This Nuclear Proliferation International History Project (NPIHP) research update presents new source materials from the Dutch government, specifically the Council of Ministers, detailing the Dutch role in the negotiations from 1962 to 1965 surrounding the establishment of a Multilateral Force (MLF). Though ultimately unsuccessful, the effort to establish a European-American multilateral nuclear force is an important episode in Cold War history, nuclear history, and the ongoing story of European integration.
From the outset Canadian officials had an incredibly expansive definition of NATO's supposed defensive character, which says an "attack against one ally is considered as an attack against all allies." As part of the Parliamentary debate over NATO external minister Lester Pearson said: "There is no better way of ensuring the security of the Pacific Ocean at this particular moment than by working out, between the great democratic powers, a security arrangement the effects of which will be felt all over the world, including the Pacific area.” Two years later he said: “The defence of the Middle East is vital to the successful defence of Europe and north Atlantic area.” In 1953 Pearson went even further: “There is now only a relatively small [5000 kilometre] geographical gap between southeast Asia and the area covered by the North Atlantic treaty, which goes to the eastern boundaries of Turkey.”
"During the 1956 Hungarian uprising the Finns had to bite their tongues and make no public expression of support for the Hungarians (as Finnish leaders had advised during the Polish rising in 1863). The Finns knew that their great eastern neighbor could b