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Secretary of State Dean Acheson signs the Washington Treaty on April 4, 1949, with Truman and British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin.
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01 April 2009
North Atlantic Treaty Travels for First Time to Europe, April 1, 2009
(Document leaves Archives repository for rare viewing)
By Carlos Aranaga
Staff Writer
Washington — The treaty that brought the North Atlantic Treaty Organization into being on April 4, 1949, has left the United States for the first time to be featured at the 60th anniversary NATO Summit.
The 2009 NATO Summit will be held in Strasbourg, France, and Kehl Germany, and also Baden-Baden, Germany, April 3–4.
The North Atlantic Treaty, also known as the Washington Treaty, is a 14-article text that pledges its members to maintain international peace and security and promote stability and well-being in the North Atlantic area.
The treaty is the cornerstone document for the longest-lasting collective defense alliance in history. Under Article 14, it is deposited in the National Archives in Washington. The Archives, in the heart of Washington, also holds founding charters, including the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
The National Archives has arranged handling and transportation of the treaty, which will be shown at Strasbourg’s Palais de la Musique et des Congrès, at the convocation of the NATO leaders, meeting as the North Atlantic Council.
The presence of the treaty at the summit lends itself to educational outreach on the historic significance of the treaty, said U.S. Assistant Archivist Michael Kurtz. In parallel to the summit, a three-day Youth Summit is planned by the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association, which will gather as many as 300 young people of 57 nationalities to mark the NATO anniversary and discuss the alliance’s future.
Kurtz will escort the document and will explain treaty history to the international media, which will include a group of blogging youth summiteers, including young delegates from the newest NATO members, Albania and Croatia.
The NATO Treaty was signed less than a year after the launch of the Marshall Plan for European postwar reconstruction and recovery, and came at a time of increased concern at the economic and military weakness of Western Europe relative to the military power of the Soviet Union. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on July 21, 1949. It took effect on August 24, 1949.
NATO summits are a chance for member country leaders to chart directions for NATO activity. Summits have been used to introduce new policies, invite new members into the mutual defense pact, launch major initiatives and explore new partnerships with non-NATO countries.
This year’s summit starts with a working dinner at the historic Kurhaus Casino in Baden-Baden April 3, followed by an observance of the 60th anniversary of the NATO alliance and a full day of North Atlantic Council meetings April 4. This is the first time a NATO summit will be co-hosted by two nations — France and Germany. Strasbourg and Kehl lie on opposite banks of the Rhine River. Baden-Baden is 40 kilometers away in Germany’s Black Forest.
The summit will concentrate on a number of vital issues, including progress in NATO’s Afghanistan strategy, relations with Russia, France’s closer involvement in the alliance, its impact on NATO-EU relations and work on a new strategic concept for the alliance.
Communiqués or declarations are often issued explaining summit decisions. Summits can be milestones in the life of the alliance: The 1991 Rome summit created the North Atlantic Cooperation Council, uniting NATO and partner nations from Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus; two 1997 summits in Paris and Madrid invited Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland into NATO and set up partnerships with Ukraine and Russia.
The historic nature of any NATO summit is of global interest, and of interest to historians such as those at the National Archives who safeguard the records. The Washington Treaty, a 12-page leather bound set of folio leaves, signed by the dozen foreign ministers of the original 12 allies, has witnessed history and is itself a historical testament. The treaty has been on public display just once before — for the 50th anniversary NATO Summit in Washington.
The pact, signed by founding nations in Washington, was hailed by President Truman as “a shield against aggression and the fear of aggression — a bulwark which will permit us to get on with the real business of government and society, the business of achieving a fuller and happier life for all our citizens.”
