Text Churchill to Truman (May 1945) outlining his worries about the East-West split after the war and using the “iron curtain” phrase that he was to use later in his Fulton speech
The United Nations Charter (June 1945) providing the umbrella over much of the US-inspired post-war institutional architecture and the framework for ensuring World security.
The signatures on the UN Charter and photos of some of the delegates by Ralph Bunche
Churchill’s Speech at Fulton Missouri in which, as the leader of British the Conservative opposition party, he coined the phrase the “iron curtain” to describe the division of Europe. Also available here.
European Recovery and American Aid. A Report by the President’s Committee on Foreign Aid (November 1947) Parts 1 & 2, Part 3
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1947) Down load in WP from here or pdf here. This agreement was to establish the rules of multilateral tariff negotiations, international primary product cartels and customs unions and free trade areas. When the international Trado Organisation failed to materialise, it became the main international trade organisation.
Brussels Treaty (March 1948) or here or here. The “Treaty of Economic Social and Cultural Cooperation and Collective Self-Defence” was signed by France the UK and the Benelux countries and was originally directed against a resurgent Germany. Some argue that it was less a defence agreement than a decleration of incompetence and a signal for US military help.
European Cooperation Act (April 1948)which gave effect to Marshall Aid by committing the US to economic assistance to Europe and outlining its modalities.
Charter International Trade Organization (March 1948) Extracts. The ITO as indended as the trade counterpart to the IMF. It was a creation of the US Democratic Administration but fell foul of a protectionist Congress and the indifference of the Republican Eisenhower Administration. Only the GATT agreement survived.
Hague Congress (May 1948) Full verbatim reports, texts and resolutions see also here The Congress was a show-piece of the various pan-European federalist movements and was attended by over delegates, including many prominent statesmen (mostly out of office). Its texts prepared the evental creation of the Council of Europe.
Vandenberg Resolution (July 1948) US Senate resolution clearing the way for US participation in collective security agreements.
Acheson Speech (April 1949) on the proposed NATO Treaty.
NATO Treaty (April 1949) This was the “entangling alliance” that many in the US had hoped to avoid, but it formed the basis for Western collevtive security for the duration of the Cold War and beyond.
Statute of the Council of Europe (May 1949) The Council of Europe represented the confluence of federalist, parliamentarian ambitions and the need of its founders to obtain the unanimity necessary for its creation. The mixture was to prove an almost fatal one.
Truman Statement (September 1949) announcing the successful Soviet testing of an atomic bomb.
Hoffmann Speech (October 1949). The speech of ECA leader Paul Hoffman to the OEEC came as the half-way point of Marshall Aid approached. It warned that if Europe did not reduce the dollar gap by measures of “ European integration” (a phrase repeatedly used, to hammer home the point) future Congressional requisitions might be less generous.
NSC-68 (April 1950) One of the defining documents of the Cold War setting out the US assessment of the effectiveness of a Soviet attack and concluding that, even with the early use of nuclear weapons, most of Western Europe fall to the Russians. The only option was US and European rearmament and the remilitarisation of West Germany.
Schuman Plan (May 1950) in all languages and here in French. The surprise announcement in which France proposed pooling its coal and steel resources with those of Germany under a single High Authority, thereby launching Europe’s first supranational community. Would result in the creation of a six country European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).
US Call for German rearmament (August-September 1950) A selection of US archive documents compiled by Marc Trachtenberg. Already with NSC-68, the US authorities had decided on the need to rearm Germany. Using the outbreak of the Korean War as a cover, it now made this policy public.
The Luxembourg Resolution (September 1952), adopted by the foreign member states of the Six. (ENA)
The Beyen Plan for a customs union within ‘ The Six’. (ENA)
The Draft Treaty for a European Political Community In French (May 1953) Responding to French and Italian initiatives, the six EDC countries had decided to advance the clauses clauses for restructuring political control over the EDC on a permanent basis. The task of drafting a treaty was entrusted to European parliamentarians constituted in an Ad Hoc Assembly. This highly federalist treaty was the outcome. It was soon to be unraveled in the subsequent IGC and it died the death when the EDC collapsed.
President Eisenhowers’s “Atoms for Peace” speech to UN Assembly (December 1953) proposing making US fissionable material available to the World for peaceful uses. It was later to form the basis for the offer to the Six when they were negotiating the Euratom treaty, thereby robbing the treaty of its main rationale.
The Six at Messina (where is Russel Bretherton for the UK?)
Statement by the US Depertment of State on US views on European integration (January 1957).
March 1957 German chief negotiator Walter Hallstein on the Rome treaties (March 1957)
Treaty of Rome (1957) establishing the European Economic Community. The original treaty can be downloaded from here in all languages and here in French
Euratom Treaty (1957) establishing the European Atomic Energy Community. The original treaty can be downloaded from here in all languages and here in French
Benelux treaty on Economic Union (February 1958) Still hoping to shape developments by staying one step ahead, the Benelux countries agree to strengthening their union. They were soon overtaken by events within the EEC.
BBC Report on De Gaulle’s returns to power in France (June 1958)
