pt. 1.Origins of the alliance, 1948-1949. An unequal triad : the United States, the Western Union, and NATO ; The "Atlantic" component of NATO ; The Mutual Defense Assistance Act of 1949 -- pt. 2. NATO in the first generation, 1950-1967. The impact of Sputnik on NATO ; The Berlin crisis, 1958-1962 : views from the Pentagon ; Les debats strategiques -- pt. 3. NATO in the second generation, 1968-1989. The U.S. and NATO in the Johnson years ; NATO and the Nixon doctrine : ten years later ; The INF Treaty and the future of NATO : lessons from the 1960s -- pt. 4. NATO in the third generation, from 1991. NATO after the Cold War ; NATO at fifty ; NATO : a counterfactual history -- Appendix. The North Atlantic Treaty, Washington, D.C., April 4, 1949.