 This is the Big Picture, an official television report of the United States Army, produced for the armed forces and the American people. Now to show you part of the Big Picture, here is Master Sergeant Stuart Quain. Throughout history, nations have sought through treaties and alliances with other nations to maintain their security and remain free from attack. But not until the 20th century did the concept of national security become worldwide in its scope. World Wars I and II and the Korean conflict proved beyond any doubt that when one free nation anywhere is threatened by aggression, the safety of all free nations is ultimately at stake. Today the United States, keenly aware of its strategic role as a leader in the free world, has allied itself with other nations, dedicated to the preservation of peace and the welfare of mankind. Our Big Picture cameras today focus on one of the most important of these alliances. As our guest narrator, the distinguished news analyst, Edward R. Murrow, tells the story behind NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This is the Palais de Chao in Paris, headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. To this building come ministers from 15 nations of the Atlantic community. They speak different languages, have different cultural backgrounds. The countries they represent vary in size from very small to very large. But here all distinctions fade, all the languages become one, the language of hope. Why do these nations ally themselves with NATO? Why NATO? And why must this organization continue to exist? Let's go back to the beginning of the story. May 1945, the war in Europe came to an end. This had been the price of Europe's unpreparedness. But in May 1945, our hard-won peace seemed at last secure. A few days before, Allied forces from the west had joined hands with the Russians from the east. Their statesmen had met cordially at Yalta and at Potsdam. They had agreed that the countries they had occupied should be truly liberated and that freely elected government should be set up as soon as possible. Within a few months, the countries of Western Europe and Scandinavia were free and independent. But for the countries occupied by Russia, Stalin had other ideas. Throughout Eastern Europe, elections were held. But the Russians had placed the communists in key government positions and in the secret police. Within a short time, the non-communist leaders had been liquidated. Russia had swallowed up eight European countries without firing another shot, other than those of the execution squads. Great Britain and the United States protested that these countries had been coerced by threat of force and that Russia had broken her treaty, but Russia ignored the protests. Stalin knew that the greater part of the Allied forces had gone home, leaving their arms to rust in the fields of Europe. In the west, men were impatient to be demobilized. The war was finished and they had other work to do. But the Russians had not demobilized. They retained overwhelmingly the largest force in Europe. The small group of men in the Kremlin had long ago dedicated themselves to the spreading of communism by all possible means. They knew that an army can be used not only to fight wars, it can be used to intimidate. To the south, lay two more possible victims, Greece and Turkey. In March 1946, the Russians denounced their treaty with Turkey. They offered to renew it, if the Turks would give up part of their territory and allow the Russians to establish bases controlling the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. The Turks refused. In Greece, the communists had already started civil war. Russia was sending arms to them through the neighboring satellite states to bring bitterness, despair and death to the Greek people. If Greece and perhaps Turkey were not also to be swallowed up, help had to come from the west. At this crisis in March 1947, President Truman asked the United States Congress in an historic speech to modify its traditional policy of neutrality. I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. Only Czechoslovakia of the countries behind the Iron Curtain had thus far preserved some independence. After the war, the Russians had had to reckon with the popularity of President Benish and his foreign secretary, Jan Masary. They were liberal-minded men who believed that it was possible to be friends with the communists without succumbing to them. But to the communists, gentleness is weakness. And a country prepared to compromise is a weak country. The machinery for taking over countries had now been perfected. The coup in Czechoslovakia was swifter and more efficient than ever before. Within a week, all opposition was suppressed. There was another victory to celebrate, another victory over freedom. President Benish was allowed to retire to his country house. He died there, a broken-hearted man. One morning, on the stones under his bedroom window, Jan Masary was found dead. Truth had ceased to come out of Czechoslovakia. The nations of Western Europe were forced at last to realize that they must combine to protect their own liberty. Three weeks after the fall of Czechoslovakia in March 1948, the Brussels Treaty was signed by Great Britain, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. These five countries pledged themselves to help each other in case of attack. But Western Union, as it was called, was not strong enough to deter the men of the Kremlin from their policy of aggression. In August, Russia decided, on a trumped-up excuse, to cut off the allied sectors of Berlin from the West. Trains, barges and road transports were stopped. The United States, Britain and France were responsible for two and a half million people in Berlin. Now their food and fuel for their homes and factories could no longer be brought to them overland, unless with armed protection and at the risk of war. It seemed that they, too, must be at the mercy of the Russian. But the governments of the West did not give way. If a Western Berlin was maintained by air on a scale never before contemplated in history, each day the prestige of the West rose. After nine anxious months, the Russians lifted the blockade. The policy of standing firm had been vindicated. Russian cynical blockade of Berlin had brought Europe to the brink of war. It was at last clear that only a strong defensive alliance could deter them from further adventures. On 4 April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed by Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Canada and the United States. This union of 12 nations became known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or more simply NATO. They were sworn to stand together against aggression. An attack against one would be an attack against all. The treaty was carefully designed to keep within the letter and spirit of the United Nations Charter. Soviet Russia claimed that it was an attempt at world domination. But while still accusing NATO nations of intended aggression, they themselves, frustrated in Europe, turned to the Far East to Korea under a single command to hold the aggressors at bay. It was almost too late. Lesson for Europe was clear. In December 1950, the North Atlantic Council decided to give to a single commander, General Eisenhower, sufficient authority to organize, equip and train an integrated NATO force for the defense of Europe as before it was unprecedented. Though each of the NATO countries would see to the supply and support of its own national forces, the Supreme Commander would be responsible for their coordination into a single international force, a power and a responsibility unique in time of peace. As he put it, he would go knocking at the door of each country and ask, tell me what you were willing to do for the defense of Europe? His first call was France, where his new headquarters would be situated. He must first discover whether it was militarily possible for Europe, with her strong individual national traditions, to raise a sufficient force to defend them collectively. On 9 January, General Eisenhower left Paris for Belgium. Twelve nations, with eight different languages and twelve different traditions and ways of life. Of each of them, he could ask similar questions. 10 January, the Netherlands. What can you now do for NATO? 11 January, the years you have maintained a traditional neutrality. How many divisions are you prepared to train? 12 January, Norway. Your mountains require a special form of defense. Could every able-bodied man be mobilized if war came? 13 January, Great Britain. You have commonwealth commitments throughout the world, but what forces can you contribute for the defense of Europe? 16 January, Portugal. From your strategic position on the Atlantic seaboard, what help can you give NATO? Italy. Are you prepared to rebuild your army, navy and air force up to the limits set by the peace treaty? 19 January, Luxembourg. You're a small country with a great steel industry. How can you help the armament? 24 January, Iceland. We know that you have no armed forces, but what contribution can you make for the common defense of the West? 26 January, Canada. Europe is grateful for the arms you are already supplying. What forces are you prepared to send across the Atlantic? In Paris, a hotel has been hastily found as a temporary home for the new Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, Europe. Their general Gunther was already at work. An international staff of officers had to be assembled in a plan prepared for the defense of Europe. The task was immense. At that time, SHAPE had at its disposal only about 1,800 aircraft, 15 airfields, most of which could not handle jet. 15 ill-equipped divisions. Against these forces, Russia was known to have at least 175 divisions under arms and 20,000 planes. General Eisenhower, when he arrived, asked one of his advisors what the Russians needed to march to the channel. General, he answered, all they need is shoes. So much for the beginning. Yet, in spite of the urgency, when General Eisenhower and his staff sat to plan, they planned for a long haul, for they realized that if democracy were not to destroy itself by its very efforts for defense, the build-up had to take time. All the plans of the military would come to naught without the overall long-term planning of the civilians, the representatives of the NATO nations, and NATO's permanent staff. The future strength of the alliance depended entirely upon what the peoples of its member nations could afford to give, and give of their own free will. It meant hard work, sacrifices, and above all, give and take. The difficulties were innumerable, complex and often seemed impossible, but with the months came results. One by one, the myriad problems of armaments, logistics, and supply were overcome. From Britain, Canada, and the United States arrived divisions to augment the growing forces of the continent itself. The sorely needed airfields and the pipelines to supply them turned from mere blueprints into fact. Soon, for shape, its temporary hotel home gave way to a new headquarter where officers and men of the NATO nations worked together smoothly, regardless of differences of language, temperament, and rates of pay. Soon, to the 12 flags of the founding nations, more were added. Greece, Turkey, and in May 1955, the Federal Republic of Western Germany brought new strength to NATO. As time passed, servants for the alliance came and went, handing on, taking over. The long haul was punctuated with welcomes and farewells. Eisenhower to Ridgway. Ridgway to Grunther. Grunther to Norstadt. But because an ideal is stronger than any individual, though the faces changed, the work drove on. It was in the field that results counted, and it was in the field that they were realized. At each successive meeting, the ministers of the NATO nations could report further progress and a steadily growing unity within the alliance. Thanks to the cooperation of 15 nations, what had once been merely a document with signatures was becoming the Atlantic Alliance in fact, and in strength, clouds of fear that had hung over Europe were lifting. Vigilance and readiness were paying off. Surprise and disunity amongst his victims. The strongest weapons in any aggressor's arsenal were no longer available to him. Each day found NATO stronger, more prepared, and more confident. Though the strength was not yet what NATO would have liked, already a would-be aggressor must count the cost. For now, should attack come, the Atlantic allies could call in their defense, not only upon conventional weapons, but also upon a whole new arsenal. A would-be aggressor the cost loomed large indeed. Now they would need far more than shoes. NATO's strength was such that by 1955, West could meet East at Geneva on equal terms, though any promise of real relief was soon to be dashed. In 1956, this was Budapest, exhausted by Soviet domination and denied their freedom. The people of Hungary rose in protest. Heroism is not enough. This could be us. This is why NATO had to exist. Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, gravely concerned over increasing Soviet military power, gathered in Paris in December 1957 for a crucial conference. From the United States came President Dwight David Eisenhower, whose presence at this critical time gave the nations of Western Europe new hope. For Ike, this was a homecoming. Quarters of shape, the military arm of NATO, located outside Paris. The former commander of the North Atlantic military forces, now president of one of NATO's most powerful member nations, declared his mission before the large crowd which had gathered to greet him. Frankly, I came out here because of a special kind of sickness. One that afflicts the aged and the young. Homesickness. I was homesick to see this home that was built for a sector and his staff and agency of NATO. This home was built by a great number of nations to be the headquarters of that military shield that must always belong to NATO so long as there is any menace to the freedom of the Western nations. Once more at the Pallidishio, which housed the Western world's hopes for peace they gathered. The men of good will who bore their people's mandate for freedom. This was the first NATO meeting attended by the heads of the 15 member states. This was a summit conference calling for highest level consultation. Basically, two critical tasks had to be accomplished. To shore up NATO and to counteract an intensified Soviet propaganda offensive. A major interest of the United States in the NATO meeting was the question of integrating into Western defense the intermediate range ballistic missile as a deterrent to the Soviet, whose long range missile had for the moment thrown a shadow over the world. The 15 heads of states attending this vital NATO meeting represented 450 million people, whose lands covered a total of almost 8 million square miles of the Earth's surface. Differences were to be expected, but at one point there was complete agreement. The core of the NATO partnership, an attack against one was an attack against all. In order to live in peace together, all were resolved to defend themselves together if necessary. Many of the nations of Western Europe felt that political not military action was the answer to the latest Soviet threat. Others believed that NATO should be interested as well in broader problems and looked to the United States for support of their national positions. President Eisenhower's words were the high point of the conference. There was no mistaking like sincerity and determination as he spoke. We have demonstrated a will for the spreading of the blessings of liberty. Within the last 15 years, our nations have freely granted political independence to 20 countries with populations totaling 800 million people. Within our societies, we manifest so that all can see the good fruits of freedom. Those fruits do not consist of materialistic monuments, which despots have always been able to exhibit. They consist of providing the simple things all men want, the opportunity to think and worship as their conscience and reason dictate, to live in their homes without fear, to draw together in the intimacies of family life, to work in congenial tasks of their own choice, and to enjoy the fruits of their labor. These are the most precious manifestations of freedom, and we have the collective power to defend and spread that freedom. Freedom has not failed us. Surely we shall not fail freedom. Perhaps the chief result of this summit meeting was the expansion of NATO into a broader, more realistic alliance, in keeping with the ever-increasing complexity of problems facing it. A special responsibility rested on these representatives of the Atlantic community. Within their lands, freedom first had its birth. Within their borders lay three-fourths of the world's institutions of higher learning, and the title, needs, and monuments of Western culture and civilization. To the men who met at this summit conference of NATO, there was no doubt that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization must continue stronger than ever. For the existence of NATO is an assurance that each new dawn breaks over our family of nations at peace. Over the countryside, cities and homes of a community of peace-loving people, over London and Liverpool, Paris and Marseille, New York and San Francisco, Montreal and Vancouver, over Athens, Istanbul, Rome, Lisbon and Reykjavik, over Antwerp, Bond and Luxembourg, a bond welding the old world and the new. An assurance that 450 million people remain free to live their lives as they wish to live them. To protect and preserve by vigilance and readiness. These are the aims of the Atlantic Alliance. An alliance for peace. Today on The Big Picture, you have heard the distinguished news analyst Edward R. Murrow tell the story of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The United States as a founding member of this vital international body has demonstrated to the world the importance we place on the closest association between the members of the Atlantic community. Now this is Sergeant Stuart Queen, your host for The Big Picture. The Big Picture is an official television report for the armed forces and the American people. Produced by the Army Pictorial Center. Presented by the United States Army in cooperation with this station.