In 1949, the primary aim of North Atlantic Treaty NATO's founding treaty was to create pact of mutual assistance to counter the risk that Soviet Union would seek to extend its control of Eastern Europe to other parts of the continent... ..…

Washington was annoyed by its anemic defense contributions to NATO and ambivalent about its integration project, the European Union, which U.S. policymakers saw as no more than another regional organization. ... Primarily a military alliance, NATO does not encapsulate the..…