security will help protect this country and help prevent war. The great power and influence of the United States must be thrown into the scales on the side of peace.

Whatever form United States association with such arrangements may take, it must be by constitutional process. This means that any commitments made pursuant to the resolution must be clearly defined and would require appropriate congressional approval. Thus, if any programs of material assistance are formulated, they will require legislative authorization and appropriations. If any treaty commitments are involved, they will require ratification with the advice and consent of the Senate.

The committee considers the principle of self-help and mutual aid followed in the European recovery program equally applicable in the field of security. United States association with arrangements for collective defense must supplement, rather than replace, the efforts of the other participants on their own behalf. Such arrangements must be based upon continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid. This means, in practice, that the participants must be prepared fully to carry out their obligations under the Charter, resolutely to defend their liberties against attack from any source, and efficiently to develop their maximum defense potential by coordination of their military forces and resources.

The resolution has been designed to avoid open-ended or unlimited commitments and to require reciprocity of aid. The committee is convinced that the three limitations specified in paragraph 3 adequately protect the interests of the United States. These are (1) that United States association must be by constitutional process, (2) that it shall be only with arrangements based on continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid, and (3) that the arrangement be one affecting our national security.

8. PREVENTION OF AGGRESSION

Paragraph 4 recommends that the United States take a further step to safeguard peace by making clear, in advance, that any armed attack affecting our national security will be met immediately by the effective exercise of the inherent right of individual or collective selfdefense recognized by article 51 of the Charter.

The committee is convinced that the horrors of another world war can be avoided with certainty only by preventing war from starting. The experience of World War I and World War II suggest that the best deterrent to aggression is the certainty that immediate and effective countermeasures will be taken against those who violate the peace.

The principle of individual and collective self-defense is fundamental to the independence and integrity of the members of the United Nations. This is recognized in article 51. By reaffirming now its allegiance to this principle, the United States would take an important step in the direction of removing any dangerous uncertainties that might mislead potential aggressors.

As in the case of paragraph 3, such a reaffirmation is directed against no one and threatens no one. It is directed solely against aggression.

(B)

CONCURRENT HOUSE ACTION

[During the second session of the Eightieth Congress the House Foreign Affairs Committee reported out an omnibus bill on the United Nations sections of which paralleled closely the terms of the Senate Resolution 239. The relevant portion of that bill is reproduced below.]

* *

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled [, That *1 SEC. 1. (a) This Act may be cited as the United Nations Participation Act

* * *

(b) It is the policy of the people of the United States through constitutional processes to strive to accomplish the aims and purposes set forth in the Charter of the United Nations and to strengthen the United Nations by—

(4) Encouraging, and associating the United States with, such regional and other collective arrangements for self-defense as are consistent with the Charter, are based on continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid between free nations, and affect the national security of the United States; and making clear the determination of the United States to exercise the right under the Charter of individual or collective self-defense in the event of any armed attack against a member affecting the national security of the United States;

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(C)

SECRETARY MARSHALL'S STATEMENT

[Earlier in the same session, on May 5, 1948, Secretary of State George C. Marshall discussed the possibility of seeking security through a resort to regional arrangements in his talk before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives. Some parts of his address follow.]

The United States is acutely aware that the return of a sense of security to the free nations of the world is essential for the promotion of conditions under which the United Nations can function. The necessary steps for self-protection against aggression can be taken within the Charter of the United Nations. The Charter recognizes in article 51 the right of individual and collective self-defense against armed attack until the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to preserve peace and security. Articles 52, 53, and 54 provide for regional arrangements dealing with the maintenance of international peace and security, on condition that such arrangements are consistent with the purposes and principles of the Charter.

In recognition of the possibility foreseen in the Charter that an armed attack might occur upon a member of the United Nations, despite the binding obligations accepted by every member to refrain from the threat or use of force against another state, the United States and the other American Republics concluded at Rio de Janeiro last year a treaty for individual and collective self-defense. Certain

countries of western Europe likewise have organized themselves into a Western Union, for their individual and collective self-defense. By such arrangements under article 51 of the Charter and the articles providing for regional arrangements, constructive steps have been taken to bulwark international security and the maintenance of peace. Our intention to afford encouragement and support to arrangements made by free nations for the preservation of their independence and liberty has already been stated by the President in his message to the Congress on March 17th.

19. EXCERPTS FROM THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT TRUMAN

January 20, 1949

[On January 20, 1949, President Harry S. Truman devoted his inaugural address to a discussion of the world situation. He said, "It is fitting therefore that we take this occasion to proclaim to the world the essential principles of faith by which we live, and to declare our aims to all people." In the following words he anticipated the North Atlantic Pact:]

We are moving on with other nations to build an even stronger structure of international order and justice. We shall have as our partners countries which, no longer solely concerned with the problem of national survival, are now working to improve the standards of living of all their people. We are ready to undertake new projects to strengthen the free world.

In the coming years, our program for peace and freedom will emphasize four major courses of action.

First. We will continue to give unfaltering support to the United Nations and related agencies, and we will continue to search for ways to strengthen their authority and increase their effectiveness. We believe that the United Nations will be strengthened by the new nations which are being formed in lands now advancing toward selfgovernment under democratic principles.

Second. We will continue our programs for world economic recovery. This means, first of all, that we must keep our full weight behind the European recovery program. We are confident of the success of this major venture in world recovery. We believe that our partners in this effort will achieve the status of self-supporting nations once again.

In addition, we must carry out our plans for reducing the barriers to world trade and increasing its volume. Economic recovery and peace itself depend on increased world trade.

Third. We will strengthen freedom-loving nations against the dangers of aggression.

We are now working out with a number of countries a joint agreement designed to strengthen the security of the North Atlantic area. Such an agreement would take the form of a collective defense arrangement within the terms of the United Nations Charter.

We have already established such a defense pact for the Western Hemisphere by the treaty of Rio de Janeiro.

The primary purpose of these agreements is to provide unmistakable proof of the joint determination of the free countries to resist armed attack from any quarter. Each country participating in these arrangements must contribute all it can to the common defense.

If we can make it sufficiently clear, in advance, that any armed attack affecting our national security would be met with overwhelming force, the armed attack might never occur.

I hope soon to send to the Senate a treaty respecting the North Atlantic security plan.

In addition, we will provide military advice and equipment to free nations which will cooperate with us in the maintenance of peace and security.

Fourth. We must embark on a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas.

20. STATE DEPARTMENT WHITE PAPER

THE NORTH ATLANTIC PACT

[On March 19, 1949, the State Department issued a white paper under the above caption, which in brief discussed the purposes, objectives, and significance of the North Atlantic Treaty.]

THE NORTH ATLANTIC PACT

COLLECTIVE DEFENSE AND THE PRESERVATION OF PEACE, SECURITY, AND FREEDOM IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC COMMUNITY

A TREATY FOR COLLECTIVE DEFENSE

The conservations begun in Washington in the summer of 1948 among representatives of the governments of Belgium, Canada, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States have resulted in agreement on the specific terms of a treaty providing for a collective security arrangement among nations of the North Atlantic area. The text of this proposed treaty, commonly known as the North Atlantic Pact, is now released for public discussion. It is expected that the signing of the treaty will take place a few weeks hence.

The Pact has its roots in the common heritage and civilization of the peoples living on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. These peoples have ties not only of cultural background but of a common, ingrained faith in the dignity and worth of the individual, in the principles of democracy, and in the rule of law. Two world wars have taught them that their security is inextricably linked together, that an attack on any one of them is in effect an attack on all.

Developments in Europe since the ending of hostilities in 1945 have revealed the true dimensions of the task of restoring economic health and political stability to postwar Europe. At the same time these developments have demonstrated, in emergency after emergency, the identical security and economic interests shared by the democratic countries of the North Atlantic community. From the problems of

immediate postwar relief to the economic crisis disclosed by the bitter winter of 1947, and from attempted Soviet intimidation of Greece and Turkey to the Communist overthrow of democracy in Czechoslovakia, each emergency has required practical action from the democratic nations. In turn, each action has created closer ties of cooperation and has emphasized the need for joint defense on a continuing and intimate basis. The purposes and proposed method of such a defense have now been made public in the text of the North Atlantic Pact.

Purposes and Objectives: The North Atlantic Pact is a brief and simple document. The powerful impact it can be expected to have on world affairs derives from three factors: (1) the stature and strength of the states which have indicated their intentions of becoming members of the arrangement; (2) the precarious world security situation to which it will bring a corrective influence; and (3) the developing unity of the North Atlantic community, historically evident throughout more than a half century of increasing interdependence but here formally recognized for the first time. The preamble of the Pact declares that:

"The Parties to this Treaty reaffirm their faith in the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and their desire to live in peace with all peoples and all governments.

"They are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law.

"They seek to promote stability and well-being in the North Atlantic area.

"They are resolved to unite their efforts for collective defense and for the preservation of peace and security."

Commitments Under the Pact: In the first article of the treaty the Parties specifically reaffirm their obligations under the Charter to settle any international disputes in which they may be involved, not only with each other but with any nation, by peaceful means and in such a manner that peace, security, and justice are not endangered and to refrain from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.

In subsequent articles the Parties undertake the following commitments:

1. To strengthen their free institutions, promote conditions of stability and well-being, and encourage economic collaboration; 2. To maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack;

3. To consult if the territorial integrity, political independence, or security of any one of the parties is threatened; and

4. To consider an armed attack on any one of the Parties as an attack against all and, consequently, to take such individual and collective action, including the use of armed force, as each Party considers necessary to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

By entering into the North Atlantic Pact the United States would reaffirm its determination expressed in the United Nations Charter to participate in "effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression". It would undertake, in cooperation with the other Parties to the treaty, to maintain and develop adequate capacity to