Statement on the North Atlantic Pact by the Department of State1
The North Atlantic Pact: Collective Defense and the Preservation of Peace, Security and Freedom in the North Atlantic Community
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the atlantic pact and the european recovery program
The North Atlantic Pact is a necessary complement to the broad economic coordination now proceeding under the European Recovery Program, but there is no formal connection between the Pact and the ERP since the latter includes countries which will not participate in the Pact.
In the view of the United States, the Pact and the ERP are both essential to the attainment of a peaceful, prosperous, and stable world. The economic recovery of Europe, the goal of the ERP, will be aided by the sense of increased security which the Pact will promote among these countries. On the other hand, a successful ERP is the essential foundation upon which the Pact, and the increased security to be expected from it, must rest.
the atlantic pact and military assistance
A military assistance program is now being considered by the executive branch of the Government. This program, another measure for securing peace for the United States and other peace-loving nations, envisages aid to the members of the Pact as well as other friendly states of the free world. As President Truman stated to the Congress in March 1947: “I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.… Totalitarian regimes imposed upon free peoples, by direct or indirect aggression, undermine the foundations of international peace and hence the security of the United States.” Since May 1947, military assistance has been provided to several countries under this policy.
While the North Atlantic Pact does not expressly commit the United States to furnish military assistance to the other Parties of the Pact, the decision to do so by the United States would be one way in which this nation could logically contribute to the mutual aid concept expressed in article 3 of the Pact. It is not intended, however, that one [Page 241] nation should carry on its shoulders the entire burden of maintenance of the security of the North Atlantic area. The United States is one of the contributors to this effort. The United States is fully aware that it does not have available unlimited supplies and that it is essential that its own armed forces be adequately equipped. Allocation of such military equipment as is available for transfer to other countries must be made in such a manner as will serve the over-all security interests of the United States.
In accordance with the principle of self-help and mutual aid, the other members of the Pact have already taken action to further the security of the North Atlantic area. Their efforts toward reestablishing sound economies are a vital provision of self-help in the security arrangements. The military budgets already carried by many of these countries, despite the tremendous load of economic recovery expenditures which they are undertaking, are an added expression of their intention of helping themselves and of not relying solely or even principally on United States assistance to maintain their own security and that of the North Atlantic area.
the pact and european integration
Economic and Political Cooperation. The North Atlantic Pact is made possible by the strides the Western nations of Europe have taken toward economic recovery and toward economic, political, and military cooperation. The core of the economic recovery effort is the European Recovery Program and the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), composed of the 16 countries receiving American aid through the United States Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA). The 16 countries in the OEEC and represented on its Council are the United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey. Western Germany also participates fully in the OEEC. The Charter of the OEEC pledges the continuing effort of these countries to increase production, modernize industry, stabilize their finances, and balance their accounts with the outside world in order to make their full contribution to world economic security, Lines of action to increase cooperation through 1952 have been prepared. Support and aid to this integration has also come from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, of which the United States is a member.
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- For the complete text, see Department of State Bulletin, March 19, 1949, pp. 342–350; printed also as Department of State publication 3462.↩