National Affairs: Treatment for NATO

"This," declared the U.S. Secretary of State, "will be an important meeting, perhaps the most important such meeting that has been held." Saying this, John Foster Dulles last week stepped aboard a special MATS Constellation and headed for Paris and the semiannual ministerial meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. His own convalescence at an end, Dulles was determined to bring good health to an ailing NATO.

The Western alliance had been softened by destalinization, shaken by the British-Greek dispute over Cyprus, severely strained by headlong Anglo-French action in the Middle East. But John Foster Dulles was nonetheless confident that the damage could be repaired and that this week's NATO sessions would "strengthen the bonds that unite the treaty members to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples."

Dulles had some cause for confidence. Soviet brutality in Hungary had once again impressed upon the mind of Western Europe the need for NATO as a defense shield. On hand with Dulles in Paris were Defense Secretary Charles Wilson and Treasury Secretary George Humphrey, both determined that NATO should not let down its guard. And in the face of the Soviet threat, other NATO members were no longer so anxious to cut costs by slashing NATO manpower.