19 The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (or Rio Treaty) of September 2, 1947, established precedents critical to the formulation of a North Atlantic pact. The Rio Treaty was regional and defensive in nature as provided under Articles 51 and 52 of the UN Charter. Articles 1 and 2 of the Rio Treaty established means for member states to achieve peaceful resolution of their outstanding differences, including the use of UN mediation. Article 3 committed the American States to collective defense. Article 4 clearly defined the boundaries of the collective defense arrangement. Most importantly, the U.S. Congress fully supported and endorsed the Rio Pact anchored in the UN Charter. It was a fateful step away from traditional U.S. isolationism. For text of the Rio treaty, see A Decade of American Foreign Policy: Basic Documents, 1941-1949, pp. 226-229.
20 The exchanges leading to the Pentagon Talks and the record of those secret talks are presented in Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 55 ff.
21 Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 85-88; Kenneth W. Condit, History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Vol. II, The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, 1947-1949 (Washington, D.C. 1966), pp. 193-104; and Steven L. Rearden, History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Vol. I, The Formative Years, 1947-1950 (Washington, DC, 1984), pp. 462-463.
22 Truman, Memoirs, Vol. II, pp. 244-245.
23 See Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 101-103; Rearden, The Formative Years, 1947-1950, p. 463; Condit, The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, 1947-1949, p. 195.
24 Escott Reid, Time of Fear and Hope: The Making of the North Atlantic Treaty, 1947-1949 (Toronto: McClelland and Stover, 1977), pp. 87-98. Reid was a participant in the negotiations in 1948 and close observer of the succeeding steps to the final treaty. Senator Vandenberg's views are examined in detail in Arthur H. Vandenberg, ed., The Private Papers of Senator Vandenberg (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1952).
25 Memoranda of these two discussions, prepared by Lovett, are printed in Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 82-84, 92-96.
26 Lawrence S. Kaplan, The United States and NATO: The Formative Years (Lexington, KY: The University of Kentucky Press, 1984), pp. 70-76, and Rearden, The Formative Years, 1947-1950, pp. 461-464. For text of the Vandenberg Resolution, Senate Resolution 239, see Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 135-136.
27 Secretary Marshall's involvement in the creation of NATO during the last year of his service at the State Department is authoritatively described in Pogue, George C. Marshall: Statesman, 1945-1959, pp. 316-329, and Acheson, Present at the Creation (New York: Norton, 1969), p. 236. Acheson succeeded Marshall as Secretary of State in January 1949.
28 George F. Kennan, Memoirs, 1925-1950 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1967), p. 413.
29 T. Michael Ruddy, The Cautious Diplomat: Charles E. Bohlen and the Soviet Union, 1929-1969 (Kent and London: The Kent State University Press, 1986), pp. 84-85. For text of the April 29 memorandum, see Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 108-109.
30 Ruddy, The Cautious Diplomat: Charles E. Bohlen and the Soviet Union, 1929-1969, pp. 86-87.
31 Condit, The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, 1947-1949, pp. 224-226; Kaplan, The United States and NATO: The Formative Years, p. 80; Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 188-193.
32 Condit, The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, 1947-1949, pp. 219-220. For text of NSC 14/1, July 1, 1948, see Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. I, pp. 585-588.
33 Plan Half Moon is described in Condit, The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, 1947-1949, pp. 365-367.
34 Memorandum of conversation by Bohlen, August 6, 1948; Record of the 12th exploratory meeting, August 16, 1948; and note from Lovett to the French Embassy, September 6, 1948, Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 206-209, 217-219, and 253.
35 For text of NSC 9/3, see Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 140-141.
36 The official records of the 10 formal meetings of the Washington Exploratory Talks and the meetings of working groups set up by the conferees are printed in Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 148-250 passim. The discussions are summarized in Pogue, George C. Marshall: Statesman, 1945-1959, pp. 328-332.
37 Minutes of these meetings are in Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 209-214.
38 Acheson, Present at the Creation, pp. 369-370.
39 For text of the September 9 agreed memorandum by the participants, the so-called "Washington Paper," see Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 237-245. President Truman approved the general principles contained in the September 9 paper; see ibid., p. 271.
40 On the role of the military in the creation of the pact, see Timothy P. Ireland, Creating the Entangling Alliance: The Origins of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981), pp. 121-128, and Reid, Time of Fear and Hope: The Making of the North Atlantic Treaty, 1947-1949, pp. 147-148.
41 The discussions on expanding the charter membership of the Alliance are documented in Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 255-343 passim, and summarized in Kaplan, The United States and NATO: The Formative Years, p. 83. Marshall's memorandum of his conversation with Swedish Foreign Minister Unden is in Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 264-266.
42 The military negotiations are described in Condit, The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, 1947-1949, pp. 197-200.
43 For text of the December 24 draft treaty, see Foreign Relations, 1948, Vol. III, pp. 334-337.
44 Reid, Time of Fear and Hope: The Making of the North Atlantic Treaty, 1947-1949, pp. 170-179 passim.
45 For the JCS comments, see Foreign Relations, 1949, Vol. IV, pp. 10-13. Truman's address is in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 1949, pp. 112-116.
46 Lovett chaired one more meeting of alliance Ambassadors on January 14 before resigning effective January 20.
47 The available records of Secretary Acheson's meetings with Members of Congress in February and March, the meetings of the Washington Exploratory Talks, and the private meetings Acheson had with individual ambassadors during this same period are presented in Foreign Relations, 1949, Vol. IV, pp. 66-237. Acheson's own vivid recollections of these consultations are in Acheson, Present at the Creation, pp. 277-284.
48 Acheson's consultations with the ambassadors and with key Senators are summarized in Kaplan, The United States and NATO: The Formative Years, pp. 112-114.
49 See Acheson, Present at the Creation, pp. 370-372, for his meetings with the Senators and subsequent political fallout. Memoranda of the February 7 and 8 meetings with Lange are in Foreign Relations, 1949, Vol. IV, pp. 66-73.
50 Ireland, Creating the Entangling Alliance, p. 111.
51 Weiler, Ernest Bevin, pp. 181-182.
52 Bohlen's various drafts are published in Foreign Relations, 1949, Vol. IV, pp. 113-116.
53 See Foreign Relations, 1949, Vol. IV, p. 174.
54 Kaplan, The United States and NATO: The Formative Years, p. 116, points out that some Americans would have preferred identifying Articles 53 and 54 of the UN Charter as the authority for a regional alliance, but this would have made NATO susceptible to review by the UN Security Council where the Soviet Union had a veto.
55 For text of the treaty, see A Decade of American Foreign Policy, 1941-1949: Basic Documents, pp. 936-939.
56 Secretary Acheson discussed with President Truman on March 2 the pros and cons of Italy's invitation to the alliance and obtained the President's approval to proceed with the invitation although he would have preferred "certainly at this time a pact without Italy." See the memorandum by the Secretary of State, March 2, 1949, Foreign Relations, 1949, Vol. IV, pp. 141-145.
57 The membership negotiations are described in Acheson, Present at the Creation, pp. 277-279. Documentation is presented in Foreign Relations, 1949, Vol. IV, pp. 1-285 passim.
58 For a time in early March 1949, the United States and Britain considered, but then abandoned, issuing a public declaration expressing the Atlantic alliance members' interest and support for the security of Greece, Turkey, and perhaps even Iran. The question confronting allied negotiators was whether an expanded NATO alliance without Greece and Turkey (and even Iran) would embolden the Soviet Union to attack or if not, whether the declaration might provide provocation to the Soviet Union. The issue of the NATO declaration is documented in Foreign Relations, 1949, Vol. IV, pp. 175-176 and 209-210.
59 For text of Acheson's March 8 report, see Foreign Relations, 1949, Vol. IV, p. 174.
60 Foreign Relations, 1949, Vol. IV, pp. 213-224.
61 Acheson, Present at the Creation, p. 284.
62 For text of Acheson's and the President's statements as well as those of other conference participants, see Department of State Bulletin, April 17, 1949, pp. 471-482.
63 The efforts of the Soviet Union to counter the negotiation of the Atlantic alliance are described in Kaplan, The United States and NATO: The Formative Years, pp. 96-97.
64 Kaplan, The United States and NATO: The Formative Years, p. 124.
65 Excerpts from the Committee report are printed in A Decade of American Foreign Policy, 1941-1949: Basic Documents, pp. 944-957.
66 Acheson, Present at the Creation, p. 285.
67 Rearden, The Formative Years, 1947-1950, pp. 493-496, and Condit, The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, 1947-1949, pp. 219-226.
68 The steps within the U.S. Government and the negotiations with the North Atlantic nations is described in detail in Rearden, The Formative Years, 1947-1950, Chapter XVII; Condit, The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, 1947-1949, Chapter 12; and Kaplan, A Community of Interests: NATO and the Military Assistance Program, 1948-1951.
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