ABSTRACT
NATO's fourth secretary-general, Manlio Brosio, was born in Turin in 1897 in moderate circumstances as the son of a merchant. On 13 May 1964, the ministerial meeting of the North Atlantic Council unanimously invited Manlio Brosio to assume NATO's highest civilian post. His style of leadership differed sharply from the methods employed by his predecessors. Brosio's presence in the chairman's seat changed the complexion of Council meetings. In general, he tried to keep the Council meetings constantly moving toward any one of a set of acceptable compromises that he had in mind. At the beginning of Brosio's tenure, American Permanent Representative Thomas Finletter was driving hard toward achieving the completion of a detailed agreement on the multilateral nuclear force. Aside from France, Brosio easily established and maintained friendly relations with the other member governments. In the course of 1970, it became known that Brosio planned to retire sometime in 1971.
