An Act to promote the foreign policy and provide for the defense and general welfare of the United States by furnishing military assistance to foreign nations.
Reported by the joint conference committee on September 26, 1949; agreed to by the House on September 28, 1949 (
224-109) and by the Senate on September 28, 1949 (Agreed)
Signed into law by President
Harry S. Truman on October 6, 1949
The Mutual Defense Assistance Act was a
United StatesAct of Congress signed by President Harry S. Truman on 6 October 1949.[1][2] For U.S. foreign policy, it was the first U.S. military
foreign aid legislation of the
Cold War era, and initially to Europe.[3] The Act followed Truman's signing of the Economic Cooperation Act (the
Marshall Plan), on April 3, 1948, which provided non-military,
economic reconstruction and development aid to Europe.
The 1949 Act was amended and reauthorized on July 26, 1950.[4] In 1951, the Economic Cooperation Act and Mutual Defense Assistance Act were succeeded by the
Mutual Security Act, and its newly created independent agency, the
Mutual Security Administration, to supervise all foreign aid programs, including both military assistance programs and non-military, economic assistance programs that bolstered the defense capability of U.S. allies.[5]
About the same time, the Mutual Defense Assistance Control Act of 1951, also known or referred to as the Battle Act, (65 Stat. 644; 22 U.S.C. 1611 et seq.) was also passed; it banned U.S. assistance to countries doing business with the Soviet Union and was so-named after its sponsor, Representative
Laurie C. Battle of Alabama.[6] Strong motivation for this 'control' act also came from
export control concerns, following their tightening by the Export Control Act of 1949 over Soviet advances; export controls were used for both domestic policy and later as an instrument of foreign policy. This is exemplified by the restrictions on export of certain strategic or military items to the Soviet bloc or to other countries which it felt, if permitted, would be detrimental to the foreign policy program of the U.S.[7] This latter motive became so strong that it brought legislation directing the President to enlist the cooperation of other nations in enacting controls on trade with the Soviet block to parallel those of the United States. The benefits of the various economic and military aid programs were to be withheld from non-cooperating nations.[8] The act covered a wide range of materials needed for the production of weapons, and was especially focused on anything that could aid
atomic weapons research and construction.[9]
As the
Cold War developed, these acts were part of the American policy of
containment of
communism. They importantly provided defense assistance to any ally that might be attacked by the
Soviet Union or one of its allies, while other programs provided non-military economic assistance. In Asia, the programs expanded with the newly established
MaoistPeople's Republic of China, and other areas, with the development of specific country missions, including ones in Austria (1947–1950), China (1946–1948), Ireland (1948–1951), and
Trieste (1947–1952).[10]
Historical background: the World War II aftermath and the Cold War
In the euphoria of the end of
World War II, western arsenals dropped down to a dangerous level of weakness and being worn-out. Public funds were, by priority, allocated to reconstruction. Even the U.S. arsenal showed obvious signs of shortages and decay.[note 1]
Military officials began calling for the introduction of a new defense legislation in 1947, arguing that depleted inventories of surplus World War II-vintage armaments, piecemeal planning of new armaments and restrictions on presidential authority threatened current and future efforts to arm allied nations. New legislation became a necessity by mid-1948 with the negotiation of the
North Atlantic Treaty and the necessity to provide military aid to strengthen the connectional defenses, having in mind a global resistance to Communist expansion of the signatories.
Truman sent a first bill to Congress on 25 July 1949, the day he ratified the North Atlantic Treaty but congressional opposition forced submission of a new legislation, which specified the recipients and the amounts of assistance. Administration planners believed the MDAA's immediate effects would be to raise the morale of friendly nations and prove U.S. reliability and resolve to meet Communist worldwide threats. The MDAA also institutionalized the concept of specific military aid programs, a result ensured by adoption of similar legislation in 1950 and an increase in annual spending on military aid to $5.222 billion after the outbreak of the
Korean War - the very first large scale test of the validity and practicability of the concept, if excepting the logistical support allowed to
France during the
First Indochina War.
The Mutual Defense Assistance Act created the "Mutual Defense Assistance Program (MDAP[11])," which became an integral component in the federal government's policy of containment of Soviet expansion. This program differed from the World War II-era
Lend-Lease program in that it never needed refunding from the country that benefits any military assistance. Between 1950 and 1967, $33.4 billion in arms and services and $3.3 billion worth of surplus weaponry were provided under the program.
Europe: NATO
On 4 April 1949, the foreign ministers from 12 countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty at the Departmental Auditorium in Washington D.C.: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Provision for enlargement was however given by Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which states that membership is open to any "European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area".
American military support to France's rearmament lasted well into the 1950s,[citation needed] the French receiving furthermore equipment including
M46 Pattons,
F-84 Thunderjet, etc.[citation needed] but the divergence between the United States and the Anglo-French alliance during the
Suez crisis was to have decisive consequences on France-NATO relationships.[clarification needed] Whereas the damage done to Anglo-American relations was quickly repaired, in the case of France, the situation remained more complex. France started to express reservations about the direction of Allied policy and U.S. leadership and, following his election as President in 1958, General
Charles de Gaulle, in particular, made clear his dissatisfaction with aspects of this US prominent role, as well as, more specifically, with NATO's nuclear policy and
NATO Military Command Structure.[citation needed] Although France was one of the very founding members of the Atlantic Alliance, President Charles de Gaulle withdrew France from NATO's military structure in 1966 in protest over American dominance of the Atlantic Alliance.
On 8 September 1951, the United States and Japan signed the Mutual Security Treaty, which stationed U.S. troops on Japanese soil for the defense of Japan following the eruption of the Korean War. On 8 March 1954, both countries signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement (activated on 1 May 1954), focusing on defense assistance. It allowed for the presence of U.S. armed forces in Japan for the purpose of peace and security while encouraging Japan to take on more responsibility for its own defense, rearming in a manner suited for defensive purposes.
During the
Korean War, Pakistan sided with the
West in their fight against
communism. By joining the
CENTO &
SEATO alliances, Pakistan officially became a
Major non-NATO ally of the US under which it received aid financially and militarily through the Mutual Defence Assistance program to defend herself from
Afghanistan and
India which were being supported by the
Soviets.
The MDAA caused both a great deal of friction with the non-aligned countries[citation needed] and opportunities to tighten geopolitical relations with the western free world and especially the United States.
Up to the early 1960s, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) had a large arsenal of German equipment, planes and armor captured during the war, [citation needed] western equipment that had been donated by the USA and Great Britain during the war, as well as Soviet equipment.[citation needed]
Despite
Josip Broz Tito's firm adherence to communism, because of the ideological[note 2] and personal conflict with
Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union - and thereafter all the
Warsaw Pact's pro-Soviet governments - denounced his treaty of friendship with Yugoslavia on September 27, 1949. For some time it seemed to be a serious threat and a real danger of an intervention of the country by his former allies, so Yugoslavia accepted readily the American/British offer of assistance. There were even discussions at that time on its possible inclusion into North-Western Alliance. It can be said by now that Yugoslav armed forces received during this period standard NATO military equipment and arms - such as the
F-86 and
F-84 Thunderjet jet fighters or
M36 Jackson and
M18 Hellcat tank-destroyers.[citation needed] After Stalin's death and the political and ideological pacification with Soviet Union, the Yugoslav People's Army later exclusively imported their equipment from the USSR when not sourcing it internally.
^World War II-vintage German equipment was still in service in some European countries such as Spain (
Pz IV and
Stug III) and France. However, World War II vintage equipment was in service everywhere.
^Lasting from 1948, on the ground of an Inform-buro Resolution[clarification needed]
Carlos Caballero Jurado and Nigel Thomas : Central American Wars 1959-1980 (illustrated by Simon McCouaig) Osprey Publishing MEN-AT-ARM Serie n°221, 1990
Alejandro de Quesada : The Bay of Pigs - Cuba 1961 ( illustrated by Stephen Walsh ) - Osprey Publishing - Elite Serie n°166, 2009.