Office of the Historian

Reply of the United States Government to the “Request From the Brussels Treaty Powers to the United States Government for Military Assistance” Dated April 5, 19491

top secret
[Washington,] April 6, 1949.
1.
The Government of the United States refers to the memorandum dated April 5, 1949 from the Brussels Treaty Powers, which inquires whether the United States will provide military assistance in the form of military equipment and financial aid to the Brussels Treaty Powers and which sets forth the principles on which such request is made.
2.
The Executive Branch of the United States Government is prepared to recommend to the United States Congress that the United States provide military assistance to countries signatory to the Brussels Treaty, in order to assist them to meet the matériel requirements of their defense program. Such assistance would be extended in recognition of the principle of self-help and mutual aid contained in the Atlantic Pact, under which Pact members will extend to each other such reciprocal assistance as each country can reasonably be expected to contribute, consistent with its geographic location and resources, and in the form in which each can most effectively furnish such assistance.
3.
It will be requested of the Congress that such assistance be in the form of military equipment from the United States required by their common defense program and the provision of some financial assistance for increased military efforts on their part required by such defense program. It will be understood that the allocation of this matériel [Page 288] and financial assistance will be effected by common agreement between the Brussels Treaty Powers and the United States.
4.
The United States Government will accordingly appreciate receiving as soon as possible the detailed statement of the specific needs of the signatories of the Brussels Treaty for the year 1949–50 as proposed in paragraph (6) of the request from the Brussels Treaty Powers.
  1. Department of State Bulletin, April 17, 1949, p. 495. This reply, bearing only the heading “Memorandum”, was handed to the Luxembourg Minister in Washington on April 6, together with copies for the British, French, Belgian, and Netherlands Embassies (840.00/4–549).↩