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President Truman displays his signature on the ratification of the North Atlantic Treaty, April 4, 1949. The treaty created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a defensive alliance against military aggression, implicitly from the Soviet Union. In 1949 member nations were: France, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland (BSLOC_2021_3_37) (KEYSTONE/Everett Collection/)