A Rare Autographed First Day Cover Honoring the First Expansion of NATO, Along with America's First NATO Stamp, Signed by Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower: We have found no other signed examples of this cover having reached the market

Ike signed this as president and sent it to a Navy veteran

On April 4, 1949, twelve nations from Western Europe and North America signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, D.C. A key feature of this treaty is Article 5, in which the signatory members agreed that ""an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.” Initially, however, the alliance was not very well prepared to carry out the mission of defending its territory. In addition to grave shortages of troops and equipment, there was no command structure to direct the overall defense of Western Europe, just committees - known as ""Regional Planning Groups"" - that were charged with drawing up plans for the defense of their regions.

The 12 original members were the United States, Canada, Britain, Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal.

All this changed after the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, which raised fears that Europe could face a similar threat over divided Germany. The nations of the alliance agreed to increase their defence efforts and began working on the creation of an integrated military command structure with an overall commander for NATO forces in Europe.

Selecting the first Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) was easy, since everyone's first choice was the popular and respected U.S. Army Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had led allied forces in Europe during World War II. On December 19, 1950, the North Atlantic Council announced the appointment of General Eisenhower as the first Supreme Allied Commander.

In 1952, Greece and Turkey joined in the alliance's first expansion.

Document signed, by Dwight D. Eisenhower, first Supreme Allied Commander of Nato, stamped April 4, 1952, signed as President in February 1957, the first day cover honoring NATO along with the first NATO stamp honoring NATO. Comes with two letters relating to the cover sent to its owner, L. Dean Powell a Navy veteran.

We have found no other signed examples of this cover having reached the market.