Antidote to Fear

Seldom since the war had a diplomatic document been drafted in greater secrecy. For more than six months, in Washington and London, experts of seven nations, like diligent sculptors, had chipped away at it behind closed doors. They were still not ready to unveil their handiwork, the North Atlantic Alliance. But last week, the State Department started a sales campaign to tell the U.S. what its general form would be. To newsmen, the department handed out a 4,000-word brochure, titled "Building the Peace--Collective Security in the North Atlantic Area."

The proposed alliance would link the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg in a one-for-all, all-for-one defense against aggression, i.e., by the U.S.S.R. In effect, the U.S. and Canada were joining themselves to the others, who had already formed a Western Union under the Brussels Treaty (TIME, March 15 et seq.) and picked Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery to mastermind their joint defenses. "The combined resources of the Brussels Pact nations cannot at this time provide enough military strength to assure effective resistance to aggression," the State Department said. "Because of its preponderant strength, support by the United States is essential."

The Marshall Plan, said the State Department in outlining the plan, was not enough to insure Western Europe's recovery. Among the Marshall Plan nations of Europe, there was still fear of Russian aggression, fear which might "destroy the psychological basis upon which recovery depends." The North Atlantic Alliance would be an "antidote to fear." Just how far would it commit the U.S. to military support of Western Europe? The State Department was not yet ready to say.

Would Congress ratify the pact? The State Department was hoping that Congress still felt as it did last June, when by a 64-to-4 vote it passed the Vandenberg resolution, encouraging the President to negotiate with other Northern Atlantic nations. The pact would certainly preserve the right of Congress to declare war.

On one detail, the State Department spoke plainly and firmly. The U.S. wanted as many anti-Communist European nations as possible to join the alliance and was prepared to work with those who did. But some prospective members--e.g., Portugal, Eire, Iceland--so far were uncommitted. And Sweden hoped to get arms from the U.S. for a Scandinavian alliance with Denmark and Norway without joining the North Atlantic Alliance. For Sweden's benefit, the State Department pointedly announced:

"It is natural that, such supplies as may be available should go to countries associated with us in collective defense arrangements."

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