ng in theSenate approval of NATO and the permanent stationing of American troops in Europe--anunprecedented American military commitment in a time of peace.11 You will see that in thisperiod America has a more or less feel it out policy towards NATO and that can be expectedbeing that this was the first ever alliance the US had ever taken part in. The first big event in thisperiod was that the actual signing of all twelve participating countries took place here in theUnited States. All twelve countries came to Washington, DC to sign the official North AtlanticTreaty. After this the first ever NATO meeting was also held in Washington on September 17,1949. The next thing that happened in respect to Americas relationship or policy with NATOwas that on January 27, 1950 President Truman approved a plan that would give those in theNATO area $900,000,000 for military aid funds. After that was the creation of an integratedEuropean force under centralized command, adequate to deter any aggression and to help ensurethe defense of Western Europe. This military structure was organized and the council askedPresident Truman to . . make available General Dwight D. Eisenhower to serve as SupremeAllied Commander for Europe.12 This meant that in Americas first ever alliance with Europeancountries it was chosen right away to lead its military. Most have said that the reason for thiswas because we had all the power of the military, namely, nuclear weapons. With this newaddition NATO was ready to go, or so it thought it was, with an American general leading theway. So you can see that the United States was pretty much all for NATO and doing whateverthey could to better its situation from the very beginning . The proof is in the fact that they evenput one of their own generals out there to lead the military division of NATO. Also, in thisperiod, NATO created what was called council deputies and the American Ambassador deputy,Charles M. Spofford...
