... 1949, the U.S. Senate gave its advice and consent to the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO as an intergovernmental collective defense organization. Following President Harry Truman's acceptance of the instruments of ratification 1 month later, the treaty went into effect as to the United States. Other charter members of the alliance -- now with 26 states parties -- were Great Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Iceland, and Canada.... 1954, negotiators in Geneva, Switzerland, concluded a ceasefire agreement in the Indo-China War. Lasting for nearly 8 years, the war between the Viet Minh troops of Ho Chi Minh and the troops of France, "the occupying colonial power," had claimed an estimated 300,000 lives.
