ABSTRACT
From its origins, the North Atlantic Alliance was faced with the almost insuperable task of accommodating within a single framework of collective security basic asymmetries in geography and power. The announcement by President Truman in late 1950 that he intended to make 'substantial increases' to American forces stationed in Western Europe was a significant development, unprecedented for the United States in peacetime, and it provoked a major controversy in the United States. Simultaneously, an extended discussion began on the floor of the Senate which has become known in US history as the 'Great Debate'. Initially, by enabling Europe's recovery and by setting an example, it aimed its efforts at increasing the European contribution, since it was hoped that this would lead to reciprocal decreases in the American commitment. The Senator from Montana introduced the first of the Mansfield Resolutions on 31 August 1966. The Carter Administration took office with an apparent determination to rejuvenate the alliance..
